The Highest Plateaus in Asia

Asia owns many high plateaus. Tibetan Plateau is the highest plateau in Asia and also in the world. If you want to learn more about the plateaus in Asia, this article will show you some basic information for the highest plateaus in Asia, including Tibetan Plateau, Mongolian Plateau, Iranian Plateau, and Deccan Plateau.

Tibetan Plateau

Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of more than 4,500 meters, is the highest plateau in Asia. It is surrounded by imposing mountain ranges, and Mount Everest and K2 are the two highest summits in the world. Well-known as "the Roof of the World", Tibetan Plateau is also the world's highest and largest plateau, covering an area of about 2,500,000 square meters.



Stretching 1,000 kilometers from north to south and 2,500 kilometers from east to west, Tibetan Plateau bordered to the south by the Himalayan Range, to the north by the Kunlun Mountains, to the northeast by the Qilian Mountains, with the Pamirs and Karakorum Mountains in the west, and the western part of the Qinling Mountains and the Loess Plateau in the east and northeast.

Topographically, Tibetan Plateau can be divided into six parts: North Tibet Plateau, South Tibet Valley, Qaidam Basin, Qilian Mountains, Qinghai Plateau, and Sichuan-Tibet Alpine Canyon, including all parts of Tibet, and Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Sichuan, and parts of Yunnan in China, and part or all of Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan.



General characteristics of the climate of the Tibetan Plateau are strong radiation, abundant sunshine, lower temperature, less accumulated temperature. The temperature decreases with the increase of altitude and latitude, with a large temperature difference. The weather is dry and wet on the plateau, with a lot of night rain. In winter, the weather is dry and cold, and there is strong wind. The weather in summer is cool and rainy, and there is much hail.

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Mongolian Plateau 

Mongolian Plateau has an elevation of about 1,000 to 1,500 meters. The highest point is in Altai, while the lowest point is in Hulunbuir. Covering an area of more than 3,200,000 square kilometers (1,200,000 sq mi), Mongolian Plateau is divided between China, Mongolia and Russia, bounded by the Greater Khingan Mountains in the east, the Yin Mountains to the south, the Altai Mountains to the west and the Sayan and Khentii mountains to the north.



Most area of the Mongolian Plateau is ancient tableland, with only mountainous areas in the northwest, a vast Gobi in the southeast, and large hills in the middle and east. The terrain gradually decreases from west to east. There are many rivers and lakes on the plateau, and most of the lakes are distributed in the northwest region. In the south, there are few rivers and lakes.

The Mongolian Plateau has a temperate continental climate, with an average annual rainfall of about 200 mm (8 inches). The average temperature in the hottest and coldest months differs greatly. The strong winds and rapid weather changes are the biggest characteristics of the climate on Mongolian Plateau.

Iranian Plateau

Iranian Plateau, or Persian Plateau, is 2,500 kilometers long from east to west, 1,500 kilometers wide from north to south, covering an area of about 2.7 million square kilometers. It's located between the Zagros Mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north, the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus Mountains in the northwest, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the south and the Indo-Gangetic Plains to the east in Pakistan.
 

The Iranian plateau is a closed mountain plateau surrounded by mountains, and the highest peak is Damavand in the Alborz (5,610 meters). The internal terrain is not very undulating, with an altitude of 1000-1500 meters, and there are many mountain basins, where salt marshes and deserts are widespread.

The Iranian plateau has a subtropical arid and semi-arid climate, with sparse precipitation, drastic changes in cold and heat, and poor annual and daily temperatures. The vast majority of areas have subtropical continental grassland and desert climates. The temperature difference between winter and summer is large, and the rainfall is small. Most of the water sources come from high mountain precipitation.

Deccan Plateau

Deccan Plateau, located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, is the largest plateau in India. This plateau is bounded on the east and west by the Ghats, while its northern extremity is the Vindhya Range. The terrain is high in the west and low in the east, with an average altitude of 600-800m. It is volcanic basalt beds of the Deccan, which were laid down by the massive Deccan Trap eruption.



The Deccan Plateau is located at a low latitude and has a typical continental monsoon climate. In addition to the abundant rainfall on both sides of the east and west, the high temperature and less rain inside the plateau, the lack of tall and dense forests, mainly shrubs and tall grass, show a group of tropical grasslands landscape. During the hot season, temperatures in various parts of India can reach as high as 40°C, and the Deccan Plateau can reach as high as 49°C-50°C.