Delhi Ridge, sometimes simply called The Ridge, is a ridge in the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India.[1] It is a northern extension of the ancient Aravalli Range, which is approximately 1.5 billion years old—significantly older than the Himalayas, which are "only" about 50 million years old.[2][3] The Delhi Ridge consists of quartzite rocks and extends from the southeast at Tughlaqabad, near the Bhatti mines, branching out in places and tapering off in the north near Wazirabad on the west bank of the Yamuna River,[4] spanning approximately 35 kilometres.[5]
The Ridge acts as the "green lungs" for the city, and protects Delhi from the hot winds of the deserts of Rajasthan to the west. It has also enabled Delhi to be the world's second most bird-rich capital city, following Nairobi in Kenya.[6]
Though modest in height, the Ridge serves as a watershed, separating the Indus Plain to the west from the Gangetic Plain to the east, within the larger Indo-Gangetic Plain.
- ^ Bindhy Wasini Pandey (January 2005), Natural Resource Management, Mittal Publications, 2005, ISBN 978-81-7099-986-7,
... The Ridge and its neighbouring hilly tracts represent the natural flora. The major natural forests in Delhi are generally restricted to the Ridge. The natural flora is a tropical, thorny and secondary forest.
- ^ Geological Survey of India (1872), Records of the Geological Survey of India, Volumes 5-7, Government of India, 1872,
... These ridges are prolongations of the Aravali mountain system, and are approximately on the line of the Indo-gangetic watershed ...
- ^ Lindsay Brown, Amelia Thomas (2008), Rajasthan, Delhi and Agra, Lonely Planet, 2008, ISBN 978-1-74104-690-8,
... Delhi lies on the vast flatlands of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, though the northernmost pimples of the Aravallis amount to the Ridge, which lies west of the city centre ...
- ^ "Delhi Ridge". Parks and Gardens in Delhi. IndFY.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2006.
- ^ "Geology Details". rainwaterharvesting.com. Centre for Science and Environment. Retrieved 23 December 2006.
- ^ "A round-the-year guide to engaging with nature". The Hindu. 2 January 2020. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 27 August 2021.