Peninsular plateau:-

• The Peninsular Plateau is a one of the oldest landforms of earth and is roughly triangular in shape with its base coinciding with the southern edge of the great plain of North India.
• It covers a total area of about 16 lakh sq km.
• The average height of the plateau is 600-900 mabove sea level (varies from region to region).
• Most of the peninsular rivers flow west to east indicating it’s general slope.
• Narmada-Tapti are the exceptions which flow from east to west in a rift (rift is caused by divergent boundary
• It is a highly stable block composed mostly of the Archaean gneisses and schists{Rock System}.
• It has been a stable shield which has gone through little structural changes since its formation.
• Peninsular Plateau is an aggregation of several smaller plateaus, hill ranges interspersed with river basins and valleys.

Broad groups into which peninsular plateau has been divided and their physiography:-

Marwar Plateau or Mewar Plateau

• It is the plateau of eastern Rajasthan. The average elevation is 250-500 m above sea level and it slopes down eastwards.
• It is made up of sandstone, shales and limestones of the Vindhayan period.
• The Banas river, along with its tributaries originate in the Aravali Range and flow towards northwest into Chambal river. The erosional activity of these rivers make the plateau top appear like a rolling plain.

Central Highland

• Also called the Madhya Bharat Patharor Madhya Bharat Plateau.It is to the east of the Marwar or Mewar Upland.
• Most of plateau comprises the basin of the Chambal riverwhich flows in a rift valley.
• It is a rolling plateau with rounded hills composed of sandstone. Thick forests grow here.
• To the north are the ravines of the Chambal river

Bundelkhand Upland

• It is the old dissected (divided by a number of deep valleys) upland of the ‘Bundelkhand gneiss’ comprising of granite andgneiss.
• 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, Dhasanand Ken flow through the plateau.

Malwa Plateau

• The Malwa Plateau roughly forms a triangle based on the Vindhyan Hills, bounded by the Aravali Range in the west and central highlands to the north and Bundelkhand to the east.
• This plateau has two systems of drainage. One towards the Arabian sea (The Narmada, the Tapiand the Mahi), and the other towards the Bay of Bengal (Chambal and Betwa, joining the Yamuna).
• It is composed of extensive lava flow and is covered with black soils.
• This is a rolling plateau dissected by rivers. In the north, the plateau is marked by the Chambal ravines

Baghelkhand

• North of the Maikal Rangeis the Baghelkhand.
• Made of limestones and sandstones on the west and granite in the east.
• It is bounded by the Son river on the north.
• The central part of the plateau acts as a water divide between the Sondrainage system in the north and the Mahanadi river system in the south.
• The region is uneven with general elevation varying from 150 m to 1,200 m.
• The general horizontality of the strata shows that this area has not undergone any major disturbance.

Chotanagpur Plateau

• Chotanagpur plateau represents the north-eastern projection of the Indian Peninsula.
• Flows mostly in Jharkhand, northern part of Chhatisgarh and Purulia district of West Bengal.
• 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 Koeland the Barkar have developed extensive drainage basins.
• North of the Damodar river is the Hazaribagh plateauwith an average elevation of 600 m above mean sea level. This plateau has isolated hills. It looks like a peneplain due to large scale erosion.
• The Rajmahal Hillsforming the north eastern edge of the Chotanagpur Plateau are mostly made of basalt and are covered by lava flows {Basaltic Lava}.

Meghalaya Plateau

• The peninsular plateau extends further east beyond the Rajmahal hills to from Meghalaya or theShillong plateau.
• Garo-Rajmahal Gapseparates this plateau from the main block.
• The plateau is formed by Archaean quartzites, shales and schists.
• The plateau slopes down to Brahmaputra valley in the north and the Surma and Meghna valleys in the south.
• Its western boundary more or less coincides with the Bangladesh border.
• The western, central and the eastern parts of the plateau are known as the Garo Hills, the Khasi-Jaintia Hillsand the Mikir Hills.

Deccan Plateau

• It covers an area of about five lakh sq km and has an average elevation of 600 m.
• It is triangular in shape and is bounded by the Satpuraand the Vindhya in the north-west, the Mahadev and the Maikal in the north, the Western Ghats in the west and the Eastern Ghats in the east.
• Its general slope is from west to east which is indicated by the flow of its major rivers.
• Rivers have further subdivided this plateau into a number of smaller plateaus.

Maharashtra Plateau

• It forms the northern part of the Deccan Plateau.
• Much of the region is underlain by basaltic rocks of lava origin [Most of the Deccan Traps lies in this region].
• The horizontal lava sheets have led to the formation of typical Deccan Trap topography.
• The entire area is covered by black cotton soil 

Karnataka Plateau

• The Karnataka Plateau is also known as the Mysore plateau.
• Lies to the south of the Maharashtra plateau.
• 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 plateau is divided into two parts called Malnad and
• The plateau tapers between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats in the south and merges with the Niligiri hills

Telangana plateau

• The Telangana plateau consists of Archaean gneisses.
• The southern part is higher than its northern counterpart.
• The region is drained by three river systems, the Godavari, the Krishna and the Penneru.
• The entire plateau is divided into Ghats and the Peneplains (a vast featureless, undulating plain which the last stage of deposition process)

Chhattisgarh Plain

• It is a saucer shaped depression drained by the upper Mahanadi.
• The whole basin lies between the Maikala Rangeand the Odisha hills.
• The basin is laid with nearly horizontal beds of limestone and shales.
• The general elevation of the plain ranges from 250 m in the east to 330 m in the west.