Geodiversity, Geogrphical Heritage and Geoparks In Indiaigu-geopark.com/igucog/international journal...

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Author: R.B. Singh,Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110007, INDIA; [email protected] Subhash Anand. Department of Geography, Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110036, INDIA; [email protected] www.igu-cog.org Geodiversity, Geogrphical Heritage and Geoparks In India R.B. Singh and Subhash Anand University of Delhi, Delhi, INDIA 1 Introduction The development of all biotic and abiotic resources relies on bedrock, soil, landform and related systems and processes. The diversity of these systems and processes de- termines the richness of biodiversity. The geological history of India started with geological evolution about 4.57 billion years ago. Indian geological formations con- sist of the Deccan trap, the Gondwana and the Vindhyan and those that originated in Pleistocene, Tertiary and Pre-Cambrian periods. Conventionally, the country is di- vided into three physiographic regions viz., the Himalaya and associated mountain chain (5,00,000 sq. km.), the Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains (7,00,000 sq. km.) and the Peninsular plateau (19,00,000 sq. km.) including the coasts and the islands. The world’s 14 highest peaks and few large rivers of the world are located in the Himalaya. The Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains located in the northern part of the country, ex- tends for 3,200 km. from the river Indus in the west to Brahmaputra in the east. Its width varies between 150-300 km. The senile peninsular plateau in the south is trian- gular in shape and has some of the oldest mountains of the world with elevation var- ying between 600 and 800 meters. The Islands include the Lakshwadeep (36 coral Islands), the Andaman (200 Islands) and Nicobar (19 Islands) (Singh, 2012). Out of the total geographical area of the country, 2,386,000 sq. km. (Himalayan and Penin- sula region) is made up of hard rock. Geodiversity is defined as the variety of geological features, including rocks, min- erals, fossils, soils, geological units and landscapes, which are the result of the Earth’s evolution and history (Panizza, 2001). According to Brocx and Semeniuk (2007), geoheritage is a concept concerned with the preservation of features with importance to Earth science, such as landforms, natural and artificial exposures of rocks, and sites where geological features can be examined. A geosite is a locality that constitutes part of the geoheritage of a territory. UNESCO in its Geoparks International Network of Geoparks programme describes a geopark as a territory encompassing one or more sites of scientific importance, not only for geological reasons but also by virtue of its archaeological, ecological or cultural value. Preserving the rocks beneath our feet is necessary for earth science and for education; it is a vital part of nature conservation. Geoparks and geosites can become our modern earth science clubs if maintained and

Transcript of Geodiversity, Geogrphical Heritage and Geoparks In Indiaigu-geopark.com/igucog/international journal...

Page 1: Geodiversity, Geogrphical Heritage and Geoparks In Indiaigu-geopark.com/igucog/international journal of geoheritage/4 R.B... · sula region) is made up of hard rock. Geodiversity

Author: R.B. Singh,Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110007,

INDIA; [email protected] Subhash Anand. Department of Geography, Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110036,

INDIA; [email protected]

www.igu-cog.org

Geodiversity, Geogrphical Heritage and Geoparks In India R.B. Singh and Subhash Anand University of Delhi, Delhi, INDIA

1 Introduction The development of all biotic and abiotic resources relies on bedrock, soil, landform and related systems and processes. The diversity of these systems and processes de-termines the richness of biodiversity. The geological history of India started with geological evolution about 4.57 billion years ago. Indian geological formations con-sist of the Deccan trap, the Gondwana and the Vindhyan and those that originated in Pleistocene, Tertiary and Pre-Cambrian periods. Conventionally, the country is di-vided into three physiographic regions viz., the Himalaya and associated mountain chain (5,00,000 sq. km.), the Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains (7,00,000 sq. km.) and the Peninsular plateau (19,00,000 sq. km.) including the coasts and the islands. The world’s 14 highest peaks and few large rivers of the world are located in the Himalaya. The Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains located in the northern part of the country, ex-tends for 3,200 km. from the river Indus in the west to Brahmaputra in the east. Its width varies between 150-300 km. The senile peninsular plateau in the south is trian-gular in shape and has some of the oldest mountains of the world with elevation var-ying between 600 and 800 meters. The Islands include the Lakshwadeep (36 coral Islands), the Andaman (200 Islands) and Nicobar (19 Islands) (Singh, 2012). Out of the total geographical area of the country, 2,386,000 sq. km. (Himalayan and Penin-sula region) is made up of hard rock.

Geodiversity is defined as the variety of geological features, including rocks, min-erals, fossils, soils, geological units and landscapes, which are the result of the Earth’s evolution and history (Panizza, 2001). According to Brocx and Semeniuk (2007), geoheritage is a concept concerned with the preservation of features with importance to Earth science, such as landforms, natural and artificial exposures of rocks, and sites where geological features can be examined. A geosite is a locality that constitutes part of the geoheritage of a territory. UNESCO in its Geoparks International Network of Geoparks programme describes a geopark as a territory encompassing one or more sites of scientific importance, not only for geological reasons but also by virtue of its archaeological, ecological or cultural value. Preserving the rocks beneath our feet is necessary for earth science and for education; it is a vital part of nature conservation. Geoparks and geosites can become our modern earth science clubs if maintained and

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manned with urgent top priority dedication (Ahluwalia, 2006).

2 State of Geodiversity in India Geodiversity is the natural range of geological (rocks, minerals, fossils), geomor-phological (landform, processes) and soil features. It includes their assemblages, rela-tionships, properties, interpretations and system (Gray, 2004). India is both a mega-biological diverse country with outstanding geodiversity (Figure 1) and this diversity helps to define its fifteen bioregions. India occupies just 2.4 per cent of the Earth’s land surface and has 7 per cent of the mammals, 12.6 per cent birds, 6.2 per cent reptiles, 4.4 per cent amphibians, 11.7 per cent fishes and 6 per cent flowing plants of the world (Singh, 2012). The remarkable geodiversity that includes Hima-laya, Thar Desert, Deccan Plateau, Sunderbans and Lakshdweep coral reef islands. Outstanding geographical heritage such as these iconic features are celebrated as part of India’s national identity. Many are inscribed World Heritage Sites and many are included on India’s National Heritage List.

Figure 1 Geological map of India

Source: Geological Survey of India, 2001

2.1 Mountain

The mountains of India are broadly classified into two types: extra-peninsular or Hi-malaya and peninsular (Wadia, 1919). The geological structure and age of Himalaya fall into three broad stratigraphical belts viz. The Northern or Tibetan zone, The Cen-tral or Himalayan zone and The Outer or Sub-Himalayan zone. The first zone lies behind the line of highest elevation and is composed of continuous series of highly

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fossiliferous marine sedimentary rocks, ranging in the age from the earliest Palaeo-zoic to the Eocene age. The central zone comprises mostly of crystalline and meta-morphic rocks - granites, gneisses with unfossiliferous sedimentary deposits of very ancient age. The third zone corresponding to the Shivalik range is composed entirely of tertiary, and principally of upper tertiary, sedimentary river deposits (Figure 2). High relief, snow-capped summit, deeply dissected topography, antecedent drainage, complex geological structure and rich temperate floras in the sub-tropical latitudes give a distinct character to the Himalayan mountain ranges. The Eastern Himalaya covers an area of 67,500 sq. km. with many piedmont plateaus present in this area. Geologically, this area is characterized by a fault scarp with well foliated schist abut-ting against gneissic rocks and locally defining the lineament of artisans springs (Nag & Sen Gupta, 1992).

Figure 2 Geodiversity in Himalaya - (a) Horizontal layering in Himalaya; (b) Loess structure in the

Lahul and Spiti, Himalaya

The most important ranges of Peninsula are: The Aravalli mountains, the Vindhyas, Satpuras, the Western Ghats and irregular broken and discontinuous chain of eleva-tions known as the Eastern ghats. Aravallis were a prominent feature of the old Plaeozoic and Mesozoic era and extended as a chain of lofty mountains from the Deccan to possibly beyond the northern limit of India. In present time, they are just deeply eroded remnants laid bare by repeated cycles of erosion. The Vindhyas are for the most part composed of horizontally bedded sedimentary rocks of ancient age. The Vindhyas and Satpuras form the backbone of central India. The western and eastern parts of Satpuras are formed of Cretaceous basalts; the central part is composed, in addition to a capping of the traps, of a core of granitoid and metamorphic rocks over-laid by Mesozoic sandstones. The Western Ghats, as the name Ghat denotes, are, down to Malabar, steep-sided, terraced, flat toped hills or cliffs facing the Arabian sea-coast running parallel to it. The horizontally bedded lavas of which they are wholly composed have, on weathering, given rise to a characteristic "landing stair" aspect. Beyond Malabar they are composed of very ancient massive crystalline rocks, and not of horizontal layers of lava-flows. The broken and discontinuous line of mountainous country, the eastern facing the Bay of Bengal, and known as the Eastern Ghats, has neither the unity of structure nor of characteristic of a mountain-chain.

Among the remaining, but less important, hill ranges of the Peninsula are the trap-built Rajmahal hills of western Bengal, the Nallamalai hills near Cuddapah, built of gneissose granite, and the gneissic plateau of Shevaroys and Pachamalai, south-west of Madras.

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2.2 Desert

India has a vast desert comprising of about 390,000 hectare of land. The deserts of India are diverse in nature and vary from hot sandy desert in the west to cold desert in the north. The Indian deserts can be classified into following three forms. 2.2.1 The Sandy Desert of Rajasthan The Thar desert is the western most fringe of the Deccan mainland forming shield area of the Indian sub-continent during pre-Cambrian times. On the west rock expo-sures are less frequent but known to include Malani igneous rocks, Vindhya, Marine Jurassics and Eocene rocks. It is understood that this area was under sea during Juras-sic times which is evident from fossils recovered in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan (Figure 3). Highly fossiliferous marine deposits over Talchir beds show that species lived in more or less isolated arms of large sea spread over the Himalayan region (Chauhan & Sharma, 2008).

Figure 3 Desert diversity in Western Rajasthan - (a) Sand dunes in Thar desert and

(b) Cultivating sand dune

2.2.2 The Cold Mountain Desert of Trans Himalaya Cold deserts in India have been formed primarily due to the rain-shadow effect of the towering Himalayan mountain wall and its offshoot ranges which run in an arcuate shape from the Indus gap in the north-west to the Brahmaputra gap in the north-east. There are two physiographic classes of cold deserts in India viz. Trans-Himalaya and Inner dry valleys. The cold desert extends like flat tableland towards the north. High mountain ranges like the Karakoram and Zaskar dissect the cold deserts. Broad sandy river terraces have been formed by the larger rivers such as the Indus, in the core zone of the cold desert. The inner dry valleys are formed by high mountains on all sides. Often, they may be in the form of steep gorges with rivers draining their bottoms (Negi, 2002). 2.2.3 The White Salt Desert of Kutch The Kutch landscape comprises an array of tectonogenic geomorphic elements in the form of uplifts and residual depressions. Elevated landforms are occupied by Meso-zoic and Tertiary rocks, whereas the residual depressions or low-lying regions be-tween the uplifts consist of Quaternary sediment successions marked alluvial river terraces in the rocky mainland and the mud-flats and salt pans in the Great and Little Ranns and Banni Plains. The general forms of the uplifts are marked by domes and asymmetric anticlines. All major uplifts are bounded, at least on one side, by a fault or

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a sharp monoclinal flexure, and on the other side by gently dipping peripheral plains, the strata (Tertiary) which dip gently into the surrounding residual depression (Biswas, 1980).

2.3 Coastal

The coast of India is comparatively regular and uniform, and contains marshes, la-goons, mud-flats, peninsulas, creeks, gulfs, and islands. It is only on the Malabar coast that there are many lakes, lagoons or back-waters which form a noteworthy feature of that coast. These back-waters, e.g. the Kayals of Travancore, are shallow lagoons or inlets of the sea lying parallel to the coastline. They form an important physical as well as economic feature of the Malabar coast, affording facilities for inland water-communication. The whole sea-board is surrounded by a narrow subma-rine ledge platform, the "plain of marine denudation," where the sea is very shallow, the depth being much less than 100 fathoms. This shelf is of greater breadth on the Malabar coast and on the Arakan coast than on the Coromandel coast. From these low shelving plains the sea-bed gradually deepens, both towards the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, up to a mean depth of 2,000 fathoms in the former and 3,000 fath-oms in the latter sea (Figure 4).

Figure 4 Geodiversity in Western coast of India – (a) Cove in North Canara coast and (b) Back-waters

The seas are not of any great geological antiquity, both having originated in the earth movements of the early Tertiary times, as bays or arms of the Indian Ocean overspreading areas of a large southern continent (Gondwanaland), which, in the Mesozoic ages, connected India with Africa and with Australia. The islands of the seas are continental islands, with the exception of the group of coral islands, the Mal-dives and the Laccadives, which are atolls or barrier-reefs, reared on shallow subma-rine banks, the unsubmerged, elevated points of the ancient continent. Barren Island and Narcondam are volcanic islands east of the Andamans. The low level and smooth contours of the tract of country which lies in front of the South-east coast below the Mahanadi suggest that it was a submarine plain at a comparatively late date which has emerged from the waters. Behind this coastal belt are the gneissic highlands of the mainland, the Eastern Ghats, which are marked by a more varied relief and rugged topography. Between these two lies the old shoreline.

3 Geographical Dimensions of Geosites in India India has many natural marvels located in diverse natural environments. The geodi-

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versity of the country is responsible for the wider range of geosites. The natural geo-sites vary from natural springs, caves to fossil parks.

3.1 Natural Springs and Glacial Lakes

Schiagintweit documented ninety-nine well-known thermal springs in India in 1864. R. D. Oldham in the 19th century published the monumental work of his father, T. Oldham (1882) which documented an inventory of three hundred thermal springs covering the entire country (www.portal.gsi.gov.in assessed in December, 2012). The Ministry of Power and Irrigation constituted a committee on 'Hot Springs' in the year 1963 to explore the commercial utilization potential of thermal springs in India. The committee inducted members from the Geological Survey of India, National Geo-physical Research Institute and Jadavpur University, Kolkata. All the thermal springs of India were classified on the basis of their geo-tectonic setup and grouped into six Geothermal Provinces viz. (i) Himalayan Province - Tertiary Orogenic belt with Ter-tiary magmatism, (ii) Areas of Faulted blocks - Aravalli belt, Naga-Lushi, West coast regions and Son-Narmada lineament, (iii) Volcanic arc - Andaman and Nicobar arc, (iv) Deep sedimentary basin of Tertiary age such as Cambay basin in Gujarat, (v) Ra-dioactive Province - Surajkund, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand and (vi) Cratonic province - Peninsular India.

There are some 340 hot springs spread throughout India. Of these, 62 are distrib-uted along the northwest Himalaya, in the States of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. They are found concentrated along a 30-50 km. wide ther-mal band mostly along the river valleys. Naga-Lusai and West Coast Provinces mani-fest a series of thermal springs. Andaman and Nicobar arc is the only place in India where volcanic activity has been reported. Some of the islands like Barren are still active. The area is in the continuation of the Indonesian geothermal fields and can be good potential sites for geothermal energy. Cambay graben geothermal belt is 200 km. long and 50 km. wide with Tertiary sediments. Thermal springs have been reported from the belt although they are not of very high temperature and discharge. The area contains oil and gas at considerable depths. High subsurface temperature and thermal fluid have been reported in deep drill wells in depth ranges of 1.7 to 1.9 km. Steam blowout have also been reported in the drill holes in depth range of 1.5 to 3.4 km. The thermal springs in the peninsular region are more related to the faults, which allow down-circulation of meteoric water to considerable depths. The circulating water ac-quires heat from the normal thermal gradient in the area, and depending upon local condition, emerges out at suitable localities. The area includes Aravalli range, Son-Narmada-Tapti lineament, Godavari and Mahanadi valleys and South Cratonic Belts (Geological Survey of India, 2001). There are numerous glacial lakes in Hima-layan region (Figure 5).

3.2 Fossil parks

Fossil parks serve as important keys for learning about the diversity and evolution of life through time. The goals of fossil parks are not only to preserve the fossils in col-lections but also to educate the public about the values of fossils, to instill a desire to

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Figure 5 Combining geodiversity and geographical heritage - (a) Transhumance and High Mountain

Spring and (b) Hemkund Sahib, religious site of Sikh religion

protect these valuable national resources, and to act as centers for international col-laboration in research and conservation (Nareerat, Paul & Pratueng, 2009). 3.2.1 The Ghughua Fossil National Park of Madhya Pradesh is a unique desti-nation in India, which has been blessed with a priceless treasure trove of plant fossils. Fossils belonging to 31 genera of 18 plant families have been identified. These fossils represent life as it occurred in this area some 65 million years ago. Well-preserved fossils of woody plants, climbers, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds have been found here. Palm fossils are particularly numerous. Interestingly, many of these fossil plants have living relatives. Some of these occur in the Western Ghats, Sikkim and northeast India, while many others are native to Africa, Madagascar and Australia. This proves that at one time in the distant history of the earth, India, Australia and Africa formed a single huge landmass that shared a common vegetation spread (Figure 6).

Figure 6 Ghughua Fossil National Park (Source: Government of India)

3.2.2 Siwalik Fossil Park, Saketi, Sirmur District, and Himachal Pradesh (HP) contains a rich collection of 2.5 million year old vertebrate fossils from Siwaliks which covers an area of about 1.5 sq. km. at Saketi, in the Markanda valley of Sirmur district, HP and was built to check indiscriminate destruction of fossil bones. A large and rare collection of vertebrate fossils recovered from Siwalik hills in Saketi and adjacent areas has been displayed in a field museum in the park. The site has been developed to a panorama of Plio–Pleistocene period (Ca 2.5 million years) through massive afforestation. Besides securing global recognition and focused conservation for the site, funding is also expected to pour in for advanced systematic research, in-ternational collaborations and tourism development.

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3.2.3 Marine Gondwana Fossil Park at Manendragarh, Sarguja District, Chat-tisgarh is an unique exposure of fossiliferous marine Permian (280 – 240 million years ago) rocks of Talchir formation belonging to Gondwana Supergroup. It is ex-posed for a length of about one km. upstream to the confluence of Hasdeo River and Hasianala. The marine fauna is represented by the dominance of pelecypods/ lamelli-branchs.

3.3 Fossil Parks

Geological Survey of India (2012) has been a pioneer for developing several Fossil Parks in India including: 3.3.1 The National Fossil Wood Park, Tiruvakkarai, Tamil Nadu is a geological park maintained by the Geological Survey of India. The 20 million years old wood fossils, scattered over 1.00 sq.km. are fenced within nine separate enclaves. Only a small portion is open to the public. There are 200 fossil trees of various shapes ranging between 3 and 15 meters in length and up to 5 meters in girth. They lie strewn and half-buried in the soil. Scientists speculate that the trees did not originally grow at that site, but were transported there before they were petrified. 3.3.2 Akal Fossil Wood Park, Jaisalmer District, Rajasthan is a wonder for the tourists who know that Jaisalmer is a part of the great Thar desert. The petrified wood carries signature of the luxuriant forests in a warm and humid climate, bordering the sea some 180 million years ago. The 21 hectare Fossil Park contains about a dozen fossil wood logs lying horizontal in random orientation. The longest specimen is 13.4 m x 0.9 m. The fossils are of petrophyllum, ptyllophyllum, equisetitis species and dicotyledonous wood and gastropod shells of Lower Jurassic period. 3.3.3 National Fossil Wood Park, Tiruvakkarai, Villupuram District, Tamil-nadu has 200 fossil trees ranging in length from 3-15 metres and up to 5 metres in girth are seen lying horizontally embedded in Cuddalore Sandstone of the Mio-Pliocene age (20 million years). 3.3.4 National Fossil Wood Park in Sattanur, Perambalur District, Tamil Nadu contains large trunks of petrified trees of Upper Cretaceous age (100 million years). The trees belong to conifers (non-flowering) that dominated the land vegetation dur-ing that period. The fossilised tree trunk at Sattanur measures over 18 metres in length.

3.4 Stromatolite Park

3.4.1 Stromatolite Park, Bhojunda, Chittaurgarh District, Rajasthan is an ex-posure within the massive Bhagwanpura Limestone of the Lower Vindhyan age. Stromatolites are structures produced by blue-green algae, which through their fila-ments, attract and bond carbonate particles forming a mat. They are stratiform, co-lumnar and nodular structures in carbonate rocks resulting from the combination of life activity and sediment trapping and binding ability of algal assemblages and prey-ing bacteria. They form generally in shallow water where tides bring floating sedi-mentary material continuously and make it flow through carbonate particles. Stro-matalites are known as impression of one of the earliest form of life on earth. 3.4.2 Stromatolite Park, Jhamarkotra, Udaipur District, Rajasthan is the largest

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and richest deposit of phosphorite associated with stromatolite. It is another site pre-serving evidences of early life on the earth. The stromatolites occur over a strike length of 15 km. in rock phosphate within Precambrian Aravalli Supergroup of rocks. The rock phosphate occurs in dolomitic limestone associated with stromatolites ap-pearing in grey to bluish grey colour shades and in variable forms and shape (Geo-logical Survey of India, 2001).

3.5 Natural Caves

In India, many caves are popular tourist sites. Although, there are thousands of caves in India, research expeditions occur in very few states. The caves of Ajanta and Ellora (Figure 7), Udaygiri, Barabar, Sigiriya, Undavalli and Pandavleni are fa-mous for archaeological finds and ancient architectural value. Cave research in India, encompassing the study of speleology and biospeleology, is still in its infancy. The stalagmite formations present in most natural limestone caves resemble Shiva Linga (an Indian God), due to which most of the caves in India are considered of great religious import. In addition, several universally known caves related to Buddhism also exist in India.

Figure 7 (a) Ajanta and (b) Ellora caves (Source: Wikipedia)

The Indian state of Meghalaya is famous for its many caves, which attract tourists from India and abroad. The quantity and length of caves in Meghalaya exceeds that of any other known Karst region of India. A few of the caves in this region have been listed amongst the longest and deepest in the world. The limestone band of Megha-laya extends from west to east along the southern boundary of the state and is approximately 200 km. long and 30 km. wide. It runs from the West Garo Hills in the west through the West Khasi Hills, East Khasi Hills and into the Jaintia Hills in the east. The famous caves of Meghalaya are: Mawsmai Cave (Figure 8), Krem Mawmluh, Krem Phyllut, Krem SohShympi, Krem Mawsynram, Krem Dam, Krem LiatPrah, Krem Um-Lawan, KaKrem Pubon Rupasor, Krem Kotsati, Krem Um-shangktat, Krem Lashinng, Krem Sweep, Siju-Dobkhakol, Tetengkol-Balwakol, Dobhakol Chibe Nala, and Bok Bak Dobhakol.

Depicting the historical saga of Andhra Pradesh, the caves are spread all over the area of the state. Housing the rock-cut statues of Lord Buddha, some of the caves date back to the oldest of centuries. Today, these natural caves are some of the exquisite tourist appeals of Andhra Pradesh. While the Belum caves of the state are the natural underground passage ways that are well-known for being second to the Megha-laya caves in terms of their length, Borra caves established near the river of Gosthani

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are built of the inherent limestone deposits. Undavalli caves are yet another natural splendour of Andhra Pradesh. Found by the side of the Krishna River, these caves are believed to have been discovered in the early periods of the fourth and fifth centuries. The Yaganti caves of Andhra Pradesh represents a beautiful conglomeration of pris-tine natural subterranean channels. Other important caves of Andhra Pradesh are Guthikonda caves, Guntupalli caves, and Moghalarajapuram. The state of Madhya Pradesh is also an adobe of caves. The famous caves of Madhya Pradesh are Bhim-betka, Bagh cave, Udayagiri caves and Jana Mana caves.

Figure 8 (a) Entrance of Mawsmai Caves, Meghalaya; (b) Inside view of Mawsmai caves

4 Geographical Heritage in Diverse Natural Environments “Geographical heritage” is a descriptive term applied to sites or areas of geographical features with significant scientific, educational, cultural, or aesthetic value. Scientifi-cally and educationally significant geographical heritage sites include those with textbook geographical features and landscapes, distinctive rock or mineral types, unique or unusual fossils, or other geologic characteristics that are significant to edu-cation and research. Culturally significant geoheritage sites are places where geologic features or landscapes played a role in cultural or historical events. Aesthetically sig-nificant geoheritage sites include landscapes that are visually appealing because of their geologic features or processes. Many geoheritage sites can be tourist destina-tions and provide local and regional economic benefits (Geological Society of Amer-ica, 2012). Concern for geoheritage has increased across the world over the last two decades.

4.1 The Himalaya

The Himalaya form a highly rugged and continuous stretch of high mountainous country, which flanks northern India for a considerable length and runs from the Brahmputra gorge in the east to the Indus in the west. A large number of places in Himalaya possess the natural potential for attracting tourists because of their geo-graphical diversity.

Majuli-Sivasagar, Assam Himalaya – Recently Majuli has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site depicting the largest riverine island of the world (Fig-ure 9). Many geosites located in the Ladakh region are being extensively used by people and hence have the potential of becoming future geoparks (Figure 10).

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Figure 9 Majuli Island – An UNESCO World heritage site

Figure 10 Geographical heritage as educational tool in Ladakh Himalaya

4.2 Deserts

The Geological Survey of India and Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited have identified many geographical heritage sites. Among them following are some few sites: 4.2.1 NephelineSyenite, Kishangarh, Ajmer District, Rajasthan is a pluton em-placed along the core of an antiform of metamorphites in Aravalli craton of Rajasthan. Kishangarhsyenite, by which the unit is also called has been dated 1,590 million years to 1,910 million years. 4.2.2 Barr Conglomerate, Pali District, Rajasthan composed of pebbles of quartzite and rarely granite gneiss, set up in a fine grained pelitic matrix. It has un-conformity with the basement gneiss in the vicinity of Barr. Conglomerates are im-portant in geology as they aid in subdividing geologic history on the basis of sedi-mentary breaks. The pebbles are stretched to an extraordinary extent, about 20 to 30 times their original dimension. 4.2.3 Sendra Granite, Pali District, Rajasthan It is a unique example of nature’s capacity as a sculptor. Sendra granite, a plutonic igneous rock of about 900 million years ago, intrudes into the Delhi Supergroup of metasedimentary rocks. Large bosses are concordantly emplaced in the calc – gneiss while small bodies are mostly distrib-uted in and around the hornblende schists.

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4.2.4 Welded Tuff, Jodhpur District, Rajasthan in the Jodhpur Fort hill area oc-curs within the terrace like weathered Malanivolcanics. The welded tuff, is a product of emanations, that spurted out from volcanic vents and were carried away by air to settle down. They are composed of glass, quartz and feldspar. On cooling they de-velop joints which gives rise to columns and terraces. 4.2.5 Jodhpur Group – Malani Igneous Suite Contact, Jodhpur District, Ra-jasthan lies at the foot of the picturesque Mehrangarh Fort within the Jodhpur city. The igneous suite marks the last phase of igneous activity of Precambrian age in the Indian Subcontinent. The rock is characterised by purple to red and ash coloured laminated tuff with chocolate coloured chalcedony, dark red obsidian, purple, reddish, buff, whitish and greyish coloured rhyolitic tuff related to ignimbrite. The contact is enhanced by the multi-coloured igneous suite in contact with light coloured Jodhpur sandstone. 4.2.6 Great Boundary Fault at Satur, Bundi District, Rajasthan is characterised by a faulted boundary between Pre-Aravallis and Upper Vindhyans having NNW – SSE trend. It represents a zone of disruption constituted by a number of parallel and oblique faults resulting in a step like feature. 4.2.7 Eddy Current Markings at Panchmahal District, Gujarat are exposed in sedimentary (sandstone) surface of Upper Aravalli Lunavada Group of rocks. These marks are believed to result from dragging of a small limb of a larger floating log caught in a vortex or eddy current of a stream or from a movement of a pebble. The petrified marks of the eddies around the whirl balls, form spiral-ribs.

4.3 Coastal

There are many geological marvels on the coastline of India of which the following have been explored by the Geological Survey of India: 4.3.1 Columnar Basaltic Lava, Coconut Island (St. Mary’s Islands), Udupi Dis-trict, Karnataka displays majestic array of multi-faced columns developed in the basalts of Deccan Trap. These marvellous structures, called Columnar Joints in geo-logical parlance are nature’s exquisite handiwork. The geometrical form of the rock mosaic resembles the work of an expert sculptor. The Deccan Trap, evolved due to vast outpouring of hot molten basaltic lava in the western part of India during Creta-ceous – Eocene time (about 60 million years ago) and are now present as flat topped hills and step like terraces. 4.3.2 Charonockite, St. Thomas Mount, Chennai, Tamil Nadu is a typical expo-sure of quartz-feldspar-hypersthene rock, characterized by presence of two pyroxene facies metamorphism. The name ‘Charnockite’ originated from the use of the same rock as tombstone of Job Charnock, the founder of Kolkata. The constituents of the rock suggest of its origin in particularly 'dry' and high temperature condition and be-lieved to have important bearing in elucidating primordial crustal evolution of the earth.

4.4 Peninsular India

4.4.1 Peninsular Gneiss National Monument at Lalbagh, Bangalore, Karnataka is composed of dark biolite gneiss of granitic to granodioritic composition containing

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streaks of biolite. Vestiges of older rocks are seen in the form of enclaves within the gneiss.

Peninsular Gneiss of the region is dated 2500 to 3400 million years. 4.4.2 Pillow Lava, Maradihalli, Chitradurga District, Karnataka, hosted within Chitradurga schist belt of Dharwar Group, is one of the best of its kind in the world. They are formed when hot molten lava erupts under water and solidifies in the form of roughly spherical or rounded pillow-shape. The lava gets chilled so suddenly that part of the flow separates into discrete rounded bodies a few feet or less in size. This pillow lava has been dated 2,500 million years. 4.4.3 Pillow Lava, Iron ore belt, Nomira, Keonjhar District, Orissa is an expo-sure of well-preserved pillow structures. Individual pillows are roughly ellipsoidal and closely packed with a maximum thickness of 2 m x 0.6 m. The basic lava is fine to medium grained, green to bluish green coloured with abundant vesicles filled with quartz. The lavas and the associated pyroclastics and tuffs are underlain by quartzite and overlain by shale, chart – shale and banded hematite jasper. 4.4.4 Pyroclastic Rocks in Peddapalli, Kolar District, Karnataka is a welded agglomerate of large fragments of granite, granite gneiss, basalt and banded ferrugi-nous quartzite set in a matrix of ignimbrite. While many rock fragments are angular some of them appear to be well rounded. Some rock fragments of granite gneiss measure up to 80 cm in diameter. 4.4.5 Natural Arch in Tirumala hills, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh is one such unique geological marvel in the country measuring 8 meters in width and 3 meters in height. It has been carved out of quartzite of Cuddapah Supergroup of Middle to Upper Proterozoic (1,600 to 570 million years) by collective action of weathering agents like water and wind over a long period of several thousands of years. 4.4.6 Eparchaean Unconformity, Tirumala hills, Andhra Pradesh separates the Proterozoic Nagari Quartzite from the oldest Archaean granite representing a time gap of over 800 million years. The unconformity is supposed to be a period of remarkable quiescence without much structural disturbance and igneous activity in the history of earth.

4.5 Geographical Heritage as Tourist Sites

Geotourism is the provision of interpretive and service facilities to enable tourists to acquire knowledge and understanding of the geology and geomorphology of a site (including its contribution to the development of the Earth sciences/ Geographical sciences) beyond the level of mere aesthetic appreciation (Hose, 1995). India is a country with diverse physical attributes, rich cultural heritage and eventful ancient history therefore tourism plays a major role in showcasing this great country to the rest of the world. Of late, there has been significant initiative in promoting tourism even in remotest corners of the country. Indian subcontinent exhibits imprints of var-ied geological processes through the ages and is a storehouse of interesting geological features. It is imperative that the tourist map of India would be greatly enriched by the inclusion of these geological monuments and alike, so that the visitors from the coun-try and abroad can have an insight in the real past - the formation of the subcontinent,

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the orogeny, the paleo-environment and the exotic collection of paleo-flora and fauna (Figure 11).

Figure 11 National Geological Monuments

Source: Geological Survey of India, 2001

5 Geoparks in India The idea of geopark is originally very much related to the geological scientific inter-est of sites. However, landscape plays a role and the fact that social and economic issues must be considered, the geological scope alone seems to be limited. Thus “Geo” is more than geology; it involves geographical, geomorphological and land-scape aesthetics as well. The concept of a geopark is particularly important for the economic revival of economically depressed regions that thanked their early industri-alization on mineral resources (Baele et al., 2012). India is a heaven, where you can find many enjoyable places, experience the natural beauty of nature and also encoun-tergreat historical places. The country can be called a 'Land of Geographical diversity'. In a vast country of sub-continental dimensions like India whose rocks provide a unique spectrum of geoheritage and geodiversity from the oldest (nearly 4,000 million years old) to the youngest rocks, establishing geoparks for showcasing geological attractions for public education, recreation and sustainable economic development, can be a comprehensive panacea (Ahluwalia, 2006). UNESCO operates a Global

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Geopark Network (GGN) Programme under which people who live in areas of great geological importance cooperate to preserve them. By 2012 a total of 91 geoparks from 27 countries have been included in the GGN but the Government of India has yet not established any geoparks. The Geological Monuments and fossil parks built by the Geological Survey of India are in utter neglect.

The cliff overlooking the Varkala beach, a unique sedimentary geo-morphological structure in an otherwise flat Kerala coast and the surrounding areas are on course to become India’s first national geopark under a Geological Survey of India (GSI) initia-tive to preserve geologically important sites in the country. Varkala is the only place in the west coast of India where sediments in the mio-pliocene age (1.3 million to 25 million years ago) have been exposed. The geological monument/ geopark project would help in protecting the endangered cliffs which preserve the pages of earth’s history, nature’s chemical lab, and storehouse of micro fossils (Mahadevan, 2012). Establishment of any geopark in country can also foster scientific research and coop-eration with universities and research institutes, stimulating the dialogue between the geosciences community and local population. A few other sites in North-East India also have the potential to be developed as geoparks (Figure 12).

Figure 12 Geographical sites for potential geopark development

6 Geoparks: Policy Development and Livelihood Security In order to promote the above principles in a more appropriate and desirable manner, there is a need to develop a National policy on geoparks under the umbrella of the Planning Commission and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. Such development would generate new prospects of employment through these emerging enterprises. It is supplemented through revitalization of the indigenous cottage indus-tries and prosperity to certain artisan groups. Considering the vast potential of geopark development in Indian states, a comprehensive geopark resource centre is an important need at state levels. Such centre will not only provide advisory services to the people but will also coordinate various interlinked activities. These centers would enable identifying indigenous knowledge; coordinate participatory learning, facilitate publications in various regional languages, and encourage policy development at dif-ferent ministry levels. Training based on Geographic Information System technology will help in capacity building of different stakeholders (Singh, 1998) (Table 1).

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Table 1 Potential activities based on geoparks Sectors Activities

Mountaineering Trekking (Geo-paths and Geo-routes), Climbing, Skiing, Paragliding, River Rafting, Bonfire, Ropeway

Recreation and Leisure Cycling, Hiking, Boating, Surfing, Angling, Sight Seeing/Nature Watching, Guided Tours, Cultural Programmes, Fairs and Festivals

Educational Scientific Excursions, mine and quarry visits, Earthquake Museums, In-situ Semi-nars/Workshops/Short Courses, ‘Georiums’, live participation in various geographi-cal activities

Historical and Religious Pilgrimage, Archaeological Sites, Excavation

7 CONCLUSION Geological features and processes are formed over millions of years and contain a range of values that require special care. Fine crystal structures, such as those found in limestone caves, may be easily broken by human breath, while fragile calcified plant remains can be crushed by careless walkers. Other features including fossils have been damaged or lost due to large scale activities such as mining and construc-tion. Human activity can also bring changes to water quality, hydrology, soil forming and development processes and local wind patterns, resulting in the deterioration or loss of geological features that have formed under past climate or geological condi-tions. Often described as relics or fossils, these features provide evidence of past life and atmospheric, hydrological and biological processes and, if disturbed, will never recover. Mapping geographical heritage is especially important in protected areas, as it is essential for the prescriptive zoning of the territory and for the processes of im-pact assessment. In India, local initiatives in scientific diffusion and education are important to create awareness about geographical diversity, which need to be achieved through capacity building for teaching about geoparks in life-long learning programmes. The land use also poses threat to the geographical diversity and there-fore, there is a need to integrate geoconservation in land-use planning. Lastly, there is a need for a legal framework under National policy on geoparks to support geocon-servation strategies involving local communities at different levels.

Acknowledgment The authors are thankful to Mr. Ajay Gurjar for providing assistance for prepara-

tion of this paper.

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