Central Highlands of Peninsular India

The northern central highlands of peninsular India include the Aravallis, the Malwa Plateau, and some parts of Vindhyan Range.

Aravallis

Aravallis Range literally meaning ‘line of peaks’ running approximately 800 km from northeast to southwest across states of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Gujarat and Pakistan’s provinces of Punjab and Sindh. The northern end of the range continues as isolated hills and rocky ridges into Haryana state, ending in Delhi. The famous Delhi Ridge is the last leg of the Aravalli Range, which traverses through South Delhi and terminates into Central Delhi. The southern end is at Palanpur near Ahmadabad, Gujarat. The highest peak is Guru Shikhar in Mount Abu. Rising to 1722 meters, it lies near the southwestern extremity of the range, close to the border with the Gujarat. The city of Udaipur with its lakes lies on the south slope of the range in Rajasthan. Numerous rivers arises amidst the ranges including, Banas River, Luni River, Sakhi, Sabarmati River. The Great Boundary Fault (GBF) separates the Aravallis from the Vindhyan Mountains.

Origin of Aravallis

The Aravallis Range is the eroded stub of a range of ancient folded mountains that rose in a Precambrian event called the Aravalli-Delhi Orogeny. The range joins two of the ancient segments that make up the Indian craton, the Marwar segment to the northwest of the range, and the Bundelkhand segment to the southeast. It has been postulated that the Aravalli peaks were extremely high once but since have worn down almost completely by millions of years of weathering. In stark contrast Himalayas are continuously rising young fold mountains of today. Aravallis is rich in mineral resources. The erosion of Aravalli has a great concern for the environment because the ranges from a natural barrier against the spread of the Thar desert northwards into the Gangetic plains in the Gangetic basin and Gujarat.

Malwa Plateau

The Malwa region occupies a plateau in western Madhya Pradesh and south-eastern Rajasthan with Gujarat in the west.

• The region includes the Madhya Pradesh districts of Dewas, Dhar, Indore, Jhabua, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Shajapur, Ujjain, and parts of Guna and Sehore, and
• Rajasthan districts of Jhalawar and parts of Banswara and Chittorgarh.
• The plateau is bound in north-east by the Hadoti region, in the north-west by the Mewar region, in the west by the Vagad region and Gujarat. To the south and east is the Vindhya Range and to the north is the Bundelkhand upland. The average elevation of the plateau is 450-500 m.

The western part of the Malwa Plateau is drained by the Mahi River, while the Chambal River drains the central part, and the Betwa River and the headwaters of the Dhasan and Ken rivers drain the east. The Shipra River is of historical importance because of the Simhasth mela, held every 12 years. Other notable rivers are Parbati, Gambhir and Choti Kali Sindh.

• The Vindhya Range marks the southern boundary of the plateau, and is the source of many rivers of the region.

Vegetation in the Malwa Plateau is tropical dry forest, with scattered teak (Tectona grandis) forests. The other main trees are Butea, Bombax, Anogeissus, Acacia, Buchanania and Boswellia. The shrubs or small trees include species of Grewia, Ziziphus mauritiana, Casearia, Prosopis, Capparis, Woodfordia, Phyllanthus, and Carissa.

The Malwa plateau is considered to be an extension of the Deccan Traps and was formed at the end of Cretaceous period.  Black, Brown and Bhtatori or stony soil is abundant in the Malwa Plateau.  The black soil requires less irrigation because of its high capacity for moisture retention. The other two soil types are lighter and have a higher proportion of sand.

Vindhyan Range

The Vindhyan range is bounded by the Central Highlands on the south and the Aravalis on the northwest. It extends from Jobat (Gujarat) and Chittorgarh (Rajasthan) to Sasaram in Bihar for about 1050 km with general elevation between 450 to 600 metres. The western end of the Vindhyan range is in Gujarat at the eastern side of the Gujarat peninsula, near the border with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Reaching the sub-continent proper, the range runs east and north nearly to the Ganges River at Mirzapur. The area to the north and west of the range are arid and inhospitable, located in the shadow of both the Vindhya and the higher Aravalli range to the south blocking the prevailing winds.

The southern slopes of the Vindhyan Range are drained by the Narmada River, which proceeds westward to the Arabian Sea in the wide valley between the Vindhya Range and the parallel Satpura Range farther to the south. The northern slopes of the range are drained by tributaries of the Ganges, including the Kali Sindh, Parbati, Betwa, & Ken (both are tributary of the Yamuna, ), Son & Tamsa or Tons both are tributary of the Ganges, drains the southern slopes of the range at its eastern end.

Vindhyachal Plateau

The Vindhyachal plateau lies to the north of the central part of the range. The cities of Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, and Indore lie on this plateau, which rises higher than the Indo-Gangetic plain to its north.

Satpura Range

The Satpura range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these two east-west ranges divide Indian Subcontinent into the Indo-Gangetic plain of northern India and the Deccan Plateau of the south.  Satpura range rises in eastern Gujarat state near the Arabian Sea coast, running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to the east till Chhattisgarh.

• The Narmada River originates from north-eastern end of Satpura & runs in the depression between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, draining the northern slope of the Satpura range and southern slopes of Vindhyan range, running west towards the Arabian Sea.
• The Tapti River originates from eastern-central part of Satpura, crosses the range in the center & further runs at the southern slopes of Satpura towards west meeting the Arabian Sea at Surat, draining central & the southern slopes of the Satpura Range.
• Please note that Mount Dhupgarh or Dhoopgarh is the highest point in the Satpura Range and in Madhya Pradesh, India. Located near Pachmarhi, it has an elevation of 1,350 metres.

The Chhotanagpur Plateau

Chhotanagpur Plateau covers much of Jharkhand state. It also covers the adjacent parts of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the basin of the Mahanadi River lies to the south. The total area of the Chhotanagpur Plateau is approximately 65,000 square kilometres. This Plateau consists of three steps. The highest step is in the western part of the plateau, ranging from 3,000 -3500 feet. The next part contains larger portions of the old Ranchi and Hazaribagh districts and some parts of old Palamu district, before these were broken up into smaller administrative units. The general height is 2,000 feet. The lowest step of the plateau is at an average level of around 1,000 feet, covering the old Manbhum and Singhbhum districts.

The Chhotanagpur Plateau is composed of Archaean granite and gneiss rocks with patches of Dharwar and Damuda series of the Gondwana Period, and the lava flow of the Cretaceous Period. The western higher plateau of the Chhotanagpur Plateau is called Pat region. It is believed to be composed of Deccan lava. The largest part of the Chhotanagpur Plateau is called Ranchi Plateau. Damodar River originates here and flows through a rift valley. Damodar basin forms a trough between the Ranchi and Hazaribagh plateaus resulting from enormous fractures at their present edges, which caused the land between to sink to a great depth and incidentally preserved from denudation the Karanpura, Ramgarh and Bokaro coalfields. The plateau is covered with a variety tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests of which Sal forest is predominant. The plateau is home to the Palamau Tiger Reserve. Chhotanagpur plateau is a store house of minerals like mica, bauxite, copper, limestone, iron ore and coal. The Damodar valley is rich in coal and it is considered as the prime centre of coking coal in the country. Massive coal deposits are found in the central basin spreading over 2,883 km2. The important coalfields in the basin are Jharia, Raniganj, West Bokaro, East Bokaro, Ramgarh, South Karanpura and North Karanpura.

Karbi-Meghalya plateau

Karbi-Meghalya plateau is in fact an extension of the main Indian peninsular plateau and are originally two different plateaus – Karbi Anglong plateau and Meghalya plateau. It is believed that due to the force exerted by the north-eastwardly movement of the Indian plate at the time of the Himalayan origin, a huge fault was created between the Rajmahal hills and the Karbi-Meghalaya plateau. Later, this depression was filled up by the depositional activity of numerous rivers.  Today the Maghalaya and Karbi Anglong plateau remains detached from the main Peninsular block. This area receives maximum rainfall from the South-West monsoon.