Which of the following geographical features or phenomena is/are associated with the Peninsular Block of India?

Answer: (b) 1 and 2

The sunken west coast ✓ and the residual hills ✓. V-shaped valleys belong to the young Himalaya.

Statement by statement

1. ✓ CORRECT — the west coast sank The Peninsula has stood as a rigid block since the Cambrian period, except parts of its western coast, which sank below the Arabian Sea after faulting (NCERT). That is why the west coast is narrow and straight.

2. ✓ CORRECT — worn-down relict hills The Peninsula is old and eroded, so its hills are residual (relict) mountains: Aravalli, Nallamala, Javadi, Veliconda, Palkonda and Mahendragiri — the same list NCERT gives.

3. ✗ WRONG — that is the Himalaya Deep gorges and V-shaped valleys are cut by young, fast rivers in the Himalaya. Peninsular rivers are old and graded, with broad, shallow valleys.

The idea

A landscape reflects both the age of its rocks and later movements of the crust. Long erosion lowers old uplands, while renewed uplift lets rivers cut downwards. The Peninsular Block is broadly stable, but faults and local uplift can still change parts of it; old rocks do not mean no tectonic movement.

Ancient crystalline block → Long weathering and erosion → Softer rock is removed → Resistant hills remain → Local faulting changes some margins → An old landscape with local exceptions

Why the others are wrong

(a) Misses the residual hills — the most typical Peninsular feature of all.

(c) Statement 3 describes the Himalaya, not the Peninsula.

(d) Mixes up the two blocks. V-shaped valleys are cut by young rivers into rising mountains — the Himalaya.

The trap

Statement 3 sounds like any river valley. “Deep, V-shaped, fast” is the signature of YOUNG mountains — the Himalaya — not the old Peninsula.

Also know

The Meghalaya plateau is an extension of the Peninsular Block, separated from it by intervening lowlands. The Deccan Traps are lava flows laid over older rocks. Narmada and Tapi occupy fault-related valleys, and peninsular rivers can also cut gorges: valley shape is a broad comparison, not an absolute age test.