To the south, the alluvial plain merges with Damodar-kasain-Subarnarekha deltaic plains. The western half of the district resembles a promontory jutting out from the hill ranges of Chotonagpur plateau and consists of barren, rocky and rolling country with a laterite soil rising into rocky hillocks, the highest being 227 m. These diversify the otherwise monotonous landscape and lend a special charm to the skyline around Asansol subdivision. Ajoy-barakar divide is a convex plateau, the average altitude being 150 m. The gradient is westerly to the west and to the east it is northerly toward