![]() About 9km south-west of Bhandara town, there lie two isolated hill ranges, each about 5 km long in a south-west-north-east direction and about 2 km wide; these hills together may be termed as the Ballahi range. These hills, rising about 150m above the valley floor, overhang the Great Eastern Highway on either side and form prominent features of the landscape that can be seen for quite some distance along the road. These hills are underlain by sandstones, quartzites and granulites. Just west of the Wainganga river and the township of Pauni in the south western extremes of the district are a clump of hills called the Gaidongri and Nishti hills rising to about 300 km. above sea-level, and barely 50 to 100 m. above the adjoining plains. The lowlands of Bhandara district lie mainly along the valley of the river Wainganga, Bagh, Chullband and Bawanthari, and the most extensive of them occur along the first two rivers. The other two river valleys have a rolling topography dotted with a number of residual hills. The soils of the district are varied, arising out of the tropical sub-humid weathering of crystalline metamorphic and igneous rocks. They are essentially residual, though along the southern extremes of the Wainganga valley, downstream of Pauni, alluvial soil predominates. Kali or black Regur soil derived from the weathering of basaltsis generally rare in the district. Kanhar or very rich alluvial soils occur widely. These soils crumble readily and are easy to work. They are clay loams in texture, very deep, sticky and retentive of moisture; they bear double crops. ![]() Most of the cultivable soils of the district belong to the morand and sihar types, both of which are light and slightly acidic. The sihar are the best rice soils of the district while the morand soils are devoted to rabi crops like wheat and linseed and kharif jowar. Poor lateritic bardi soils are found in foothills and sloping areas. Along the immediate banks of rivers, black kachhar soils, reddish and sandy marhani soils, and sandy retari soils are found; these soils are mostly immature. The marhani soils are devoted to garden crops. The entire district of Bhandara falls within the drainage of the Wainganga River and one of its principle affluent, the Bagh. The source streams of the Wainganga rise in the Chhindwara and Seoni plateaus of Madhya Pradesh. The river flows south through the Balaghat district before entering Bhandara district at its northern extreme. It initially flows west along the northern boundary, then turns south-west and gradually southwards through the Bhandara tahsil. Before leaving the district to enter Chandrapur, the river runs south-east. Thus, the Wainganga drains mainly the western parts of the district. The Bawanthadi River rises in the Kurai plateau of Seoni district (Madhya Pradesh) flows south, enters the district at the north-western limit of the boundary, and runs east forming the northern boundary for a distance of 48 kms before falling into the Wainganga. Through small and seasonal in its upper course, the river after entering this district is fed by numerous hill torrents and is perennial. It drains the north-western parts of the district around Ambagad and Chandrapur. ![]() The average annual rainfall in the district is 1,470.6 mm (57-89). The rain fall generally increases from the west towards the east. It varies from 1312.9 mm (51-69) at Chandpur near the western border of the district to 1578-5 mm (62-15) at Gondia near the north eastern border of the district. The south-west monsoon arrives over the district by about the second week of June. The rainfall during the period from June to September constitutes about 90 percent of the annual normal rainfall. July and August are the months with heaviest rainfall, July being the rainiest month. The variation in the annual rainfall from year to year is small. |