SHILLONG:
Known for the Meghalayan age, Mawmluh cave located in Sohra, Meghalaya has been selected as one of the ‘First 100 IUGS Geological sites’ in the world by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and UNESCO.
“IUGS 60th Anniversary Event in Zumaia, Basque Coast UNESCO Global Geopark (Spain) will declare The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites selected from 181 candidate sites from 56 countries (sic),” informed chief minister Conrad Sangma in a tweet.
The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is an official keeper of geologic time, i.e. it precisely defines units (periods, epochs, and age) of the Geologic Time Scale. On the occasion of its 60th anniversary the IUGS are running a number of free geoscience events as part of its Earth sciences festival which will be held in October 2022 with screenings and award events hosted at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Mawmluh, a seven-kilometer-long limestone cave, is one of India’s longest and deepest caves and is situated at an elevation of 1,290 metres. The stalagmite at Krem Mawmluh has contributed to the evidence supporting the 200-year drought that followed the Ice Age 4,200 years ago. Meghalayan Age is the term used to refer to this era.
According to the geologists, this drought and the cooling lasted two centuries and severely impacted agricultural-based societies that developed in several regions after the end of the last Ice Age. It resulted in the collapse of civilisations in Egypt, Greece, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yangtze River Valley.
The entrance to Mawmluh cave is enthralling and almost identical to dinosaur parts. The stalagmite formations resemble dinosaur skeletal body parts such as teeth, and the caverns are tight and enormous paths that are gloomy until an abrupt opening up into grand echoing cathedrals of nature. Also, only 1/4 of the cave receives sunlight, leaving the rest in darkness.
The Krem Mawmluh cave is located about half a kilometre west of Cherrapunjee and 57.1Â km from Shillong. The best time to visit the place is during monsoon season which is November to February.