Answer in 20 words. how many types of plateaus found in world? Name them.
Answers
Answer:
There are two kinds of plateus : dissected plateaus and volcanic plateaus
Answer:
Plateau Types
There are two kinds of plateaus: dissected plateaus and volcanic plateaus.
Table of Contents
Plateau
Model question on Plateaus
Plateau Formation
Thermal expansion
Crustal shortening
Volcanic Flood Basalts – Traps
Others
Plateau Types
Dissected plateau
Volcanic plateau
Others
Major plateaus of the World
Tibetan Plateau
Columbia – Snake Plateau
Colorado Plateau
Deccan Plateau
Kimberley Plateau
Katanga Plateau
Mascarene Plateau
Laurentian Plateau
Mexican Plateau
Patagonian Plateau
Altiplano Plateau or Bolivian Plateau
Massif Central
Anatolian Plateau
Others
Plateau
A plateau is a flat-topped table land.
Plateaus occur in every continent and take up a third of the Earths land.
They are one of the four major landforms, along with mountains, plains, and hills.
Plateaus, like mountains may be young or old. The Deccan plateau in India is one of the oldest plateaus.
Valleys form when river water cuts through the plateau. The Columbia Plateau, between the Cascade and Rocky mountains in the northwestern United States, is cut through by the Columbia River.
Sometimes, a plateau is so eroded that it is broken up into smaller raised sections called Many outlier plateaus are composed of very old, dense rock formations. Iron ore and coal often are found in plateau outliers.
Plateaus are very useful because they are rich in mineral deposits. As a result, many of the mining areas in the world are located in the plateau areas.

Model question on Plateaus
Plateaus are of great economic significance. Comment with reference to India And World.
The plateaus are famous for minerals. The plateau of France [Massif Central], the Deccan plateau of India, Katanga plateau of Congo [Copper mines], Western Australian plateau [Kimberly Plateau – Diamond mines] and Brazilian plateau [Brazilian Highlands] are very good sources of minerals. Iron, copper, gold, diamonds, Manganese, coal, etc., are found in these plateaus.
East African plateau is famous for gold and diamond mining.
In India huge reserves of iron, coal and manganese are found in the Chotanagpur plateau.
In the plateau areas, there may be several waterfalls as the river falls from a great height. In India, the Hundru Falls in the Chotanagpur plateau on the river Subarnarekha and the Jog Falls in Karnataka are examples of such waterfalls. These sites are ideal for hydro-electric power generation. Angel falls in Venezuela is also a waterfall that descends down a plateau.
[Plateaus are not very useful from the point of view of agriculture. The hard rocks on plateaus cannot form fertile soil but agricultural activities are promoted where lava soils have developed. It is difficult to dig wells and canals in plateaus. This hampers irrigation.]
The lava plateaus like Deccan traps are rich in black soil that is fertile and good for cultivation. Example: Maharashtra has good cotton growing soils called regurs.
Loess plateau in China has very fertile soils that are good for many kind of crops.
Many plateaus have scenic spots and are of great attraction to tourists. (Grand Canyon, USA, many waterfalls)
Plateau Formation
Tectonic plateaus are formed from processes that create mountain ranges – volcanism (Deccan Plateau), crustal shortening (thrusting of one block of crust over another, and folding occurs. Example: Tibet), and thermal expansion (Ethiopian Highlands).
Thermal expansion
Thermal expansion of the lithosphere means the replacement of cold mantle lithosphere by hot asthenosphere).
Those caused by thermal expansion of the lithosphere are usually associated with hot spots. The Yellowstone Plateau in the United States, the Massif Central in France, and the Ethiopian Plateau in Africa are prominent examples.
When the lithosphere underlying a broad area is heated rapidly – e.g., by an upwelling of hot material in the underlying asthenosphere – the consequent warming and thermal expansion of the uppermost mantle causes an uplift of the overlying surface. The high plateaus of East Africa and Ethiopia were formed this way.
Hotspot Volcanism – Hawaiian and Reunion
Crustal shortening
The great heights of some plateaus, such as the Plateau of Tibet is due to crustal shortening.
Crustal shortening, which thickens the crust as described above, has created high mountains along what are now the margins of such plateaus.
Plateaus that were formed by crustal shortening and internal drainage lie within major mountain belts and generally in arid climates. They can be found in North Africa, Turkey, Iran, and Tibet, where the African, Arabian, and Indian continental masses have collided with the Eurasian continent.