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| ⚫ | {{short description|Mountain range in India and Nepal}} | ||
| {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} | {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} | ||
| {{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}} | {{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}} | ||
| ⚫ | {{short description|Mountain range in India and Nepal}} | ||
| ⚫ | ]]] | ||
| ] | ] | ||
| The '''Sivalik Hills''', also known as '''Churia Hills''', are a ] of the outer ]. | |||
| ⚫ | The |
||
| The ] of "Sivalik" is 'tresses of ]'.<ref name=Balokhra99>{{cite book |last1=Balokhra |first1=J. M. |year=1999 |title=The Wonderland of Himachal Pradesh |publisher=H. G. Publications |location=New Delhi |edition=Revised and enlarged fourth |isbn=9788184659757}}</ref> The hills are known for their numerous fossils, and is also home to the ] ] archaeological culture.<ref name=SchugWalimbe2016/> | |||
| == |
== Geography== | ||
| ⚫ | ] River]] | ||
| {{multiple image |perrow=1 |image1=River Ganga meandering through the Shivalik ranges, Rishikesh.jpg |caption1=Ganges River cutting through the Sivalik Hills |image2=Sunrise_over_Sukhna.jpg |caption2=View of the Sivalik Hills from Sukhna Lake at dawn|image3=Winter morning in Terai.jpg |caption3=Winter morning in Terai}} | |||
| ⚫ | The Sivalik Hills are a ] of the outer ] that stretches over about {{cvt|2400|km}} from the ] eastwards close to the ], spanning the northern parts of the ]. It is {{cvt|10|-|50|km}} wide with an average elevation of {{cvt|1500|-|2000|m}}. Between the ] and ]s in ] is a gap of about {{cvt|90|km}}.<ref name="Kohli2002">{{cite book |author=Kohli, M. S. |chapter=Shivalik Range |title=Mountains of India: Tourism, Adventure and Pilgrimage |year=2002 |pages=24–25 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIs4zv17HHwC&pg=PA24 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-135-1}}</ref> | ||
| They are well known for their ] and ] aged vertebrate fossils.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kaur |first=A. P. |date=2022 |title=New fossil mammalian assemblages and first record of ostrich from the Pinjore (Pinjor) formation (2.58–0.63 Ma) of Siwalik Hills near Chandigarh, northern India |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=293 |page=107694 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107694|bibcode=2022QSRv..29307694K }}</ref> | |||
| ==Geology== | |||
| Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the ] ] of the outer Himalayas.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Siwalik Hills |volume=25 |pages=163–164}}</ref> They are chiefly composed of ] and ] rock formations, which are the solidified | |||
| {{multiple image | |||
| ] of the Himalayas<ref name=EB1911/> to their north; they are poorly consolidated. The remnant ] of ]s and sandstones indicates that they were deposited 16–5.2 million years ago. In ], the ] exposes the oldest part of the Shivalik Hills.<ref>{{cite journal |authors=Gautam, P., Fujiwara, Y. |year=2000 |title=Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of Siwalik Group sediments of Karnali River section in western Nepal |journal=Geophysical Journal International |volume=142 |issue=3 |pages=812–824 |url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2000GeoJI.142..812G |doi=10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00185.x |bibcode=2000GeoJI.142..812G |doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
| | perrow = 1 | |||
| | image1 = River Ganga meandering through the Shivalik ranges, Rishikesh.jpg | |||
| | caption1 = Ganga river cutting through the Sivalik hills | |||
| | image2 = Sunrise_over_Sukhna.jpg | |||
| | caption2 = View of the Sivalik hills from Sukhna lake at dawn | |||
| }} | |||
| Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the ] ] of the outer Himalayas.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Siwalik Hills |volume=25 |pages=163–164}}</ref> They are chiefly composed of ] and ] rock formations, which are the solidified ] of the Himalayas<ref name=EB1911/> to their north; they are poorly consolidated. The sedimentary rocks comprising the hills are believed to be 16–5.2 million years old.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gautam |first1=P. |last2=Fujiwara |first2=Y. |year=2000 |title=Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of Siwalik Group sediments of Karnali River section in western Nepal |journal=Geophysical Journal International |volume=142 |issue=3 |pages=812–824 |doi=10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00185.x |bibcode=2000GeoJI.142..812G |doi-access=free|hdl=2115/38248 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> | |||
| They are bounded on the south by a fault system called the Main Frontal Thrust, with steeper slopes on that side. |
They are bounded on the south by a fault system called the Main Frontal Thrust, with steeper slopes on that side. Below this, the coarse alluvial ] zone makes the transition to the nearly level plains. Rainfall, especially during the summer ], percolates into the Bhabar, then is forced to the surface by finer alluvial layers below it in a zone of springs and marshes along the northern edge of the ] or plains.<ref name=Mani>{{cite book|title=Ecology and Biogeography in India|first=M.S.|last=Mani|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2012 |page=690}}</ref> | ||
| == Prehistory == | == Prehistory == | ||
| {{see|South Asian Stone Age#Siwalik Hills}} | |||
| ⚫ | Remains of the ] |
||
| ]'', the largest known to have ever existed, and one of the best known Sivalik fossils]] | |||
| The Sivalik Hills are well known for fossils of vertebrates, spanning from the Early ], until the ], around 18 million to 600,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nanda |first=A.C. |date=2002 |title=Upper Siwalik mammalian faunas of India and associated events |journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=47–58 |doi=10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00013-5|bibcode=2002JAESc..21...47N }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Patnaik |first=R. |chapter=Indian Neogene Siwalik Mammalian Biostratigraphy. An Overview |date=2013 |doi=10.7312/wang15012-017 |title=Fossil Mammals of Asia |place=New York Chichester, West Sussex |publisher=Columbia University Press}}</ref> | |||
| Some of the best known fossils from the hills include '']'', the largest known tortoise to have ever existed,<ref name="TEWG2015">{{cite journal |author1=Rhodin, A.G.J. |author2=Thomson, S. |author3=Georgalis, G. |author4=Karl, H.-V. |author5=Danilov, I.G. |author6=Takahashi, A. |author7=de la Fuente, M.S. |author8=Bourque, J.R. |author9=Delfino M. |author10=Bour, R. |author11=Iverson, J.B. |author12=Shaffer, H.B. |author13=van Dijk, P.P. |year=2015 |title=Turtles and tortoises of the world during the rise and global spread of humanity: first checklist and review of extinct Pleistocene and Holocene chelonians. |journal=Chelonian Research Monographs |volume=5 |issue=8 |pages=000e.1–66 |doi=10.3854/crm.5.000e.fossil.checklist.v1.2015 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |collaboration=Turtle Extinctions Working Group |hdl=11336/62240}}</ref> the sabertooth cat '']'',''<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Stimpson |first=Christopher M. |date=May 2024 |title=Siwalik sabrecats: review and revised diagnosis of Megantereon fossils from the foothills of the Himalaya |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=11 |issue=5 |bibcode=2024RSOS...1131788S |doi=10.1098/rsos.231788 |issn=2054-5703 |pmc=11076117 |pmid=38720790}}</ref>'' ''],'' the largest known ], <ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Basu |first1=Christopher |last2=Falkingham |first2=Peter L. |last3=Hutchinson |first3=John R. |date=January 2016 |title=The extinct, giant giraffid ''Sivatherium giganteum'': skeletal reconstruction and body mass estimation |journal=] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=20150940 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2015.0940 |pmc=4785933 |pmid=26763212}}</ref> and the ape '']''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kelley |first1=J. |date=1988 |title=A new large species of Sivapithecus from the Siwaliks of Pakistan |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=305–324 |doi=10.1016/0047-2484(88)90073-5|bibcode=1988JHumE..17..305K }}</ref> | |||
| {{Unreferenced section|date=April 2020}} | |||
| '']'' (a kind of ], formerly known as ''Ramapithecus'') is among many ] finds in the Sivalik region. | |||
| ⚫ | Remains of the ]-] ] culture dating to around 500,000 to 125,000 years ] were found in the Sivalik region.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=34 |issue=9 |pages=1434–1440 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.001|year=2007|last1=Lycett|first1=S. J.|bibcode=2007JArSc..34.1434L }}</ref> Contemporary to the ], the Soanian culture is named after the ] in the Sivalik Hills of ]. The Soanian archaeological culture is found across Sivalik region in present-day India, Nepal and Pakistan.<ref name="SchugWalimbe2016">{{cite book|editor1=Schug, G. R. |editor2=Walimbe, S. R. |title=A Companion to South Asia in the Past |date=2016 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Oxford, Chichester |isbn=978-1-119-05547-1 |author=Chauhan, P. |chapter=A decade of paleoanthropology in the Indian Subcontinent. The Soanian industry reassessed |page=39 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xv-CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39}}</ref> | ||
| The Sivalik Hills are also among the richest fossil sites for large animals anywhere in ]; the hills had revealed that all kinds of animals lived there. They were early ancestors to the ]; '']'', an ancient giraffe; and '']'', a giant tortoise named the Sivaliks giant tortoise; amongst other creatures. | |||
| ==Ecosystem== | |||
| A number of fossil ] were reported from the Sivalik Hills, including the extinct ], ''] sivalensis'' and '']''. However, the latter two species were named only from toe bones that have since been identified as belonging to an ] mammal and a ], respectively.<ref name='Lowe'>{{cite journal |last=Lowe |first=P. R. |year=1929 |title=Some remarks on ''Hypselornis sivalensis'' Lydekker. |journal=] |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=571–576 |doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1929.tb08775.x}}</ref> | |||
| The ] and ] rates of the Churia forests differ among different forest management regimes and are highest in protected areas.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Thapa |first1=H. B. |title=Churia forests of Nepal |url=http://www.dfrs.gov.np/downloadfile/CHURE_REPORT_1453193322.pdf |archive-date=2017-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508190912/http://www.dfrs.gov.np/downloadfile/CHURE_REPORT_1453193322.pdf |publisher=Forest Resource Assessment Nepal, Department of Forest Research and Survey, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal |date=2014 |lccn=2015515752}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Subedi |first1=B. |last2=Lamichhane |first2=P. |last3=Magar |first3=L. K. |last4=Subedi |first4=T. |date=2022 |title=Aboveground carbon stocks and sequestration rates of forests under different management regimes in Churia region of Nepal |url=https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/BANKO/article/view/45442 |journal=Banko Janakari |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=15–24 |doi=10.3126/banko.v32i1.45442|doi-access=free }}</ref> | |||
| == Demographics == | |||
| {{Unreferenced section|date=January 2020}} | |||
| The low human population density in the Sivalik Hills and along the steep southern slopes of the ] created a cultural, linguistic, and political buffer zone between populations in the ] to the south and the hills beyond the Mahabharat escarpment, enabling different evolutionary paths with respect to language and culture. | |||
| ==In culture== | |||
| The ]'s ] is named after these ranges. | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| Line 49: | Line 53: | ||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| ⚫ | {{Reflist}} | ||
| == External links == | |||
| {{Commons category|Shivalik Hills}} | {{Commons category|Shivalik Hills}} | ||
| {{EB1911 poster|Siwalik Hills}} | {{EB1911 poster|Siwalik Hills}} | ||
| ⚫ | {{coord|27|46|N|82|24|E|source:kolossus-fiwiki|display=title}} | ||
| ⚫ | {{Reflist}} | ||
| {{GeoSouthAsia}} | {{GeoSouthAsia}} | ||
| {{Himalayas}} | |||
| ⚫ | {{coord|27|46|N|82|24|E|source:kolossus-fiwiki|display=title}} | ||
| {{Authority control}} | {{Authority control}} | ||
| {{Uttarakhand}} | |||
| ] | ] | ||
Latest revision as of 17:43, 31 December 2024
Mountain range in India and Nepal
The Sivalik Hills, also known as Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas. The literal translation of "Sivalik" is 'tresses of Shiva'. The hills are known for their numerous fossils, and is also home to the Soanian Middle Paleolithic archaeological culture.
Geography
The Sivalik Hills are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about 2,400 km (1,500 mi) from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is 10–50 km (6.2–31.1 mi) wide with an average elevation of 1,500–2,000 m (4,900–6,600 ft). Between the Teesta and Raidāk Rivers in Assam is a gap of about 90 km (56 mi). They are well known for their Neogene and Pleistocene aged vertebrate fossils.
Geology
Ganga river cutting through the Sivalik hills
View of the Sivalik hills from Sukhna lake at dawn
Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the Tertiary deposits of the outer Himalayas. They are chiefly composed of sandstone and conglomerate rock formations, which are the solidified detritus of the Himalayas to their north; they are poorly consolidated. The sedimentary rocks comprising the hills are believed to be 16–5.2 million years old.
They are bounded on the south by a fault system called the Main Frontal Thrust, with steeper slopes on that side. Below this, the coarse alluvial Bhabar zone makes the transition to the nearly level plains. Rainfall, especially during the summer monsoon, percolates into the Bhabar, then is forced to the surface by finer alluvial layers below it in a zone of springs and marshes along the northern edge of the Terai or plains.
Prehistory
Further information: South Asian Stone Age § Siwalik Hills
The Sivalik Hills are well known for fossils of vertebrates, spanning from the Early Miocene, until the Middle Pleistocene, around 18 million to 600,000 years ago.
Some of the best known fossils from the hills include Megalochelys atlas, the largest known tortoise to have ever existed, the sabertooth cat Megantereon falconeri, Sivatherium giganteum, the largest known giraffid, and the ape Sivapithecus.
Remains of the Lower-Middle Paleolithic Soanian culture dating to around 500,000 to 125,000 years Before Present were found in the Sivalik region. Contemporary to the Acheulean, the Soanian culture is named after the Soan Valley in the Sivalik Hills of Pakistan. The Soanian archaeological culture is found across Sivalik region in present-day India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Ecosystem
The carbon stock and carbon sequestration rates of the Churia forests differ among different forest management regimes and are highest in protected areas.
See also
- Subranges of Sivalik (from north to south)
- Geological subdivisions of Himalayas (from north to south)
- Indus-Yarlung suture zone
- Karakoram fault system
- Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains
- Main Himalayan Thrust
- Lower/Lesser Himalaya
- Geographical subdivisions of Himalayas (from east to west)
- Eastern Himalaya
- Indian Himalayan Region, Geology of Bhutan and Geology of Nepal
- Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Geography of Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Geology of Pakistan
References
- Balokhra, J. M. (1999). The Wonderland of Himachal Pradesh (Revised and enlarged fourth ed.). New Delhi: H. G. Publications. ISBN 9788184659757.
- ^ Chauhan, P. (2016). "A decade of paleoanthropology in the Indian Subcontinent. The Soanian industry reassessed". In Schug, G. R.; Walimbe, S. R. (eds.). A Companion to South Asia in the Past. Oxford, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-119-05547-1.
- Kohli, M. S. (2002). "Shivalik Range". Mountains of India: Tourism, Adventure and Pilgrimage. Indus Publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-81-7387-135-1.
- Kaur, A. P. (2022). "New fossil mammalian assemblages and first record of ostrich from the Pinjore (Pinjor) formation (2.58–0.63 Ma) of Siwalik Hills near Chandigarh, northern India". Quaternary Science Reviews. 293: 107694. Bibcode:2022QSRv..29307694K. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107694.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Siwalik Hills" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 163–164.
- Gautam, P.; Fujiwara, Y. (2000). "Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of Siwalik Group sediments of Karnali River section in western Nepal". Geophysical Journal International. 142 (3): 812–824. Bibcode:2000GeoJI.142..812G. doi:10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00185.x. hdl:2115/38248.
- Mani, M.S. (2012). Ecology and Biogeography in India. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 690.
- Nanda, A.C. (2002). "Upper Siwalik mammalian faunas of India and associated events". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 21 (1): 47–58. Bibcode:2002JAESc..21...47N. doi:10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00013-5.
- Patnaik, R. (2013). "Indian Neogene Siwalik Mammalian Biostratigraphy. An Overview". Fossil Mammals of Asia. New York Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/wang15012-017.
- Rhodin, A.G.J.; Thomson, S.; Georgalis, G.; Karl, H.-V.; Danilov, I.G.; Takahashi, A.; de la Fuente, M.S.; Bourque, J.R.; Delfino M.; Bour, R.; Iverson, J.B.; Shaffer, H.B.; van Dijk, P.P.; et al. (Turtle Extinctions Working Group) (2015). "Turtles and tortoises of the world during the rise and global spread of humanity: first checklist and review of extinct Pleistocene and Holocene chelonians". Chelonian Research Monographs. 5 (8): 000e.1–66. doi:10.3854/crm.5.000e.fossil.checklist.v1.2015. hdl:11336/62240.
- Stimpson, Christopher M. (May 2024). "Siwalik sabrecats: review and revised diagnosis of Megantereon fossils from the foothills of the Himalaya". Royal Society Open Science. 11 (5). Bibcode:2024RSOS...1131788S. doi:10.1098/rsos.231788. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 11076117. PMID 38720790.
- Basu, Christopher; Falkingham, Peter L.; Hutchinson, John R. (January 2016). "The extinct, giant giraffid Sivatherium giganteum: skeletal reconstruction and body mass estimation". Biology Letters. 12 (1): 20150940. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0940. PMC 4785933. PMID 26763212.
- Kelley, J. (1988). "A new large species of Sivapithecus from the Siwaliks of Pakistan". Journal of Human Evolution. 17 (3): 305–324. Bibcode:1988JHumE..17..305K. doi:10.1016/0047-2484(88)90073-5.
- Lycett, S. J. (2007). "Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment". Journal of Archaeological Science. 34 (9): 1434–1440. Bibcode:2007JArSc..34.1434L. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.001.
- Thapa, H. B. (2014). Churia forests of Nepal (PDF). Forest Resource Assessment Nepal, Department of Forest Research and Survey, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal. LCCN 2015515752. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2017.
- Subedi, B.; Lamichhane, P.; Magar, L. K.; Subedi, T. (2022). "Aboveground carbon stocks and sequestration rates of forests under different management regimes in Churia region of Nepal". Banko Janakari. 32 (1): 15–24. doi:10.3126/banko.v32i1.45442.
External links
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