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by Siva Prasad Bose (Author)
India is one of the most geologically remarkable regions on Earth. Its landscapes - from the world's highest mountain range to one of its largest river plains, from ancient volcanic plateaus to dynamic island chains - are the product of forces that have been at work for billions of years. And many of those forces are still active today.
Introduction to Geology: India's Geological Wonders is a comprehensive yet accessible guide to the deep history of the Indian subcontinent, written for readers with no prior background in earth sciences. Drawing on established geological research, it explains not just what India's landscapes look like, but why they exist - and what they tell us about the planet we live on.
The book covers the full sweep of India's geological story: the subcontinent's origins as part of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana; its record-breaking northward drift across the Tethys Sea; the collision with the Eurasian Plate that created the Himalayas and continues to trigger earthquakes across northern India today. It examines the Deccan Traps - one of the largest volcanic events in Earth's history - and their lasting influence on soil, agriculture, and even the fate of the dinosaurs. It explores India's shifting coastlines, the volcanic origins of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the mystery of submerged settlements like Dwarka, and the geological kinship between Kerala and Sri Lanka.
Later chapters connect geology to everyday life: the mineral wealth that has shaped India's economy, the groundwater crisis unfolding beneath the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the earthquake risk facing major cities, and the long-term challenges posed by rising sea levels and a changing climate.
Topics include:
- Plate tectonics and the birth of the Himalayas
- The Deccan Traps and India's volcanic past
- The formation of the Indo-Gangetic Plain
- Earthquakes, seismic zones, and disaster preparedness
- India's coastlines, islands, and submerged landscapes
- Minerals, mining, and natural resources
- The future of India's land under climate change
Accessible to students, educators, travellers, and general readers alike, this book offers something rare: a rigorous yet engaging account of the science that underlies one of the world's most storied landscapes.
Understanding India's geology is understanding India itself.
