Geology Report

CE 332A
Survey and Geology Camp
(12/12/2013-14/12/2013)


Name-Manjeet Singh
Roll No-11407


Group 6
Harshmaan
Aayush Sandil
Pankaj Saini
Kishlay Kumar
Shubham Goyal
Manjeet Singh

Introduction
It is believed that Satis eyes, or Naina landed at Nainital thus giving the place its name. In ancient
times the lake was also know as the Tri-rishi Sarovar or the lake of the three saints, namely Atri,
Pulastya and Pulaha.

According to historical records, Nainital was discovered by a British sugar merchant named P.
Barron. The merchant was so deeply enthralled by the lake settlement and its forested surrounding
that he came back with a sailing boat and built a house named Pilgrims Cottage. Thus started the

process of settling this once secluded mountain resort, with colonial villas and promenades coming
up very rapidly. Soon, it became an important administrative town as well, with the summer capital
of the United Provinces being set up here. In 1880, torrential rains resulted in a devastating
landslide that destroyed several buildings including the Victoria Hotel at the north end of the lake
near Mallital. 150 people were trapped under the debris and died. The area was later levelled out
and became a popular meeting ground and sports arena. Known as The Flats it is now also used for
parking vehicles in the peak tourist season. The area around Nainital is observed to be dissected by
several ridges and the ground elevations vary between 1694 to 2611.5 meters above mean sea level
(msl). Naini peak (earlier known as China peak) with height of 2611.5 m above msl is the highest
point of the area while sher ka danda, Deopatha and Ayarpatha respectively have altitude of 2402,
2435.1and 2352 m above msl. Naini and Khurpatal lakes respectively have elevations of 1935.5 and
1570m above msl. The area is prone to landslide due to high relief, presence of overburden and
high precipitation. The surface slope in the area; particularly in the catchment of Naini lake is
observed to be gentle to moderately steep. Large areas with gentle slope occur along the north
western and south eastern extremities of the lake. Small areas run-ning almost parallel to both
eastern and western boundaries of the Naini lake, however Show steep slope. Depending on the
aspect of the hill slopes the surface receives differential solar insolation that is a major parame-ter
deciding the moisture retention capacity of the soil. The rainfall pattern is also affected locally in
the hills by this pa-rameter. The aspect of the surface slope in the hills is thus a major factor
affecting the pace of mass wastage as also the distribution of vegetal cover. Aspect of the hills
slopes around the Naini Lake is delineated from the DEM. South-westerly aspect is observed to
determine the area around the Naini lake. Himalayas: A short Note Himalayas, Nepali Himalaya,
great system system of Asia forming a barrier between the Plateau of Tibet to the north and the
alluvial plains of the Indian subcontinent to the south. The Himalayas include the highest mountains
in the world, with more than 110 peaks rising to elevations of 24,000 feet (7,300 metres) or more
above sea level. One of these peaks is Mount Everest (Tibetan: Chomolungma; Chinese:
Qomolangma Feng; Nepali: Sagarmatha), the worlds highest, with an elevation of 29,035 feet
(8,850 metres;see Researchers Note: Height of Mount Everest). The mountains high peaks rise into
the zone of perpetual snow. For thousands of years the Himalayas have held a profound
significance for the peoples of South Asia, as their literature, mythologies, and religions reflect.
Since ancient times the vast glaciated heights have attracted the attention of the pilgrim
mountaineers of India, who coined the Sanskrit name Himalayafrom hima (snow) and alaya
(abode)for this great mountain system. In contemporary times the Himalayas have offered the
greatest attraction and the greatest challenge to mountaineers throughout the world.
Forming the northern border of the Indian subcontinent and an almost impassable barrier between
it and the lands to the north, the ranges are part of a vast mountain belt that stretches halfway
around the world from North Africa to the Pacific coast of SE Asia. The Himalayas themselves
stretch uninterruptedly for about 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from west to east between Nanga Parbat
(26,660 feet [8,126 metres]), in the Pakistani-administered portion of the Kashmir region, and

The continents, 180 Million years ago.
Credit: Mahabir Pun

Namjagbarwa (Namcha Barwa) Peak (25,445 feet [7,756 metres]), in the Tibet Autonomous Region
of China. Between these western and eastern extremities lie the two Himalayan countries of Nepal
and Bhutan. The Himalayas are bordered to the northwest by the mountain ranges of the Hindu
Kush and the Karakoram and to the north by the high Plateau of Tibet. The width of the Himalayas
from south to north varies between 125 and 250 miles (200 and 400 km). Their total area amounts
to about 230,000 square miles(595,000 square km) .
The Formation of the Himalayas
The Himalayas are known to be youngfold mountains. Young, because these have been formed
relatively recently in the earth's history, compared to older mountain ranges like the Aravallis in
India, and the Appalachian in the USA. They are known as fold mountains because the mountains
extend for 2500 km in length in a series of parallel ridges or folds.
The accepted theory about the formation of the Himalayas started to take shape in the year 1912
when German meteorologist Alfred Wegener developed his Theory of Continental Drift. According
to Wegener, the earth was composed of several giant plates called tectonic plates. On these plates
lie the continents and the oceans of the earth. The continents were said to have formed a single
mass at one point in time. From this single mass, today's continents have "drifted" apart from each
other over a period of millions of years.
We pick up the story about 250 million years ago. During this time, all the earth's land was a single
super continent called Pangea, which was surrounded by a large ocean.

Around 200 million years ago (also known as the
Middle Permian Period) , an extensive sea
stretched along the latitudinal area presently
occupied by the Himalayas. This sea was named
the Tethys. Around this period, the super
continent Pangea began to gradually split into
different land masses and move apart in different
directions.


As a result, rivers from both the northern Eurasian land mass (called Angara) and the southern
Indian land mass (called Gondwana) started depositing large amounts of sediments into the shallow
sea that was the Tethys. There were marine animals called ammonites living in the sea at the time.
The two land masses, the Eurasian and the Indian sub-continent, moved closer and closer. Indian
plate was moving north about at the rate of about 15 cm per year (6 inches per year).
The initial mountain building process started about seventy million years ago (or the Upper
Cretaceous period) when the two land masses (or plates) began to collide with each other. As a
result, the already shallow seabed rapidly folded folded and was raised into longitudinal ridges and
valleys.
Soon afterwards, about 65 million years ago (Upper Eocene Period), came the second phase of
mountain building. The bed of the Tethys started rising again. The sea retreated, and the sea bed
was elevated into high mountain ranges.

Later, about 25 million years ago (Middle Miocene Period) came
another mountain building period which led to the formation of
the low Shivalik ranges. After this, periodic mountain building
phases occurred as the Indian plate pushed against the Eurasian
plates which led to the Himalayan ranges rising further. The last
major phase occurred 600,000 years ago.


Although the phase of major upheaval of the
Himalayas has passed, the Himalayas are still
rising, albeit at a much slower rate. The Indian
plate is continuously moving north at the rate of
about 2 cms every year. Because of this reason
the Himalayas are rising at the rate of about 5
millimeter per year. This means that the
Himalayas are still geologically active and
structurally unstable. For this reason,
earthquakes are a frequent occurrence in the
entire Himalayan region.
It has to be understood that it is impossible to detect the movement of the plates and uplifting of
the Himalayas by casual observation. However, a modern technology called Global Positioning
System (GPS) has made it possible to measure even such a slow movement of the plates.
Higher (Greater) Himalayas
The Higher Himalayas are also known as the Central Crystalline zone, comprised of ductily
deformed metamorphic rocks and mark the axis of orogenic uplift. Mica schist, quartzite,
paragneiss, migmatite, and leucogranite bodies characterize this uppermost Himalayan zone. They
represent a multiphase deformation event, the first being Barrovian type, or normal geothermal
gradient conditions. There was then a shift to Buchan-type metamorphism, low pressure and high
temperature conditions, with temperatures greatly exceeding normal gradient
temperatures(Sorkhabi 1999). Local retrograde events have also been noted. Analyses show that
peak orogenic temperatures and pressures were 475-825 degrees Celsius and 500-800
megapascals. Corresponding minerals assemblages are dominated by biotite to sillmanite,
representing greenschist to amphibolite facies deformation. Deformation seems to have occured in
a north to south direction and is associated with the Main Central Thrust Fault (MCT), which brings
the higher Himalayas on top of the lower Himalayas (Sorkhabi 1999). Initially, it was thought that
approximately 350km of shortening had occured in the Greater Himalayan sequence of rocks.
The continents, 65 Million years
ago. Credit: Mahabir Pun

The continents, today.
Credit: Mahabir Pun


However, through studies by DeCelles etal. (1998), a major thrust fault within the zone was
discovered. As a result, it is now estimated that between 600 and 650km of shortening occurred
here. There was also a question of provenance for Great Himalayan rocks. Previous work suggested
that lower Indian crust comprised this area. New interpretations of rocks there indicate that the
higher Himalayas are actually made of super crustal rock. This idea states that upper crustal
material of India accreted northward onto the Asian continent and that crustal material was
originally an appendage of India that was, itself, accreted to India during Paleozoic time. This study
implies that India probably had significantly more continental crust than previously thought, much
more crust to be shortened in the formation of the Greater Himalayas.
Lesser (Lower) Himalayas
The Lesser Himalayan zone is bounded the Main Central Thrust (MCT) in the north and Main
Boundary Thrust(MBT) to the south. Unlike the higher Himalayas, the lesser only experienced up to
green schist facies metamorphism. The rock types present here are also different. They are
primarily sedimentary rocks from the Indian platform. Rock units here also show a series of
anticlines and synclines that are in many cases quite sheared. Fossils have been documented in this
zone, but they do not occur at the same frequency as Tehtyan zone fossils.

Sub-Himalaya
This foreland zone consists of clastic sediments that were produced by the uplift and subsequent
erosion of the Himalayas and deposited by rivers. These rocks have been folded and faulted to
produce the Siwalik Hills that are at the foot of the great mountains. Sub-Himalayan rocks have
been over thrust by the Lesser Himalayas along the Main Boundary Thrust Fault. This steep thrust
flattens with depth, dveloped during the Pliocene time and has been shown as active through the
Pleistocene (Ni 1984). In turn, the Sub-Himalayas are bounded by a thrust fault to the south and are
forced over sediments on the Indian plate. This fault system is called the Himalayan Frontal thrust
(Sorkhabi 1999).



Tectonics of Himalayas
Our continents are carried by a series of tectonic plates located in the earths lithosphere. These
plates collide with and separate from each other at different rates determined by a process known
as convection. Directly below the lithosphere is the inner mantle known as the asthenosphere.
Convection currents are generated in the earths inner mantle as molten rock forms from the
radioactive decay of elements. As hot gas and liquid is produced it moves upward, displacing the
cooler and denser gas and liquid. As this convection process happens, those circulations push the
lithospheres plates (and the seven continents that sit on top of them), slowly shifting the globes
landscape over time. The direction and rate of movement is totally dependent on what kinds of
convection currents are at work below.

Making the Himalayas: 250 Million Years in 250 words
Once, the entire worlds landmass was connected, forming one super-continent known as Pangaea.
Approximately 200 million years ago, tectonic forces broke apart this giant continent into pieces,
eventually forming the continents we know today. As convection currents worked independently on
the plates associated with these new continental pieces, the plates and their respective continents
began to drift across the globe to their present-day geographical locations.
Eighty million years ago, India was approximately 6400 km (3968 miles) south of the Eurasian plate.
Separating the two was the Tethys Sea. The Indo-Australian tectonic plate containing the
continent of Australia, the Indian subcontinent, and surrounding ocean was pushed northward by
the convection currents generated in the inner mantle. For millions of years, India made its way
across the sea toward the Eurasian plate. As India approached Asia, around 40 million years ago,
the Tethys Sea began to shrink and its seabed slowly pushed upwards. The Tethys Sea disappeared
completely around 20 million years ago and sediments rising from its seabed formed a mountain
range. When India and Tibet collided, instead of descending with the plate, the relatively light
sedimentary and metamorphic rock that makes up the subcontinent of India pushed against Tibet,
forcing it upwards, and created a massive mountain fold in the Himalayas.
Instruments Used:
Compass

Hammer
Lens
Day wise Activity
Day 1 (13
th
Dec-2013)
Location No-1
Upstream of Ranibagh Bridge
Tributary of Gola River
GPS Coordinates-
N-29

17.613
E-79

32.834
ELE-1762ft
Observations- We identified the different rock present on the bank of tributary of
Gola river .This bank have sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rock present
there. Here we found mostly siltstone, pumice, slate, marble, shale, granite, and
quartzite.
Landform-It is the boundary of Sivaliks and Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT).In the
stream at bank at some of the places the river was gushing at fast speed such that
in some of the rocks the channel shape was easily visible showing a large amount
of erosion.

Location No-2
Amritpur ,Gola River
GPS Coordinates-
N-29

17.718
E-79

33.774
ELE-1794ft
Observations-From the bank of the stream all three types of rocks i.e.
sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic can be seen distinctively. This place is
reach in granite and porphyritic basalt. We can easily found large pieces of natural
conglomerate. Also we found sandstone in the downstream side.
Here we can easily see series of igneous rock followed by metamorphic and then
sedimentary rocks while walking downstream to the river.

Day 2(14
th
Dec-2013)
Location No-1
Charkhet


GPS Coordinates-
E-79

25.814
N-29

23.106
ELE-6071ft
Observations-
1
st
Place-(Phyllite + Slate)
S.No. Strike Dip Fault/Fracture
Direction Amount Strike Dip Am. Dip Dir.
1 55N 140N 20 30N 13N 60
2 46N 120N 25
3 40N 140N 30 65N 332N 76
4 290N 22N 43 226N 135N 70
5 288N 25N 50
6 295N 19N 38


2
nd
Place-(Phyllite + Slate)
S.No. Strike Dip Fault/Fracture
Direction Amount Strike Dip Am. Dip Dir.
1 130N 55N 46
2 130N 47N 47
3 127N 48N 43 45N 145N 87
4 95N 7N 53
5 131N 36N 38
6

3
rd
Place-(Limestone + phyllite)
S.No. Strike Dip Fault/Fracture
Direction Amount Strike Dip Am. Dip Dir.
1 45N 137N 19
2 65N 155N 30
3 103N 15N 44
4 114N 26N 43
5 97N 8N 38

6 114N 16N 36
7 97N 190N 21
8 105N 207N 67

4
th
Place-(Phyllite + slate +Limestone)
S.No. Strike Dip Fault/Fracture
Direction Amount Strike Dip Am. Dip Dir.
1 59N 175N 41 45N 224N 86
2 125N 200N 30
3 115N 195N 42
4 95N 14N 40
5 116N 38N 0
6 110N 18N 43
7 88N 357N 44

5
th
Place - (Slate + Phyllite)
S.No. Strike Dip Fault/Fracture
Direction Amount Strike Dip Am. Dip Dir.
1 172N 265N 12 102N 205N 48
2 168N 258N 16
3 116N 225N 35

6
th
Place - (Phyllite + Slate + Limestone + slate + Phyllite + slate + limestone +slate)
S.No. Strike Dip Fault/Fracture
Direction Amount Strike Dip Am. Dip Dir.
1 110N 195N 71
2 105N 192N 51
3 52N 185N 61 125N 205N 64
4 101N 195N 79

Location No-2

Kilbury Road
GPS Coordinates-
E-29

24.300
N-79

26.684
ELE-7590ft
Observations- At this place different types of folding can be easily seen some of
them are syncline, isocline, recumbent isocline etc. Major rocks found here are
limestone and slate. Red color is majorly due to iron. These rocks are one of the
youngest rock found in this area .Folding is almost 4

in these rocks.
S.No. Strike Dip
Direction Amount
1 160N 80N 26
2 340N 260N 24
3 190N 280N 20
4 250N 140N 30
5 160N 70N 14
6 185N 100N 23
7 270N 180N 19
8 230N 320N 08
9 250N 165N 14
10 140N 240N 06
11 205N 320N 08

Day 3(15
th
Dec-2013)
Location No-1
Khupra Tal Lake View Point
GPS Coordinates-
E-29

22.823

N-79

26.162
ELE-2019ft
-Here we found different rocks in different bedding plane one above others. Most
of them are others slate, phyllite and limestone.

S.No. Distance from
Lake side (in m)
Strike Dip Height from
bottom (in m) Direction Amount
1 0 155N 63N 48 0.5
2 0 145N 47N 15 2.1
3 2 140N 45N 18 0.5
4 2 162N 64N 21 1.4
5 5 143N 57N 10 1.4
6 5 150N 55N 12 2.5
7 5 143N 54N 09 0.5
8 10 146N 56N 12 1.6
9 10 145N 60N 09 0.6
10 10 149N 62N 09 0.2
11 15 124N 217N 05 0.5
12 15 128N 200N 06 0.0
13 17 155N 50N 12 0.5
14 17 152N 54N 13 0.8
15 17 150N 53N 14 1.0
16 20 114N 15N 06 0.5
17 20 115N 16N 05 1.2
18 24.5 70N 345N 13 0.6
19 24.5 75N 342N 12 1.2
20 30 19N 317N 11 1.8
21 30 13N 310N 15 0.5
22 35 22N 304N 10 1.2
23 35 20N 300N 12 2.0
24 35 24N 295N 13 0.9
25 38 50N 324N 12 1.8
26 38 50N 324N 09 0.1



Major things Learnt from the Field
The following macroscopic points were covered after the Survey Camp:
Geologic Formation:
Dating back to the formations that lead to the process like Krol and Taal formation,
metamorphosis etc. were deeply studied and hence relevance on the field can be
explained.
Strike and Dip calculation:
The basic structural elements of fold are strike and dip and hence any Geology student
should know how to calculate it. Thus on the field, for the last time the student had the
opportunity to learn it.
Identification of Rocks:
The site chosen for identification of rocks was extraordinary and thus we were exposed to
different types of rocks. This helped us to understand the basic features like physical
properties etc.