WESTERN GHATS REGIONS
The Western Ghats, also called as Sahyadris, is a 1600 km long escarpment that runs parallel to the southwestern coast of Peninsular India. The average elevation of this mountain range is about 1200 m. Diverse topography and interactions between the relief with the summer monsoon winds have resulted in wide array of habitats across the Ghats. The Western Ghats represents best preserved non-equatorial tropical forests ranging from wet evergreen to dry evergreen, moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests, and sprawling high altitude grasslands. The Ghats is considered as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world due high rate of endemism in both plants and animals.
The Western Ghats, including the West Coast, is comes under four major geographical regions (see map below). These regions are further hierarchically divided into 8 first-order regions, 16 second-order regions and 30 third-order regions (Singh R.L. 1971. India: A Regional Geography. National Geographical Society of India, Varnasi. pp. 992)
- MAHARASHTRA REGION
- 38 Maharashtra Sahyadri
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(a) Maharashtra Sahyadri North
- (i) Crest Zone
- (ii) Maval country
-
(b) Maharashtra Sahyadri South
- (i) The Koyna Region
- (ii) The Region of Spurs and Valleys
- 39 Tapi-Purna Valley
- (c) Tapi-Purna Valley West
- (i) West Khandesh or Dhulia Region
- KARNATAKA PLATEAU
- 49 Malanad (Central Sahyadri)
-
(a) North Malanad
- (i) Belgaum Region
- (ii) Sirsi Region
-
(b) Central Malanad
- (i) Shimoga Region or Eastern Flank Region
- (ii) Sringeri Region or the Western Hill Region
- (c) South Malanad
- (i) Chikmagalur Region
- (ii) Coorg Region (including Wayanad)
- TAMIL NADU UPLANDS AND SOUTH SAHYADRI
- 55 South Sahyadri
- (a) Anaimalai-Palani Hills
- (i) Anaimalai
- (ii) Palani Hills
-
(b) Elamalai (Cardamom Hills)
- (i) Periyar Region
- (ii) Varushanad Hills
-
(c) Agastiyamalai Hills
- (i) Shencottah Tenkasi Region
- (ii) Kumari (Comorin) Hills
-
56 Tamil Nadu Ghats
- (d) Nilgiris
- (i) Nilgiris North or Ootacamund
- (ii) Nilgiris South or Palakkad (Palghat) Hills
- WEST COAST REGION
- 60 Konkan Coast
- (a) Konkan Coast North
- (i) Mahim Region
- (ii) Ratnagiri Region
-
(b) Konkan Coast South
- (i) Mahad Region
- (ii) Bombay-Kalyan Region
- (iii) Goa
-
61 Karnataka Coast
- (c) North Kanara
- (d) South Kanara
- (i) Udipi Region
- (ii) Netravati or Mangalore Region
- 62 Malabar Coast
- (e) North Malabar
- (i) Cannanore Region
- (ii) Palghat-Kozhikode Region
-
(f) South Malabar
- (i) Kottayam-Alwaye Region
- (ii) Trivandrum-Nagercoil Region