what is the exact meaning of 'karewa'
Answers
The Kashmir valley is an oval-shaped basin, 140 km long and 40 km wide, trending in the NNW–SSE direction. It is an intermountain valley fill, comprising of unconsolidated gravel and mud. A succession of plateaus is present above the Plains of Jhelum and its tributaries. These plateau-like terraces are called ‘Karewas’ or ‘Vudr’ in the local language. Despite continuous erosion since millions of years, more than half of the valley is still occupied by the Karewa. These sediments are dominantly lacustrine in origin. Due to the rise of Pirpanjal, the drainage was impounded and a lake of about 5000 sq. km area was developed and thus a basin was formed.
Karewa sediments are treasures of many human civilizations and habitations. The Stone Age man has survived the harshest of the Pleistocene glaciations through these karewas. Apart from the Stone Age man, the remains of Buddhist Stupas on the Karewas show Buddhist influence of the time. The Brahman rulers have also left their footprints on these sediments, which can be seen near Pattan, Awantipora and Mattan. Rishis and Sufi saints are not far behind when it comes to occupying the highest reaches of the Karewas.
The Karewa deposits in the Kashmir valley have been conventionally divided into two stages, lower and upper, representing argillaceous and arenaceous facies respectively. The upper Karewas are less fossiliferous than the lower Karewas. The entire belt touching the foothills of the Pirpanjal represents the lower Karewas, which has been exposed to the rivers starting from the south such as Veshav, Rembiara, Romushu, Dodhganga, Shaliganga, Boknag nar and Ningli. Lower Karewa sections at Aharbal, Anantnag, Arigam, Baramulla have been exposed by these rivers.
The rest of the Karewa sediments occupy the middle of the entire flank of the valley, including Pampore, Srinagar, Burzuhom, Dilpur, Pattan, Parihaspora, and parts of Baramulla District. These represent upper Karewas of the valley. The late Cenozoic deposits exposed in the Kashmir valley assume special significance as they are extensively fluvioglacial, fluvial, lacustrine and eolian in origin. The age determination of a Karewa is based on the correlation between Karewa and Shiwalik fauna from India and Pakistan. As far as the age of Karewas is concerned, the lack of chronological control has impeded the development of a detailed reconstruction of the Karewas depositional history in the intermountain basin of the valley.
However, people in the area seem to be destroying these table lands at the cost of development and petty commerce, ignoring the geological and aesthetic significance of these formations even though alternative construction and building material is available in vast amounts. This only shows our ignorance about understanding earth sciences as a subject.
The karewas are home to unique biodiversity. The famous almond orchids are best grown in the soils of karewas. Their destruction results in the loss of such a unique biodiversity of Kashmir. The negligence of the concerned authorities will lead to the destruction of these karewas especially in Pattan area. The government employees take money from the people and give them permission to destroy these karewas without knowing the impacts which are faced by all of us. Hundreds of examples are found around the Pattan area where agricultural lands are filled, especially alongside National Highways.