General
Information
| Area |
: |
6,06,000
sq km |
| States |
: |
Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,
Haryana, Punjab and parts of Madhya Pradesh
|
| Headquarter |
: |
New Delhi |
| Address |
: |
West
Block VII, R.K.Puram, New Delhi - 110 066 |
| Contact
Person |
: |
Shri
C. L. Bhairam, Regional Director
Ph
: 011-26101450
Fax
: 011-26107358
e-mail
: rdnr.amd@gov.in
|
The
New Delhi office was set up during 1949 as the AMD headquarter,
which was shifted to Hyderabad in 1974 and the office at New
Delhi remained as the headquarter for Northern Region. Rajasthan
was initially a part of the Northern Region, but during 1988
it was carved out to form a separate region as Northwestern
Region (now Western Region).
Broad
Geological features
The
Northern Region comprises of the great Himalayan mountain ranges 
exposing
igneous and metasedimentary rocks of various ages in the Higher
and Lesser Himalayas, the trans-Himalayan sedimentaries, the
Siwalik sediments, the vast Gangetic alluvial tracts and the
Archaean granitoids and Proterozoic sediments in the south.
The
Higher Himalayas: comprises
of granite gneisses and high grade metamorphic rocks, also
known as the Central Crystalline axis. To the south, across
the Main Central Thrust (MCT), the Lesser Himalayas are
represented by metasedimentary and metabasic rocks with some
well known nappes and Klippes, with or without intrusive
granites. The Main Boundary Thrust(MBT) separates the Lesser
Himalayan rocks from the Siwalik belt.
The
Siwalik belt: extending from Jammu & Kashmir
through Himachal Pradesh to Uttarakhand is a prominent geological
feature of the Region. The Siwalik sediments are divided
into Lower Siwalik (mainly argillaceous), Middle (arenaceous
with shaly inter layers) and Upper Siwalik (conglomerates
with sandy lenses).
The
Himalayan Frontal Fault (HFF) to the South separates the Siwaliks
from the Indo-Gangetic plains.
Further
to the south of the Indo-gangetic plain, the Proterozoic Bijawar
- Gwalior - Vindhyan groups
of rocks are exposed over the Bundelkhand granitic complex as
basement. The southern margin of the Vindhayan basin is bound
by the Mahakoshal Group and Chhotanagpur granite
gneisses.
Summary
of Investigations:Important finds
Although
no economically viable deposit has been delineated here
so far, a large number of important uranium occurrences have
been discovered in almost all geological domains of the Northern
Region.
In
the Upper-Middle Siwalik transition zones of Himachal
Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and J&K, lenticular
uraniferous bodies, both in the sandstones as well as in conglomerates
occur over large areas. The lenses are a few metres to few
tens to hundred of metres in dimension with low average grade.
A large number of blocks have been drilled and exploratory
mining was also carried out in three blocks, viz. Asthota, Khya and Andalada, Hamirpur
Dt, Himachal Pradesh. Rajpura is the best known occurrence
so far, with a low reserve. Other occurrences of similar nature
are in Dhanaur and Naugajia Rao—Shakumbari Rao areas
in Uttarakhand, Maler and Thein in J&K and Morni in
Haryana. 
In
the pre-Siwalik transition sediments also a number of
anomalies have been located in the Dharamsala Group in Solan
and Mandi Districts, H.P. out of which Tileli is the
largest occurrence so far identified. At Tileli, uranium mineralisation
associated with lithic arenites at the contact of Lower & Upper
Dharamsala formations, was located over a strike length of
500m x 10m, that was traced down to a vertical depth of 300m
by exploratory drilling. Further drilling is constrained due
to steep topography and unstable terrain.
While
the gnessic rocks of the Higher Himalayas show profuse
development of secondary minerals, e.g. as in Chaura, Kinnaur
Dt, H.P., significant uranium mineralisation associated with
sheared gneisses and quartzites of Rampur Group have been traced
in several localities in the Lesser Himalayas, across
the MCT, important among which are in Kasha, Kandi and Kaladi,
Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh. The mineralisation occurs
in the form of small veinlets along the fractures. Yellow cake
has been recovered from the uraninite veinlets of Kandi area
by small scale mining and heap leaching.
Similar
uranium occurrences have also been located in the Berinag quartzites
of Uttaranchal. Shear-controlled uranium mineralisation of significant
dimensions and grade are hosted by chlorite-sericite schists
of Pokhri area, Chamoli Dt, and by granite gneisses in Brijranigad area,
Tehri Dt, Uttaranchal. Exploration in the Himalayas are greatly
hindered by geological complexities and lack of infra-structural
facilities.
In
parts of the peninsular India, uranium mineralisation was observed
at a number of places like Naktu, Kudar, Nawatola-Dhanbadua etc
in cataclastic breccia and migmatites in Sonbhadra district,
Uttar Pradesh. The area forms part of Chhotanagpur Granite
Gneiss Complex. Exploratory drilling was carried out in these
areas but had to be discontinued due to poor grade and tonnage.
Uranium
mineralisation was also found associated with fracture-filled
bitumen in chloritic shale, Bandai sandstone and Rohini carbonate
of Bijawar Group around Sonrai, Lalitpur district, Uttar
Pradesh. Exploratory drilling indicated that the mineralisation
is not correlatable.
Present
thrust areas of investigations
The
present areas of investigations are mainly concentrated in Gwalior-Bijawar
and tracts of Vindhyan basins in parts of Madhya Pradesh for
locating Proterozoic unconformity type of deposits as well as
in Siwalik and pre-Siwalik formations in parts of Himachal Pradesh
for locating sandstone type of deposits. Stratigraphic drilling
is in progress in parts of Haryana to understand the geological
setting and trace the northern continuity of the albitite line
from Rajasthan where significant uranium mineralisation has been
established in the albitised metasediments of Rohil area.
Other
facilities available at Northern Region
The
Region is equipped with
Physics
Laboratory
Chemistry
Laboratory
Petrology
Laboratory
Remote
Sensing Laboratory
