Satpura Tiger Reserve is part of the Deccan bio-geographic zone of India. The area is hilly and rugged over a major part within the folded ranges of Satpura hills. The altitude varies from 300 m to 1352 m above msl. The area includes the three highest peaks of Central India i.e. Dhoopgarh (1352 m), Mahadeo (1330 m) and Chauragarh (1308 m). The Western portion of PA is characterized by steep ridges, narrow valleys and deep gorges, having perennial streams and rolling flat country. Biogeographically Satpura Tiger Reserve falls under Central Indian Highlands (6E).
The area is endowed with rich and luxuriant tropical flora owing to combination of various climate and geographic factors at different altitude levels. The variety in vegetation includes some of the rare and endangered species too. Area is considered amongst one of the richest plant diversity and gene pool area in the Central India.
Geology plays a very important part in the distribution of the growing stock in the forests. The character of the forest is greatly influenced by the type of underlying rock. Teak forests are mostly found in soils derived, entirely or in part, from the trap rocks. It is also found but to a lesser extent, on the conglomerates, limestone, calcareous crystalline rocks, quartzite, phyllites, schists and granitic gneisses. But it is absent on the Gondwana sandstones of all stages.
There are three main types of rocks, namely, the trap, the conglomerate and the sandstone. The soils derived from the first support only the teak type of forests, those derived from the second support a mixed type of forests with varying proportion of teak and the third also supports mixed type of forests with no or very little teak.
The soil varies with the underlying rock and local topography. It is sufficiently deep along the river banks, fairly deep and well drained on the initial gentle slopes or the talus but shallow on higher and steeper slopes. On the ridges themselves rocks are commonly exposed. The flat hill tops such as those occur in the Bori reserve, however, often bear sufficiently deep soil.
The Satpura eco-region is part of the central Indian highlands, one of the seven geographic regions of India. As far as forest and wildlife wealth is concerned, the central Indian highlands are of utmost significance. Satpura Mountain range is sprawling around 500 km. across the state of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In the east, these mountain chains join the Chota Nagpur Plateau of Bihar and other hill chains in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, and extend well into the States of Gujarat and Maharastra in the west.
This geographical sub-region once held extensive, though fragmented, forest belt and accounted for a significant part of the total forests and wildlife habitats in India. Though the sub-region is now under characteristic biotic pressure, it still supports typical floral and faunal species of the region. The highlands also hold the sources of several of the important Indian rivers of the country.