Two major areas adjacent to the deep desert, the Alshan Plateau and the Junggar Basin, transition from barren sand to arid grasslands. The Little Gobi desert lies in the southwestern portion of the larger desert area. Higher and wetter, it fills the space between the Yellow River on the east and a mountain chain. It […]

LOCATED IN THE southern part of western CHINA, this huge (900,000 square mi or 2,500,000 square km wide) and mostly barren tableland represents onefourth of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chinese geographers, who have conventionally called it Qinghai-Xizang gaoyuan, have defined the plateau as the area above the 9,000 ft (3,000 m) contour line. Outside China, the Tibetan Plateau is better […]

A PLATEAU IS A LARGE area of mostly level land elevated high above the surrounding land. Most plateaus have one steeply cliffed side. The rock layers in a plateau are un-deformed and remain flat, unlike the rock layers in mountains, which are tilted. Basaltic plateaus are formed when molten rock forces its way up through […]

LOCATED IN INDIA, in the southern part of the peninsula south of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Deccan Plateau can be considered the cultural and historical heart of India, defining the subcontinent. The great epic poems of the Vedas tell of the coming of the Aryan-speaking peoples that dominate all of northern Indian today. However, the […]

THE ANATOLIAN PLATEAU is the central upland region of the ancient region of Anatolia, today's TURKEY. The plateau is hemmed in by two parallel mountain ranges, the Taurus to the south, along the Mediterranean coast, and the Pontic Mountains to the north, along the coast of the BLACK SEA. Anatolia has served as a bridge […]

THE ALTIPLANO IS A high plateau located in the central ANDES region of South America at an altitude of about 13,123 ft (4,000 m). It reaches into parts of PERU, BOLIVIA, CHILE, and ARGENTINA. On the west, it bounds the Cordillera Occidental and borders the Cordillera Oriental on the east. It is surrounded by volcanoes […]