Plateau

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For other meanings, see Plateau (disambiguation).

Image:Mt Roraima in Venezuela 001.JPG

Monte Roraima

In geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain.

A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau.

A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanic activity.

The largest and highest plateau in the world is the Tibetan Plateau, called the "roof of the world", which is still being formed by the collisions of the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Image:Bogota Centro.jpg

Bogotá,Colombia is located in a high plateu, over 8600 ft high

Oceanic plateaus

Plateau is also used to describe undersea geologic formations. Some undersea plateaus, like the Seychelles plateau, are fragments of continental crust that lie separate from continents; they are analogous to continental shelves. Others, like the Ontong Java Plateau are large igneous provinces made of flood basalts.