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GeographyMedium

The Narmada, the Son and the Mahanadi flowing out in different directions from the Amarkantak plateau is an example of which drainage pattern?

  1. A.Radial
  2. B.Rectangular
  3. C.Parallel
  4. D.Deranged

Correct answer

A. Radial

Explanation

The correct answer is A, radial. In a radial pattern the streams start from a dome, a volcanic cone or a high plateau and run outward in all directions like the spokes of a wheel. Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh is the classic Indian site: the Narmada leaves it to the west, the Son to the north east and the Mahanadi system to the east, so one hill feeds three major basins. Option B is wrong because a rectangular pattern shows sharp right angled bends and grows on strongly jointed rock. Option C is wrong because a parallel pattern needs a long uniform slope, such as the western face of the Western Ghats, down which many short streams run side by side. Option D is wrong because a deranged pattern, with lakes and swamps and no clear order, is typical of recently glaciated ground. Note the opposite of radial is centripetal, which flows inward instead of outward.

Read the full article: Drainage Patterns and River Basins of India: GK Notes

Practice Questions

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Q1.GeographyEasy

The drainage pattern in which the tributaries of a river look like the branches of a tree is called

  1. A.Radial
  2. B.Dendritic
  3. C.Centripetal
  4. D.Trellis
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Dendritic

The word comes from the Greek for tree, and the pattern develops where the underlying rock is of uniform hardness and the slope is gentle, so the streams branch freely without being guided by lines of weakness; the tributaries of the Ganga in the northern plain are the standard Indian…

Q2.GeographyEasy

Which is the largest river basin of India by area?

  1. A.Godavari basin
  2. B.Indus basin
  3. C.Ganga basin
  4. D.Brahmaputra basin
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Ganga basin

The correct answer is C, the Ganga basin, which covers about 8.6 lakh square kilometres inside India, close to a quarter of the country, and takes in parts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

Q3.GeographyEasy

Which river of peninsular India is known as the Dakshin Ganga and has the largest basin in the peninsula?

  1. A.Krishna
  2. B.Godavari
  3. C.Mahanadi
  4. D.Cauvery
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Godavari

It rises at Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district of Maharashtra, runs about one thousand four hundred kilometres across Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Bay of Bengal, and drains about 3.1 lakh square kilometres, the largest catchment in the peninsula, which is why it is called the Ganga of the…

Q4.GeographyMedium

Centripetal drainage, in which streams flow inward from all sides, is best illustrated in India by the streams draining into

  1. A.Chilika lake
  2. B.Wular lake
  3. C.Loktak lake
  4. D.Sambhar lake
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Loktak lake

Loktak lies in the floor of the Manipur valley, which is ringed by hills, so the streams of the valley run inward into it from every side, the classic shape of a centripetal pattern; the lake is also known for its floating phumdis and for Keibul Lamjao, the only floating…

Q5.GeographyHard

The Indus, the Satluj and the Brahmaputra cut deep gorges across the Himalaya because they are older than the present mountains. Such drainage is called

  1. A.Antecedent drainage
  2. B.Superimposed drainage
  3. C.Inland drainage
  4. D.Deranged drainage
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Antecedent drainage

These rivers were flowing when the Himalaya was still rising, and instead of being turned aside they cut downward as fast as the land rose, leaving the gorges of the Indus near Gilgit, of the Satluj at Shipki and of the Brahmaputra at the great bend in the Dihang.