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A fertile lava plateau of black soil, sloping gently north toward the Chambal and Mahi.

The Malwa plateau is the northern reach of the Deccan Traps — basalt lava that weathers into deep black cotton soil. Unusually for the peninsula, its rivers such as the Chambal and Mahi drain northward, away from the Vindhyan scarp that bounds it.

Its rich volcanic soils and moderate elevation made Malwa an early centre of agriculture and trade, with Ujjain long serving as a reference meridian for Indian astronomers.

Sources

• Geological Survey of India

A short reference note: this summary draws on third-party sources such as the Geological Survey of India and Wikipedia. In time I plan to give every geological feature its own learning-oriented write-up — with custom diagrams, graphs, and study pointers — as I’ve already done for the 11 locations that have an Instagram reel.