🌄 Peninsular Plateau – Short Study Notes
🧭 Formation & Features
📌 Origin
- Formed due to breaking & drifting of Gondwana Land
- One of the oldest landmasses
🌍 General Characteristics
- Elevation → 600–900 m
- Made of black soil (basaltic origin)
- Features broad, shallow valleys & rounded hills
⛰️ Satpura Range
📌 Type & Structure
- Block mountains with 3 hills → Rajpipla, Mahadeo, Maikal
🏔️ Important Points
- Highest Peak → Dhupgarh (Madhya Pradesh) (Mahadeo Hills)
- Hill Station → Pachmarhi (Queen of Satpura)
🌊 Amarkantak Plateau
- Source of Narmada & Son rivers
- Forms radial drainage pattern
⛰️ Vindhya Range
- Located north of Satpura
- Panna (MP) → famous for diamond deposits
- Highest Peak → Sadbhavna Shikhar
🧩 Divisions of Peninsular Plateau
- Central Highlands
- Deccan Plateau
🌍 Central Highlands
📌 Location
- Lies north of Narmada River
- Bounded by Vindhya (North), Satpura (South), Aravalis (North-West)
🧩 Main Plateaus
- Malwa Plateau → largest, western side
- Chota Nagpur Plateau → eastern side
- Wider in west, narrower in east
🟫 Malwa Plateau
- Located in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh
- Made of basaltic lava → black soil origin
🌊 Rivers
- Chambal, Betwa, Sindh, Ken (tributaries of Yamuna)
⛰️ Aravalli Range
📌 Features
- Length → ~860 km
- Old fold mountains → residual mountains
📍 Location
- Spread across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana
🏔️ Peak
- Guru Shikhar (1722 m) → Mt. Abu
🪨 Chota Nagpur Plateau
📌 Location
- Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal
💎 Importance
- Known as “Ruhr of India” (rich in minerals)
- Jaduguda Mines → Uranium
🧩 Sub-Plateaus
- Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Koderma
🏔️ Peak
- Parasnath (23rd Tirthankar)
🌊 River
- Damodar River flows in rift valley
🌋 Deccan Plateau
📌 Location & Shape
- Triangular landmass south of Narmada
- Tilted towards East → slopes eastward
- 🧭 Boundaries
- North → Satpura
- East → Mahadev, Kaimur, Maikal ranges
🌏 Extension
- Extends to North-East (Rajmahal Hills)
- Malda Gap separates from Meghalaya & Karbi Anglong Plateau
🌧️ Western Ghats
📌 Features
- Continuous range, crossed via passes only
- Height → 900–1600 m, higher than Eastern Ghats
📍 Extent
- From Tapi to Nilgiri Hills
- States → Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa
🌧️ Climate Role
- Causes orographic rainfall
🏔️ Peaks
- Highest → Anaimudi (2695 m)
- 2nd → Doddabetta (2637 m)
🌿 Other Points
- Height increases North → South
- Southernmost → Cardamom Hills
🚪 Passes
- Bhor Ghat → Mumbai–Pune
- Thal Ghat → Mumbai–Nashik
- Pal Ghat → Annamalai–Nilgiri
🌄 Eastern Ghats
📌 Features
- Discontinuous, irregular, dissected by rivers
- Extends Mahanadi Valley → Nilgiri Hills
🏔️ Peaks
- Mahendragiri (1501 m) / Jindagarh (1690 m)
🌿 Hills
- Shevaroy Hills & Javadi Hills → south-east region
🧠 Memory Tricks
- “Gondwana = Gone & Drifted” → origin
- “Malwa = Max West” → largest plateau in west
- “Chota Nagpur = Minerals Hub” → Ruhr of India
- “West High, East Broken” → Western vs Eastern Ghats
- “Narmada Divider” → splits Central Highlands & Deccan