Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Report - Meghalaya State ...

Description of the Environmentare the Sung valley, the Jowai north valley, the Jowai south valley, the Leteinvalley, the Myntang valley and the Umiurem valley. The district may be dividedinto three Parallel zones. The Northern zone is composed of the gentle hillyslopes draining into Brahmaputra valley of Assam through Karbi Anglong andNorth Cachar Hill District is shown Fig. 3.2. The central cone is composed of theundulating plateau land where about 75 percent of the vegetation are made up ofconifers-Pinus Kesiya and hardly 25 percent are broad leaf species. Most of therivers that flow into Brahamaputra Valley and Surma Valley originate from theplateau. The southern zone is composed of steep slope draining into the BarkValley of Assam and the Surma Valley of Bangladesh. The natural vegetation inthe southern zone is composed of broad leaf species only. In fact, the southernzone is renowned for the cultivation of cash crop like pan, betel nut, teezpatta,piper oblongum and piper nigrum etc.Geology and Mineral ResourcesThe geology of the Meghalaya comprising three hills namely Khasi hills, Jaintiahills, Garo hills, consists of older and stable rock types, which are highly resistantto weathering, mostly belonging to Periods of Archean Gneissic complex,Shillong Group of rocks, Lower Gondwana rocks, Sylhet Traps and Cretaceous-Tertiary sediments.The layers of earth in the project area comprises of Schist, Gneisses & Quartzite /BHQ Unclassified Crystalline (Metamorphic), Sand Stone, Shale, Lime Stone(Sedimentary- Consolidated), Granite, Granodiorite, Pegmatite (IgneousIntrusive). The lithological distribution of the project stretch is given inAnnexure 3.1UpperTertiaryTertiaryTable 3.1: Geological Formation of the Project Section of NH-44Era Age StagesMesozoicOligo-MioceneChengpara700 mGroupName /LocalitiesBaghmara 530 m Garo HillsKopiliSimsang500 m1150mEocene Shella 600 mUpperCretaceousLangpurMahadek100 m150 mBottom-Conglomerate 25 mJadukata140 mUnconformityJaintiaHillsKhasiHillsType ofFormationsOlder Alluvium,ConglomeratesCalcareousfacies.Stalagmites andStalagmites.Draft Environmental Impact Assessment3 - 2