Ganges_and_the_Shivalik_ranges,_near_Rishikesh

The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

of the outer

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

that stretches over about from the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmi ...

eastwards close to the

Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. I ...

, spanning the northern parts of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

. It is wide with an average elevation of . Between the

Teesta Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Rangpur, and enters the Bay of Bengal. It drains an area of . In India, it flows th ...

and

Raidāk River The Raidāk River ( hi, रायडेक नदी), also called Wang Chhu or Wong Chhu in Bhutan, is a tributary of the River Brahmaputra, and a trans-boundary river. It flows through Bhutan, India and Bangladesh. It is one of the main river ...

s in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

is a gap of about . "Sivalik"

literally ''Literally'' is an English adverb. It has been controversially used as an intensifier for figurative statements. History The first known use of the word ''literally'' was in the 15th century, or the 1530s, when it was used in the sense of "in ...

means 'tresses of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...

'. Sivalik region is home to the Soanian archaeological culture.

Geology

Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

deposits of the outer Himalayas. They are chiefly composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

and

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...

rock formations, which are the solidified

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts comm ...

of the Himalayas to their north; they are poorly consolidated. The remnant magnetisation of

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

s and sandstones indicates that they were deposited 16–5.2 million years ago. In

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, the

Karnali River Karnali may refer to: Places in Nepal * Karnali Bridge, a bridge over the Karnali River in Nepal * Karnali Highway, a vital transport link in Nepal * Karnali Province, a federal province in Nepal * Karnali River, a river in Nepal and India origin ...

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 Bhabar or Bhabhar ( Kumaoni: bhābar) is a region south of the Lower Himalayas and the Sivalik Hills in Kumaon, India, containing some of the largest cities of Kumaon, Haldwani and Ramnagar, both in Nainital District. It is the alluvial apron ...

zone makes the transition to the nearly level plains. Rainfall, especially during the summer

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

, 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 , image =Terai nepal.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm , global200 = Terai-Duar savanna a ...

or plains.

Prehistory

Remains of the

Lower Paleolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears i ...

Soanian culture dating to around 500,000 to 125,000 BP were found in the Sivalik region. Contemporary to the

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated ...

, the Soanian culture is named after the Soan Valley in the Sivalik Hills of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. The Soanian archaeological culture is found across Sivalik region in present-day India, Nepal and Pakistan. ''

Sivapithecus ''Sivapithecus'' () (syn: ''Ramapithecus)'' is a genus of extinct apes. Fossil remains of animals now assigned to this genus, dated from 12.2 million years old in the Miocene, have been found since the 19th century in the Siwalik Hills of the I ...

'' (a kind of ape, formerly known as ''Ramapithecus'') is among many

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

finds in the Sivalik region. A number of fossil ratites were reported from the Sivalik Hills, including the extinct

Asian ostrich The Asian or Asiatic ostrich (''Struthio asiaticus''), is an extinct species of ostrich that lived during the Neogene period on the Indian subcontinent. The early records that ranged from the Pliocene epoch in Africa to Pleistocene- Holocene epoc ...

, '' Dromaius sivalensis'' and ''

Hypselornis ''Hypselornis'' is an extinct genus of fossil reptile, most likely a crocodilian, from the late Pliocene of India. Known only from a single toe bone, ''Hypselornis'' was originally mistakenly identified as a ratite bird related to the living cass ...

''. However, the latter two species were named only from toe bones that have since been identified as belonging to an

ungulate Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ...

mammal and a

crocodilian Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period (Cenomanian stage) and are the closest livin ...

, respectively.

Demographics

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 In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In ...

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 The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

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

References

{{Uttarakhand Mountain ranges of the Himalayas Mountain ranges 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 Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests

Geology

Prehistory

Demographics

In culture

See also

References