Ancient Lava Columns Rise on the Satpura Fringe of Vidarbha

thenewsdirt
Oct 16
5 min read

Vidarbha’s flat terrain sits just south of the Satpura Range, carrying the mark of ancient volcanic eruptions. Throughout this eastern Maharashtra region, thick lava flows of the Deccan Traps blanket the land.

When these flows cooled millions of years ago, they cracked into polygonal columns. In 2021, one such rock pillar was unearthed at Shibla-Pardi village in Yavatmal district, drawing fresh attention to the phenomenon.

Experts say these basalt columns date to about 60 million years ago and offer a window into the region’s fiery past.

Scientists explain that when very hot lava spreads over a plain and cools slowly, it contracts and fractures into hexagonal pillars.

These columnar joints are famous at places like Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway or California’s Devil’s Postpile. Geologist Suresh Chopane notes that Maharashtra’s Deccan eruptions once covered roughly 500,000 square kilometres. Today, about 80% of the state’s rocks are basaltic. Vidarbha itself was under a shallow sea until roughly 70 million years ago, according to local experts.

Then, as the Deccan flows spread north from the Western Ghats, they filled the area. The remaining basalt layers form most of the region’s geology. In the Satpura foothills and plateaus of Vidarbha, thick basalt flows persist, often weathering into striking shapes. Early surveyors of these hills even noted that in places the basalt “closely resembles that of the Giant’s Causeway,” with columnar and semi-columnar cracks in the stone.

The nearby Gawilgarh range in Amravati was described long ago as having basalt “found columnar in many places.” This historical note is echoed by recent fieldwork: in 2021, researchers identified columns at Shibla-Pardi in Yavatmal and near Muktagiri in Amravati. These locations lie at the northern limits of Vidarbha, where the Satpura scarp drops toward the plains. All of them rest on Cretaceous basalt that once flowed across Central India.

Basalt Pillars Discovered in Yavatmal

In July 2021, road work near Shibla-Pardi village revealed a towering basalt pillar. Environmental geologist Prof. Suresh Chopane, who examined the find, confirmed it was natural.

He described it as “a rare natural rock called columnar basalt formed from the lava of a massive volcanic eruption in Maharashtra” roughly 60 million years ago. The hexagonal pillar stood upright just as it had formed. When lava falls into cooler ground or water, it shrinks and splits into vertical columns.

Shibla-Pardi’s discovery attracted instant attention. The pillar had emerged during routine road construction, but it was not man-made or part of a temple ruin as some villagers first thought. On inspection, experts found it to be an intact section of ancient lava flow. Geologists noted the columns are neatly arranged and uniform, “a textbook example of columnar jointing,” in the words of local reporters.

Chopane, a member of India’s environment ministry panel, placed the find in context. He said that until about 70 million years ago, this part of Vidarbha lay under a sea.

Then, at the end of the Cretaceous, volcanic activity surged: massive lava flows from the Western Ghats (the Deccan Traps) crept across central India.

Those lava floods solidified into thick sheets of basalt. Most of Maharashtra today is built on that volcanic blanket, roughly 500,000 square kilometres in area, and such basalt underlies the land all the way to the Satpura foothills.

With this background, the pillar at Wani taluka makes sense: it was part of a solid basalt layer. In fact, Prof. Chopane had already reported other ancient fossils in the area.

200-million-year-old stromatolites and six-million-year-old shells, evidence that the local geology preserves a very long history. In Yavatmal, these basalt columns simply join the list of rare features found on the Satpura fringe.

Chopane pointed out that in the world, only a few places have such pillars on display. In India, the famous example is St. Mary’s Island off Karnataka. In Maharashtra, before this, hexagonal basalt columns were known at Gilbert Hill in Mumbai, at Kolhapur, and at Nanded.

The Wani find adds Yavatmal to that list, a sign of the Deccan lava that once covered the Vidarbha plateau.

Basalt Columns near Muktagiri

Across Vidarbha to the north, in Amravati district, similar basalt outcrops have been noted. Near the village of Muktagiri (just south of the Satpura hills), geologists report vertical basalt columns protruding from lava flows.

The Muktagiri section is on the state border near the Betul plateau of Madhya Pradesh, where the plateau edges dip steeply. Photographs from local geological surveys show hexagonal jointing there, just as in Yavatmal.

While Muktagiri is known as a temple site, its underlying rock is the same Deccan basalt. Surveys list it among places with columnar jointing in Maharashtra.

The columns stand like pillars on the hillside, visible when vegetation is thin. In both Yavatmal and Amravati, the outcrops lie at the northern limits of the basalt terrain, essentially on the southern foothills of the Satpura Range.

These outcrops are scattered and not always exposed. In many cases, local farmers or forest covers have only encountered the basalt outcrops incidentally (as with the Yavatmal road work).

Other reported instances include basalt cliffs and rocky ridges in the Melghat area (the southern Satpura offshoot). In general, around the Satpura basin, vertical cliffs and columns appear at stream cuts and cliff edges.

Historical records hint at even older knowledge of these columns. The 1911 gazetteer for Amraoti District (covering this area) described the Gawilgarh hills’ basalt as “columnar in many places.”

It even compared the local basalt’s appearance to the Giant’s Causeway, noting “the same fracture, internal dark colour, and external brown crust.” Today’s finds simply document what surveyors and villagers have suspected: Vidarbha’s northern edge is laced with ancient lava outcrops, some forming spectacular pillars.

Geological Significance

Each columnar outcrop on Vidarbha’s Satpura fringe is a clue to the Deccan volcanic event. These formations freeze in stone the last moments of molten lava cooling.

Geologists say studying them helps reconstruct the scale and flow of the eruptions that covered most of central India.

For example, the uniform size of columns can indicate cooling rate and flow thickness. In Vidarbha, the columns remind researchers of how far the volcanic flood reached.

The finds also attract visitors and researchers.

Though not a formal tourist site yet, Shibla-Pardi has drawn curiosity from local media and geology enthusiasts. In India, basalt columns often become points of interest, and experts note St. Mary’s Island as a well-known example in the south.

In Vidarbha, there is a growing sense that these outcrops, in Yavatmal and Amravati, could be highlighted similarly.

Even as scientists record them, the columns are enduring records of the Earth’s history. Each hexagonal pillar is essentially a yearbook page of the planet at the end of the Cretaceous, a moment when India was an island continent bombarded by volcanoes.

As research in the Satpura hills continues, more such sites may come to light. For now, the basalt columns of Vidarbha stand tall, silent stone chronicles of a landscape reshaped by fire.