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TOWERING ROCKY SLABS OF JAMSOLA

1. General Data GEO-PHOTO
LANDFORM / FEATURE Incised river across dipping rock beds
10-digit Geo-code 3221011131
Place Name Jamsola
Latitude and Longitude 22.222550° N, 86.710850° E
SOI Toposheet Number 73 J/12
Elevation A.S.L. in m ~50 m
Local Geology Sheared and dipping quartzite beds of
Palaeoproterozoic Chaibasa Formation
Annual Rainfall in mm 1600 mm
Name of District and State Purbi Singhbhum District, Jharkhand
and Mayurbhanj District, Odisha
Steeply dipping quartzite beds along the
Nearest Town/City (km) Baripada (~ 40 km)
northern bank of the Subarnarekha River at
Additional Remark Located at the border of Jharkhand,
Jamsola. Photo by Sayantan Das
West Bengal and Odisha states
2. Geomorphic Description
Just before it flows onto the coastal plains of Medinipur (West Bengal) and Balasore (Odisha), the Subarnarekha River
suddenly becomes narrow and incised at Jamsola. Towering rocky slabs up to 25 m high occur on the banks. These
quartzite slabs protrude through a thin veneer of the Quaternary Kasai Formation deposits (GSI, 1998). Here the
channel preferentially occupies a strike fault (Perumal et. al., 1986), which cuts across the steeply dipping and
intensely foliated quartzite beds of the Chaibasa Formation of the Singhbhum Group. Geological processes eons ago
have sheared the quartzite into numerous secondary foliations, along with folding and subsequent plunging of the beds
towards north at angles of 50°-70°. Joints and silica veins traverse the rocky beds (Mazumder etal., 2012). Thus, the
Subarnarekha River in this reach flows along the strike of the dipping quartzite beds. Such a strike-parallel stream
cannot incise vertically in the dipping resistant lithologies but erodes the channel by shifting (or migrating) downdip.
This process has been defined in the geomorphic literature as homoclinal (or monoclinal) shifting (Goudie, 2004). The
Subarnarekha River at Jamsola represents a simple case of homoclinal shifting. Differential erosion along the joints
and prominent bedding planes in these steeply dipping beds has created the jagged surface at Jamsola.

3. Assessment
Geo-themes Assessment Geo-code
Geomorphic Province The Indian Peninsula 3
Rarity/Abundance A rare geomorphic setting from the viewpoint of both 2
structural and fluvial geomorphology
Scientific or Intrinsic Value A pertinent site to examine the structures formed along a 2
(Educational/pedagogical Value) shear zone and study the effects of fault lines and steeply
dipping rock beds on channel morphology
Additional Value High touristic value 1
IUCN geothemes Tectonic and structural features, incised by a river 01
Accessibility Easily accessible by road 1
Integrity (State of Preservation) In natural state 1
Potential Threat and Management No legal protection is accorded to the site 3
Geomorphodiversity Geomorphospot 1
References:
1. GSI (1998): Geological Quadrangle Map No. 73J (Jamshedpur Quadrangle). Geological Survey of India, Kolkata.
2. Mazumder, R., and others (2012). Mesoarchaean - Palaeoproterozoic stratigraphic record of the Singhbhum crustal
province, eastern India: a systhesis. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, v. 365, pp. 31-49.
3. Perumal, N. V. A. S., Kak, S. N. and Katti, V. J. (1986). Integrated remote sensing approach to uranium exploration
in India. In: Geological Data Integration Techniques: Proceedings of a Technical Committee Meeting of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, No. IAEA-TECDOC-472, pp. 131-164.
4. Goudie, A. S. (2004). Folds. In: Encyclopedia of Geomorphology, Goudie, A. S. (eds.) Routledge, London, pp. 400
Contributors: Priyank P. Patel, Department of Geography, Presidency University, Kolkata 700073 and Sayantan
Das, Department of Geography, Bhairab Ganguly College, Belghoria, Kolkata 700056
Email: priyank999@hotmail.com
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The narrow, rocky reach of the Subarnarekha River near Jamsola. The river transits from the Chhotanagpur Plateau to
the coastal plains, as evidenced by the dramatic increase in the width of the channel, free of structural controls, just
downstream of this location. Google Earth image.

Quarrying and plucking-dominated fluvial erosion with flows eroding along bedding planes, foliations and joints
developed in the quartzite beds which dip at angles of 50°-70° towards north. The Subarnarekha River, seen on the
right, flows towards the bridge in the background, perpendicular to the dip and parallel to the strike of the rock beds.
Photo by Sayantan Das.
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Diagrammatic representation of the course of the
Subarnarekha River at Jamsola (flowing towards the
east), across the sheared quartzite beds, which dip steeply
towards north, at almost right-angles to the river's course.
Dip (arrow d-p) is the angle between slope of the bed and
the horizontal plane. Strike (dashed line s-t) is the
orientation of a horizontal line perpendicular to the dip.
The absence of potholes and other typical fluvially
sculpted forms in this bedrock reach may be attributed to
the fact that perfect potholes cannot form normally in
such layered and steeply dipping rocks. The quartzite and
mica-schist beds here are also traversed by silica/quartz
veins (thin white bands/lines seen in rock outcrop in the
foreground). Photo by Sayantan Das

View of the steeply sloping southern bank, and fluvially-worn and boulder-strewn bed of the Subarnarekha River at
Jamsola. Flow is from right to left. The photograph shows the bank morphology of the exposed jointed outcrops along
with the straight, narrow and entrenched channel in this stretch. Here the river flows over a strike fault, running west to
east (from the right of the photo towards the left), thus incising along the strike of the beds, as clearly defined by the
steep dip of the rocks on the southern bank. The Subarnarekha River rises near Nagri village at an elevation of ~610 m
ASL in the Ranchi District of Jharkhand, drains the southeastern portion of the Chhotanagpur Plateau, cuts through the
Dalma Hill Range at Chandil and debouches into the Bay of Bengal at Talshari in the Baleswar District of Orissa, after
traversing a distance of ~395 km. The catchment area of the river is about 18,951 km2. Photo by Sayantan Das.