Sustaining the natural heritage of Hyderabad geological park proposal for preserving the rockscape of Hyderabad

Abstract

This thesis aim in designing a geological park as an open space focusing on appreciation of the landscape and the natural process of geo sites. And also to interpret the story and celebrate Hyderabad's granite landscape. Hyderabad capital city of Telangana State, lies in the Deccan Plateau and displays rocky landscapes with rocks, huge rocks and rocky hills. These are not ordinary rock formations, they are geologically based on Archaean Eon, which goes from 3,5 to 2,5 billion years ago. These rocks are the oldest rocks in India and are far older than the Himalayas, they belong to the Dharwar rock family. The craton of Dharwar is the oldest foundation of the south peninsular Indian earth's crust The granite form of Hyderabad is Inselbergs and gigantic blocks. It consists in millions of years of weathering of the igneous rock. In the last 4 decades Hyderabad has developed rapidly and creates a major danger to the city's natural heritage and the irreversible change in the Deccan landscape. Therefore, there is a need to preserve/conserve the rocks and appreciate the landscape character of the Deccan. Rocks are not the biotic components which we want to save instead of getting extinct. But these are the remnants of early history and planet earth formation. They help to learn and enrich how our earth evolved and transformed into inner and outer forces over time. They also tell us how they support millions of other forms of life and people, how certain forms of life have been lost, and how those who survive have kept therelay. They contribute to predicting the continuity and evolution of new forms of lifewhen millions of other forms of life evolved and extinct. This thesis aims at promoting Hyderabad's natural heritage and also the cultural association of the people with the Hyderabad rock sites. And to include them as public open spaces in city and promote their preservation as rock sites, as an integral part of development.