In this article you will be able to know about the Indian Peninsular Plateau.

The word Peninsular Plateau consists two words i.e., Peninsular and Plateau. The meaning of these two words is:
Peninsular: It is related to peninsula. Peninsula is a long narrow piece of land which sticks out from a larger piece of land and is almost completely surrounded by water.

Plateau: A plateau is a flat, elevated landform that rises sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side.

Peninsular Plateau of India:

• The Peninsular Plateau is oldest physiographic units of India. It is one of the ancient landforms on this planet. Triangle in shape peninsular plateau of India extends from the south of Indo- Ganga plain to the Cape Comorin (now Kanyakumari).
• Delhi ridge in the northwest, (extension of Aravalis), the Rajmahal hills in the east, Gir range in the west and the Cardamom hills in the south constitute the outer extent of the Peninsular plateau. However, an extension of this is also seen in the northeast, in the form of Shillong and Karbi-Anglong plateau.
• The Peninsular India is made up of a series of patland plateaus such as the Hazaribagh plateau, the Palamu plateau, the Ranchi plateau, the Malwa plateau, the Coimbatore plateau and the Karnataka plateau, etc.
• On the basis of the prominent relief features, the Peninsular plateau can be divided into two broad groups:

1. Central Highlands
2. Deccan Plateau

Physical Features of Peninsular Plateau:

• The Peninsular plateau is considered the oldest land mass as it was formed due to the drifting of Gondwana land.
• It is a tableland, composed of the old crystalline igneous and metamorphic rocks. It consists broad and shallow valleys and rounded hills.
• The general elevation of the plateau is from the west to the east, which is also proved by the pattern of the flow of rivers.
• Some of the important physiographic features of this region are tors, block mountains, rift valleys, spurs, bare rocky structures, series of hummocky hills and wall-like quartzite dykes offering natural sites for water storage.
• The western and north-western part of the plateau has an emphatic presence of black soil. This Peninsular plateau has undergone recurrent phases of upliftment and submergence accompanied by crustal faulting and fractures. (The Bhima fault needs special mention, because of its recurrent seismic activities).

Area Covered by Peninsular Plateau:

The Peninsular Plateau covers the following eight states under its territorial regions

• Rajasthan
• Maharashtra
• Gujarat
• Telangana
• Karnataka
• Tamil Nadu
• Kerala
• Odisha

1. a) Central Highland of India

• They are bounded to the west by the Aravali range.
• Central Highlands of India are a biogeographic region in India formed by the disjunct ranges of the Satpura and Vindhya Hills.
• The Satpura range is formed by a series of scarped plateaus on the south, This forms the northernmost boundary of the Deccan plateau. It is a classic example of the relict mountains which are highly denuded and form discontinuous ranges.
• The extension of the Peninsular plateau can be seen as far as Jaisalmer in the West, where it has been covered by the longitudinal sand ridges and crescent- shaped sand dunes called barchans.
• This region has undergone metamorphic processes in its geological history, which can be corroborated by the presence of metamorphic rocks such as marble, slate, gneiss, etc

1. b) Deccan Plateau:

• It is a triangle shaped plateau, situated to the south of the Indo-Gangetic Basin.
• The northern fringes of Deccan Plateau are the Chhota Nagpur Plateau and Satpura Range. Mountains known as the Eastern and Western Ghats create the other borders of the triangle and are joined at its summit by the Anna Malai, Nilgiri and Cardamom Hills.
• The mean altitude of the plateau is 600 meters over sea surface.
• This is bordered by the Western Ghats in the west, Eastern Ghats in the east and the Satpura, Maikal range and Mahadeo hills in the north.
• Western Ghats are locally known by different names such as Sahyadri in Maharashtra, Nilgiri hills in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and Anaimalai hills and Cardamom hills in Kerala.
• Western Ghats are comparatively higher in elevation and more continuous than the Eastern Ghat

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