Quaternary Studies in The Manipur Valley

This book is the outcome of my research on Quaternary period in the Manipur Valley conducted from the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Pune. During the research work, field data was collected through extensive surveys, and fieldworks carried out by various several other agencies in Manipur. Study and analysis generated useful information which is presented in this book with hope that, it will give a clear concept of Palaeo environment of Manipur valley to the students and scholars. In order to reconstruct the chronology of the Quaternary formation, the tectonic movements and climate changes in Manipur valley during the Neogene have also been discussed. The Quaternary deposits of Manipur valley developed due to various complex processes. In absence of palaeontological evidence and paucity of absolute dating a sincere attempt has been made on the basis of altemetric position, geomorphic processes and forms, degree of weathering, archaeological finds; and a few absolute dates.

Quaternary Studies in the Manipur Valley is the outcome of the research of Dr Thokchom Angou Singh at Deccan College Post Graduate & Research Institute. This book contains important investigations of preliminary geo archaeological, palaeoecological, geo morphological data which is useful in the quaternary studies in prehistoric archaeology.

The author has surveyed all the relevant preliminary aspects of geo archaeology. His investigation highlighted the importance of Quaternary studies in prehistoric archaeology. He tested the global climatic changes during the Quaternary in Manipur.

His specific area of focus was to understand the nature and complexity of Quaternary sediments and their stratigraphic correlation to unreveal the environment of deposition. The author has compared the nature of the Quaternary records of Manipur valley with that of the rest of Northeast India, intermontance basins of the Himalayan regions and other Tropical regions of Southeast Asia.

"We have in the history of the quaternary period a region of research, full of hope and of the most romantic interest, promising not only to reveal the events which accompanied and influenced the evolution of man but afford an outpost from which we can look back into the ages which preceded his advent upon the earth".

General

The Quaternary is a time stratigraphic unit covering the entire period from the end of the Tertiary to the present day. It spans two million years of a total of about five billion years of the earth's history (West 1968; Butzer 1964; Bowen 1978 and Zia Lanpao 1980); and embraces the last two geological epochs - the Pleistocene and the Holocene.

**Contents and Sample Pages**