Pune researchers discover rare low-basalt plateau with 76 plant species in Western Ghats

Pune researchers discover rare low-basalt plateau with 76 plant species in Western Ghats

Subject: Geography

Section:  Indian Physical  Geography

Context: Researchers from Pune have discovered a low-level basalt plateau, an isolated flat-topped steep hill, in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra.

More on the News:

• Scientists at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) in Pune have discovered a new low-altitude basalt plateau in the Western Ghats’ Thane region.
• The plateau, now listed as the fourth plateau type in the mountain range, houses 76 plant and shrub species from 24 families, which the scientists say can hold clues to the impact of climate change on the survival of species.
• There were so far three known plateau types in the Western Ghats — high-altitude laterite plateaus, low-altitude laterite plateaus and high-altitude basalt plateaus.
• The study of plateaus in the Western Ghats is extremely important. These are open and mostly arid habitats and the survival of plant species here is an important repository of information on how vegetation can survive in high-temperature conditions that are likely to take place with climate change.

About Plateau:

• Plateau is 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.
• Formation of Plateau: The formation of a plateau requires one of the same three types of tectonic processes that create mountain ranges
  • Volcanism – This type of plateau can form where extensive lava flows (called flood basalts or traps) and volcanic ash bury preexisting terrain. For example, the basalts of the Deccan Traps, which cover the Deccan plateau in India, were erupted 60–65 million years ago when India lay in the Southern Hemisphere, probably over the same hot spot that presently underlies the volcanic island of Reunion.
  • Crustal shortening – is the process of plateau formation by the thrusting of one block or slice of crust over another or by the folding of layers of rock.
  • Thermal expansion – 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.