View source for Sivalik Hills

{{short description|Mountain range in India, Pakistan and Nepal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox mountain
|name=Sivalik Hills
|photo=Ganges_and_the_Shivalik_ranges,_near_Rishikesh.jpg
|photo_caption=Sivalik Hills and [[Ganges]] River
|image_map=Sivallik Hills map.svg
|image_map_caption=Sivalik Hills, highlighted in light red
|range_coordinates={{coord|27|46|N|82|24|E|source:kolossus-fiwiki|display=inline,title}}
|length_km=2400
|location=northern [[Indian subcontinent]]
|parent=outer [[Himalayas]]
|geology=[[Tertiary (geology)|Tertiary]]
}}
The '''Sivalik Hills''', also known as '''Churia Hills''', are a [[mountain range]] of the outer [[Himalayas]].
The [[literal translation]] of "Sivalik" is '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=978-81-8465-975-7}}</ref> The hills are known for their numerous fossils, and are also home to the [[Soanian]] [[Middle Paleolithic]] archaeological culture.<ref name=SchugWalimbe2016/>

== Geography==
The Sivalik Hills are a [[mountain range]] of the outer [[Himalayas]] that stretches over about {{cvt|2400|km}} from the [[Indus River]] eastwards close to the [[Brahmaputra River]]; they are {{cvt|10|-|50|km}} wide with an average elevation of {{cvt|1500|-|2000|m}}. Between the [[Teesta River|Teesta]] and [[Raidāk River]]s is a gap of about {{cvt|90|km}}.<ref name=Kohli2002>{{cite book |author=Kohli, M. S. |title=Mountains of India: Tourism, Adventure and Pilgrimage |year=2002 |chapter=Shivalik Range |pages=24–25 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIs4zv17HHwC&pg=PA24 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-135-1}}</ref> 
They are known for their [[Neogene]] and [[Pleistocene]] aged vertebrate fossils.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kaur |first=A. P. |date=2022 |title=New fossil mammalian assemblages and first record of ostrich from the Pinjore (Pinjor) formation (2.58–0.63 Ma) of Siwalik Hills near Chandigarh, northern India |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=293 |article-number=107694 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107694 |bibcode=2022QSRv..29307694K}}</ref>

==Geology==
Geologically, the Sivalik Hills belong to the [[Tertiary period|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 sedimentary rocks comprising the hills are believed to be 16–5.2&nbsp;million years old.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gautam |first1=P. |last2=Fujiwara |first2=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 |doi=10.1046/j.1365-246x.2000.00185.x |bibcode=2000GeoJI.142..812G |doi-access=free|hdl=2115/38248 |hdl-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 ==
{{see|South Asian Stone Age#Siwalik Hills}}
[[File:Colossochelys atlas.jpg|thumb|right|Skeleton of the gigantic tortoise ''[[Megalochelys atlas]]'', the largest known to have ever existed, and one of the best known Sivalik fossils]]
The Sivalik Hills are well known for fossils of vertebrates, spanning from the  Early [[Miocene]], until the [[Middle Pleistocene]], around 18 million to 600,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nanda |first=A.C. |date=2002 |title=Upper Siwalik mammalian faunas of India and associated events |journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences  |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=47–58 |doi=10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00013-5|bibcode=2002JAESc..21...47N }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Patnaik |first=R. |chapter=Indian Neogene Siwalik Mammalian Biostratigraphy. An Overview |date=2013 |doi=10.7312/wang15012-017 |title=Fossil Mammals of Asia |place=New York Chichester, West Sussex |publisher=Columbia University Press}}</ref>

Some of the best known fossils from the hills include ''[[Megalochelys atlas]]'', the largest known tortoise to have ever existed,<ref name="TEWG2015">{{cite journal |author1=Rhodin, A.G.J. |author2=Thomson, S. |author3=Georgalis, G. |author4=Karl, H.-V. |author5=Danilov, I.G. |author6=Takahashi, A. |author7=de la Fuente, M.S. |author8=Bourque, J.R. |author9=Delfino M. |author10=Bour, R. |author11=Iverson, J.B. |author12=Shaffer, H.B. |author13=van Dijk, P.P. |year=2015 |title=Turtles and tortoises of the world during the rise and global spread of humanity: first checklist and review of extinct Pleistocene and Holocene chelonians. |journal=Chelonian Research Monographs |volume=5 |issue=8 |pages=000e.1–66 |doi=10.3854/crm.5.000e.fossil.checklist.v1.2015 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |collaboration=Turtle Extinctions Working Group |hdl=11336/62240}}</ref> the sabertooth cat ''[[Megantereon|Megantereon falconeri]]'',''<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Stimpson |first=Christopher M. |date=May 2024 |title=Siwalik sabrecats: review and revised diagnosis of Megantereon fossils from the foothills of the Himalaya |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=11 |issue=5 |bibcode=2024RSOS...1131788S |doi=10.1098/rsos.231788 |issn=2054-5703 |pmc=11076117 |pmid=38720790}}</ref>'' ''[[Sivatherium giganteum]],'' the largest known [[Giraffidae|giraffid]],<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Basu |first1=Christopher |last2=Falkingham |first2=Peter L. |last3=Hutchinson |first3=John R. |date=January 2016 |title=The extinct, giant giraffid ''Sivatherium giganteum'': skeletal reconstruction and body mass estimation |journal=[[Biology Letters]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |article-number=20150940 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2015.0940 |pmc=4785933 |pmid=26763212}}</ref> and the ape ''[[Sivapithecus]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kelley |first1=J. |date=1988 |title=A new large species of Sivapithecus from the Siwaliks of Pakistan |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=305–324 |doi=10.1016/0047-2484(88)90073-5|bibcode=1988JHumE..17..305K }}</ref>

Remains of the [[Lower Paleolithic|Lower]]-[[Middle Paleolithic]] [[Soanian]] culture dating to around 500,000 to 125,000 years [[Before Present]] 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.|bibcode=2007JArSc..34.1434L }}</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>

==Ecosystem==
The [[carbon stock]] and [[carbon sequestration]] rates of the Churia forests differ among different forest management regimes and are highest in protected areas.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Thapa |first1=H. B. |title=Churia forests of Nepal |url=http://www.dfrs.gov.np/downloadfile/CHURE_REPORT_1453193322.pdf |archive-date=2017-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508190912/http://www.dfrs.gov.np/downloadfile/CHURE_REPORT_1453193322.pdf |publisher=Forest Resource Assessment Nepal, Department of Forest Research and Survey, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal |date=2014 |lccn=2015515752}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Subedi |first1=B. |last2=Lamichhane |first2=P. |last3=Magar |first3=L. K. |last4=Subedi |first4=T. |date=2022 |title=Aboveground carbon stocks and sequestration rates of forests under different management regimes in Churia region of Nepal |url=https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/BANKO/article/view/45442 |journal=Banko Janakari |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=15–24 |doi=10.3126/banko.v32i1.45442|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==See also==
[[File:River Ganga meandering through the Shivalik ranges, Rishikesh.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Ganga river cutting through the Sivalik hills]]
<!-- Please help by converting this to an "Outline" article and/or create/add to a navigation template. -->
; 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==
{{Reflist}}

{{GeoSouthAsia}}
{{Himalayas}}
{{Sister bar|auto=1|s=1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Siwalik Hills}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mountain ranges of the Himalayas]]
[[Category:Mountain ranges 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:Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests]]