Which one of the following is the narrow belt parallel to the Shiwalik foothills where streams and rivers coming from the mountains deposit heavy materials of rocks and boulders ?

The correct answer is C, Bhabar. As rivers come down from the mountains onto the plains, their slope suddenly drops and they can no longer carry their heaviest load. They drop pebbles, rocks and boulders in a narrow belt, about 8 to 16 km wide, along the foot of the Shiwaliks. This porous belt is the Bhabar, and the water soaks into it so completely that most streams disappear underground. Option A is wrong because the Tarai lies just south of the Bhabar; there the underground streams come back to the surface, creating a wet, marshy and once thickly forested zone. Option B is wrong because Bhangar is the older alluvium of the plains, lying on raised terraces above the flood level and often containing calcareous deposits called kankar. Option D is wrong because Khadar is the newer, fertile alluvium of the floodplains, renewed almost every year by floods. Exam tip: from the hills southward: Bhabar (pebbles, streams vanish), Tarai (streams re-emerge, marshy), then the plains of Bhangar (old alluvium) and Khadar (new alluvium).