HYDERABAD: Geological enthusiasts have identified ‘columnar basalt’ formations (naturally formed pillars of stone) on a small hillock inside the reserve forest area of Borilalguda village in Kerameri mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district.As per geologists, the basaltic lava flow that has come to surface through fissures, had spread over five lakh sq km in the form of ‘Deccan Traps’ on the Deccan Plateau.
These basaltic lava flows have cooled down into different natural structural formations in Central and Western India. These are identified as ‘lava columns’ or ‘basalt columns’ or ‘columnar jointed volcanics.’
Columnar basalt formations were also identified in Kanwad Pahad, Palasi (near Bagli) in Madhya Pradesh; Manavar, Koteda and Dimadhar in Anjar Kutch of Gujarat; Andheri Gilbert Hill, Kolhapur, Usmanabad and Chincholi in Beed District of Maharashtra. The Borilalguda columnar basalts appear similar to Chincholi columns.
Rhyolitic lava columnar formations have been identified in the past near the Arabian coast in Karnataka, in Malse of Udupi district, in a group of four small islands called Coconut Tree Island of Thansepar and the Saint Mary’s Island.The Saint Mary’s Islands have been included in the list of 34 National Geological Monuments declared by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in 2016. Such geological formations have been developed as geo-tourism centres in various sites across the world.
These kinds of columnar basalts have been identified for the second time in Telangana. In 2015, Manne Eliya, member of Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam, had identified the Columnar Basalt formations for the first time inside the Shantipur Reserve Forest of Gudi Hatnoora mandal in Adilabad district.Tirupathi Githe, a member of Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam, who, along with his friends has found the formations; is appealing to the State government to declare these rare formations as a monument and conserve them.