Gujarat Physiography

Hold Gujarat as three blocks with a hinge. Kachchh in the north-west is a rocky island ringed by the salt Ranns. Saurashtra in the south-west is a rounded rocky plateau — a dome whose rivers run outward in all directions, like water off an upturned bowl, which is why every Saurashtra river is short. Mainland Gujarat in the east is the long fertile plain, widening from the Banas country in the north down to the south Gujarat coast. The hinge is the Gulf of Khambhat, which separates the peninsula from the mainland plain. Any place-name question becomes: Kachchh, Saurashtra, or mainland?

• Kachchh, Saurashtra, mainland — three shapes, three problems.

  Kachchh is salt desert and seismic risk; Saurashtra is a rocky peninsula with short rivers and water scarcity; mainland Gujarat is alluvial, industrial and fed by the big rivers. Any question about drought, earthquake or canal water is really asking which of these you are in.

• Longest coastline in India.

  Gujarat has the longest coastline of any Indian state — roughly sixteen hundred kilometres. That one fact drives ports, salt, fisheries, marine national park, cyclone exposure and coastal regulation, so it earns its place in several different subjects.

• 1Gujarat has the longest coastline among Indian states, at roughly 1,600 kilometres.
• 2The state borders Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and shares an international boundary with Pakistan.
• 3The Tropic of Cancer passes through Gujarat, crossing the northern part of the state.
• 4The Gorakhnath peak on Girnar, near Junagadh, is the highest point in Gujarat.
• 5The Rann of Kachchh has a Great Rann to the north and a Little Rann to the south-east; the Little Rann is the home of the Indian wild ass.
• 6Kachchh lies in a high seismic zone; the 2001 Bhuj earthquake is the reference event for Gujarat's disaster management institutions.

• Gujarat has the longest coastline of any Indian state, roughly 1,600 kilometres, and its coast is indented by two large gulfs — the Gulf of Kachchh in the north-west and the Gulf of Khambhat between Saurashtra and the mainland.
• The highest point in Gujarat is Girnar (Gorakhnath peak) near Junagadh in Saurashtra, while Mount Abu, the highest point of the Aravalli range, lies just across the border in Rajasthan; the northern hills of Gujarat are the tail end of the Aravallis.
• The Rann of Kachchh is a vast salt marsh divided into the Great Rann to the north and the Little Rann to the east; the Little Rann is the habitat of the Indian wild ass, and Banni in the Great Rann area is known for its grasslands.
• Kachchh is a seismically active zone: it lies in the highest earthquake risk zone of India and was struck by the devastating Bhuj earthquake of 26 January 2001.
• The Gir forest in Saurashtra is the only natural home of the Asiatic lion in the world, and Gujarat's other flagship protected areas include Marine National Park in the Gulf of Kachchh (India's first marine national park), Velavadar for blackbuck and Nal Sarovar for migratory birds.
• The Tropic of Cancer passes through northern Gujarat, so the state lies partly in the tropical and partly in the sub-tropical belt; broadly, rainfall increases from the dry north-west (Kachchh) towards the wet south (the Dangs).

• Gujarat has India's longest coastline; Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu follow. Do not confuse 'longest state coastline' with the longest among union territories or overall national figures.

• Gujarat State Board Social Science textbooks for secondary standards, published by GSSTB
• Gujarat Socio-Economic Review, published annually by the state government
• NCERT Class XI — India: Physical Environment

• NCERT textbooks (free PDFs)
• Census of India
• Narmada / Sardar Sarovar (Gujarat Govt)