A DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT FORTNIGHTLY 60 ` PRICE YOU and VOL. 19, ISSUE 25, NO. 136, 2019 136, NO. 25, ISSUE 19, VOL. GEOGRAPHY

SIWALIK HILLS, A STOREHOUSE OF EXTINCT LONAR: THE IMPACT CRATER LADAKH: THE LAND OF TWO CONTINENTAL PLATES CONSERVING INDIAN GEOHERITAGE: THE GEOPARK APPROACH VARKALA: INDIA’S ONLY CLIFF GEO-HERITAGE SITE INDIA’S GEOHERITAGE SITES G’nY SINCE 2001 A DEVELOPMENT AND GEOGRAPHYANDYOU.COM GEOGRAPHY AND YOU ENVIRONMENT FORTNIGHTLY VOL. 19  ISSUE 25 No. 136  JULY 16-30, 2019

INDIA’S GEOHERITAGE 4 Siwalik Hills, A Storehouse of Extinct 48 Meghalayan Age: The Youngest Age Interval Mammals in Earth’s History V P Mishra Debahuti Mukherjee, BasishaIangrai and Sabyasachi The foothills of the Himalayan mountains are known Shome worldwide as a storehouse of mammals. The current geological age, starting 4200 years ago, is now called the Meghalayan Age, the youngest time division of the 10 World’s Oldest Zinc Mining and Holocene Epoch. Metallurgy Site Pushpendra Singh Ranawat 56 Lonar: The Impact Crater The Proterozoic Aravalli metasedimentary rocks host zinc Amar Agarwal and lead mineralization which were was mined (open Only pristine impact crater that formed in basaltic rocks, and pits and underground mining) and zinc was extracted by has numerous endemic and microbial biodiversity. distillation process. 76 Ladakh: The Land of Two Continental Plates 20 VARKALA: India’s Only Cliff Geoheritage Satish C Tripathi Site Laddakh, record of the India-Eurasia plate collision, evolution Subhash Anand and Vidhi Saluja of Himalaya and the present day drainage system Only cliff geoheritage site recognised as a National Geological Monument and is in Kerala. 85 When Dinosaurs Ruled the Indian Subcontinent 28 Stromatolites: The Building Blocks of Life Saswati Bandyopadhyay Mukund Sharma The sediments of Mesozoic Era recorded the signatures of Signature of evolution of earliest life forms on Earth. dinosaur evolution and in India. The prolific growth of stromatolites found are in the carbonate rocks were deposited between 3900 million 90 Conserving Indian Geoheritage: The Geopark years to 541 million years ago. Approach Manjit Kumar Mazumdar and Bidisha Bayan 39 Erra Matti Dibbalu: The Coastal Red Sand Successful in improving the socio-economic conditions Dunes of Visakhapatnam achieving economic development of the communities, D Rajasekhar Reddy thereby, contribute to the sustainable development of the Owing to its geological significance, Geological Survey regions and their inhabitants. of India has declared it a National Geoheritage Site in July, 2014 and the Government of Andhra Pradesh has notified it as a Protected Area in July, 2016. IN BRIEF

PHOTO COURTESY: PIXABAY COURTESY: PHOTO 2 Letters; 3 Editor’s Note; 46 Walk to save our geoheritage; 48 Books & Website

Expert Panel Rasik Ravindra Sachidanand Sinha B Meenakumari Prithvish Nag Geologist and Professor, CSRD, Former Chairperson, Former Vice Chancellor, Secretary General, Jawaharlal Nehru National Biodiversity MG Kashi Vidyapeeth, 36 IGC, New Delhi. University, New Delhi. Authority, Chennai. Varanasi.

Ajit Tyagi K J Ramesh Saraswati Raju B Sengupta Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Former Director Former Professor, CSRD, Former Member Secretary, Former DG, IMD, General, IMD, Jawaharlal Nehru Central Pollution Control New Delhi. New Delhi. University, New Delhi. Board, New Delhi. Guest Editor’s

Dr Satish C Tripathi General Secretary, The Society of Earth Scientists

Geoheritage – A Window to the Past

The breaking away of the Gondwanaland about 180 million years ago (mya) resulted in the separation and isolation of the dynamic Indian subcontinental landmass. Separated from Madagascar ~85-90 mya (Late-) India took northward flight right across the equator. Ultimately colliding with Eurasia to birth the magnificent Himalaya. India in fact continues to move northward at a rate of 1.5 cm per year. The myriad features fashioned out of bare rocks during India’s long odyssey have attracted the imagination of humans for centuries driven as it were by changing climate, catastrophes and erosional agencies. India therefore is abundant in geological diversity—yet the sense of heritage that these magnificent creations instill, is bereft of a spotlight. What is significant however, is that our ancestors were aware of the richness, according cultural and spiritual values to geosites such as hot springs, hills and more. Interestingly, the remnants of ancient mining and metallurgy dating back to ~2500 years indicate a great knowledge of geological processes. As early as the 1970s, several geosites were declared ‘National Geological Monuments’ by the Geological Survey of India, much ahead of the world—marking an underlying understanding of geosite conservation. However, developing them in to a geopark could not be prioritised. As a result, geotourism never gained momentum. Geosites have an immense potential in educating about earth processes, signatures of past climatic changes and catastrophic events, evolution of life and role of palaeovegetation in making our planet livable. It can help understand sustainable environmental management within a developmental framework. Integrated with India’s cultural ecosystems it would help people reconnect with the dynamic past, encouraging the option of geotourism. Despite several geosites being conserved caves, hot springs, rock gardens, etc., its geoscientific component is either absent, negligible or misleading. It would be a good starting point to address these sites in priority. Geo-conservation is not only important for tourism, it is imperative for safeguarding future research activities that will service generations. The current challenge is to interpret geoheritage meaningfully in order to cater to dedicated geotourists as well as the casual visitors. Geoheritage literature is meager with few and far between popular geoscientific literature, films, interactive shows, geo-guides and the like. Geoscientists therefore need to don an additional mantle of lucid writing and speaking in a language that all understand. The Society of Earth Scientists is dedicatedly working on geoheritage conservation and global geoparks. It is in fact also developing a suitable legislation towards it. The special ‘India’s Geoheritage Sites’ issue of G’nY is therefore an attempt to build an enabling environment for future interventions.

Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of India, Hyderabad Email: [email protected]

GEOGRAPHYGEOGRAPHY AND AND YOU YOU . 2019 . 2019 3 16 2019 . GEOGRAPHY AND YOU VOL 19, ISSUE 23 NO. 134 The Siwalik hills are known to be a storehouse of fossil mammals. The rocks entomb a variety of of extinct mammals ranging in age from 16 to 0.6 million years. Important groups of mammals at various evolutionary stages ‘ which thrived’ during the deposition of the Siwalik rock strata are elephants, horses, cats, cattle, deer, giraffes, rats, pigs, , rhinoceroses and many others.

By V P Mishra

Siwalika storehouse hills, of extinct mammals

The author is a former Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of India, Lucknow. [email protected]. The article should be cited as Mishra V. P., 2019. The Extinct Mammals of the Siwalik, Geography and You, 19(23):

GEOGRAPHY AND YOU . 2019 17 he low hill ranges of ‘Siwalik’ The fossil store house (or An abundance of exposed between the mighty pre-historic life) Himalayas and the plains of the As the region contains numerous mammalian and Indian subcontinent form the other vertebrate fossils, intensive explorations and foothills of Himalaya. This range is researches have been carried out by geoscientists about 2400 km long, from the Indus River in the from across the world. Since its inception in 1851, westT to the Brahmaputra River in the east, with a scientists from the Geological Survey of India gap of 90 km between the Teesta and the Raidak (GSI) have extensively worked on the Siwalik rivers in West Bengal/Assam. The width of the rocks and published exhaustive memoirs on these Siwalik hills varies from 1000 m to 5000 m with fossil mammals. These researches have helped an elevation of 1500 m to 2000 m, and supports recover fossils of fish, few amphibian, snakes and a variety of fauna and flora1 The term Siwalik birds, crocodiles, tortoises, molluscan shells, (or Shiwalik) is considered to have originated leaf impressions and fossil wood in addition to from the Hindi and Nepali term 'Shivalik Parvat' mammalian fossils. and derived from the hills of the same name in Complete vertebrate skeletons have not yet Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Shivalik is said to mean been found in the Siwalik rocks and their rarity 'tresses of Shiva'. These hills are made up of clay, can be attributed to the fact that dead silt, sandstones and conglomerates brought down are eaten by scavengers like vultures in terrestrial between 16 million to 6 million years ago, by conditions before they get buried over a period of numerous fast flowing rivers arising from the then time. Also, during the deposition, various bones rapidly rising mountain mass in the north. get disarticulated and/or preserved in isolation. The hills record the signatures of various While the Siwalik strata as a whole is quite episodes of the rise of the Himalaya. The Siwalik fossiliferous, certain geological sections yield group of rocks is composed of 5000-6000 m more fossils than the others such as Markanda thick succession of sedimentary rocks of fluvial Valley and Nurpur (Himachal Pradesh), north nature. Consequent to the rise of the Himalayan of Chandigarh (Haryana) and Uttarbaini mountain chain, there must have been progressive and Ramnagar (Jammu & Kashmir). These increase in moisture content and temperature of geosites have earned popularity because of their the area, which helped to support a thick forest easy accessibility and need to be preserved as vegetation. These climatic conditions helped geoheritage sites. the existing Siwalik fauna multiply rapidly and Vertebrate fossil collections from Siwalik rocks numerous forms of elephants (proboscids), horses are innumerable, some systematically done while (equids), cattle (bovids), pigs (suids), giraffes, apes, others have been done by amatuer collectors as rhinos, deer, rats (rodents) and cats (carnivorous curios. Perhaps countless specimens have been animals) thrived in large numbers. destroyed by the local inhabitants of the region

Siwalik Fossil Park and its Museum at Saketi (Himachal Pradesh)

18 2019 . GEOGRAPHY AND YOU VOL 19, ISSUE 23 NO. 134 The ancestors of rocks—have limited varieties. The region has modern Indian yielded much lesser varieties as well as fossils of camels, rabbits, and insectivores. The fossil finds mammals show that several interesting cattle, buffaloes and oxen of various sizes and groups inhabited the lived in the Siwalik. Siwalik forests, of which many perhaps migrated Fossils of westward. Present day cattle species in India form only an insignificant part of the large population the evolutionary and variety of the Siwalik bovids. Even though no giraffes are currently found in India, four varieties stages of belonging to the family Giraffidae lived 10 millions to 1 million years ago in the Indian Siwaliks. Fossils mammals of Sivatherum giganteum, the largest known giraffid and perhaps the largest ruminant of all have been found times were commonly found in the Siwalik hills of Himachal 3 to 1 million years ago. Fossils of an here. extinct species of Hippopotamus, sivalensis (3 to 1.5 million years old) are also commonly found here. This species was almost of the same size as current living Hippopotamus but who regarded these fossils as bones of ‘demons’ distinctly possessed six incisor teeth, a relatively and hence inauspicious. wider mouth and longer lower jaw. Spectacular vertebrate collections from the Several groups of rhinoceros inhabited the region made during the 19th and 20th C are housed in museums across the world such as the Indian Museum, Kolkata, British Museum, Table 1: Mammalian groups found in fossil with their earliest occurrence in Siwalik rock strata London, Paris Museum, France, American Museum of Natural History, New York, Yale Mammals Geologic time in Peabody Museum, Connecticut, Wadia Institute (Fossils) million years of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, Panjab Rabbits (lagomorphs) 3 University, Chandigarh, Siwalik Fossil Park, Saketi (Himachal Pradesh) and numerous other Hippopotamus 3 institutions and universities world over1. Camels (camelids) 3 Based on the recovery of isolated fossils of Deer (cervids) 3 jaw fragments, skulls, teeth, vertebrae, scapular fragments, limb bones, ribs, etc., the important Apes 7.8 groups of mammals found here are rats (rodents), Horses (equids) 10.5 rabbits (lagomorphs), pigs (suids), hippopotamus, Carnivores 11 Camels (camelids), ruminants (tragulids), deer (cervids), giraffes (giraffids), cattles (bovids), Rats (rodents) 15 tapirs, rhinos (rhinoceratoids), horses (equids), Cattles (bovids) 15 elephants (proboscideans), insectivores, primates and flesh eating animals like cats, lions, bears, Tapirs 15 dogs, etc. (carnivores). Rhinos (rhinoceratoids) 15 The recovery of a large number of fossils of Giraffes (giraffids) 15.5 several types of carnivores (including sabre- toothed tiger), pigs, rats, deer, cattles, giraffes, Pigs (suids) 16 rhinos and elephants indicates that they had Ruminants (tragulids) 16 prolific growth during the deposition of Siwalik Elephants (proboscideans) 16 sediments1. However, fossils of horses and Source: Reference 1, and several research publications on Siwalik hippopotamus though very common in Siwalik mammals.

GEOGRAPHY AND YOU . 2019 19 Skull with horns of Hemibos triquatricornis An extinct bovid, Siwalik Collected from Khera, the Hemibos dist. Sirmaur (H.P.) Fossil triquatricornis Specimens are abundantly found in the Saketi region of the Siwalik. The giant elephant printed on the 1951 postal stamp is of Stegodon ganesa, which Lateral view existed in abundance in the Siwalik region of broken part during 70 to 10 lakh years ago. of vertebra of Commemorating the Indian Gavialis sp. geological survey centenary on crocodile January 13, 1951 a stamp was The gharial (Gavialis released by the Indian government. gangeticus), is the only living species of Gavia- lis. The other Gavialis bengawanicus, once found in abundance in the Siwalik, is now extinct. Left canine of Hippopotamus Hexaprotodon Part of horn of large sized sivalensis cattle. Bovidae gen. et sp An extinct species of The Bovidae are the biological family of hippopotamus that cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that lived in India between includes cattle. It was represented by a the Pliocene and the reasonable number of specimens in the Pleistocene. Siwalik during the Pleistocene.

Siwalik forests representing different lines of early primates Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus phylogenetic development. However in India, we have been recovered which are 15 to 8 million now have only one species of rhinoceros restricted years old. No hominid fossil material has been to the hilly tracts adjoining the plains of Assam recovered in the younger Siwalik rocks. (Primate and West Bengal. fossils are rare in Indian Siwaliks and those of The elephants present a long history of existence the hominoids. Dryopithecus and Sivapithecus in the Siwalik region. Their fossil records (Ramapithecus) are very rare. Sivapithecus is from 16 million to 1 million years ago are very presently grouped with the orangutan clade. profuse (over 20 types of elephants) and are Fossils of stone tool using hominoids (akin to morphologically diverse and phylogenetically Australopithecus ) have so far not been found in progressive also. These attained maximum Indian Siwalik strata.) anatomical development around 2.5 to 1.5 million The most important and remarkable aspect years ago in the Siwalik hills. An extinct elephant about the Siwalik mammals is their complete named Stegodon had tusks over 3 m in length. The disappearance around 1.5 million years ago. elephant group faced nearly complete annihilation Faunal extinction occurred with climatic due to the impact of Himalayan orogeny and deterioration which began with the onset of augmented glacial conditions about 1.5 million another Ice Age around 1.5 to 2 million years ago. years ago. The highly evolved extant Elephas The climate became unsuitable for highly evolved indicus is the only surviving Indian representative vertebrate communities and many of these of the great stock that flourished millions of years mammals became extinct while some migrated ago in the Siwalik region. to areas in the north , the Indo-Gangetic plains Primate fossil material is very scanty. Fossils of and also towards Narmada valley as can be seen

20 2019 . GEOGRAPHY AND YOU VOL 19, ISSUE 23 NO. 134 Molar tooth of extinct elephant Stegodon sp. Stegodon, means 'roofed tooth' because of the distinctive ridges on the 's molars, were more common than Asian elephants in Life-size models of extinct mammals. this region.

Angiospermous leaf impressions in Siwalik rock The comparable extant taxa of the present day indicates the existence of tropical to sub-tropical evergreen to semi evergreen forest with humid climate in the area during the deposition of the Siwalik sediments.

from the recovery of fossils of primitive elephants, Way Forward horses, rhinos, antelopes, bovids, hippopotamus Importance of Siwalik region as Geoheritage site: and other mammals (about 40,000 to 100,000 A large variety of Indian modern mammals had years old) that have been found in the Gangetic their ancestors in the Siwalik region. Fossils of alluvial region at Kalpi, Allahabad and Varanasi evolutionary stages of several of the mammals in Uttar Pradesh and Bhagalpur in Bihar. Several have been encountered in Indian Siwaliks. mammalian fossils including those of sabre- Study of Siwalik mammalian fauna has helped toothed tiger have been found in 200,000 year old to build up the evolutionary history of many rocks in Bankura district of West Bengal. mammalian groups. Presently only one geosite at Saketi (Himachal Pradesh) has been declared Siwalik Fossil Park, Saketi as National Geological Monument. Many more A Siwalik Fossil Park has been developed by GSI, geosites of Indian Siwaliks have also yielded in collaboration with the State Government in prolific mammalian fossils which also need to be Markanda valley of Sirmaur district, Himachal conserved and preserved as Geoheritage sites for Pradesh from where a large number of vertebrate future generations. fossils have been collected. A museum in the park displays life-size models of some extinct References species of Siwalik vertebrates. It is a significant Verma B.C., V. P. Mishra and S. S. Gupta, 2002. step towards preservation of prehistoric animal Pictorial Catalogue of Siwalik Vertebrate Fossils sites, restoration of their natural environment and from Northwest Himalaya, Geological Survey of utilization of the same for scientific, educational India, Catalogue Series No. 5,378. and recreational purposes.

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