write a short note on the physical features of India.
India is a country which has practically all major physical features of the earth i.e. mountains, plains, deserts, plateaus and islands. In India we find different types of rocks; some are very hard like marble which has been used for making the Taj Mahal, and some are very soft like soap stone which is used in making talcum powder. The colour of soil varies from one place to the other because soil is formed out of different types rocks. India is a large landmass formed during different geological periods which has influenced her relief. Besides, geological formations, a number of processes such as weathering, erosion and deposition have created and modified the relief to its present form.
Earth scientists have attempted to explain the formation of physical features with the help of some theories based on certain evidences. One such plausible theory is the “Theory of Plate Tectonics”. According to this theory, the crust(upper part) of the earth has been formed out of seven major and some minor plates. 
The movement of the plates results in the building up of stresses within the plates and the continental rocks above, leading to folding, faulting and volcanic activity. Broadly, these plate movements are classified into three types. While some plates come towards each other and form convergent boundary. Some plates move away from each other and form divergent boundary. In the event of two plates coming together they may either collide and crumble, or one may slide under the other. At times, they may also move horizontally past each other and form transform boundary. The movement of these plates have changed the position and size of the continents over millions of years. Such movements have also influenced the evolution of the present landform features relief of India.
The oldest landmass, (The Peninsula part), was a part of the Gondwana land. The Gondwana land included India, Australia, South Africa and South America as one single landmass. The conventional currents split the crust into a number of pieces, thus leading to the drifting of the Indo-Australian plate after being separated from the Gondwana land, towards north.
The northward drift resulted in the collision with the plate with the much larger Eurasian Plate. Due to this collision, the sedimentary rocks which were accumulated in the geosyncline known as the Tethys were folded to form the mountain system of western Asia andHimalaya. The Himalayan uplift out of the Tethys sea and subsidence of the northern flank of thepeninsular plateau resulted in the formation of a large basin. In due course of time this depression, gradually got filled with deposition of sediments by the rivers flowing from the mountains in the north and the peninsular plateau in the south. A flat land of extensive alluvial deposits led to the formation of the northern plains of India. Gondwanaland:- It is the southern part of the ancient super continent Pangea with Angara Land in the northern part.
The land of India displays great physical variations. Geologically, the Peninsular Plateau constitutes one of the ancient land masses on the earth’s surface. It was supposed to be one of the most stable land blocks. The Himalayas and the Northern Plains are the most recent landforms. From the view point of geology, Himalayan mountains form an unstable zone. The mountain system of Himalaya represents a very youthful topography with high peaks, deep valleys and fast flowing rivers. The northern plains are formed of alluvial deposits. The peninsular plateau is composed of igneous and metamorphic rocks with gently rising hills and wide valleys. India hence forth has many major physiographic divisions.