PLATEAU

1. PLATEAUS

2. WHAT IS A PLATEAU?
•A plateau is also called as a high plain or a
table land.
•It is an area of high land with a flat terrain
with one or more steep sides.
Example: Deccan plateau in India andTibet
plateau.

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF PLATEAUS
• A plateau is a broad raised land above the
neighbouring lowland.
• The surface is not always smooth.
• They are u suitable for agriculture but they are
rich in minerals.
• The Tibetan plateau is the’ Roof of the world.’

4. TYPES OF PLATEAUS
•1. Intermontane plateaus.
•2. Dissected plateaus.
•3. Piedmont plateaus.
•4. Volcanic plateaus.

5. INTERMONTANE PLATEAUS
• They are situated between
two or more mountain
ranges.
Example : Tibetan plateau
lies between the Himalayas
and Kunlun mountains.

6. DISSECTED PLATEAUS
• When running water or
streams cut enough deep
valleys in different parts of
a plateau it becomes a
dissected plateau.
• Mesas in Spain is of this
type.

7. PIEDMONT PLATEAUS
• They are surrounded by
mountains ranges on one
side and bounded by plain
or an ocean or a sea on
the opposite side.
Example Applacian plateau
in USA.

8. VOLCANIC PLATEAUS
• They are formed due to
volcanic eruption through
wide narrow cracks. The
flows and spreads like an
horizontal sheet. Example
Deccan plateau in India.

9. ADVANTAGES OF PLATEAUS
• Plateaus are not much fertile
and are not fit for farming.
But they are useful for cattle
rearing.
• Wherever soil is fertile
agriculture is practised.

10. • They are rich in minerals and
hence develops mining
industries.
• Chotanagpur plateau in India
yields iron, copper, mica and
other minerals.

11. HOMEWORK
•1. Differentiate between intermontane and
piedmont plateau.
•2. Write the advantages of a plateau.
•3. What are the characteristics of plateau?
•4. Give reason: Tibetan plateau is an intermontane
plateau.