Not every Indian mountain range folded up slowly over millions of years. This one was pushed up whole, like a block of land squeezed between two cracks in the Earth.
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Indian Geography · IndGeo0029
The Satpura Range: A Block Between Two Faults
Narmada Fault
North boundary
↑
Tapi Fault
South boundary
Satpura Horst
Uplifted block between the two faults
~900 km
Dhupgarh
Highest peak, ~1,350 m
3 sub-ranges
Mahadeo, Maikal, Rajpipla
Not a fold mountain
The Himalaya rose slowly as plates collided. The Satpura went up all at once — a solid block pushed upward while the land on either side sank along parallel faults.
Must Know
- The Satpura Range is an east-west hill system running across central India.
- It stretches roughly 900 kilometres, from eastern Gujarat through Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh into Chhattisgarh.
- The range forms the watershed between the Narmada river to its north and the Tapi river to its south.
- Its highest peak is Dhupgarh, about 1,350 metres, near the hill station of Pachmarhi.
- The range includes the Mahadeo Hills, the Maikal Range, and the Rajpipla Hills as its main sub-ranges.
Good to Know
- Geologists classify the Satpura as a block mountain, also called a horst.
- A horst forms when a block of land stays raised while the land on either side sinks along parallel faults.
- Here, the Narmada fault lies to the north and the Tapi fault to the south. The Satpura block sits uplifted between them.
- This sets it apart from fold mountains like the Himalaya, which rose slowly through colliding tectonic plates, not sudden faulting.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- To the east, the Satpura Range merges into the Chota Nagpur Plateau, linking central India’s hill systems together.
- It forms the southern boundary of the Malwa Plateau.
- Deep valleys and river gorges, carved by the Narmada and Tawa rivers, give the range a mix of habitats and rich biodiversity.
- Satpura National Park and Tiger Reserve, set in these forested hills, protects part of that biodiversity today.
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