what is Peninsular plateau on the basis of prominent features divided the peninsular plateau into three broad groups
Answers
Significance of the Peninsular Region:
Rich in mineral resources: The peninsular region of India is rich in both metallic and non-metallic minerals. About 98% of the Gondwana coal deposits of India are found in the peninsular region.
Agriculture: Black soil found in a substantial part of the peninsula is conducive for the cultivation of cotton, maize , citrus fruits etc. Some areas are also suitable for the cultivation of tea, coffee, groundnut etc.
Forest Products: Apart from teal, sal wood and other forest products, the forests of Western and Eastern Ghats are rich in medicinal plants and are home to many wild animals.
Hydel Power: many rivers, which have waterfalls. They help in the generation of hydroelectric power.
Tourism: There are numerous hill stations and hill resorts like Ooty, Mahabaleshwar, Khandala, etc.On the basis of prominent relief features, the peninsular plateau can be divided into three broad groups:
The Central Highlands
The Deccan Plateau
The Northeastern Plateau.
1. The Central Highlands
The northern segment of the peninsular plateau is known as the Central Highlands.
Location:
North of Narmada river.
They are bounded to the west by the Aravallis.
Satpura ranges (formed by a series of scarped plateaus) lie in the South.
General Elevation: 700-1,000 m above the mean sea level and it slopes towards the north and northeastern directions.
These highlands consist of the:
Marwar upland – to the east of Aravallis in Rajasthan
A rolling plain carved by Banas river. [Rolling Plain: ‘Rolling plains’ are not completely flat; there are slight rises and fall in the land form. Ex: Prairies of USA]
Average elevation is 250-500 m above sea level.
Madhya Bharat Pathar – to the east of Marwar upland.
Malwa plateau – It lies in Madhya Pradesh between Aravali and Vindhyas. It is composed of extensive lava flow and is covered with black soils.
Bundelkhand plateau – It lies along the borders of UP and MP. Because of intensive erosion, semi-arid climate and undulating area, it is unfit for cultivation.
Baghelkhand plateau – It lies to the east of the Maikal range.
Chhotanagpur plateau – the north–east part of Peninsular plateau.
It Includes Jharkhand, parts of Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
This plateau consists of series of step like sub-plateaus (locally called patlands – high-level plateau). It is thus famous as the Patland plateau and known as Ruhr of India.
Rajmahal Hills are the northeastern projection of Chhota Nagpur Plateau.
It is a mineral rich plateau.
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.
Most of the tributaries of the river Yamuna have their origin in the Vindhyan and Kaimur ranges. Banas is the only significant tributary of the river Chambal that originates from the Aravalli in the west.
2. The Deccan Plateau
The Deccan Plateau lies to the south of the Narmada River and is shaped as an inverted triangle.
It is bordered by:
The Western Ghats in the west,
The Eastern Ghats in the east,
The Satpura, Maikal range and Mahadeo hills in the north.
It is volcanic in origin, made up of horizontal layers of solidified lava forming trap structure with step-like appearance. The sedimentary layers are also found in between the layers of solidified lava, making it inter–trapping in structure.
Most of the rivers flow from west to east.
The plateau is suitable for the cultivation of cotton; home to rich mineral resources and a source to generate hydroelectric power.
The Deccan plateau can be subdivided as follows:
The Maharashtra Plateau – it has typical deccan trap topography underlain by basaltic rock, the regur.
The Karnataka Plateau (also known as Mysore plateau) – divided into western hilly country region of ‘Malnad’ and plain ‘Maidan’
Telangana Plateau
3. The Northeastern Plateau:
The Meghalaya (or Shillong) plateau is separated from peninsular rock base by the Garo-Rajmahal gap.
Shillong (1,961 m) is the highest point of the plateau.
The region has the Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Mikir (Rengma) hills.
An extension of the Meghalaya plateau is also seen in the Karbi Anglong hills of Assam.
The Meghalaya plateau is also rich in mineral resources like coal, iron ore, sillimanite, limestone and uranium.
This area receives maximum rainfall from the south-west monsoon. As a result, the Meghalaya plateau has a highly eroded surface. Cherrapunji displays a bare rocky surface devoid of any permanent vegetation cover.