The Aravalli Range

The Aravallis once stood as tall as today’s Himalaya. Some 650 million years of erosion later, they’re worn down to hills — and still fighting for survival, against a very different threat.

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Indian Geography · IndGeo0023

The Aravalli Range: Ancient Hills, Modern Pressure

~650 My

Age — one of the world’s oldest fold mountains

~670 km

Span — Gujarat to Delhi, across 4 states/UT

Guru Shikhar

Highest peak, on Mount Abu (~1,722 m)

Under pressure

At least 65 minerals — lead, zinc, copper, marble, quartz — are mined here. Over 29,000 illegal-mining instances were reported in Aravalli districts, 2018-2023.

A legal fight still unfolding

Nov 2025: Supreme Court backs a 100m-height definition, pausing new mining leases. Dec 2025: a bench stays that definition, declines a blanket ban, and orders an expert committee — the case remains open.

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Must Know

• The Aravalli Range is one of the world’s oldest fold mountain systems, dating back roughly 650 million years.
• It stretches about 670 kilometres, across Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, and Gujarat.
• Its highest peak, Guru Shikhar, sits on Mount Abu, at roughly 5,650 feet, or about 1,722 metres.
• Millions of years of erosion have worn the range down. It once stood far taller, rivalling today’s Himalaya.
• The Delhi Ridge, extending into the national capital, is the range’s northernmost extension.

Good to Know

• The Aravallis host at least 65 minerals, including lead, zinc, copper, marble, quartz, and limestone.
• That mineral wealth has drawn heavy mining pressure, across all four states the range crosses.
• Illegal mining has been a persistent problem. Over 29,000 instances were reported in Aravalli districts between 2018 and 2023.
• The range also anchors groundwater recharge and regional ecology, for tens of millions of people living around Delhi-NCR.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. The Aravalli Range is widely described as which kind of geological feature?

One of the world’s oldest fold mountain systems, roughly 650 million years old

A young volcanic mountain chain formed within the last million years

A barrier reef formation later uplifted above sea level

A glacial moraine deposited during the last ice age

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Great to Know

• Deforestation and mining together have shrunk the range’s green cover, and worsened groundwater depletion nearby.
• Where the Aravallis once stood taller than 8,000 metres, in geological estimates, weathering has worn them down almost completely.
• The range’s age and erosion history make it a textbook example of how fold mountains change over deep time.
• Its long north-south spine has also historically shaped trade routes and settlement patterns across Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Current Affairs

• In July 2026, the Supreme Court’s High-Powered Committee (HPC) on Aravalli matters invited public input. This is the same expert committee the Court ordered in December 2025. It was formally constituted via a 25 May 2026 order, in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No. 10 of 2025. The HPC must submit its report to the Court before 31 August 2026. It invited submissions from states, environmentalists, mining lease holders, and local communities. These are due within 21 days of the notice. (Source: PIB).
• In November 2025, the Supreme Court backed a definition confining the “Aravalli” designation to hills above 100 metres, and paused fresh mining leases across the range. (Source: Vajiram & Ravi)
• On 29 December 2025, a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant stayed that narrowed definition, declined a blanket mining ban, and ordered a new expert committee to examine mining in the range. (Source: All India Radio News)
• Separately, the Centre’s Aravalli Green Wall Project, launched in June 2025, has identified about 645,000 hectares of degraded land for restoration. Around 270,000 hectares are already under restoration, across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi. (Source: All India Radio News)