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A plateau is a highland with flat terrain raised above the surrounding area on at least one side. Learn about the different types of plateaus, how they are formed by volcanic, tectonic, or erosional processes, and some of the largest plateaus in the world.
Learn the meaning of plateau as a noun and a verb in English, with examples from different contexts. Find out how to pronounce plateau and its plural form, and see translations in other languages.
National Geographic describes plateaus as flat and elevated landform that rises sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Usually, plateaus are formed when magma which is located deep inside the earth, pushes towards the surface but fails to break through the crust.
- Overview
- Geomorphic characteristics
- Formative processes
plateau, extensive area of flat upland usually bounded by an escarpment (i.e., steep slope) on all sides but sometimes enclosed by mountains. The essential criteria for plateaus are low relative relief and some altitude.
Although plateaus stand at higher elevation than surrounding terrain, they differ from mountain ranges in that they are remarkably flat. Some plateaus, like the Altiplano in southern Peru and western Bolivia, are integral parts of mountain belts. Others, such as the Colorado Plateau (across which the Colorado River has cut the Grand Canyon), were produced by processes very different from those that built neighbouring mountain ranges. Some plateaus—for example, the Deccan plateau of central India—occur far from mountain ranges. The differences among plateaus can be ascribed to the different geologic processes that have created them.
The high flat surface that defines a plateau can continue for hundreds or even thousands of kilometres, as in the case of the Plateau of Tibet. In spite of the paucity of roads, one can drive over most of that plateau, where elevations exceed 4,500 metres (about 14,760 feet), and encounter less relief than in some major cities of the world (e.g., San Francisco or Rio de Janeiro). Although ranges of hills and mountains rise above the rest of the plateau, their topography too is rather gentle.
Plateaus dissected (eroded) by rivers have remarkably uniform maximum elevations, but their surfaces can be interrupted by deep canyons. In the case of some regions described as plateaus, the surface is so dissected that one does not see any flat terrain. Instead, such a plateau is defined by a uniform elevation of the highest ridges and mountains. The eastern part of the Plateau of Tibet, which constitutes the headwaters of many of the great rivers of Asia (e.g., Huang He, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, and Irrawaddy), is dissected into deep canyons separated by narrow, steep ridges; the high uniform elevation that characterizes plateaus is only barely discernible in that area.
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The formation of a plateau requires one of the same three types of tectonic processes that create mountain ranges—volcanism, crustal shortening (by the thrusting of one block or slice of crust over another or by the folding of layers of rock), and thermal expansion. The simplest of these is thermal expansion of the lithosphere (or the replacement of cold mantle lithosphere by hot asthenosphere).
When the lithosphere underlying a broad area is heated rapidly—e.g., by an upwelling of hot material in the underlying asthenosphere—the consequent warming and thermal expansion of the uppermost mantle causes an uplift of the overlying surface. If the uplifted surface had originally been low and without prominent relief, it is likely to remain relatively flat when uplifted to a relatively uniform elevation. The high plateaus of East Africa and Ethiopia were formed that way. As in parts of Africa, plateaus of that sort can be associated with volcanism and with rift valleys, but those features are not universal. Most of the high plateau in East Africa that holds Lake Victoria does not contain volcanic rock and is cut only by small, minor rift valleys.
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Where the uplifted surface lay at a low elevation for a very long time and was covered by resistant sedimentary rock, the flatness of the plateau can be particularly marked. The rock underlying the Colorado Plateau has undergone only very mild deformation since about 1.7 billion years ago during Precambrian time (4.6 billion to 541 million years ago), and layers of very resistant limestone and sandstone deposited during the Paleozoic Era (541 million to 252 million years ago) form its top surface in many areas. The warming of the underlying lithosphere in late Cenozoic time (66 million years ago to the present) caused that area to rise to its present elevation, and those erosion-resistant formations dating to Paleozoic time define the surfaces that make the remarkably flat horizons at the Grand Canyon.
The great heights of some plateaus, such as the Plateau of Tibet or the Altiplano, are due to crustal shortening. The geologic structure of plateaus of that kind is entirely different from that of the Colorado Plateau, for instance. Crustal shortening, which thickens the crust as described above, has created high mountains along what are now the margins of such plateaus. In most mountain ranges, streams and rivers transport eroded material from the mountains to the neighbouring plains. When drainage is internal and streams and rivers deposit their debris in the valleys between mountains, however, a plateau can form. The surface of this sort of plateau is defined by very flat, broad valleys surrounded by eroded hills and mountains. The rocks that make up the mountains and the basement of the valleys are often strongly deformed, but the young sediment deposited in the valleys usually lies flat. Those plateaus generally survive erosion only in dry climates where erosion is slow. In many cases, the valleys, or basins, are occupied by flat dry lake beds (playas). Thus, plateaus built by crustal shortening are really mountain ranges buried in their own debris.
Oct 19, 2023 · Learn about plateaus, flat, elevated landforms that rise sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Find out how plateaus are formed, eroded, and classified, and see examples from different continents and oceans.
Jun 16, 2023 · Learn about the different types of plateaus, such as intermontane, volcanic, piedmont, continental, and dissected plateaus. Find out how they are formed, where they are located, and what features they have.
Learn the meaning of plateau as a noun and a verb, with synonyms, examples, and word history. A plateau is a flat or level area of land or a stable condition or period.
