The Rajmahal Hills are located in the

Santhal Pargana division Santhal Pargana division constitutes one of the five district administration units known as the divisions of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Origin of name Santhal Pargana derives its name from two words: "Santhal", a major tribe of India a ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. They were located on the northern margin of the

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

supercontinent, and its hills are today inhabited by the

Sauria Paharia people The Sauria Paharia people (also known as Maler Paharia) are a Dravidian ethnic people of Bangladesh and the Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Bihar. They are found mostly in Santhal Parganas region in the Rajmahal Hills. Origins Acco ...

whilst its valleys are dominated by the

Santhal people The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and A ...

. The hills span over an area of . Volcanic activity during the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

resulted in the formation of the

Rajmahal Traps The Rajmahal Traps is a volcanic igneous province in Eastern India, covering the parts of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Meghalaya. The Rajmahal Hills of Jharkhand is the type area of this province. Multiple layers of solidified lava made the Rajma ...

. The hills are approximately located at . The Rajmahal hills are named after the town of

Rajmahal Rajmahal is a subdivisional town and a notified area in Rajmahal subdivision of the Sahebganj district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is situated at the banks of Ganges and was former capital of Bengal Subah under Mughal governor, Man Sin ...

which lies in the eastern Jharkhand. The hills trend north-south with an average elevation of , from the Sahibganj district to the Dumka district. The

River Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

wanders around the hills changing the direction of flow from east to south.

Francis Buchanan-Hamilton Francis Buchanan (15 February 1762 – 15 June 1829), later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist, and botanist whil ...

travelled through the Rajmahal hills in the early 19th century. He described the hills that seemed impenetrable in a zone where few travellers had been. He wrote that everywhere people were hostile, apprehensive of officials and unwilling to talk and, in some cases, left their villages and absconded.

Fossils

The

plant fossil Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...

bearing inter-trappean beds of the Rajmahal Formation have been declared

National Geological Monuments of India National Geological Monuments are geographical areas of national importance and heritage, as notified by the Government of India's Geological Survey of India (GSI), for their maintenance, protection, promotion and enhancement of geotourism.

by the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

(GSI), for their protection, maintenance, promotion and the enhancement of

geotourism Geotourism is tourism associated with geological attractions and destinations.Dowling, R. & Newsome, D. (Eds.)(2006) ''Geotourism'' ; Elsevier, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford Geotourism deals with the abiotic natural and built environments.Sadry ...

.National Geological Monument, from Geological Survey of India website

-
-
A Monograph on National Geoheritage Monuments of India
',

INTACH The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is a non-profit charitable organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. In 2007, the United Nations awarded INTACH a special consultative status with Unite ...

, March 2016 The Rajmahal hills contain plant fossils which are . The fossils here have attracted

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

s and

palaeobotanist Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...

s from all over the world. The Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

has a collection of them. There are fears of these fossils disappearing, as the state government in 2018 gave a mining lease in the area to private companies.

References

Hills of Jharkhand National Geological Monuments in India {{Jharkhand-geo-stub