The Nallamalas (lit.”Black Hills”) (also called the Nallamalla Range) are a section of the Eastern Ghats which stretch primarily over Kurnool, Prakasam and Kadapa districts of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. They run in a nearly north-south alignment for close to 150 km between the rivers, Krishna and Pennar. An extremely old system, the hills have been extensively weathered and eroded over the years. The average elevation today is about 520 m which reaches 929 m at Bhairani Konda and 903 m at Gundla Brahmeswara. Both of these peaks are in a north westerly direction from the town of Cumbum. There are also many other peaks above 800 m.
Geology
The rocks of the Nallamala ranges belong to the Cuddapah system which is a series some 20,000 ft. thick. The primary rocks are Quartzite overlaid with an irregular slaty formation. Some sandstone is also to be found. The rocks here are very irregular and soft in texture thus rendering commercial exploitation impossible. These rocks are among the oldest in the world and have been formed as a result of large scale volcanic activity hundreds of millions of years ago. The evidence of the volcanic forces are evident in the foldings into which the rocks have been forced, in some cases the folds have been completely inverted.
Climate
The Nallamalas have a rather warm to hot climate throughout the year. Rainfall averages about 90 cm and is concentrated in the months of the South West Monsoon (June-September). The fissured rocks prevent any water from percolating underground and hence most of the discharge runs off as mountain streams to join the Gundlakamma River, the largest river to arise in these hills. Winters are mostly cool and dry with the average temperature around 25 degrees celsius.
Geography and Land use
These hills are almost completely covered with open jungle. Lack of water prevents the growth of large trees and the prevalent vegetation consists of Terminalia, Hardwickia and Pterocarpus. Agriculture is almost non existent apart from isolated patches near villages where subsistence farming is practiced. The Nallamala Forests are probably the largest stretch of undisturbed forest in South India apart from the Western Ghats and were particularly rich in game till the 1970s. A large part of the forest is a part of the Srisailam Tiger Reserve that has a viable tiger population. Leopard sightings too are not uncommon. Many of the adventures of the popular wildlife writer, Kenneth Anderson are set in these forests.
Source: Wikipedia.org
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