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The Sivalik Hills (also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills) are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches from the Indus River about 2,400 km (1,500 mi) eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning across 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). Sivalik literally means 'tresses of Shiva’. Sivalik region is home to the Soanian archaeological culture.

Geology

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 remnant magnetisation of siltstones and sandstones indicates that they were deposited 16–5.2 million years ago. In Nepal, the Karnali River exposes the oldest part of the Shivalik Hills.

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

Remains of the Lower Paleolithic (around 500,000 to 125,000 BP) Soanian culture 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.

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Sivapithecus (a kind of ape, formerly known as Ramapithecus) is among many fossil finds in the Sivalik region.

The Sivalik Hills are also among the richest fossil sites for large animals anywhere in Asia; the hills had revealed that all kinds of animals lived there. They were early ancestors to the sloth bear; Sivatherium, an ancient giraffe; and Megalochelys atlas, a giant tortoise named the Sivaliks giant tortoise; amongst other creatures.

A number of fossil ratites were reported from the Sivalik Hills, including the extinct Asian ostrich, Dromaius sivalensis and Hypselornis. However, the latter two species were named only from toe bones that have since been identified as belonging to an ungulate mammal and a crocodilian, respectively.

Demographics

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The low human population density in the Sivalik Hills and along the steep southern slopes of the Lower Himalayan Range created a cultural, linguistic, and political buffer zone between populations in the plains to the south and the hills beyond the Mahabharat escarpment, enabling different evolutionary paths with respect to language and culture.

In culture

The Indian Navy's Shivalik-class frigate is named after these ranges.

See also

Subranges of Sivalik (from north to south)

• Dundwa Range
• Margalla Hills
• Shivalik Fossil Park

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

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.
2. Balokhra, J. M. (1999). The Wonderland of Himachal Pradesh (Revised and enlarged fourth ed.). New Delhi: H. G. Publications. ISBN 9788184659757.
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Siwalik Hills" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 163–164.
5. "Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of Siwalik Group sediments of Karnali River section in western Nepal". Geophysical Journal International. 142 (3): 812–824. 2000. Bibcode:2000GeoJI.142..812G. doi:10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00185.x. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
6. Mani, M.S. (2012). Ecology and Biogeography in India. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 690.
7. 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. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.001.
8. Lowe, P. R. (1929). "Some remarks on Hypselornis sivalensis Lydekker". Ibis. 71 (4): 571–576. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1929.tb08775.x.

27°46′N 82°24′E / 27.767°N 82.400°E / 27.767; 82.400

• Mountain ranges of the Himalayas
• Hills of Asia
• Mountain ranges of Bhutan
• Mountain ranges of India
• Mountain ranges of Nepal
• Mountain ranges of Pakistan
• Hills of Jammu and Kashmir
• Hills of Uttarakhand
• Hills of Himachal Pradesh
• Hills of Sikkim
• Hills of Pakistan
• Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests