Chhota Nagpur Plateau

Chota Nagpur Plateau
Natural region
Landscape in Chiraundi village of Morabadi, Ranchi.
Map of the Chota Nagpur ecoregion
Country	India
State	Jharkhand
Website	www.chotonagpurplateau.in
Elevation	620 m (2,030 ft)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Chota Nagpur Plateau
Plateau
Cities	Ranchi, Bokaro Steel City, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur
Rivers	Damodar River, Subarnarekha River, Barakar River
Coordinates	23°21′N 85°20′E / 23.350°N 85.333°E / 23.350; 85.333Coordinates: 23°21′N 85°20′E / 23.350°N 85.333°E / 23.350; 85.333
Highest point	Pareshnath Hill
- elevation	1,350 m (4,429 ft)
- coordinates	23°57′40″N 86°08′14″E / 23.96111°N 86.13722°E / 23.96111; 86.13722
Chota Nagpur Plateau. Orographical Features.

The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as 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 Chota Plateau is approximately 65,000 square kilometres (25,000 sq mi).

The name Nagpur is probably taken from Nagavanshis, who ruled in this part of the country. Chota is a corruption of the word small, a village in the outskirts of Ranchi, which has the remains of an old fort belonging to the Nagavanshis.

The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a continental plateau—an extensive area of land thrust above the general land. The plateau has been formed by continental uplift from forces acting deep inside the earth. The Gondwana substrates attest to the plateau's ancient origin. It is part of the Deccan Plate, which broke free from the southern continent during the Cretaceous to embark on a 50-million-year journey that was violently interrupted by the northern Eurasian continent. The northeastern part of the Deccan Plateau, where this ecoregion sits, was the first area of contact with Eurasia.

The Chota Nagpur Plateau consists of three steps. The highest step is in the western part of the plateau, where pats, as a plateau is locally called, are 910 to 1,070 metres (3,000 to 3,500 ft) above sea level. The highest point is 1,164 metres (3,819 ft). 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 610 metres (2,000 ft). The topography in undulating with prominent gneissic hills, often dome-like in outline. The lowest step of the plateau is at an average level of around 300 metres (1,000 ft). It covers the old Manbhum and Singhbhum districts. High hills are a striking part of this section - Parasnath Hills rise to a height of 1,370 metres (4,480 ft) and Dalma Hills to 1,038 metres (3,407 ft). The large plateau is subdivided into several small plateaux or sub plateaux.