Africa The highest African plateau is the
Ethiopian Highlands which cover the central part of Ethiopia. It forms the largest continuous area of its altitude in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1,500 metres (4,921 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4,556 metres (14,928 ft). It is sometimes called the Roof of Africa due to its height and large area. Another example is the
Highveld which is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above approximately 1,500 metres, but below 2,100 metres, thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions. It is home to some of the largest South African
urban agglomerations. In Egypt are the
Giza Plateau and
Galala Mountain, which was once called Gallayat Plateaus, rising 3,300 ft above sea level.
Antarctica Another very large plateau is the icy
Antarctic Plateau, which is sometimes referred to as the Polar Plateau or
King Haakon VII Plateau, home to the geographic
South Pole and the
Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which covers most of
East Antarctica where there are no known mountains but rather high of superficial ice and which spreads very slowly toward the surrounding coastline through enormous
glaciers. The
polar ice cap is so massive that the
echolocation measurements of ice thickness have shown that large areas are below
sea level. But, as the ice melts, the land beneath will
rebound through
isostasy and ultimately rise above sea level.
Asia The largest and highest plateau in the world is the
Tibetan Plateau, sometimes metaphorically described as the "
Roof of the World", which is still being formed by the collisions of the
Indo-Australian and
Eurasian tectonic plates. The Tibetan Plateau covers approximately , at about above sea level. The plateau is sufficiently high to reverse the
Hadley cell convection cycles and to drive the
monsoons of India towards the south. The
Deosai Plains in Pakistan are situated at an average elevation of 4,114 meters (13,497 ft) above sea level. They are considered to be the second highest plateaus in the world. Other major plateaus in Asia are:
Najd on the
Arabian Peninsula, elevation 762 to 1,525 m (2,500 to 5,003 ft),
Armenian Highlands (≈, elevation ),
Iranian Plateau (≈, elevation ),
Anatolian Plateau,
Mongolian Plateau (≈, elevation ), and the
Deccan Plateau (≈, elevation ).
North America A large plateau in North America is the
Colorado Plateau, which covers about in
Colorado,
Arizona,
New Mexico, and
Utah. In northern Arizona and southern Utah the Colorado Plateau is
bisected by the
Grand Canyon of the
Colorado River. This came to be over 10 million years ago - the river was already there, though not necessarily on exactly the same course. Then, subterranean geological forces caused the land in that part of North America to gradually rise by about a centimeter per year for millions of years. An unusual balance occurred: the river that would become the Colorado River was able to erode into the crust of the Earth at a nearly equal rate to the uplift of the plateau. Now, millions of years later, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is at an elevation of about above
sea level, and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is about above sea level. At its deepest, the Colorado River is about below the level of the North Rim. Another high-altitude plateau in North America is the
Mexican Plateau. With an area of and average height of 1,825 metres, it is the home of more than 70 million people.
Oceania The
Western Plateau, part of the
Australian Shield, is an ancient
craton covering much of the continent's southwest, an area of some 700,000 square kilometres. It has an average elevation between 305 and 460 metres. The
North Island Volcanic Plateau is an area of high land occupying much of the centre of the
North Island of New Zealand, with volcanoes, lava plateaus, and crater lakes, the most notable of which is the country's largest lake,
Lake Taupō. The plateau stretches approximately 100 km east to west and 130 km north to south. The majority of the plateau is more than 600 metres above sea level. The
Northern Tablelands are the largest highland area in Australia, covering approximately 18,197 square kilometres. There are widespread high points over 1,000 metres including The Brothers (1,508m), Ben Lomond (1,505m), Mount Rumbee (1,503m), Point Lookout (1,564m), Campoompeta (1,510m), Mount Spirabo (1,492m), Mount Mitchell (1,475m), Chandler's Peak (1,471m), Mount Grundy (1,462m), Mount Bajimba (1,448 m) and the highest point at Round Mountain is 1,584 metres above sea level. The now closed railway station at Ben Lomond, was the highest railway station in Australia. Apart from Antarctica it is the most extensive highland region in the Southern Hemisphere with an average elevation of over 1,000 metres.
South America 's Operations Support Facility and then on further to the
Chajnantor Plateau at 5,000 metres above sea level. The parallel Sierra of Andes delimit one of the world highest plateaux: the
Altiplano, (Spanish for "high plain"), Andean Plateau or Bolivian Plateau. It lies in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet. The bulk of the Altiplano lies within Bolivian and Peruvian territory while its southern parts lie in Chile. The Altiplano plateau hosts several cities like Puno, Oruro, El Alto and La Paz the administrative seat of Bolivia. Northeastern Altiplano is more humid than the Southwestern, the latter of which hosts several
salares, or salt flats, due to its aridity. At the Bolivia-Peru border lies
Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America. The Colombian capital city of Bogota sits on another Andean plateau known as the
Altiplano Cundiboyacense roughly the size of Switzerland. Averaging a height of above sea level, this northern Andean plateau is situated in the country's eastern range and is divided into three main flat regions: the
Bogotá savanna, the valleys of
Ubaté and
Chiquinquirá, and the valleys of
Duitama and
Sogamoso. == See also ==