Editing Geography of India (section)

==== Ghats ====
[[File:Kollimalai Kundrugal.JPG|thumb|right|Kolli Hills of the [[Eastern Ghats]], [[Tamil Nadu]]]]
[[File:Konkan - Western Ghats - Scenes from India's Konkan Railway 104.JPG|right|thumb|Western Ghats]][[File:Pond at Punyagiri temple.jpg|thumb|right|Dry Evergreen Forests along the [[Eastern Ghats]], [[Andhra Pradesh]]]]The word ''ghati'' ({{Langx|hi|घाटी}}) means valley.<ref name="ghatimean1">[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/hindi-english/%E0%A4%98%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%80 Ghati meaning], Hindi-English Collins dictionary.</ref> In [[Marathi language|Marathi]], Hindi, [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] and [[Kannada]], ''ghat'' is a term used to identify a difficult passage over a mountain.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Navneet Marathi English Dictionary |publisher=Navneet Publications (India) Limited |location=Mumbai 400028 |url=http://www.navneet.com/mainpage/contactus.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124025354/http://navneet.com/mainpage/contactus.asp |archive-date=2009-01-24 |url-status=dead}}</ref> One such passage is the [[Bhor Ghat]] that connects the towns [[Khopoli]] and [[Khandala]], on [[National Highway 4 (India, old numbering)|NH 4]] about {{convert|80|km}} north of [[Mumbai]]. [[Charmadi]] Ghat of Karnataka is also notable. In many cases, the term is used to refer to a mountain range itself, as in the ''[[Western Ghats]]'' and ''[[Eastern Ghats]]''. 'Ghattam' in Malayalam also refers to mountain ranges when used with the name of the ranges being addressed (e.g., paschima ghattam for Western Ghats), while the passage road would be called a 'churam'. [[Eastern Ghats]] on the east coast of India and [[Western Ghats]] on the west coast of India are the largest ghats in pensular India.<ref name="RWH" />

*[[Western Ghats]] also known as ''Sahyadri'' (Benevolent Mountains) run along the western edge of India's [[Deccan Plateau]] and separate it from a narrow coastal plain along the [[Arabian Sea]]. The range covers an area of 140,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> in a stretch of {{convert|1600|km|mi||abbr=on}} parallel to the western coast of the [[India]]n [[peninsula]],<ref name="manorama3" /> from south of the [[Tapti River]] near the Gujarat–Maharashtra border and across [[Kerala]], [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Karnataka]], [[Goa]], [[Maharashtra]] and [[Gujarat]]. to the southern tip of the Deccan peninsula.<ref name="Western Ghats">{{cite web |title=Western Ghats |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1342 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704212953/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1342 |archive-date=4 July 2018 |access-date=5 September 2023}}</ref>  The average elevation is around {{convert|1000|m|ft||abbr=on}}.<ref name="manorama3" /> [[Anai Mudi]] in the [[Anaimalai Hills]] {{convert|2695|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} in Kerala is the highest peak in the Western Ghats.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Clayton |first=Pamela |date=November 2006 |title=Introduction |url=https://www.hindimetyari.com/2018/10/drishti-ias-geography-notes-free-pdf.html |url-status=dead |journal=Literacy in Kerala |publisher=[[Hindimetyari]] |isbn=0-86389-068-7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123154240/https://www.hindimetyari.com/2018/10/drishti-ias-geography-notes-free-pdf.html |archive-date=23 November 2018 |access-date=22 November 2018}}</ref> It is a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]] and is one of the eight "hottest hot-spots" of biological diversity in the world.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Myers |first1=Norman |last2=Mittermeier |first2=Russell A. |last3=Mittermeier |first3=Cristina G. |last4=Da Fonseca |first4=Gustavo A. B. |last5=Kent |first5=Jennifer |year=2000 |title=Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities |journal=Nature |volume=403 |issue=6772 |pages=853–858 |bibcode=2000Natur.403..853M |doi=10.1038/35002501 |pmid=10706275 |s2cid=4414279}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2 July 2012 |title=UN designates Western Ghats as world heritage site |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/flora-fauna/UN-designates-Western-Ghats-as-world-heritage-site/articleshow/14595602.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131192257/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-02/flora-fauna/32507340_1_world-heritage-list-western-ghats-border-town |archive-date=31 January 2013 |access-date=2 July 2012 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> It is sometimes called the Great [[Escarpment]] of India.<ref>{{cite book |last=Migon |first=Piotr |title=Geomorphological Landscapes of the World |date=12 May 2010 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-90-481-3054-2 |page=257}}</ref> It is a biodiversity hotspot that contains a large proportion of the country's flora and fauna; many of which are only found here and nowhere else in the world.<ref>{{citation |title=A biodiversity hotspot |url=http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/western_ghats/ |access-date=5 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118005548/http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/western_ghats/ |archive-date=18 January 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[UNESCO]], Western Ghats are older than Himalayan mountains. It also influences Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer.<ref name="Western Ghats" />  A total of thirty-nine properties including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests were designated as world heritage sites - twenty in [[Kerala]], ten in [[Karnataka]], five in [[Tamil Nadu]] and four in [[Maharashtra]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Western Ghats |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1342/multiple%3D1%26unique_number%3D1921 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118010253/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1342/multiple%3D1%26unique_number%3D1921 |archive-date=18 January 2013 |access-date=3 January 2013 |work=[[UNESCO]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Clara |date=3 July 2012 |title=39 sites in Western Ghats get world heritage status |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/39-sites-in-Western-Ghats-get-world-heritage-status/articleshow/14622091.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707023508/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-03/mumbai/32523277_1_radhanagari-wildlife-world-heritage-centre-western-ghats |archive-date=7 July 2012 |access-date=21 February 2013 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> [[Marathi people#Ghati people|Ghati people]], literally means the ''people of hills or ghats (valleys)'', is an [[exonym]] used for the marathi people specially those from the villages in [[Western Ghats]], often in pejorative terms.<ref name="ghati2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=bBG_QmivOWgC&dq=ghati+people&pg=PA110 >Bombay Teachers and the Cultural Role of Cities] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905035554/https://books.google.com/books?id=bBG_QmivOWgC&dq=ghati+people&pg=PA110|date=5 September 2023}}, Page 110.</ref><ref name="ghati1">[https://www.firstpost.com/living/of-ghati-bhaiyya-and-yandu-gundu-mumbai-has-huge-diversity-in-its-pejoratives-2640836.html Of 'ghati', 'bhaiyya' & 'yandu gundu': Mumbai has huge diversity in its pejoratives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905035556/https://www.firstpost.com/living/of-ghati-bhaiyya-and-yandu-gundu-mumbai-has-huge-diversity-in-its-pejoratives-2640836.html|date=5 September 2023}}, First Post, 26 Feb 2019.</ref><ref name="ghati3">Guruprasad Datar, 2018, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zcxYDwAAQBAJ&dq=ghati+people&pg=PT90 Stereotypes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905035559/https://books.google.com/books?id=zcxYDwAAQBAJ&dq=ghati+people&pg=PT90|date=5 September 2023}},</ref>
* [[Eastern Ghats]] are a discontinuous range of mountains along [[India]]'s eastern coast, which have been eroded and quadrisected by the four major rivers of southern India, the [[Godavari River|Mahanadi, Godavari]], [[Krishna River|Krishna]], and [[Kaveri River|Kaveri]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pullaiah |first=Thammineni |title=Flora of Eastern Ghats: Hill ranges of south east India |author2=D.Muralidhara Rao |publisher=Daya Books |year=2002 |isbn=81-87498-49-8 |volume=1 |page=1 |chapter=Preface}}</ref> These mountains extend from West Bengal to [[Odisha]] through [[Andhra Pradesh]] to [[Tamil Nadu]] in the south passing some parts of [[Karnataka]] and in the [[Wayanad district|Wayanad region]] of Kerala. Parts of the [[coastal plain]]s, including the [[Coromandel Coast]] region, lie between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal.Though not as tall as the Western Ghats, some of its peaks are over {{convert|1000|m|ft||abbr=on}} in height.<ref name="manorama3" /> The [[Nilgiri mountains|Nilgiri]] hills in Tamil Nadu lies at the junction of the Eastern and Western Ghats. [[Arma Konda]] ({{convert|1690|m|abbr=on}}) in Andhra Pradesh is the tallest peak in Eastern Ghats.<ref name="Pletcher2013">{{cite book |author=Kenneth Pletcher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mjr0X-8jrLAC&pg=PA28 |title=The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places |date=2010 |publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group |isbn=978-16-1530-142-3 |pages=28}}</ref> The Eastern Ghats are older than the Western Ghats, and have a complex geologic history related to the assembly and breakup of the ancient [[supercontinent]] of [[Rodinia]] and the assembly of the [[Gondwana]] supercontinent. The Eastern Ghats are made up of [[charnockite]]s, [[granite]] [[gneiss]], [[khondalite]]s, [[metamorphic]] [[gneiss]]es and [[quartzite]] rock formations. The structure of the Eastern Ghats includes [[Thrust fault|thrusts]] and [[strike-slip fault]]s<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sriramadas |first1=A. |date=November 1967 |title=Geology of Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF03052185.pdf#page-1 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Section B |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=200–205 |doi=10.1007/BF03052185 |s2cid=126925893}}</ref> all along its range. [[Limestone]], [[bauxite]] and [[iron ore]] are found in the Eastern Ghats hill ranges.