two complete tehsil and two other blocks (partially) of district chamoli were merged into a new formed district Rudraprayag. Geography Chamoli, carved as a separate revenue district in 1960 out of the erstwhile Garhwal district, lies in the Central Himalaya and constitutes a part of the celebrated 'Kedar Kshetra'. Chamoli District is surrounded by Uttarkashi in the northwest, Pithoragarh in the east, Bageshwar in the southeast, Almora in the west, Pauri Garhwal in the southwest and Rudraprayag in the west. The geographical area of the District is around . Geology The geology of the region shows that the Himalayas are amongst the youngest mountains in the world. During early Mesozoic times the land mass now covered by them was occupied by the great Tethys sea. The probable date of the commencement of the elevation of the Himalayas is about the close of the Mesozoic era, but the unraveling of the story of their structure has only just begun, and in many cases no dating of the rocks is yet possible, though they include ancient and relatively recent crystalline intrusive, rocks and sediments allied to the peninsular part of India. The section of the range in the district is deeply cut into by the headwaters of the Allaknanda river, this trunk stream seeming to have reached a latter stage of development than its tributaries. This much, however, is known that there has been intense metamorphism. In some parts uplift has been considerable since the mid-Pleistocene epoch, in others there are great stretches of high but subdued topography and elsewhere there are the deepest gorges. The direction of folding in these mountain masses is generally North to South. The geological feature of the district form two major divisions which lies North and south of an imaginary line extending east-southeast between the villages of Hilang in Joshimath and Loharkhet in the adjoining District of Pithoragarh. The Northern division, which is occupied by higher ranges and snow-covered peaks consist entirely of medium to high grade metamorphic rocks and is intruded by later volcanic rocks. The division to the South, occupied by ranges of lower altitude, consists essentially of sedimentary and low grade metamorphic rock also intruded by later volcanic rocks. Geologically very little is known of the first division which consists of rocks such as quartzites, marbles and various types of micaceous schists and gneisses which a few sporadic occurrences of garnet, graphite, iron,