The low hill ranges of ‘Siwalik’ exposed between the mighty Himalaya and the plains of the Indian subcontinent form the foothills of Himalaya. This range is about 2400 km long, from the Indus River in the west to the Brahmaputra River in the east, with a gap of 90 km between the Teesta and the Raidak rivers in West Bengal/ Assam. The width of the Siwalik hills varies from 1000 m to 5000 m with an elevation of 1500 m to 2000 m and supports a variety of fauna and flora. The term Siwalik (or Shiwalik) is considered to have originated from the Hindi and Nepali term 'Shivalik Parvat' and derived from the hills of the same name in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Shivalik is said to mean 'tresses of Lord Shiva'. These hills are made up of clay, silt, sandstones, and conglomerates brought down between 16 million to 6 million years ago, by numerous fast-flowing rivers arising from the then rapidly rising mountain mass in the north.
The hills record the signatures of various episodes of the rise of the Himalaya. The Siwalik is composed of 5000-6000 m thick succession of sedimentary rocks of fluvial nature. Consequent to the rise of the Himalayan mountain chain, there seems to have been a progressive increase in moisture content and temperature, which helped support thick forest vegetation. These climatic conditions, therefore, helped the existing Siwalik fauna multiply rapidly and numerous forms of elephants (proboscides), horses (equids), cattle (bovids), pigs (suids), giraffes, apes, rhinos, deer, rats (rodents) and cats (carnivorous animals) thrived in large numbers.
The Fossil Store House
This story is from the Issue 136 - 137, 2019 edition of Geography and You.
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This story is from the Issue 136 - 137, 2019 edition of Geography and You.
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Former Professor of Economics and Education, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. bkhadria@gmail.com.
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