Famous Plateaus

Plateaus are in general referred to as the flat top mountains but by definition a plateau is defined as a large flat piece of land raised approximately more than 15000 feet above its surroundings, having at least one steep side.

A plateau may occupy only a few square meters of the land or they maybe as large as thirty states of the United States.

Plateaus are widespread through out the world and 45% of the earth’s surface consists of plateaus.

How Are Plateaus Formed?

Most of the plateaus of the earth are formed due natural geological uplift of the stable land areas of the earth’s crust which has been a gradual process. While some of the plateaus found between the mountains are formed as a result of collision of sections of the earth’s crust.

Many of the plateaus are also formed due lava flowing from the large volcanoes that spread through large areas of land surface, building them up.

The Famous Plateaus Of The World

As said that almost 45% of the earth’s surface consists of plateaus. There is a large community of living species on this earth living on plateaus. Many cities and even countries are formed on the plateaus.

Following are five famous plateaus of the world:

The Colorado Plateau In US

This plateau is found sprawled across the southeastern Utah, northern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and western Colorado. This roughly circular plateau covers approximately 130000 square miles of the land. The states of Texas, California, Alaska and Montana cover up the land of the plateau.

It is believed that the Colorado plateau was originally a piece of land close to the sea level and was lifted up as a single mass of land nearly five million years ago.

The elevation range of the Colorado plateau is from 3000-14000 feet average being 5200 feet which makes approximately 1585 meters

Due to the high elevation of this plateau, the climatic conditions here are dry and arid. Because of its high precipitation of land and dry environment the plant accommodation on this plateau is less.

The land of this plateau is eroded at places by winds and water forming dramatic landforms. The rivers have been cut into canyons within the plateau.

Nearly 250 million years ago the largest volcanic eruptions in the history of earth occurred in the central Russia of today.

These eruptions are believed to have lasted for 200,000 to 1 million years during which the basalt lava flowed out of the cracks in the ground eventually forming the plateau which is now known as the Siberian traps. The Siberian traps are spread across 750,000 square miles of land and are elevated up to 1600 to 2300 feet.

This piece of land found in the central-west India is considered to be the oldest and the most stable land of India. Formed due to basaltic lava eruptions nearly 1 million years ago, this plateau now covers the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu covering almost 300,000 square miles.

Its elevation range differs at different areas. Its western parts have a n elevation range of 2500 feet while the western parts have the level of about 100 feet. Due to its difference of range of elevation, all the rivers flow smoothly from east to west draining into the Bay of Bengal.

This plateau is referred to as the “roof of the world” and is the highest and the largest plateau on earth. It covers 888000 square miles of the land. It is bounded by the HimalayanMountains on the south while on east it is bounded by the deserts of Tarim and Qaidam basins.

Its elevation range is about 16400 feet. It consists of fourteen mountains that rise up to 26,248 feet while hundred more that rise up to 22, 967 feet.

Balochistan is a state of Pakistan on a plateau. This plateau has an average altitude of 2000 feet and the mountains here attain the average height of 6000-11000 feet.

The conditions of the plateau are dry and arid. The people living here usually live lives of nomads and have adapted themselves to the life of high altitude and dry environment.