Which is known as the storehouse of Indian minerals?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, the Chhotanagpur plateau. Spread mainly over Jharkhand and reaching into Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, it is India's richest mineral belt — often called the 'storehouse' (or 'Ruhr') of Indian minerals. Its ancient Gondwana coal basins in the Damodar valley (Jharia, Bokaro, Karanpura) hold the bulk of the country's coal, and its Dharwar rocks yield iron ore, mica, bauxite, copper and more.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) A granite-gneiss upland of the UP-MP border known mainly for building stone and some minor minerals — not the country's mineral storehouse.  (c) A Deccan-trap basaltic plateau of Madhya Pradesh prized for fertile black soil and farming, not for a concentration of metallic minerals.  (d) A central-Indian plateau with some coal and limestone, but nowhere near the mineral wealth of the Chhotanagpur belt.

Concept: The Chhotanagpur plateau sits on some of India's oldest rock systems. Its Gondwana coal-bearing basins along the Damodar river and its Dharwar metallic ores together give it an extraordinary concentration of coal, iron ore, mica, bauxite and copper — the reason it is called the storehouse of Indian minerals.

State PCS 2020 Q29 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q29 — Geography PYQ with Answer