Plateaus

A plateau is a landform that rises above the land around it and has a more or less flat top; some of its sides are often steep slopes. Think of it as 'tabletop land': high like a mountain, but flat on top like a table.

Like mountains, plateaus can be young or old in the Earth's history. Their height can be anything from a few hundred metres to several thousand metres.

The Tibetan Plateau has an average altitude of 4,500 m, which is why it is nicknamed the 'Roof of the World'! From east to west it is nearly 2,500 km long, the distance from Chandigarh to Kanyakumari. Picture a flat land as long as India, standing higher than most mountains.

The Deccan Plateau of central and south India is one of the oldest plateaus in the world, formed by volcanic activity millions of years ago.

Like mountains, plateaus are rich in minerals; they have been called 'storehouses of minerals'. So mining (digging minerals out of the ground) is a major activity there, and many of the world's largest mines are on plateaus. The East African Plateau is famous for gold and diamond mining. In India, huge reserves of iron, coal and manganese lie in the Chhota Nagpur Plateau.

Plateau environments are very varied. Many plateaus have rocky soil, which makes them less fertile than plains and less good for farming. The exception is lava plateaus (formed by volcanoes): they often have a rich black soil, which is very good for growing cotton.

Plateaus are also home to many spectacular waterfalls: the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, the Hundru Falls on the Subarnarekha River in the Chhota Nagpur Plateau, and the Jog Falls on the Sharavati River in the Western Ghats. The Nohkalikai Falls drop 340 metres from the Cherrapunji Plateau in Meghalaya. A waterfall needs an edge to fall over, and a plateau has steep edges.