The Antecedent drainage pattern of river systems found in –

Concept

Antecedent (or inherited) drainage is a drainage pattern in which a river was established BEFORE the land it crosses was uplifted. As tectonic uplift raised the terrain, the river kept pace by cutting downward at a rate equal to or greater than the rate of uplift, so it preserved its original course and sliced deep transverse gorges straight through the rising mountains.

Application

The classic Indian setting for this is the trans-Himalayan rivers, which existed when the region drained towards the ancient Tethys Sea and continued to incise as the Himalayas rose:

• In the Punjab Himalayas the Sutlej (with the Indus system) was antecedent to the uplift and carved a deep gorge across the rising ranges, keeping its pre-uplift path.

• Such rivers cut across the structural grain of the mountains instead of following it, which is the hallmark of antecedent drainage.

So the antecedent drainage pattern is found in the Punjab Himalayas.

Cross-check / Contrast

• Kumaun Himalayas: its rivers are not the standard cited case for the antecedent pattern; the antecedent gorges of the Sutlej–Indus belt lie in the Punjab Himalayas.

• Deccan Plateau: on this stable, ancient block the rivers form dendritic / trellis patterns, and where they cut across older ridges (e.g. Damodar across the Rajmahal hills) the pattern is SUPERIMPOSED, not antecedent — superimposed rivers acquired their course on overlying younger strata, whereas antecedent rivers predate the uplift.

• Because exactly one listed region fits the antecedent pattern, 'More than one of the above' and 'None of the above' do not apply.