GREAT INDIAN PLATEAU

Peninsular Plateau
 The Peninsular Plateau is a tableland composed of old crystalline, igneous and metamorphic
rocks.
 It is composed of the complex rocks from the Archean to Upper Carboniferous period.
 The formation of Peninsular plateau can be traced to the Paleozoic era.
 It was formed due to the breaking and the drifting of the Gondwanaland because of which
it is apart of an old landmass.

 The Peninsular Plateau is an irregular triangular shaped block. It is broader in the north
and tapers in the south.
 Its average height is 600-900 m.
 This is the most stable landmass of India.
 Its north-south extension is 1,600 km and east-west extension is 1,400 km.
 The plateau is surrounded by the Delhi-Aravalli ridge in the northwest and the Rajmahal
hills to the east. The Gir range marks its western boundaries, and the Cardamom Hills
surround the peninsular plateau in the south.
 Peninsular Plateau is found in the north-eastern states of Assam and Meghalaya called as
Shillong and Karbi-Anglong Plateau. The plateau is rich in mineral resources (non-metallic
and metallic minerals). Almost 98% of coal deposits in India are found in peninsular regions.

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Evolution of the Peninsular Plateau

 The northward journey of the Indian plate, after breaking from the rest of the Gondwana
land, it passed over a geologic hotspot named the Reunion hotspot, which caused extensive
melting under the Indian Craton.

 The volcanic activity caused the surface to melt, and a massive basalt flood was trapped
within the landmass called Deccan Traps.
 The peninsular plateau comprises metamorphic and igneous rocks and is considered the
most stable landmass in the world.

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 Great Indian Peninsular
Plateau Plateau

Peninsular The Central

Plateau Highland

The Hill
Ranges The Decan
Plateau

The North
Eastern Plateau
The Central Highlands

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 The northern part of the peninsular plateau is called Central Highlands.

 The Central Highlands are located to the North of the Narmada River, to the west are the
Aravallis and Satpura ranges to the South.
 The average elevation of Central Highlands is around 700 to 1000 meters.

 The Central Highlands consists of Malwa Plateau, Marwar Upland, Bundelkhand Plateau,
Baghelkhand Plateau, and Chotanagpur Plateau.

Marwar Upland

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 The Marwar Upland lies in the eastern part of the Aravalli ranges in Rajasthan.
 The average elevation of the uplands is 250 to 500 metres above the mean sea level.
 The Madhya Bharat Pahar lies to the east of Marwar Upland.

Malwa Plateau

 The Malwa Plateau is located Madhya Pradesh between Vindhya ranges and Aravali ranges.
 It forms the shape of a triangle, the Vindhyan Range forming the base of the triangle, the
Aravalli to the west and the Bundelkhand to the east.
 The plateau is created by an extensive lava flow that is currently covered with black soil.
 The river system draining the the Malwa Plateau are the Narmada, the Tapti, and the Mahi,
that drain into the Arabian Sea and the Chambal, and the Betwa draining into the Bay of
Bengal Sea.

Bastar Plateau

 Bastar plateau is also called as the Dandakaranya Plateau.

 The region is drained by river Mahanadi, Salandi, and Sileru.
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 The plateau is characterized by dense forests and is known for left wing extremism.

Baghelkhand Plateau

 The Baghelkhand plateau is located to the north of the Maikal range.

 Large deposition of limestone, sandstone, and granite are available in this region.
 The region is bounded by the river Son in the north and the river Mahanadi in the south.

Bundelkhand Plateau

 The Bundelkhand Plateau lies within the borders of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
 The region is bounded by the Yamuna river to the north, Madhya Bharat Pathar to the west,
Vindhyan Scarplands to the east and southeast and Malwa plateau to the south.
 The region is unfit for cultivation due to intensive erosion and a semi-arid climate.

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Chottanagpur Plateau

 Chottanagpur Plateau lies on the north eastern part of the Peninsular Plateau.
 The plateau includes Jharkhand, West Bengal, and parts of Chhattisgarh.
 The plateau also comprises Sub-plateaus also known as the Ruhr of India.
 The Rajmahal Hills lie on the northeast part of the Chottanagpur Plateau.
 Chottanagpur is a mineral-rich plateau and is Composed of mainly Gondwana rocks The
region has undergone a metamorphic process.The presence of marble, Slate, gneiss, etc.
can be found.
 The Chottanagpur plateau is drained by rivers Son,Damodar, and Subarnarekha.
 The Damodar river flows across the region in a rift valley from west to east.
 The Gondwana coal fields provide the bulk of the share of coal in India.

Decan Plateau

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  The Deccan Plateau encompasses the area located south of the Narmada River.

 The Western Ghats borders the Plateau in the west, the Eastern Ghats to the east, and the
Maikal Range, Mahadeo, and Satpura hills in the north.

 The plateau is of volcanic origin and is made up of solidified lava, forming a trap structure
with a step-like appearance.
 Most of the rivers originating from Deccan traps flow from west to east.
 The plateau provides suitable conditions for cotton cultivation, contains rich mineral
deposits, and is as surce for generation of hydroelectricity.

The Decan Plateau

Maharashtra Plateau

Karnataka Plateau

Telangana Plateau
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 Maharashtra Plateau

 The Maharashtra Plateau lies in the sate of Maharashtra.

 The Maharashtra Plateau has Deccan trap topography with underlying basaltic rocks.

 The horizontal lava sheets has led to the formation of step like topography. (Decan Trap in
Particular Nomenclature)
 The region looks like a eroded plain due to weathering.

Karnataka Plateau

 The Karnataka Plateau is also called as the Mysore plateau that lies to the south of
Maharashtra Plateau.
 The plateau is classified into two parts called Maidan and Malnad.
 Maidan is formed of rolling plain with low height granite hills.
 Malnad means "hill country" in Kannada, and is covered by dense forests.
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Telangana Plateau

 The Telangana Plateau has two units, the Ghats and the Peneplains.
 Peneplains are vast featureless undulating plain which mark the last stage of deposition
process.
 The region is drained by river Godavari, river Krishna, and river Penneru.
 The average elevation is 500 to 600 meters.

The North-eastern Plateau

 North-eastern plateau comprises Shillong plateau or Meghalaya which is separated from

the peninsular by the Garo-Rajmahal Gap.
 Shillong is the highest point of the plateau.

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  There are several hill ranges called the Garo Hills, Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills, and Mikir Hills.

 The Meghalaya Plateau is endowed with rich mineral deposits like coal, iron, uranium, and
limestone.

 The region receives the maximum precipitation in the form of rainfall from the southwest
monsoon.
 The Meghalaya plateau extension can be found in the Karbi Anglong hills of Assam.

Hill Ranges of the Peninsular Plateau

 The hills of peninsular India are residual hills.
 They are the residual portions of the hills formed millions of years ago.
 The denudation process has reduced their size to a large extent.

The Aravallis

 Aravalli ranges are located on the western and north-western side of the Peninsular plateau
which are highly dissected and are relict of the world's oldest mountain.
 Aravalli hills extend upto 800 km from south-west in Gujarat to north-east in Delhi.

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  They are known as Delhi Ridge near Delhi.
 The average height of Aravalli is 300-920 m.

 Its highest peak, Gurushikhar near Mt. Abu is 1,722 m high.

 These ranges were formed 600 to 570 million years ago during Pre-Cambrian period.
 Mahi and Luni river originates from the west of Aravallis.
 Luni river disappears in the Rann of Kutch.
 Dilwara temple located here. The Brahmakumaris are there

Vindhayan Ranges

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  These ranges extend parallel to the north of the Narmada-Son rift valley from west to east.
 They are old residual fold mountains.
 It extends in the north of Malwa Plateau in Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
 It separates North India from South India.
 Its average altitude is 450-600 m.

 It extends from west to east upto 1,200 km in the form of Bharner, Kaimur and Parasnath
hills.

Satpura Ranges

 Satpura ranges are the part of Deccan plateau.

 The rift valley of Narmada and Tapi surrounds it from both the sides.
 Structurally, Satpura has been divided into three parts.
 Rajpipla hills in the west, Mahadeo hills at the centre and Maikal hills in the east.
 Dhupgarh (1,350 m) is the highest peak of Satpura ranges located on the Pachmarhi hills.

Western Ghats
 The average heights of Western Ghats are 1,000 m to1,300 m as compared to the Eastern
Ghats which are 600 m high.

 Western Ghats extend for a length of 1,600 m from the Tapti river valley in the north to
Nilgiri Hills in the South.

 These run parallel to the western coast through the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa,
Kamataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
 The four important passes from north to south are Thalghat, Bhorghat, Palghat and
Senkota.
 Thal Ghat Links Nasik to Mumbai.
 Bhor Ghat Links Mumbai to Pune
 Pal Ghat Between Nilgiris and Anaimala Hills.

 Between Nagercoil and Cardamom hills linking Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram Senkota
Pass
 The Western Ghats meets the Eastern Ghats in the south at the Nilgiri Hills.
 Western Ghat is known as Sahvadri in Maharastra. Goa and Karnataka.

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 Its average elevation is 1.200 m. It can be divided into two parts- North Sabyadri and South
Sahyadri.
 16'N latitude divides Northern Sahyadri and Southern Sahyadri, which passes through Goa.

 Conservation efforts in the form of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs), such as Dahanu
taluka, Matheran and Mahabaleshwar-Panchagani comes under Western Ghats.
 The highest peak of Northern Sahyadri is Kalsubai (1,646 m) whereas the highest peak of
Southem Sahyadri is Kundremukh (1,892 m).
 The second highest peak of Southern Sahyadri is Pushpagiri (1714 m).
 Kaveri river originates near Pushpagir .

 The highest peak of the South India is Anaimudi (2,695 m) which is located on the
Annamalai Hills Dodabetta (2,637 m) is the second highest peak of south India.
 Nilgiri mountains are located at the meeting point of Karnataka Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
 Kodaikamal is on Palami hill (T.N).
 Cardamom Hills are located in the south of Western Ghats in Kerala and the south of the
Annamalai hills in Tamil Nadu.
 Nagercoil hill is to the south of Cardamom Hill.
 Otty fs in Nilgiri hill (TN)

The Eastern Ghats

 The average height of the Eastern Ghats is 900-1,100 m which extends for 1,800 m, parallel
to the eastern coastal plain from Mahanadi Valley to Nilgiri in the south.
 Eastern Ghats comprising the discontinuous and low hills, are highly eroded by the rivers.
 Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari and Kaveri Rivers have eroded it at various places and hence
is more eroded than the Western Ghats.
 The rivers draining into Bay of Bengal. Eastern Ghats are the residual mountain.

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 The highest peak is Jindhagoda Peak (1,680 m.) and Mahendragiri(1,501 m) is the second
highest peak.

 The plateau region between Sahyadri (Western Ghats) and Purvadri (Eastern Ghats) is
known with different regional names.
 Telangana plateau is a part of the Peninsular plateau only.
 Mahendragiri in Odisha, Nallamala, Palkonda in Andhra Pradesh Javadi, Shevrov, Palni,
Velangiri in TamilNadu are the major peaks of Eastern Ghats.
 These Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri rivers form fertile plain and delta.

 Shevroy hills are located at an elevation of 400-500 m from the sea level near the plateaus
in Salem of TamilNadu.

 It is a part of the Eastern ghats, spread over an area of 50 km. The famous hill station of
Tamil Nadu, Yercaud is located in these hills.

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