Peninsular Plateau of India GK Questions & Answers
The Peninsular Plateau represents India's oldest and most stable geological landmass, originating from the ancient Gondwanaland shield composed predominantly of Archaean gneisses and granites. Bounded by the Aravalli Range to the northwest and the Rajmahal Hills to the northeast, this elevated tableland slopes broadly from west to east, dictating the drainage pattern of major peninsular rivers like the Godavari, Krishna, and Mahanadi into the Bay of Bengal. The plateau is structurally subdivided into the Central Highlands and the Deccan Plateau, demarcated by the Narmada rift valley. In the north, the Malwa Plateau rests between the Vindhyan Range and the Aravallis, drained by the Chambal and Betwa systems. To the east lies the Chhotanagpur Plateau, characterized by patlands and mineral-rich Gondwana coalfields along the Damodar graben. The southern section comprises the vast Deccan Trap, formed during the late Cretaceous period approximately 66 million years ago through basaltic fissure eruptions that laid extensive step-like volcanic formations. Weathering of these flood basalts yielded fertile black soils, while deep-seated faulting established the escarpments of the Western and Eastern Ghats along its flanks.
High-yield conceptual summaries for competitive exams and rapid revision.
The Peninsular Plateau is a remnant of Gondwanaland comprising Archaean crystalline gneisses and granites, tilted east-southeast except for west-flowing Narmada and Tapi rift rivers.
The Deccan Trap formed through late Cretaceous fissure volcanic eruptions (~66 Ma), creating step-like basaltic topography that weathered into fertile black regur soil.
The Malwa Plateau forms a triangular block bounded by the Aravalli and Vindhyan ranges, feeding dendritic drainage networks into the Yamuna river system.
The Chhotanagpur Plateau acts as India's mineral heartland, containing primary Gondwana coal reserves within the faulted Damodar River rift valley.
The Shillong Plateau and Karbi Anglong represent eastward extensions of the Peninsular shield, separated from the Rajmahal Hills by the down-faulted Malda Gap.
Showing 25 Curated Questions406 Total in Bank
1ID: GK-MNRL-00331
easyMajor Mineral Belts & The Chota Nagpur Plateau
Why is the Chota Nagpur Plateau region, encompassing Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh, commonly termed the 'Ruhr of India' in economic geography?
Verified Explanation
The Chota Nagpur Plateau is referred to as the 'Ruhr of India' (after Germany's Ruhr industrial region) because it holds India's highest concentration of high-grade coal, iron ore, bauxite, mica, manganese, and limestone, forming the industrial backbone of heavy manufacturing in India.
2ID: GK-MNRL-00571
easyMajor Mineral Belts & The Chota Nagpur Plateau
Why is the Chota Nagpur Plateau in eastern India popularly referred to as the 'Ruhr of India'?
Verified Explanation
The Chota Nagpur Plateau (spanning Jharkhand, northern Odisha, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh) is called the 'Ruhr of India' in reference to the mineral-rich Ruhr Valley in Germany. The region contains the country's densest concentration of vital minerals—including Gondwana coal, Dharwar iron ore, bauxite, mica, chromite, copper, manganese, and uranium—fueling India's core steel, aluminium, and power industries.
3ID: GK-MNRL-00002
easyMajor Mineral Belts & The Chota Nagpur Plateau
Which plateau region in eastern India, rich in coal, iron ore, bauxite, and mica, is commonly referred to as the 'Ruhr of India'?
Verified Explanation
The Chota Nagpur Plateau, spread across Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh, is known as the 'Ruhr of India' after Germany's mineral-rich industrial Ruhr basin.
4ID: GK-MNRL-00391
easyMajor Mineral Belts & The Chota Nagpur Plateau
Which mineral-rich plateau spanning Jharkhand, northern Odisha, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh is commonly referred to as the 'Ruhr of India'?
Verified Explanation
The Chota Nagpur Plateau is known as the 'Ruhr of India' (after Germany's industrial Ruhr valley) due to its immense concentration of mineral wealth, including coal, iron ore, mica, bauxite, copper, manganese, and limestone.
5ID: GK-GEOG-00039
mediumPhysiography & Mountain Ranges
Which plateau in eastern India is known as the 'Ruhr of India' due to rich mineral wealth?
Verified Explanation
The Chota Nagpur Plateau across Jharkhand, WB, and Odisha holds immense iron, coal, and mica deposits.
6ID: GK-GEOG-00664
hardPhysiography & Mountain Ranges
The Meghalaya Plateau (comprising the Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia Hills) is structurally an eastern detached extension of which major physiographic unit of India?
Verified Explanation
Geologically, the Meghalaya (Shillong) Plateau and Karbi Anglong Hills are part of the ancient crystalline Indian Peninsular shield. They were severed from the Chota Nagpur Plateau during the Himalayan orogeny by downfaulting, creating the Malda Gap (Garo-Rajmahal Gap) which was subsequently filled with alluvium by the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers.
7ID: GK-GEOG-00754
easyPhysiographic Divisions & Geomorphology of India
What term is specifically used for the flat-topped, laterite-capped tablelands found in the western part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau, such as around Netarhat?
Verified Explanation
Pat lands (or Pats) are elevated flat-topped plateau remnants and mesalike tablelands in the Ranchi and Palamu regions of Jharkhand, particularly around Netarhat. These plateau surfaces are capped with thick deposits of high-grade laterite and bauxite. Kandi refers to the dissected foothill zone of Punjab Shiwaliks, and Dhrian refers to shifting sand dunes.
8ID: GK-GEOG-00855
easyPhysiographic Divisions & Geomorphology of India
The Garo-Rajmahal Gap (Malda Gap) geologically separates the Chota Nagpur Plateau from which physiographic highland?
Verified Explanation
The Meghalaya (Shillong) Plateau and Karbi Anglong Plateau are structural eastward extensions of the main Peninsular Indian Shield. They were separated from the Rajmahal Hills and Chota Nagpur Plateau by normal faulting during the Cretaceous-Tertiary period, creating the downfaulted Malda Gap (Garo-Rajmahal Gap), which was subsequently filled with alluvium deposited by the Ganga-Brahmaputra river system.
9ID: GK-GEOG-00953
easyPhysiographic Divisions & Geomorphology of India
Which structural geological feature separates the Meghalaya Plateau (Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia Hills) from the main Chota Nagpur Plateau of peninsular India?
Verified Explanation
The Meghalaya Plateau is an eastern extension of the ancient Peninsular block that was detached from the Chota Nagpur Plateau by normal faulting during the Cretaceous-Tertiary periods, creating the down-faulted Malda Gap (Garo-Rajmahal Gap) subsequently filled by Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvium.
10ID: GK-GEOG-00963
hardPhysiographic Divisions & Geomorphology of India
Which geological lineament delimits the Malwa Plateau on its northwestern margin, separating it from the folded Aravalli Range?
Verified Explanation
The Great Boundary Fault (GBF) of Rajasthan is a major regional reverse fault that trends northeast-southwest for over 800 km, separating the older Proterozoic rocks of the Aravalli-Delhi orogen from the relatively undeformed Neoproterozoic Vindhyan sediments and the Malwa Plateau. Dauki Fault bounds the Shillong Plateau in the south.
11ID: GK-MNRL-00454
mediumMajor Mineral Belts & The Chota Nagpur Plateau
The Niyamgiri hills and Baphlimali plateau in the Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of southwestern Odisha are celebrated for holding world-class deposits of which ore mineral?
Verified Explanation
The Eastern Ghats mobile belt in southwestern Odisha (encompassing the Niyamgiri, Baphlimali, and Karlapat plateaus in Kalahandi-Rayagada) holds vast high-grade gibbsitic bauxite cappings developed on khondalite rocks.
12ID: GK-GEOG-00042
hardPhysiography & Mountain Ranges
Which geological fault line separates the Meghalaya (Shillong) Plateau from the Chota Nagpur Plateau?
Verified Explanation
The Garo-Rajmahal Gap was formed by tectonic downfaulting, later filled by Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvium.
13ID: GK-GEOG-00094
mediumPhysiography
Which geological lineament separates the Shillong Plateau and Karbi Anglong Hills from the main peninsular block?
Verified Explanation
The Garo-Rajmahal gap (Malda gap) was formed by tectonic downfaulting, later filled by alluvium from the Ganga and Brahmaputra.
14ID: GK-GEOG-00164
easyPhysiography & Mountain Ranges
Which mountain range acts as a prominent water divide separating the Indo-Gangetic Plains in the north from the Deccan Plateau in the south?
Verified Explanation
The Vindhya Range in central India traditionally demarcates northern India from southern India and forms a major watershed between northern and southern drainage basins.
15ID: GK-GEOG-00478
easyPhysiography & Mountain Ranges
Which mountain range acts as a primary watershed and geographical divide separating North India from the Deccan Plateau?
Verified Explanation
The Vindhya Range stretches east-west across central India, historically demarcating northern India (Aryavarta) from the Deccan peninsula.
16ID: GK-GEOG-00579
hardPhysiography & Mountain Ranges
Guru Shikhar, the highest peak in the Aravalli Range (elevation 1,722 m), is located in which hill resort plateau?
Verified Explanation
Guru Shikhar rises to 1,722 metres above sea level in the Mount Abu granite massif of Sirohi district, Rajasthan.
17ID: GK-GEOG-00655
easyPhysiography & Mountain Ranges
Which major mountain range forms the northern boundary of the Narmada Rift Valley, separating northern India from the Deccan Plateau?
Verified Explanation
The Vindhya Range is a broken chain of relict hills and scarp lands forming the northern edge of the Narmada Rift Valley and serving as the traditional water divide between northern and southern river basins. The Satpura Range bounds the Narmada valley to the south. The Aravallis lie in northwestern India, and the Ajanta Range lies south of the Tapi river.
18ID: GK-GEOG-00756
hardPhysiographic Divisions & Geomorphology of India
The Malda Gap (Garo-Rajmahal Gap), which separates the Meghalaya Plateau from the main Peninsular shield, was created primarily by which geological process?
Verified Explanation
The Garo-Rajmahal Gap is a structural graben formed by tectonic faulting and crustal down-warping during the breakup of Gondwanaland and the northward drift of the Indian plate. Subsequent fluvial deposition by the Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems filled this tectonic depression with thick alluvium, burying the continuous basement rock.
19ID: GK-GEOG-00761
mediumPhysiographic Divisions & Geomorphology of India
The basaltic lava plateau and stepped volcanic topography of the Deccan Traps were formed during which geological time interval?
Verified Explanation
The Deccan Traps originated between 66 and 60 million years ago during the transition from the Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene epochs due to massive fissure-type basaltic eruptions as the Indian tectonic plate drifted over the Reunion volcanic hotspot. The horizontal lava flows weathered into stepped terraces, giving rise to the term 'trap' (Swedish for steps).
20ID: GK-GEOG-00851
easyPhysiographic Divisions & Geomorphology of India
Which major mountain pass in the Greater Himalayas connects the Kashmir Valley with the high-altitude plateau of Ladakh?
Verified Explanation
Zoji La is a strategic high mountain pass situated in the Great Himalayan range at an elevation of approximately 3,528 metres, connecting Srinagar and the Kashmir Valley to Leh and Dras in Ladakh. Nathu La connects Sikkim with Tibet, Shipki La connects Himachal Pradesh with Tibet via the Satluj gorge, and Lipulekh connects Uttarakhand with Tibet.
21ID: GK-DMGT-00309
hardEarthquake Seismic Zones, BIS Codes & Tsunamis
Which major historical earthquake in India (Mw 8.1 in 1897) in the Shillong Plateau led seismologist R. D. Oldham to deduce the fundamental distinct seismic phases (P, S, and Surface waves)?
Verified Explanation
The Great Assam Earthquake of June 12, 1897 (Mw ~8.1), centred in the Shillong Plateau, is landmark in global seismology. Richard Dixon Oldham of the Geological Survey of India analysed the seismograms and published his seminal 1899 memoir demonstrating for the first time the existence of primary (P), secondary (S), and surface wave arrivals.
Which geological fault zone marks the down-faulted depression separating the Shillong Plateau of Meghalaya from the Rajmahal Hills of the peninsular shield?
Verified Explanation
The Malda Gap (Garo-Rajmahal Gap) was created by tectonic down-faulting in the Tertiary era and filled by Ganga-Brahmaputra alluvium, separating the Shillong Plateau from Chota Nagpur.
23ID: GK-WATR-00462
hardNatural Lakes, Saline Lagoons & Waterfalls
Hundru Falls, a 98-metre high waterfall created by the Subarnarekha River cascading over the edge of the Ranchi Plateau, is located in which state?
Verified Explanation
Hundru Falls is located 45 km from Ranchi in Jharkhand, where the Subarnarekha River falls from a height of 98 metres (322 ft) over a knickpoint of the Ranchi Plateau.
24ID: GK-WATR-00472
mediumHimalayan & Peninsular River Systems
The Subarnarekha River, whose name translates literally as Streak of Gold, originates in which plateau of eastern India?
Verified Explanation
The Subarnarekha River originates near Nagri village on the Ranchi Plateau in Jharkhand, flowing through Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha directly into the Bay of Bengal.
25ID: GK-WATR-00590
mediumHimalayan & Peninsular River Systems
Which major right-bank tributary of the Ganga originates in the Amarkantak plateau of Madhya Pradesh, flowing north-east to join the Ganga near Patna?
Verified Explanation
The Son River originates in the Amarkantak plateau of Anuppur district, MP, near the source of Narmada, and flows north-east through MP, UP, and Bihar to merge with the Ganga near Danapur (Patna).
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