Scientists make a pitch for a geo park in Jodhpur

Jodhpur: With two of world’s most exquisite geo formations in Jodhpur, the geoscientist fraternity of the city is rooting for declaration of these sites as a geo

park

, in order to promote research and study of geo-sensitive sites and leverage them as geo tourism, a term, which has been gaining momentum of late across the globe.

Terming them to be geo heritage, head of the department, geology, JNVU, SC Mathur said that these two formations — the Malani Igneous Rocks and Jodhpur Group of Rocks — are the rarest volcanic and sedimentary geo outcrop, and are the most unique in the world.

“Of this, the first ones were produced by the huge eruptions of volcanoes about 7.45 billion years ago, while the second ones are unique sedimentary structures with rich deposits of ripple marks, cross bending, graded bed with fossils,” he said, adding that India is second among six such countries with similar geo-outcropping.

Karni Singh Jasol, director of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, said that the entire Mehrangarh Fort and its surroundings are replete with this outcrop and carry a huge scope for research and tourism. “It is a unique heritage of a global standard and holds a huge potential for tourism, as the massive spurt to the tune of 26%, has been reported in geo tourism, with the tourists getting increasingly drawn to such sites,” Jasol said.

Keeping this in view and to sensitise people and earth lovers towards this geo heritage, a Geological Field Walk has been organized on July 21 in Jodhpur to mark the maiden National Geo Heritage Day.

According to Mathur, there are 149 geo parks across the globe and despite no dearth of world-class geo sites in India, not a single park has been set up in India so far.

Interestingly, the government had declared 32 geological monuments in the country in 2001, but in absence of a model to promote and nurture them further, 18 of them have fallen into a deplorable state.

It may be noted that the UNESCO had drawn a charter for conservation of areas with geo heritage globally in 2004 and countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and many European countries had set up geo parks with the help of UNESCO. These parks, today, are drawing tourists in droves.