Siwalik

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. The outer range of low hills running along the southern edge of the Himalayas across northern India, Nepal and Pakistan
2. A chain of foothills lying south of the main Himalayan mountains, formed from sediments eroded from the higher ranges
3. Low, geologically young mountains that form the southernmost belt of the Himalayan system in South Asia

Etymology: The name comes from the Shivalik Hills, a range of low ridges along the southern foot of the Himalayas in India, Nepal and Pakistan. It is generally explained as meaning "locks of Shiva's hair," a reference to the Hindu god whose matted locks the hills were thought to resemble. In geology, the name was applied to a thick sequence of river-deposited sediments that the Himalayas shed as they rose, known as the Siwalik Group. Its rock layers preserve a rich record of Neogene mammals, and the hills became a major source of fossil apes and monkeys. One of these, "Sivapithecus," was named for Shiva, so the god's name survives in the fossil record as well as the landscape. Geologists now use "Siwalik" as an adjective for these deposits, their fossils and the rock sequences that match them.