Deccan Plateau

Deccan Plateau, upland region of India, extending south of the Narmada River to the Nilgiri and Palni hills, and bordered by the mountainous Western and Eastern Ghats ranges. Much of the southern section of the Indian subcontinent is identified as the Deccan Plateau, the terrain of which is undulating, with elevations seldom exceeding 610 m (2,000 ft). However, some peaks reach 1,525 m (5,000 ft). At the plateau's edge in the Western Ghats, a steep escarpment drops sharply to the narrow Malabar Coast on the Arabian Sea. To the east, the plateau descends more gradually to a broader alluvial plain extending into Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states. Several major rivers, including the Cauvery, Godavari, Krishna, and Penneru, flow across the eastward-tilting plateau before reaching the Bay of Bengal. The Deccan Plateau has a dry season which lasts six to nine months. Much of its surface is covered by thorn scrub forest, interspersed with small areas of deciduous broadleaf woodland. The term “Deccan” comes from the Sanskrit word dakshina, meaning “the south”. It is applied more generally to the entire Indian peninsula.

The cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Sholapur, and Hubli-Dhārwād are important manufacturing, industrial, and agricultural processing centres on the Deccan Plateau. These activities are supported by numerous hydroelectric stations and large deposits of iron, manganese, chromium, and copper.