A Manual of the Geology of India
Chiefly Compiled from the Observations of the Geological Survey

Oldham's Manual was a pioneering work of nineteenth-century geology that contains some of the earliest geological descriptions of India.

Richard Dixon Oldham (Edited by), H. B. Medlicott (Author), W. T. Blanford (Author)

9781108072540, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

626 pages, 43 b/w illus. 5 maps
24.4 x 17 x 3.2 cm, 0.98 kg

'Being involved in fieldwork in India myself, I am convinced that reading once more the relevant passages from this book in the field will give an extra dimension to the fieldwork. But I'm also convinced that any geologist with a feeling for the history of geology (or with love for old books) will be able to dream away when reading this book, wherever he or she may be. A lovely work.' A. J. van Loon, Geologos

The geologist Richard Dixon Oldham (1858–1936) published the second edition of Geology of India in 1892 for the Geological Survey of India. The work is a thoroughgoing revision of the first edition of the same manual compiled by H. M. Medlicott (1829–1905) and W. T. Blanford (1832–1905), published in 1879. It contains one of the earliest and most important geological surveys of India. Owing to an increase in available data since the first edition, descriptions of the rock formations of the country are arranged chronologically. This edition is particularly important for the data on, and discussion of, the age and origins of the Himalayas. It includes other chapters on metamorphic and crystalline rocks, fossils, vegetation, volcanic regions, geological history, and rock formation. It is a key work of nineteenth-century geology which remains relevant for geologists studying the subcontinent today.

Preface to the first edition
Preface to the second edition
1. Physical geography
2. Metamorphic and crystalline rocks
3. Transition systems
4. Older Palaeozoic (Cuddapah and Vindhyan) systems of the peninsula
5. Older Palaeozoic systems of the extra-peninsular area
6. Carboniferous and triassic rocks of extra-peninsular India
7. The Gondwána system
8. Mountains of the Gondwána system
9. Marine jurassic rocks
10. Marine cretaceous rocks of the Indian peninsula
11. Deccan Trap
12. Creataceous rocks of the extra peninsular area
13. Tertiary deposits (excluding those of the Himalayas)
14. Tertiaries of the Himalayas (including the North-Western Punjab)
15. Laterite
16. Pleistocene and recent deposits (exclusive of the Indo-Gangetic alluvium)
17. The Indo-Gangetic plain
18. The age and origin of the Himalayas
19. Geological history of the Indian peninsula
Index.

Subject Areas: Earth sciences [RB]