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Geoparks
Why is it in news?
- An ancient circular lake created by a meteorite strike in Maharashtra and a hexagonal mosaic of basaltic rocks in an island off Udupi are poised to become global geoparks under a Geological Survey of India (GSI) plan.
- Lonar Lake in Maharashtra and St. Mary’s Island and Malpe beach in coastal Karnataka are the GSI’s candidates for UNESCO Global Geopark Network status.
Geopark
- An aspiring Global Geopark must have
- a dedicated website,
- a corporate identity,
- comprehensive management plan,
- protection plans, finance, and partnerships for it to be accepted.
- In mid-August, GSI moved ahead with the plan, setting a follow-up time frame of 100 days.
- The Geopark tag is akin to that of a ‘World Heritage Site’ for historical monuments that can bring India’s famed geological features to the global stage.
- These are spectacular to look at even for the general public who may not understand that they are also geologically important.
- Lonar lake is the only known meteorite crater in basaltic rock and is world famous, while St. Mary’s island is a unique phenomenon that has been preserved well
- St. Mary’s Island, declared a national geo-heritage site in 1975, is estimated to be an 88-million-year-old formation that goes back to a time when Greater India broke away from Madagascar.
Lonar crater
- Lonar crater became a geo-heritage site in 1979. It is relatively young geologically, at just 50,000 years old.
- A meteorite estimated to weigh two-million-tonnes slammed into the Earth, creating a 1.83-km diameter crater where the lake formed.
- It is distinguished by a near-perfect, circular ejecta blanket, which refers to earth thrown up during the collision, around it.
Source
The Hindu