From active lava to ancient craters: Tracing India’s volcano trail

India is a land full of surprises! For those who don’t know, you can still find volcanoes here in India. While most of them have gotten extinct, one of the volcanoes is still active. These destinations are quite intriguing and not a popular place amongst tourists. While most volcanoes are disruptive, some of these are extinct or do not produce lava.
For all those curious minds, they must visit these spots to know more about the volcanoes found here:

This is the only active volcano found in the Andaman Sea of India. This volcano rises 354 m above sea level. This volcano first erupted in 1787, then there were more than 10 eruptions in between, with most recent one being in 2022, as per Wikipedia. In 2017, it was recorded that small episodic ash and lava emissions erupted. This is an uninhabited island and one can find very limited wildlife here. It's a protected sanctuary and one can only view this from boats.

This is considered as an extinct volcanic hill located in the Aravalli range on the Haryana and Rajasthan border. This volcanic hill is dated back to around 750 million years ago. This hill is considered to have religious significance as according to Vedic tradition and Puranic texts, sages like Chyavana and Bhrigu had ashrams here. This land is also associated with the land of ancient Brahmavarta often in Manusmriti and other scriptures. One can find ruins of a medieval fort here, ancient caves and temples and even seasonal waterfalls.

This hill is located in Bhiwani district of Haryana and one can find remnants of an extinct volcano here. This is considered a hill range now as it is a part of the Aravalli mountain range. This hill was formed after a volcanic eruption around 732 million years ago. Currently, it is not an active or dormant volcano but the rocks found here depict that they are from the Precambrian Malani igneous suite. This hill is considered as a remnant of a collapsed magmatic chamber. It also has cultural and archaeological importance as one can find ancient rock inscriptions and prehistoric rock art here and it is considered that there might have been monasteries here.

The Dhinodhar Hills are located in the Kutch district of Gujarat and are considered an extinct volcano which means they haven’t erupted for a long time and are unlikely to do so again. This hill was formed around 500 million years ago and is composed of a very fine-grained, black to dark grey rock. The formation is like a subvolcanic intrusion which means hardened magma within a vent likely formed during the Deccan Traps period. This hill also has a pilgrimage site on its top, a temple dedicated to Saint Dhoramnath. One might also find a Than monastery at the base of the hill. This hill also has columnar jointing which signifies that these are volcanic rocks.

The Deccan Traps were formed by massive flood basalt eruptions around 66 million years ago. It is considered that these eruptions occurred along fissures or cracks in the Earth’s crust rather than from a single central vent. The lava flowed out in thin sheets covering vast areas which then solidified to form layers of basalt rock. The Deccan Traps are considered to cover parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Telangana. The Deccan Traps are known for fertile black soil, ideal for cotton farming. The region is rich in minerals and is an important source of groundwater due to the porous basalt. Major rivers like the Godavari, Krishna, and Tapti originate in the Deccan Plateau.