{"id":86639,"date":"2026-02-07T17:23:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T11:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=86639"},"modified":"2026-02-07T17:42:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T12:12:53","slug":"jaintia-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/jaintia-hills\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaintia Hills, Location, Physiography, Geology, Climate, Ecology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Jaintia Hills are a beautiful, mountainous region in eastern Meghalaya, known for being one of the wettest places on Earth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Jaintia Hills Location<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Jaintia Hills are <\/span><b>located in the eastern part of Meghala<\/b><strong>y<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>a<\/strong>, forming one of the three hill ranges of the state &#8211; Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia Hills.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They lie east of the Khasi Hills and extend up to the India &#8211; Bangladesh international border.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Jaintia Hills are an <\/span><b>integral part of the Meghalaya Plateau<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is an extension of the Peninsular Plateau.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Jaintia Hills Physiography and Relief<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Jaintia Hills exhibit a plateau-like structure with dissected hills and valleys.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Average elevation ranges from 600 metres to about 1,500 metres.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The relief is highly uneven due to intense rainfall and river erosion.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The southern edge shows steep escarpments that descend sharply towards the Bangladesh plains.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Jaintia Hills Geology<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hills are composed mainly of ancient crystalline rocks such as gneiss and schist, overlain by thick sedimentary limestone deposits.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rich mineral resources include Limestone (cement industry), Coal Sandstone and clay.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jaintia Hills are famous for karst landscapes, formed by the dissolution of limestone. This process has created many caves, sinkholes, and underground rivers in the region. Inside the caves, there are natural formations called stalactites and stalagmites, which are formed by mineral deposits.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The region hosts some of the longest and deepest caves in India, such as Krem Liat Prah, Krem Umthloo<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Jaintia Hills Drainage\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since Jaintia Hills have a hilly and steep terrain rivers are generally short, swift-flowing, and rain-fed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most rivers flow southwards into Bangladesh, becoming part of the Surma &#8211; Meghna river system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Kopili River is the largest stream in the region, known for its rocky terrain and numerous waterfalls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other major rivers include the Myntdu River and the Lukha River which is known for its seasonal blue and acidic water<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Jaintia Hills Climate\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The climate of the Jaintia Hills is directly <\/span><b>controlled by the southwest monsoon <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">originating from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The climate shows a variation from the <\/span><b>warm, humid tropical plains <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the eastern and southern part and <\/span><b>temperate climate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is experienced in the western part.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They receive very <\/span><b>heavy rainfall, particularly during the south-west monsoon<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Proximity to Cherrapunji and Mawsynram places the region among the wettest areas of India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">High rainfall in the region leads to <\/span><b>waterfalls and deep gorges. Krang Suri Waterfall<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is one of the most famous and beautiful waterfalls in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Jaintia Hills Soils<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Soils are mainly red, lateritic and acidic in nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heavy rainfall results in leaching and soil erosion.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Valley areas have relatively more fertile alluvial patches suitable for agriculture.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Jaintia Hills Ecology<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The region is part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, making it ecologically important.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The region supports <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/tropical-evergreen-forests\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>tropical evergreen<\/strong><\/a> and semi-evergreen forests. Forests are rich in Bamboo, Orchids, Medicinal plants. In the higher and cooler parts, pine forests are also found.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jaintia Hills host diverse wildlife such as elephants, leopards, hoolock gibbons, <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/great-hornbill\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>hornbill<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The region is often in news due to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/rat-hole-mining-tragedy-in-meghalaya\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>Rat-hole mining<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Rat-hole mining is a method of extracting coal from narrow, horizontal seams, prevalent in Meghalaya. The term \u201crat hole\u201d refers to the narrow pits dug into the ground, typically just large enough for one person to descend and extract coal.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya explained with location, physiography, geology, caves, rivers, heavy rainfall, climate, biodiversity, soils and issues like rat-hole mining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":86664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5226],"class_list":{"0":"post-86639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-jaintia-hills","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86639"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86651,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86639\/revisions\/86651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}