Plateau

Plateau and Meseta are redirections to this article. For other meanings, see Plateau (disambiguation) and Iberian Meseta.

Plateau (also Hochfläche, Plateau or Hochplateau, in the Spanish-speaking region Meseta, in the Portuguese region Planalto) generally refers to a large-scale mass elevation that has much smaller relative differences in altitude compared to (neighbouring) mountains. Plateaus in the narrower sense are characterized by flat or gently rolling terrain. Plateaus within large mountain regions, on the other hand, are only relatively lower than surrounding high mountains, since in addition to more or less large flatland areas, mountain ranges several hundred metres high can also occur.

As a minimum height above sea level and demarcation from the lowlands, 200 m are usually specified. Upwards no limits are set. The highest plateaus on earth are found in the highlands of Tibet and in the Andes, where they reach altitudes of 4000 or 5000 metres. Despite these enormous heights, plateaus are not considered mountains per se.

Plateaus are formed either as unfractured intra-montane mass elevations in the centre of large (young) fold mountains or by levelling of older trunk mountains. Inner-montane plateaus are often interrupted by central subsidence areas or sedimentary basins.

The summit region of a ridge may also be called a plateau or high plateau if the term table mountain is not appropriate because of the moderate slope of the slopes.

There is no fixed definition of plateaus, and the subdivisions sometimes made in the literature may vary from author to author.

Plateaus and plateaux are among the major landforms that form the Earth's macrorelief.

Putorana plateau in Siberia - typical plateau on a plateau

List of known plateaus

Europe

Many alpine plateaus, especially in the Limestone Alps and the Bohemian Massif, for example

Altopiano della Predaia in the South Tyrolean Mendel Mountains
Bavarian and Bohemian Forest, Bohemian-Moravian Heights and large parts of the Waldviertel region
Greina, a plateau in the Central Grisons Alps between the Greina and Diesrut passes and the Val Sumvitg.
Totes Gebirge, high plateau Am Stein (Dachstein massif) and Hochschwab

Causse, a series of karst plateaus at 600-1250 m between the Massif Central and the Cévennes of southern France.
Swabian Alb, Franconian Alb and Jura Mountains
Campo Imperatore in Italy
Hardangervidda in Norway
Castilian Plateau (Iberian Meseta)
Lasithi Plateau in Crete

Asia

Tibetan plateau (also Tibetan plateau)
Iran Plateau
partly Central Siberian Highlands
Deccan Plateau in India
less extensive plateaus:

Bolaven Plateau in Laos
Khorat Plateau in Northeast Thailand
Fuiloro Plateau in East Timor

Africa

Highlands of Abyssinia in Ethiopia
Bauchi Plateau in Nigeria
Huib Plateau in Namibia

America

Piedmont in the eastern United States of America
Colorado Plateau in the southwestern United States
Anahuac Valley in the United Mexican States
Quito plateau in Ecuador
Planalto Central do Brasil, an extensive plateau in central Brazil
Altiplano in southeastern Peru and western Bolivia between the Cordilleras Occidental and Oriental (East-Andes)
Puna, a high desert in northwestern Argentina

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Plateau of the Colombian capital Bogotá