The Deccan Plateau (/ˈdɛkən/ DEK-ən ) is a geographic formation that extends over an area of 422,000 km (163,000 sq mi) on the southern part of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats on the sides, which separate the region from the Western and Eastern Coastal Plains respectively. It covers most of the Indian States of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh excluding the coastal regions, and minor portions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The plateau is marked by rocky terrain with an average elevation of about 600 m (2,000 ft). It is subdivided into Maharashtra Plateau, Karnataka Plateau, and Rayalaseema and Telangana Plateau. The Deccan Traps in the northwest were formed by multiple layers of igneous rock deposited by basaltic lava flows following a massive volcanic eruption occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period (66 mya). The underlying bed consists of granite and sedimentary rocks formed during the Precambrian era and the formation of Gondwana.
