Definition
The chain of hills along India's western coast, about 1,600 km from the Tapi valley to near Kanyakumari, which forms the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and is a global biodiversity hotspot and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Background and evolution
Unlike the Himalaya, the Western Ghats are not fold mountains. They are the steep western edge of the Deccan Plateau, formed when the western part of the landmass was faulted and sank beneath the Arabian Sea after India separated from Madagascar and later drifted over the Réunion hotspot, which produced the Deccan Traps. The result is a striking escarpment: the hills rise abruptly from the narrow coastal plain on the west and slope gently eastwards into the plateau.
The range runs roughly parallel to the coast through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the north the hills are made of basalt; further south they are older crystalline rocks. The Nilgiris, where the Western and Eastern Ghats meet, and the Anaimalai and Cardamom hills in the south are the highest parts. The Palghat Gap, a low break in Kerala, has long been a corridor for roads and railways between the coast and the interior.
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