Relief and drainage

The Chota Nagpur Plateau, a series of plateaus, hills, and valleys, covers the Jharkhand state and consists mostly of crystalline rocks. The main plateaus, Hazaribagh and Ranchi, are separated by the faulted, sedimentary coal-bearing basin of the Damodar River, and they average about 2,000 feet (600 metres) in height. In the west there are more than 300 dissected but flat-topped plateaus over 3,000 feet (900 metres) high, known as pats. The highest point in Jharkhand is formed by the conical granite peak of Parasnath—4,477 feet (1,365 metres) high—in Hazaribagh; it is sacred to both the Jaina religion and the Santhal tribe. In the extreme northwest, beyond the Son Valley, lies the Kaimur Plateau, with horizontal sandstone strata underlain by limestone. In the Damodar valley the soil is sandy; the typical soil of the plateau is red soil.