India is highly rich in natural resources elevating the geographical and biological diversity to an extent. There are some landforms when it sharply goes upwards and creates a flat land on the top, like a table, then that landform is known as a plateau. Plateau has always been a beautiful factor of nature to explore the biodiversity with old rocks and connect to many historical events. India attains a wide range of peninsular plateaus extended in various regions and borders. These triangular occurrences appear in the form of small hills with beautiful surroundings and species of flora and fauna. 

Important Plateau In India:

There are many significant features of the Peninsular Plateau. These features are responsible for the diversity and variation in the natural habitat of India. The Peninsular Plateau covers around 16 lakh sq km along with these features. Below are the briefly mentioned features of the important plateaus in India. Let’s discuss:

Mewar Plateau: 

  • This Plateau is located in the eastern region of Rajasthan and is also termed the Marwar Plateau. It falls in the opposite direction of the Marwar plains, part of the Aravalli hill range. 
  • It has the structure sloping towards the east and elevates 250 to 500 meters above sea level. 
  • This Plateau resembles rolling plains because the Banas River and its tributaries (Khari and Berach rivers) originate from the Aravalli range and direct themselves toward the Chambal River. Chambal river is in the northwest direction from Banas River. With the flowing of these rivers, erosion occurs, which appears like rolling plains. 
  • This Plateau is formed from the shales, sandstones and limestones, which belong to the Vindhyan era of History. 

Deccan Plateau:

  • Deccan Plateau is one of the most extensive plateaus in India. It spreads over an area of around 5 lakh sq km and marks an elevation up to 600m. 
  • The rising ratio of this Plateau is categorized as in the south, its height reaches up to 1000m, and in the north, the height dips to the level of around 500m. 
  • It slopes toward the east direction from the west, which denotes the flow of certain major rivers from its region. 
  • Flowing multiple rivers through the Deccan plateau region has ultimately divided it into several small plateaus. 

Bundelkhand Plateau:

  • This Plateau comprises Vindhyan scarp lands to its east and south-east direction, and Yamuna Rivers to its north direction. There is Madhya Bharat Patthar to its west, and, in the south, the malwa plateau is present. 
  • This Plateau spreads around four districts in Madhya Pradesh and five districts in Uttar Pradesh. It attains an elevation of 300 to 600 m above sea level, and a specific area slopes downwards from Vindhyan scarp lands towards the Yamuna River. 
  • The surroundings of the Bundelkhand Plateau divide itself into specific deep valleys containing a rich amount of gneiss and granite. Most of the Plateau area appears like a hillock chain (small hills) formed by sandstone and granite.
  • The rivers which flow around the Bundelkhand Plateau are Ken, Betwa and Dhawan, and the region attains its characterization as senile topography, which refers to old age formation. 
  • The constant erosion occurs due to the flow of various rivers in this area. It is why the region around this Plateau is considered unfit for cultivation. 

Chotanagpur Plateau: 

  • Chotanagpur plateau is located in the north-eastern region of the Indian peninsula. This Plateau resides most of its part in Jharkhand and its northern part in West Bengal (Purulia) and Chhattisgarh. 
  • This Plateau marks its height up to 700 m above sea level and comprises a variety of Gondwana rock. From this Plateau, the Son River flows in the northeast direction to meet the Ganga River.  
  • Many rivers like Barkar, Subarnarekha, North koel, South koel and Damodar have developed the radial drainage pattern in this Plateau. All these rivers flow in different directions through this Plateau because constant erosion occurs around this region. 
  • The Damodar River flows in the west to east direction from the central region of the rift valley where the Gondwana coal fields spread its extension. These coalfields provide the bulk ratio of coal in India. 
  • In the north-eastern edge of Chota Nagpur Plateau, the Rajmahal Hills are formed with basalt, which comprises a massive amount of basaltic lava that occurs in lava flows. 

Conclusion:

Hence, these are some of the important plateaus present in several regions in India. All the plateaus attain specific features and elements by which they are identified. Apart from this, there are many other plateaus like the Malwa plateau, Chhattisgarh plateau, Karnataka plateau, Meghalaya plateau etc., ranging their extension towards different regions of India holding their edges with different elements and dealing with different river flows. All the plateaus have specific historical and biological importance in the Indian biodiversity and attain many elements like coal, limestone, basalt, sandstone, granite etc., in their surroundings.