![Ganges_and_the_Shivalik_ranges,_near_Rishikesh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Ganges_and_the_Shivalik_ranges%2C_near_Rishikesh.jpg)
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 arise ...
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 100 ...
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 Kashmir, ...
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. It ...
, spanning the northern parts of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. 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 through ...
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 (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
'.
Sivalik region is home to the
Soanian
The Soanian culture is a prehistoric technological culture from the Siwalik Hills in the Indian subcontinent. Quote: “Soanian and Soanian‐like assemblages are known throughout the entire Siwalik or Sub‐ Himalayan region, from Pakistan to n ...
archaeological culture.
Geology
![Sivallik Hills map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Sivallik_Hills_map.svg)
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
A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, Transaction account#Current accounts, current accounts or any of several othe ...
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 silicates) ...
and
conglomerate 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 commun ...
of the Himalayas
[ to their north; they are poorly consolidated. The remnant ]magnetisation
In classical electromagnetism, magnetization is the vector field that expresses the density of permanent or induced magnetic dipole moments in a magnetic material. Movement within this field is described by direction and is either Axial or Dia ...
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, p ...
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 mai ...
, 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 originatin ...
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
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
The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...
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 in ...
Soanian
The Soanian culture is a prehistoric technological culture from the Siwalik Hills in the Indian subcontinent. Quote: “Soanian and Soanian‐like assemblages are known throughout the entire Siwalik or Sub‐ Himalayan region, from Pakistan to n ...
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
The Soan River ( ur, ), also referred to as the Swan, Sawan, or Sohan, is a river in Punjab, Pakistan.
Location and geography
The Soan River is a stream in the Pothohar or North Punjab region of Pakistan, and drains much of the water of Potho ...
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
The Si ...
'' (a kind of ape
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...
, 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
A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites.
The systematics o ...
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
''Dromaius'' (from greek δρομαίυς "runner") is a genus of ratite present in Australia. There is one extant species, ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'' commonly known as the emu.
In his original 1816 description of the emu, Louis Jean Pierre Vi ...
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, cam ...
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 living ...
, respectively.
Demographics
The low human population density in the Sivalik Hills and along the steep southern slopes of the Lower Himalayan Range
The Lower Himalayan Range ( ne, पर्वत शृङ्खला parbat shrinkhalā) – also called the Middle Himalayas or Lesser Himalayas or Himachal – is a major east–west mountain range with elevations 3,700 to 4,500 m (12,000 to ...
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 sig ...
's ''Shivalik''-class frigate is named after these ranges.
See also
; Subranges of Sivalik (from north to south)
* Dundwa Range
The Dundwa Range (Hindi and dundwā shrinkhalā) is a subrange of the Sivalik Hills in western Nepal and northern Uttar Pradesh, India. It separates the Outer Terai of Balarampur and Shravasti districts in Uttar Pradesh from Deukhuri Valley ...
* Margalla Hills
The Margalla Hills () are a hill range within the Margalla Hills National Park on the northern edge of Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, just south of Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They are part of the Himalayas, Himalayan foothi ...
* Shivalik Fossil Park
Shivalik Fossil Park, also known as the Suketi Fossil Park , is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument
[Indus-Yarlung suture zone
The Indus-Yarlung suture zone or the Indus-Yarlung Tsangpo suture is a tectonic suture in southern Tibet and across the north margin of the Himalayas which resulted from the collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate starting abo ...]
*Karakoram fault system
The Karakoram fault is an oblique-slip fault system in the Himalayan region across India and Asia. The slip along the fault accommodates radial expansion of the Himalayan arc, northward indentation of the Pamir Mountains, and eastward lateral ex ...
*Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains
The Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains (officially spelt Nyainqêntanglha Mountains in Chinese) are a long mountain range, and subrange of the Transhimalaya System, located in Tibet and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
Geography
One source s ...
*Main Himalayan Thrust
The Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) is a décollement under the Himalaya Range. This thrust fault follows a NW-SE strike, reminiscent of an arc, and gently dip towards the north, beneath the region. It is the largest active continental megathrust f ...
* Lower/Lesser Himalaya
; Geographical subdivisions of Himalayas (from east to west)
* Eastern Himalaya
]
The Eastern Himalayas extend from eastern Nepal across Northeast India, Bhutan, the Tibet Autonomous Region to Yunnan in China and northern Myanmar. The climate of this region is influenced by the monsoon of South Asia from June to September. It ...
* Indian Himalayan Region
The Indian Himalayan Region (abbreviated to IHR) is the section of the Himalayas within the Republic of India, spanning seven Indian states and union territories, namely Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, West ...
, Geology of Bhutan and Geology of Nepal
The geology of Nepal is dominated by the Himalaya, the highest, youngest and a very highly active mountain range. Himalaya is a type locality for the study of on-going continent-continent collision tectonics. The Himalayan arc extends about
fro ...
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)
Jammu and Kashmir is a region administered by India as a union territory and consists of the southern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947, and between India and ...
, Geography of Ladakh
Ladakh is an administrative territory of India that has been under its control since 1947. The geographical region of Ladakh union territory is the highest altitude plateau region in India (much of it being over 3,000 m), incorporatin ...
, Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...
and Geology of Pakistan
The geology of Pakistan encompasses the varied landscapes that make up the land constituting modern-day Pakistan, which are a blend of its geological history, and its climate over the past few million years.
The Geological Survey of Pakistan is t ...
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