Ahmjit: Updated article with clearer structure

2026-03-21T16:23:03Z

Updated article with clearer structure

imported>Billjones94 at 04:29, 30 August 2021

2021-08-30T04:29:18Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
{{short description|Mountain range in India and Nepal}}
[[File:Ganges_and_the_Shivalik_ranges,_near_Rishikesh.jpg|thumb|The Sivalik Hills and [[Ganges River]]]]
[[File:Sivallik Hills map.svg|thumb|Map of the Sivalik Hills]]
The '''Sivalik Hills''' (also known as the '''Shivalik Hills''' and '''Churia Hills''') are a [[mountain range]] of the outer [[Himalayas]] that stretches from the [[Indus River]] about {{convert|2400|km|mi|abbr=on}} eastwards close to the [[Brahmaputra River]], spanning across the northern parts of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It is {{convert|10|-|50|km|mi|abbr=on}} wide with an average elevation of {{convert|1500|-|2000|m|abbr=on}}. Between the [[Teesta River|Teesta]] and [[Raidāk River]]s in [[Assam]] is a gap of about {{convert|90|km|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Kohli2002">{{cite book |author=Kohli, M. S. |chapter=Shivalik Range |title=Mountains of India: Tourism, Adventure and Pilgrimage |year=2002 |pages=24–25 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIs4zv17HHwC&pg=PA24 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-135-1}}</ref> Sivalik literally means 'tresses of [[Shiva]]’.<ref name=Balokhra99>{{cite book |last1=Balokhra |first1= J. M. |year=1999 |title=The Wonderland of Himachal Pradesh |publisher=H. G. Publications |location=New Delhi |edition=Revised and enlarged fourth |isbn=9788184659757}}</ref> Sivalik region is home to the [[Soanian]] archaeological culture.<ref name="SchugWalimbe2016"/>

==Geology==
{{multiple image |perrow=1 |image1=River Ganga meandering through the Shivalik ranges, Rishikesh.jpg |caption1=Ganges River cutting through the Sivalik Hills |image2=Sukhna Lake and nearby Shiwalik Hills.JPG |caption2=View of the Sivalik Hills from Sukhna Lake |image3=Winter morning in Terai.jpg |caption3=Winter morning in Terai}}

Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the [[Tertiary]] [[Deposition (geology)|deposits]] of the outer Himalayas.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Siwalik Hills |volume=25 |pages=163–164}}</ref> They are chiefly composed of [[sandstone]] and [[Conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]] rock formations, which are the solidified
[[Detritus (geology)|detritus]] of the Himalayas<ref name=EB1911/> to their north; they are poorly consolidated. The remnant [[magnetisation]] of [[siltstone]]s and sandstones indicates that they were deposited 16–5.2 million years ago. In [[Nepal]], the [[Ghaghara River|Karnali River]] exposes the oldest part of the Shivalik Hills.<ref>{{cite journal |authors=Gautam, P., Fujiwara, Y. |year=2000 |title=Magnetic polarity stratigraphy of Siwalik Group sediments of Karnali River section in western Nepal |journal=Geophysical Journal International |volume=142 |issue=3 |pages=812–824 |url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2000GeoJI.142..812G |doi=10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00185.x |bibcode=2000GeoJI.142..812G |doi-access=free}}</ref>

They are bounded on the south by a fault system called the Main Frontal Thrust, with steeper slopes on that side. Below this, the coarse alluvial [[Bhabar]] zone makes the transition to the nearly level plains. Rainfall, especially during the summer [[monsoon]], percolates into the Bhabar, then is forced to the surface by finer alluvial layers below it in a zone of springs and marshes along the northern edge of the [[Terai]] or plains.<ref name=Mani>{{cite book|title=Ecology and Biogeography in India|first=M.S.|last=Mani|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2012 |page=690}}</ref>

== Prehistory ==
Remains of the [[Lower Paleolithic]] (around 500,000 to 125,000 BP) [[Soanian]] culture were found in the Sivalik region.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Is the Soanian techno-complex a Mode 1 or Mode 3 phenomenon? A morphometric assessment |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=34 |issue=9 |pages=1434–1440 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.11.001|year=2007|last1=Lycett|first1=S. J.}}</ref> Contemporary to the [[Acheulean]], the Soanian culture is named after the [[Soan River|Soan Valley]] in the Sivalik Hills of [[Pakistan]]. The Soanian archaeological culture is found across Sivalik region in present-day India, Nepal and Pakistan.<ref name="SchugWalimbe2016">{{cite book|editor1=Schug, G. R. |editor2=Walimbe, S. R. |title=A Companion to South Asia in the Past |date=2016 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Oxford, Chichester |isbn=978-1-119-05547-1 |author=Chauhan, P. |chapter=A decade of paleoanthropology in the Indian Subcontinent. The Soanian industry reassessed |page=39 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xv-CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39}}</ref>

{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2020}}
''[[Sivapithecus]]'' (a kind of [[ape]], formerly known as ''Ramapithecus'') is among many [[fossil]] finds in the Sivalik region.

The Sivalik Hills are also among the richest fossil sites for large animals anywhere in [[Asia]]; the hills had revealed that all kinds of animals lived there. They were early ancestors to the [[sloth bear]]; ''[[Sivatherium]]'', an ancient giraffe; and ''[[Megalochelys atlas]]'', a giant tortoise named the Sivaliks giant tortoise; amongst other creatures.

A number of fossil [[ratites]] were reported from the Sivalik Hills, including the extinct [[Asian ostrich]], ''[[Dromaius]] sivalensis'' and ''[[Hypselornis]]''. However, the latter two species were named only from toe bones that have since been identified as belonging to an [[ungulate]] mammal and a [[crocodilian]], respectively.<ref name='Lowe'>{{cite journal |last=Lowe |first=P. R. |year=1929 |title=Some remarks on ''Hypselornis sivalensis'' Lydekker. |journal=[[Ibis (journal)|Ibis]] |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=571–576 |doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1929.tb08775.x}}</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2020}}
The low human population density in the Sivalik Hills and along the steep southern slopes of the [[Lower Himalayan Range]] created a cultural, linguistic, and political buffer zone between populations in the [[Indo-Gangetic Plain|plains]] to the south and the hills beyond the Mahabharat escarpment, enabling different evolutionary paths with respect to language and culture.

==In culture==
The [[Indian Navy]]'s [[Shivalik class frigate|''Shivalik''-class frigate]] is named after these ranges.

==See also==

; Subranges of Sivalik (from north to south)
* [[Dundwa Range]]
* [[Margalla Hills]]
* [[Shivalik Fossil Park]]
; Geological subdivisions of Himalayas (from north to south)
* [[Indus-Yarlung suture zone]]
*[[Karakoram fault system]]
*[[Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains]]
*[[Main Himalayan Thrust]]
* [[Lower Himalayan Range|Lower/Lesser Himalaya]]
; Geographical subdivisions of Himalayas (from east to west)
* [[Eastern Himalaya]]
* [[Indian Himalayan Region]], [[Geology of Bhutan]] and [[Geology of Nepal]]
* [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)]], [[Geography of Ladakh]], [[Gilgit-Baltistan]] and [[Geology of Pakistan]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Shivalik Hills}}
{{EB1911 poster|Siwalik Hills}}
{{Reflist}}

{{GeoSouthAsia}}
{{coord|27|46|N|82|24|E|source:kolossus-fiwiki|display=title}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Uttarakhand}}

[[Category:Mountain ranges of the Himalayas]]
[[Category:Hills of Asia]]
[[Category:Mountain ranges of Bhutan]]
[[Category:Mountain ranges of India]]
[[Category:Mountain ranges of Nepal]]
[[Category:Mountain ranges of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Hills of Jammu and Kashmir]]
[[Category:Hills of Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:Hills of Himachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Hills of Sikkim]]
[[Category:Hills of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests]]

Sivalik Hills - Revision history

Ahmjit: Updated article with clearer structure

imported>Billjones94 at 04:29, 30 August 2021