Eastern Coastal Plains

Western Coastal Plains

The Western Coastal Plains runs between the west coast of India and the Western Ghats hills and stretches from the Gulf of Khambhat in the north to Kanyakumari in the south measuring 1500km. They are separated into four sections from north to south i.e. Kathiawar and Kutch coast, Konkan coast, Kannada coast and Malabar coast covering the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Width of these coastal plains varies, and are narrow in the middle and widen as we move north or south and have an average width of 50 km. Because of the narrow width, rivers flowing in these regions form no delta. Off the coast of Bombay, the West Continental shelf is the widest measuring around 350 km. They are submerged coastal plains and provide ideal conditions for the development of ports and harbors. Some of the important coast are Kandla, Mazagaon, JLN port, Marmagao, Mangalore, Cochin etc. During the southwest monsoon, these plains get a lot of rain from the Western Ghats....

Western Coastal Plains are divided into Four Parts:

A. Kathiawar and Kutch Coast:...

Eastern Coastal Plains:

The Eastern Coastal Plains stretches from the Subarnarekha river in the north to Kanyakumari in the south with an average width of 100 – 120 km. They are divided into Utkal plains, Northern Circars and Coromandel coast spread across the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Eastern Ghats have very gentle slopes with elevation of around 200-300m, due to this the alluvial soil carried by the east flowing rivers is deposited in these plains and form delta. Some of the major deltas formed by rivers like the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna, and the Cauvery....

Eastern Coastal Plains are divided into Three Parts:

A. Utkal Coast Plains:...

Difference between Western Coastal Plains and Eastern Coastal Plains:

Western Coastal Plains are submerged plain while Eastern Plains are emergent plains. Western coastal plains are very narrow with average width of 50km while Eastern coastal plains are wider with average width of 100-120km. On western coastal plains rivers form estuaries while on Eastern plains rivers form large valleys and deltas. Western Plains have many natural harbor while on Eastern coast there are very few natural harbors because of long continental shelf. Western plains are mostly infertile except Malabar coast while Eastern plains are very fertile because of alluvial deposits. Western coastal plains are steep and intersected by mountain ridges while Eastern coastal plains have very gentle slopes with elevation of around 200-300m. Rivers flowing in Western plains drain their water into  Arabian sea while rivers flowing in Eastern plains drain into Bay of Bengal....