Basalt rock pillar, formed six crore years back, found in Maharashtra
Yavatmal, Jul 2: A basalt rock pillar, formed around 60 millions years ago from volcanic lava, has been discovered during road construction work at a village in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, a leading geologist has said.
The rock formation was found last week at Shibla-Pardi village in Wani-Pandhakawda area of the district, he said.
Talking to PTI, environmentalist and geologist Prof Suresh Chopane said, It is a natural rock called columnar basalt formed from the lava of a massive volcanic eruption in Maharashtra 60 million years ago. The hexagon-shaped pillars were formed by cooling and contraction.
Chopane, a former member of the regional empowered committee of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said the Wani area of Yavatmal district is geographically very ancient.
"In the same area, I had found 200-million-year, old stromatolites ((layered sedimentary formations) depicting many early life forms on earth of Neoprotezoic age and six-million-year-old conch shell fossils near Pandharkavada and Maregaon tehsil, he said.
Until 70 million years ago, there was an ocean on the now Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, he said.
In this undated photo, shows around 6 crore-year-old rare ‘Columnar basalt’ formed from the lava after the volcanic eruption was discovered in Shibla-Pardi village in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. (PTI)
But 60 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period, geographical events took place on the earth and from today's Western Ghats, hot lava flowed in the form fissures to Yavatmal district and central Vidarbha and up to Gujarat, known as Deccan trap, he said.
The volcano covered an area of five lakh square kms in central India. In Maharashtra, 80 per cent of the rock formations are basalt igneous rock, which comprise plagioclade feldspar, auguite and accessory mineral like magnetite, he said.
Chopane said that in India, St Mary's Island in Karnataka is famous as a tourist destination for such columnar basalt.
In Maharashtra, before Yavatmal, these rocks have been found in Mumbai, Kolhapur and Nanded. When a hot lava flows into a river and suddenly cools down, it shrinks and becomes hexagon-shaped, forming such stone pillars called columnar basalt, he said.
"These rocks are very important from the geographical point of view and the administration should protect stone pillars and the area found there," he said.
He also claimed that Yavatmal district was inhabited by giant dinosaur-like creatures and animals 60 million years ago. There were dense forests, but due to this huge volcanic eruption in Maharashtra, all the forests and living creatures turned to ashes.
Talking to PTI, spokesperson of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Nagpur, Rashtrapal Chavhan, said such rock formations are found commonly.
"It had been found at many places in India and it was exposed in Wani area of Yavatmal during road excavation work...This columnar basalt rock formation is about 64 million years old," he said.
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Suspected hooch leaves 7 dead in dry Bihar, probe ordered
Bettiah: Seven people died allegedly after drinking spurious liquor in dry Bihar's West Champaran district, prompting the administration to order an inquiry, a police officer said on Sunday.
The police came to know about the deaths on Sunday, though the first fatality occurred four days ago and the bodies of all seven were already cremated, the officer said.
District Superintendent of Police Shaurya Suman said all the deaths were reported from the Lauriya police station area.
Locals blamed the deaths on consumption of spurious liquor, but the SP asserted that the reason behind at last two fatalities was not hooch.
One had been hit by a tractor, while another had suffered a paralytic attack, Suman said.
“The first death took place on January 15 though we came to know about the episode only today. The cause of the remaining five deaths was unclear as all seven bodies were cremated before the police were informed. We have set up an investigation team to find out the cause of the deaths,” Suman told PTI.
West Champaran’s Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC), Sumit Kumar said it is difficult to ascertain the cause of the deaths as all the bodies were cremated.
"The investigation team was directed to submit its report within 24 hours,” Kumar told PTI.
The team will also ascertain the identity of those who died in the last three or four days in Lauriya, he added.
A family member of one of the deceased said, “My brother Pradeep consumed liquor with his friend Manish. Both died”.
The sale and consumption of alcohol was banned in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government in April 2016.
