Telangana: 6.5 crore year old Columnar Basalt rocks found in Adilabad
When lava erupts from a volcano, it starts cooling down and while it cools down, it also reacts with whatever minerals or chemicals are present in the soil and results in the formation of such columnar rocks
Hyderabad: A team of historians and archaeologists from the Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam (KTCB) recently discovered 6.50 crore year-old rock formations in Bazar Hathnoor mandal, in Adilabad district. These rock formations, known as Columnar Basalts, are a result of volcanic activity and the subsequent settling down of the lava.
According to archeologist and KTCB convenor Sreeramoju Haragopal, these rocks formed about 6.5 crore years ago. “When lava erupts from a volcano, it starts cooling down and while it cools down, it also reacts with whatever minerals or chemicals are present in the soil and results in the formation of such columnar rocks,” he explains.
These are the first such formations found in Telangana, he says and adds, “We consulted with Chakilam Venugopal, an expert geologist and former deputy director general at Geological Survey of India and he informed that these are potentially the first such to be found in the state.”
According to Haragopal, there are thick piles of volcanic flows widely spread in the Deccan Plateau, called Deccan Traps. Spread over in parts of Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, these flows spread when lava erupted from fissures in volcanoes, millions of years ago. Going by this, it can be said that the rocks are from Cretaceous (14.5 to 6.5 crore years old) to Eocene (5.5 to 3.3 crore years old) eras.
“During the initial phase of solidification, the lava flows at some places, develops polygonal cracks and these cracks vertically extended, forming columns. The columns which then were exposed to the outside weathering conditions resulted in uniquely patterned columns. Though they are not man-made, their structure appears as if they are man-made,” he explains.
These polygonal columns are anything between 10-30 feet long and Haragopal points out that a part of them is below the ground. “We don’t know how much of it is below ground and only excavation will reveal that,” he says.
Such places have an immense tourism potential, he says while urging the government to take measures to protect such formations.
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