Context:
Demand on Andhra Pradesh Government to come up with measures to protect Erra Matti Dibbalu.
About Erra Matti Dibbalu:
- Commonly called as Red Sand Hills
- Location – Andhra Pradesh
- Declared as a geo-heritage site by the Geological Survey of India (GSI)
- Composition – Coastal Red Sand dunes inlight yellow, brick red, reddish brown
- Distribution –
- Do not occur in equatorial regions or temperate regions.
- Only 3 places in the tropical regions in South Asia:
- Teri Sands of Tamil Nadu
- ErraMattiDibbalu
- Point Kurdimalai sea cliff in the Wilpattu National Park (Sri Lanka)
- Uniqueness –
- Indicates later period of the Quaternary geological age (2.6 million years ago to Present)Exhibit badland topography with landforms such as gullies, terraces, knick point and waterfallsGeochemically unaltered sediments (reason for top yellow layer)
- Unfossiliferous sediments deposited over the Khondalite basement
- Other geo-heritage site in Andhra Pradesh –
- Volcanogenic bedded Barytes
- Eparchaean Unconformity
- Natural Geological Arch
Geo-heritage refers to the geological features which are inherently or culturally significant offering insight to earth’s evolution or history that can be utilized for education.
About Geological Survey of India:
- Set up in 1851.
- Ministry – Ministry of Mines
- Primary objective – To find coal deposits for the Railways.
- Roles – Creation of national geo-scientific information and mineral resource assessment.
- Headquarters – Kolkata
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Gandikota canyon of South India was created by which one of the following rivers?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2022 Prelims]
(a) Cauvery
(b) Manjira
(c) Pennar
(d) Tungabhadra
