The Eastern Coastal Plains is a stretch of landmass lying between the eastern part of the

Deccan plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

and the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

in India. The plains stretch from the Mahanadi delta to Kaniyakumari at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula with the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...

forming its rough western boundary. It is wider and leveled than the Western Coastal Plains and traverses the states of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. The plains are broadly divided into three subdivisions– Utkal Plains in the north, Andhra plains in the center, and Tamil Nadu plains in the south. The plains are fertile as it forms part of the

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

s of major peninsular rivers such as

Godavari The Godavari (, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga River and drains the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwar, Nashik, Maharash ...

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

, Mahanadi, and

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a Rivers of India, major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari River, Godavari and Krishna River, Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin i ...

Geography

The Eastern Coastal Plains is a stretch of coastal land lying between the eastern edge of the

and the

in the west. The disjointed mountain range of

forms a rough western boundary of the plains. The plains stretch from the Mahanadi delta to Kaniyakumari at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula and traverses the states of

and the

union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

of Puducherry. It is wider and leveled than the Western Coastal Plains and both the coastal plains meet at Kaniyakumari. The average width of the plains vary between with an average width of . The plains are broadly divided into three subdivisions– Utkal Plains in the north, Andhra plains (Circars) in the center, and Tamil Nadu plains (Coromandel) in the south.

Utkal plains

The Utkal Plains form a major part of

and stretch from the southern end of the Indo-Gangetic plains to the Andhra plains in the south. The region is drained by rivers such as Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baitarani, and Subarnarekha. The region consists of fertile red and black soil interspersed with

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

and

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

rock formations formed during the

paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

and

neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

eras. The sands in the beaches consists of small

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

s and

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of th ...

. The vegetation consists of littoral forests on the coasts and tropical moist deciduous forests inland. Chilika Lake, the largest lake in the region is a

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

Andhra plains

The Andhra Plains (Circars) extend from the south of the Utkal Plain to Pulicat Lake, north of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. The coastal plains are widest in the region with a significant portion formed by the deltas of the largest peninsular rivers

and

. The two river deltas form a contiguous single physiographic unit and cut across a wide gorge in the

. The deltas have advanced towards the

, which has pushed the Kolleru Lake inwards. The Pulicat Lake is interrupted by a sand spit which forms the island of Sriharikota. The region is very fertile due to the aluvium deposited by the rivers and supports

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

Tamil Nadu plains

The Tamil Nadu Plains (Coromandel) stretches for from the south of Pulicat Lake to Kanniyakumari at the southern end of the Indian peninsula. The average width is about with the plains widest at the

delta at . The fertile soil and

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

facilities have made the Kaveri delta region as one of the major centers of agriculture. The coast itself has sparse vegetation with marshlands dotted with

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

and

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

trees.

References

{{Geography of India Coastal plains Coasts of India East Coast of India Plains of India Natural regions of India

Geography

Utkal plains

Andhra plains

Tamil Nadu plains

See also

References