HYDERABAD: Miniature columnar Basalt rocks, said to be dated back to 65 million years, were found in the Ginnedhari forest range in Adilabad district. Explorers from the Public Research Institute of History, Archaeology and Heritage (PRIHAH), led by Forest Range Officer Thodishetty Pranay found these fascinating rocks. Despite these rocks being found a few months ago, they were waiting for scientific confirmation, said Pranay. Columnar rocks or joints as they are scientifically called are formed when thick basalt lava flows and cools down to form hexagonal or shaped cracks.
Chakilam Venugopal Rao, Deputy Director General (Retd) of Geological Survey of India, said, “Though columnar basalt rocks were found in Telangana in recent times, this is for the first time this kind of miniature type columnar basalt rock is found”. Rao emphasised the need for a detailed study of field relations, associated features, and the mapping of reported columnar basalt locations in Adilabad to reconstruct the emplacement history of volcanic flows in the area.
“We have to closely study the field relations and the features associated with them. It is also desirable to plot the location of so far reported columnar basalt from Adilabad to find out the implication and mutual relations to reconstruct the emplacement history of volcanic flows in this area,” Venugopal Rao opined. The present findings from Ginnedhari might be similar to them and further studies are needed for confirmation, say experts.
These columnar Basalts of Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) are 65 million years old. Columnar Basalt is also known from some location in Columbian River Basalts of USA. They were also found in Iceland, Australia and some other places. Even planet Mars has Basalt rocks which are much older than the ones on earth.
Columnar Basalt rocks are found by explorers in seven sites in the districts of North Telangana in recent years.
Finding of miniature columnar basalt will add to the previous findings and enrich the understanding of Telangana’s geology, said an expert Dr M A Srinivasan. These rocks, finding of the snail fossils like physa tirpolensis and princepi makes these Adilabad forests special, he added.
