Chota Nagpur Plateau
The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the basin of the Mahanadi River lies to the south. The total area of the Chota Plateau is approximately 65,000 square kilometres (25,000 sq mi).
Etymology
The name Nagpur is probably taken from Nagavanshis, who ruled in this part of the country. Chota is a corruption of the word Chutia, a village in the outskirts of Ranchi, which has the remains of an old fort belonging to the Nagavanshis.
Formation
The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a continental plateau—an extensive area of land thrust above the general land. The plateau has been formed by continental uplift from forces acting deep inside the earth. The Gondwana substrates attest to the plateau's ancient origin. It is part of the Deccan Plate, which broke free from the southern continent during the Cretaceous to embark on a 50-million-year journey that was violently interrupted by the northern Eurasian continent. The northeastern part of the Deccan Plateau, where this ecoregion sits, was the first area of contact with Eurasia.
