Writ in stone: Do you know India’s geoheritage sites of Jhamarkotra and Zawar?

In Rajasthan, one site hosts a 1.8-billion-year-old fossil park and another is the world’s oldest zinc-smelting site — and they are in need of better protection.

With 40 locations on the UNESCO World Heritage List, India’s cultural sites – some of them of archaeological significance – are globally recognised even as plans to conserve them are underway. Most of these sites celebrate human history, yet what of the landscapes against which these chapters have played out? What of India’s geodiversity and geoheritage?

Landscapes across the Indian subcontinent bear signatures of many geological events, from the evolution of life to the cycles of mass extinction preserved in the fossil records. These events include meteorite impacts, volcanic eruptions that laid down the Deccan Traps, the collision of continents that birthed the Himalaya, Lakshadweep’s coral atolls, the birth of rivers and how they shaped fertile river valleys, massive deltas, and the world’s largest mangrove forests.

The resulting landscapes shaped the rise and fall of civilisations and empires; they influence the organisation of wealth and political power in modern societies. This is why our geodiversity and geoheritage are worth remembering, and preserving.

Geodiversity is the variety of rocks, fossils, minerals, and natural processes that shape our landscapes while geoheritage refers to sites that offer insights into the evolution of the earth and can be used for research, reference, and awareness. The Geological Survey of India has recognised a number of geoheritage sites around the country, but there are more that deserve the recognition yet haven’t.

To draw the attention of local governments, industries, and the public to potential sites, the Society of Earth Scientists (SES), a group of independent researchers bridging the gap between earth science and society, anchored a national programme for International Geodiversity Day in October 2022, followed by three field workshops to look for potential sites across India.

The first workshop was about dinosaur fossils in Bagh, Madhya Pradesh, and the second one in the Kachchh region of Gujarat focused on Jurassic life and tectonic features, and highlighted what each state has to offer for tourism, science, and education.

For the third workshop, earlier this March, a group of field geologists, geology professors, archaeologists, and mining industry representatives gathered to scout a fossil park at Jhamarkotra and the metallurgical remains at Zawar, around 20 km southeast of Udaipur, Rajasthan.