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GSI declares ‘Guryul Ravine’ as National Geoheritage site

  • RK News By RK News
  • Comments 0
  • 17 Oct 2025

    Srinagar, Oct 16: The Geological Survey of India (GSI), Ministry of Mines, Government of India, celebrated the 4th Edition of UNESCO International Geodiversity Day and the ninth Edition of International Geo-Ethics Day 2025 on October 16 with the workshop theme “Harnessing Geodiversity for Geoconservation.” As per a statement issued here, on this occasion, the Director General of GSI passed a resolution to declare two new Geoheritage sites of India, including one from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The new entrant in the Geoheritage list of India from J&K is the famous “Guryul Ravine” Permian-Triassic Boundary Section at Khonmoh, Srinagar. The Director General, GSI, emphasised the significance of Geoheritage sites and the necessity to preserve them. Considering the global importance of the Guryul Ravine Geological Section, the DG GSI declared this site as a National Geoheritage Site of national importance, along with the fossiliferous supplementary sections near Barus, Mandhakpal, and Pastun areas of Pulwama district, J&K. The Guryul Ravine Permian-Triassic Boundary Section, Srinagar, J&K, shows a continuous sedimentary succession of about 252 million years ago (25.2 crore years), during which a severe mass extinction wiped out most life on Earth — 90 percent of marine species and 70 percent of land species. This event, known as the “Great Dying” or Late Permian Mass Extinction (LPME), is recorded in the ancient rocks of Guryul Ravine, Khonmoh, with abundant fossils marking the transition from the Palaeozoic to Mesozoic Era, with minimal life in the early Triassic period at the Permian-Triassic Boundary (PTB). The Guryul Ravine Geological Section represents one of the few known complete PTB sections in the world. It hosts multiple mega fossil horizons of Bryozoa, Brachiopoda, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Ammonoids and Conodonts, which are important for understanding the greatest biological revolution and past climate changes of the Earth, with each rock layer telling a story worth preserving. In commemoration of the declaration of the Guryul Ravine Geological Section as a National Geoheritage Site of national importance, the GSI State Unit: J&K and Ladakh, under the leadership of Dr P. S. Misra, Deputy Director General, and Abdul Qayoom Paul, Director, GSI Kashmir Office, held an awareness and Swachhta Hi Sewa (SHS) campaign along with a plantation drive at the declared site. The other participants from GSI included Pankaj Kumar, Senior Geologist and In-charge, Park and Museum Division, Zahid Majeed Senior Geologist, along with all geoscientists from the GSI Kashmir Office. The declaration ceremony and SHS campaign witnessed a collaborative effort for public outreach, bringing together personnel from the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Department of Geology and Mining (DGM), J&K, Forest and Wildlife Departments, local administration officials, representatives from academic institutions, NGOs, local colleges, schools, and the general public. An infographic signboard of the National Geoheritage Site of the Guryul Ravine Permian-Triassic Boundary Section was also installed during the campaign. The event witnessed a successful public outreach, sensitising people about the significance of the Guryul Ravine site through collective cleanliness efforts. A plantation drive was also conducted at the Guryul Ravine Geoheritage Site, and Safai Mitras were felicitated during the event. Eminent geoscientists including Prof Ghulam Jeelani, Head, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir; Prof G. M. Bhat (Retd.), University of Jammu; and Shri Mudasir Nazar, Divisional Forest Officer, Awantipora, graced the occasion and actively participated in the campaign. Officials from other participating departments and organisations of the UT of J&K included representatives from the DGM, Forest Department, Wildlife Department, members of the Environmental Policy Group, local colleges and schools, and the general public.

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