Discuss the natural resource potentials of ‘Deccan Trap’.
Approach · directive: “discuss”
What it asks · Describe the resources associated with the basaltic Deccan Trap: soils, building stone, minerals, water and energy, along with the limits on their use.
Open with · The Deccan Trap is a vast basalt province built by fissure eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous, covering much of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and north Karnataka.
Cover
- Soils: weathered basalt gives regur (black cotton) soil, rich in clay and moisture-retentive, suited to cotton, sugarcane, soybean, pulses and oranges.
- Building material: durable basalt is used as road metal, aggregate and dimension stone; Ellora's rock-cut temples are carved from it.
- Minerals: bauxite and laterite caps on the plateau and Konkan, and zeolites, agate and chalcedony in vesicular and amygdaloidal basalt.
- Water and power: fractured basalt holds groundwater, and steep Western Ghats scarps support hydel sites such as Koyna.
- Energy sites: exposed plateaus and ridges suit wind and solar projects in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat.
- Constraints: hard-rock aquifers give low, erratic yields; slopes suffer erosion; quarrying scars landscapes; rainfed regur farming is drought-prone.
Close with · Its chief wealth is black soil and stone; sustainable use needs soil-moisture conservation, watershed management and regulated quarrying.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 197 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
The Deccan Trap is a vast basalt province built by fissure eruptions at the close of the Cretaceous; it covers much of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and northern Karnataka in step-like plateaus.
Resource potentials
- Soil: weathered basalt gives regur, the black cotton soil, clay-rich, moisture-retentive and self-ploughing, which supports cotton, sugarcane, soybean, pulses and Nagpur oranges.
- Building stone: dense, durable basalt serves as road metal, railway ballast, aggregate and dimension stone; Ellora's rock-cut temples were carved from it.
- Minerals: laterite caps on the plateau and Konkan hills, as around Kolhapur, hold bauxite; vesicular basalt yields zeolites, agate and chalcedony.
- Water: fractured and vesicular basalt stores groundwater tapped by dug wells; the Godavari and Krishna rise here, and the Western Ghats scarp gives hydel sites such as Koyna.
- Energy: windy plateau edges and sunny interiors host wind farms and solar parks in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat.
Constraints
- Hard-rock aquifers give low, erratic yields and fail in summer; regur farming is rainfed and drought-prone, as Marathwada and Vidarbha show.
- Slopes erode, quarrying scars landscapes, and over-drawn wells deepen scarcity.
Black soil and stone are its chief wealth; realising the rest calls for watershed management, soil-moisture conservation and regulated quarrying.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.