ROcK StArS ! ! !

"What more can we require? Nothing but time."

-James Hutton, 

(considered as Father of Modern Geology).

Near Mukteshwar, Nainital, Uttarakhand

Every place has a story to tell. Look around. 

The little bumps on the Earth, the Hills. 

A  meandering stream with rounded pebbles alongside. 

The streams joining into river, finally merging into the sea. 

For a Holiday at the beach side? Writing your name on the sand, making sand castles and watching waves swash and backwash?

Or in the middle of a forest, trekking up a waterfall?

Visiting the majestic Himalayas this summer? Awed with the steep jagged slopes. 

Ever felt the trembles during an earthquake? 

Seen the black beauty, the rock beneath your feet? 

Typical landscape of the Deccan trap region

Well, all these speak volumes.

Take a breath. Look around again. All these are like pillars of history of the Earth. Engraved on it are beautiful and unimaginable concepts, taking you closer towards understanding our home, Home in a broader sense, our Planet Earth. They are like a photographic plate or a canvas where all is painted. 

Dare to find out these mysteries? 

Few rock stars do! They are called the GEOLOGISTS :) 

The hills may be formed by erosional processes, faulting, volcanoes, etc.

The Himalayas boast of being one of the highest (still growing higher) and youngest chain mountains in the world, formed by a mind boggling process of collision of plates (that's another story entirely)! The youthful river carving out V-shaped valleys. The sinuous river has come a long way and reached the gently sloping plains forming lovely meanders and oxbows. The black beauty (no I ain't talking about the horse, that's how I describe a rock!) you see all around in this Deccan trap region is Basalt. Though simple, unattractive, homogeneous  it looks splendid when a chip of it is seen under a petrographical microscope (Yes, geologists use microscopes too!). The tremors you must have experienced some time are earthquakes. A lot of rumble rumble is happening inside the Earth- movements, rupturing of faults, the rocks beneath may not be strong enough, etc. which may lead to an earthquake. The sandy beach that you thoroughly enjoy has taken thousands of years to form the way we see it today. 

This is how beautiful a basalt would look under a petrographical microscope!

Sandy beach, near Kanniyakumari

The Earth is around 4.6 billion years old, and a lot has happened (and happening) ever since. A wonderful science Geology tries to unravel some of the mysteries. Marbles and granites aren't the only rocks. Diamonds aren't the only gemstones. Dinosaurs aren't the only fossils. All rounded pebbles aren't from Narmada. 

Try to read the story. Its beautiful how so much has happened, and we still see it happening! The Present is indeed the key to the Past!

P.S: GEOLOGY IS NOT ZOOLOGY!