Question

Which of the following are parts of the Peninsular Plateau of India ?
(i)Mysore Plateau
(ii)Malwa Plateau
(iii) Chotonagpur Plateau
(iv)Bundelkhand Plateau

• A. (i) and (ii)
• B. (i), (ii) and (iii)
• C. (i), (ii), (iv)
• D. (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Karnataka Plateau

The Karnataka Plateau is also known as the Mysore plateau.

Lies to the south of the Maharashtra plateau.

The area looks like a rolling plateau with an average elevation of 600-900 m.

It is highly dissected by numerous rivers rising from the Western Ghats.

The general trend of the hills is either parallel to the Western Ghats or across it.

The highest peak (1913 m) is at Mulangiri in Baba Budan Hills in Chikmaglur district.

The plateau is divided into two parts called Malnad and Maidan.

The Malnad in Kannada means hill country. It is dissected into deep valleys covered with dense forests.

The Maidan on the other hand is formed of rolling plain with low granite hills.

The plateau tapers between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats in the south and merges with the Niligiri hills there.

Malwa Plateau

The Malwa Plateau roughly forms a triangle based on the Vindhyan Hills, bounded by the Aravali Range in the west and Madhya Bharat Pathar to the north and Bundelkhand to the east.

This plateau has two systems of drainage; one towards the Arabian sea (The Narmada, the Tapi and the Mahi), and the other towards the Bay of Bengal (Chambal and Betwa, joining the Yamuna).

In the north it is drained by the Chambal and many of its right bank tributaries like the Kali, the Sindh and the Parbati. It also includes the upper courses of the Sindh, the Ken and the Betwa.

It is composed of extensive lava flow and is covered with black soils.

The general slope is towards the north [decreases from 600 m in the south to less than 500 m in the north]

This is a rolling plateau dissected by rivers. In the north, the plateau is marked by the Chambal ravines.

Chotanagpur Plateau

Chotanagpur plateau represents the north-eastern projection of the Indian Peninsula.

Mostly in Jharkhand, northern part of Chhatisgarh and Purulia district of West Bengal.

The Son river flows in the north-west of the plateau and joins the Ganga.

The average elevation of the plateau is 700 m above sea level.

This plateau is composed mainly of Gondwana rocks.

The plateau is drained by numerous rivers and streams in different directions and presents a radial drainage pattern. {Drainage Pattern}

Rivers like the Damodar, the Subarnrekaha, the North Koel, the South Koel and the Barkar have developed extensive drainage basins.

The Damodar river flows through the middle of this region in a rift valley from west to east. Here are found the Gondwana coal fields which provide bulk of coal in India.

Bundelkhand Upland

Yamuna river to the north, Madhya Bharat Pathar to the west, Vindhyan Scarplands to the east and south-east and Malwa Plateau to the south.

It is the old dissected (divided by a number of deep valleys) upland of the ‘Bundelkhand gneiss’ comprising of granite and gneiss.

Spreads over five districts of Uttar Pradesh and four districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Average elevation of 300-600 m above sea level, this area slopes down from the Vindhyan Scarp toward the Yamuna River.

The area is marked by a chain of hillocks (small hill) made of granite and sandstone.

The erosional work of the rivers flowing here have converted it into an undulating (wave like surface) area and rendered it unfit for cultivation.

The region is characterized by senile (characteristic of or caused by old age) topography.

Streams like Betwa, Dhasan and Ken flow through the plateau.