Question

Write the important features of the Godavari basin.

Answer 1

Hint: The Krishna Godavari Basin is an established continental-margin petroliferous basin situated on the eastern coast of India. The Marathwada area in the Godavari basin, a significant part of Maharashtra, is vulnerable to drought.

Complete Answer:
The River Godavari - A peri-cratonic passive margin basin in India is the Krishna Godavari Basin. In the Krishna River and Godavari River basins in Andhra Pradesh, it is scattered over more than 50,000 square kilometres.

Source of origin of the Godavari River: The Godavari River rises from a location called Trimbak in the Nashik district of the western Ghats in the state of Maharashtra.
The Godavari river's confluence or mouth: it flows into the Bay of Bengal before creating a wide delta below Rajahmundry.

The Basin of Godavari - In the states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka and Puducherry, the Godavari River flows. The Godavari basin is bordered on the north by Satmala hills, on the south by the Ajanta range and Mahadeo hills, on the east by the Eastern Ghats and on the west by the Western Ghats.

Characteristics of the basin of Godavari are –
(i) The biggest peninsular river is the Godavari. In the Nasik district of Maharashtra, it rises from the slopes of the Western Ghats.
(ii) Its length is approximately 1500 km. Through the Bay of Bengal, it drains. Among the peninsular rivers, its drainage basin is also the highest.
(iii) Portions of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh cover the basin. There are a number of tributaries to the Godavari, such as the Puma, the Wardha, the Pranhita, the Manjra, the Wainganga and the Penganga.
(iv) There are very big Manjra, Wainganga and Penganga. Owing to their length and the area they occupy; they are collectively known as the 'Dakshin Conga.'

Note: Peri-cratonic - Circling a craton. Craton, the stable inner portion of an ancient crystalline basement rock typical of a continent. To differentiate these regions from mobile geosynclinal troughs, which are linear belts of sediment accumulations subject to subsidence, the term craton is used. A passive margin is a transition that is not an active plate margin between the oceanic and continental lithosphere.