5 Hill Ranges of Indian Peninsular Plateau are 1. The Arvali Range, 2. The Vindhyan Range, 3. The Satpura Range, 4. The Western Ghats (or The Sahyadris), 5. The Eastern Ghats !
One of the major physiographic elements of the Peninsular India is the Aravali range running in a north-east to south-west direction for 800 km between Delhi and Palanpur (near Ahmedabad) in Gujarat. The Aravalis represent the relict of the world’s oldest mountain formed as a result of folding at the close of the Archaean era.
The Vindhaya Range rises as an escarpment flanking the northern edge of the Narmada-Son Trough overlooking the Narmada valley. It runs more or less parallel to the Narmada Valley in an east-west direction from Jobat in Gujarat to Sasaram in Bihar for a distance of over 1,200 km.
The general elevation of the Vindhyan Range is 300 to 650 m and it rarely goes above 700 m. The northern slope of this range is rather gentle and there are no well marked spurs, steep falls and valleys. Most parts of the Vindhayan Range are composed of horizontally bedded sedimentary rocks of ancient age.
‘Sat’ in Sanskrit means seven and ‘pura’ means mountains. Therefore, the Satpura range is a series of seven mountains. It runs in an east-west direction south of the Vindhyas and in between the Narmada and the Tapi, roughly parallel to these rivers. Commencing from the Rajpipla Hills in the west, through the Mahadev Hills to the Maikala Range, it stretches for a distance of about 900 km. These hills appear to be affected by tectonic disturbances. There are evidences that parts of the Satpuras have been folded and upheaved. They are regarded as structural uplift or ‘hoarst’.
Forming the western edge of the Deccan tableland, the Western Ghats run in north-south direction, parallel and close to the Arabian Sea coast, from the Tapi valley (21° N latitude) to a little north of Kanniyakumari (11° N latitude) for a distance of 1,600 km.
Bordering the eastern edge of the Deccan Plateau, the Eastern Ghats run almost parallel to the east coast of India leaving broad plains between their base and the coast. In striking contrast to the continuous eminence of the Western Ghats, it is a chain of highly broken and detached hills starting from the Mahanadi in Orissa to the Vagai in Tamil Nadu.