The Western Ghats lie parallel to the West Coast. The structure of the
Western Ghats is continuous with a few passes as the gateways to the coastal
plains. The Western Ghats are higher than the Eastern Ghats. Thus, for the Deccan
plateau region, west-east slope is seen (Fig 1.9). The Western Ghats extend for
1600 kms. Near Gudalur,the Nilgiris join the Western Ghats and they rise to over
a height of about 2000 mts. The famous hill station Udagamandalam, popularly
known as Ooty, is located in the Nilgiris. Doda Betta (2637 mts) is its
highest peak. Western Ghats include the, Palani (Tamilnadu), Annamalai and
Cardamom (Kerala) hills. Anaimudi (2695 mts) of Annamalai hills is the highest
peak in south India.

The Eastern Ghats extend from Mahanadi valley in the north to Nilgiris in the
south. However, the Eastern Ghats are not continuous. Rivers that originate in
Western Ghats like Godavari and Krishna cut across the plateau and join the Bay of
Bengal. The average height of the Eastern Ghats rarely exceeds 900 mts. The
highest peak in Eastern Ghats is Aroma Konda found at Chinthapalli (1680 mts., in
Andhra Pradesh). Nallamalas, Velikondas, Palakondas and Seshachala are some of
the hilly tracts of Eastern Ghats. One of the remarkable features of the
peninsular plateau is black soils formed due to volcanic activity.