2020-Session 16

Bangladesh
Relief and Landforms

Dr. Abdul Baqee

BANGLADESH STUDIES Part-time Teacher
Human 1103 : Bangladesh Studies 1
Relief and Landform.
Relief is difference between two points.
In other words, indicates the difference between the
highest and lowest altitude of an area.

What does relief tell you about landform?

--- relief tells us about the elevation of landforms.
A landform is largely
Landforms are categorized
defined by its surface
by physical attributes such
form in a format of the
as elevation, slope,
landscape;
orientation, etc.
such as – terrain
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The Physical Geography of Bangladesh is varied and has an
area characterized by two distinctive features;
* a broad Deltaic Plain subject to
frequent flooding.
and

* a small hilly region crossed

by swiftly flowing rivers.

The country has an area of 147,570

square kilometers and extends 820
kilometers north to south and 600
kilometers east to west.
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Bangladesh is bordered on the
On the south is a highly
west, north, and east by a 4,095
irregular deltaic coastline
kilometer land frontier with India
of about 580 kilometers,
and, in the southeast, by a short
figured by many rivers and
land and water frontier (193 km)
streams flowing into the
with Burma (Myanmar).
Bay of Bengal.

The territorial waters of

Bangladesh extend 12 nautical
miles (22 km), and the
exclusive economic zone of
the country is 200 nautical
miles (370 km).
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Physiography, a description of
the physical nature of natural
features.
Physiographic region/unit refers
to a region of which all parts are
similar in terms of physical
characteristics and which have
consequently had a uniform
geomorphic history, and whose
pattern of topographical
features or landforms differs
significantly from that of
adjacent regions.
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Being fluvio-deltaic in origin, the relief in the major part of the
country is low, varying between one and two meters.

Nearly 50 percent of the country has an elevation of less

than 10 meters above sea level. Only in the southeastern
parts of the country does the altitude exceed 300 meters.
Owing to the flat nature of the
At least 20 percent of
terrain, the rivers generally have
the land consists of
very low gradients;
low-lying tidal plains.
with elevations of less
* 4-5 cm/km for the Ganges
than three meters * 6-10 cm/km for the Brahmaputra
above sea level. and
* 3 cm/km for the Meghna
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 On the basis of age and process of
formation, three major
physiographic units are
recognized in Bangladesh;
Terraces
(a) Hills
(b) Terraces and
Terraces Hills
(c) Floodplains.

The distinction between a hill and a

Floodplains
mountain is unclear and largely
Hills subjective.
A hill is generally lower and less
steep than a mountain.

Geographers historically regarded

mountains as hills greater than 1,000
feet (300 m) above sea level.
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 A: Hills
The country's hilly areas
occupying 12 percent of the
land area, lie mainly in the
southeastern regions of
Chittagong and Chittagong Hill
Hills Tracts, and to a minor extent, in
southern and northern parts of
the greater Sylhet district.
Hills
There is a general pattern of
long, linear ranges running
approximately NW-SE with
the ranges gaining in
elevation from west to east.
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 The highest ridges ranging from 300 meters to
almost 1,000 meters above mean sea level.

The principal rivers are the Karnaphuli,

Sangu and Matamuhuri.
The Karnaphuli, rising in Mizoram (India) and
flowing southwest and then westward
enters the Bay of Bengal at Chittagong, the
country's largest port.

Northward of Chittagong and Chittagong Hill

Tracts, the hill ranges extend into the Indian
state of Tripura, from which their extensions projected further
northward into Sylhet. 9/16
 B: Terraces
The major terraces of
Barind
Tract Bangladesh are the Madhupur
and Barind Tracts, located in the
northwestern and central parts
Madhupur
Tract of the country respectively.

Madhupur tract a large upland

area of 4,244 km² in north
central of Bangladesh,
stretching from east of
Jamalpur in the north, to
Fatullah and Narayganj, in the
south.
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 B: Terraces (contd.)
The Madhupur Tract has been
Barind dissected by streams more than
Tract
the Barind Tract, and also
demonstrates more complex
Madhupur relief patterns.
Tract

The sediments in these terraces are

floodplain deposits of earlier
Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers,
possibly related to higher sea levels
during warmer interglacial periods
in the Pleistocene Ice Age; and
hence, have long been recognized
as "old alluvium".
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 B: Terraces (Madhupur Tract)

It is approximately one to
ten metres above the nearby
floodplains. The tract is
Madhupur
Tract considered an area of jungle-
covered old alluvium.
It is an elevated plateau,
with hillocks of varying
height, ranging from 30 to 60
feet. There are also
cultivated valleys within this
tract.
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 B: Terraces (Madhupur Tract)
The Madhupur Tract was
originally covered with
Madhupur
Tract
monsoon deciduous forest of
Sal (shorea robusta) trees.
o
Lalmai Hills Farmland encroachment and
illegal logging have severely
diminished the forest wealth in
this region during the last four
decades.

A smaller terrrace of Pleistocene origin is located at Lalmai, a

few kilometers west of Comilla town. It has an area of only 33 sq
km.
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 B: Terraces (Madhupur Tract)

The mean elevation of the Lalmai

Madhupur
Tract range is 21 meters above sea level,
o
although some individual peaks are
Lalmai Hills
more than 45 meters high (Morgan
and McIntire 1959).

The Lalmai range is 15 km

long and one and a half
kilometer wide.

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 B: Terraces (Barind Tract)
Barind The Barind Tract is located mostly in
Tract the greater districts of Rajshahi, Bogra
and Dinajpur, and has a gross area of
7,727 sq km. It is a gently undulating
region of heavy impermeable red clays
overlain with gray silty topsoil.

Three subunits of the Barind Tract

are generally recognized;
(a) the Level Barind Tract
(65 percent)
(b) the High Barind Tract
(21 percent); and
(c) the Northeastern Barind Tract
(14 percent) 15/16
 B: Terraces (Barind Tract)
Barind The greater part of the tract is
Tract
generally level, with only a few
minor rivers crossing it.

The western part of the High

Barind Tract is tilted to the
west and subsequently
dissected by streams.

Drainage is poor over most of

the land and is shallowly
flooded by rainwater in the wet
season.
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