96
which never really got started, now conserved in the guise of a
sub-plate boundary.
C. V. REEVES
Geological Survey and Mines Department,
Private Bag 14,
Lobatse, Botswana
Received February 23; revised March 27, 1972.
1
Rhodesia Meteorological Services, monthly Seismological Bulletins,
September 1965 to August 1971.
2
Fairhead, J.D., and Girdler, R. W., Nature, 221, 1018 (1969).
3
Green, D., in The Karroo System in Bechuanaland, Bulletin No.2
(Geological Survey, Botswana, 1966).
4
Gane, P. G., and Oliver, H. 0., Trans. Geol. Soc. South Africa, 56,
21 (1953).
s Oliver, H. 0., Trans. Geol. Soc. South A/rica, 59, 123 (1956).
6
Vail, J. R., Geo/ogische Rundschau, 57, 2, 601 (1968).
7
Fairhead, J.D., and Girdler, R. W., Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc.,
24,271 (1971).
Possible Impact Structure in India
THE Survey of India topographical sheet 54C, Sawai Mad-
hopur, scale 4 miles to I inch (first published in 1908), shows
a latitude 25° 20' N, longitude 76° 37 ' 30" E, an isolated hill
of annular shape, forming an almost complete circle approxi-
mately 3 km in external diameter. This feature lies in eastern
Rajasthan almost on the boundary with Madhya Pradesh,
approximately 350 km SSW of New Delhi and approximately
13 km east of the small town of MangroJl. It is east of the
Parbati river on the interfluve between it and a right bank
tributary, the Kul. The country there is almost flat, and al-
though the region lies within the general outcrop of the upper
Precambrian Vindhyan System, the bedrock is almost entirely
obscured by a wide belt of alluvium. Where Vindhyan rocks
are exposed in the vicinity, as in the bed of the Parbati river
6 km east of Mangrol, they are flat-lying and undisturbed.
Because the hill is annular it cannot be a residual mesa of
Vindhyan rocks higher in the sequence, or one of Deccan
Trap, the main outcrop of which lies about 50 km to the south.
The feature seems likely to be of local and anomalous tectonic
origin, possibly diapiric, or the result of some kind of impact.
The area has never been geologically mapped except for a
general reconnaissance by Malletl, who made no reference to
the feature, in 1869; if seen from a distance this could well be
mistaken for either a Vindhyan mesa or a Deccan Trap residual
of characteristic shape.
In April 1970 I visited the locality with V. D. Mahajan of the
Geological Survey of India. The feature consists of a ring of
Vindhyan-type red quartzitic sandstone, rising approximately
200m above the plain. The low central area is little higher than
the plain. The ring is breached behind the village of Ramgarh,
Fig. I View, from 10 km west, of possible impact structure in
India.
© 1972 Nature Publishing Group
NATURE VOL 237 MAY 12 1972
which lies at the foot of the hill on its south-west side, and after
which the feature is named. Examination of the exposures in the
narrow breach showed massive red quartzitic sandstones with
dips to the south-west which increase steeply towards the inner
wall, which is generally rather steeper than the outer wall.
Locally, brecciated rock occurs without any specific indication
of faulting. A specimen found in colluvium near the centre of
the feature seems shatter-coned.
The feature is illustrated cartographically and air-photo-
graphically in the School Atlas 3 of the Indian Ministry of
Education as an example of a "hill feature". The air photo-
graph shows clearly that the feature is not exactly circular but
almost rectangular, with rounded corners. As pointed out by
D. J. Milton (personal communication) of the US Geological
Survey, Meteor Crater, Arizona, has a similar shape.
The feature seems likely to be some kind of impact structure.
Further work by the Geological Survey of India is in progress.
A. R. CRAWFORD
Department of Geophysics and Geochemistry,
Australian National University,
Canberra, Australia 2600
Received February 21, 1972.
1
The Times Atlas of The World, plate 29 (Comprehensive Edition,
Times Newspapers Ltd, London, 1968).
2
Mallet, F. R., Mem. Geol. Surv. India, 7, 129 (1869).
3
School Atlas, 7 (Map Publication Office, Survey of India, Dehra
Dun, 1961).
The Internal Surge in Loch Ness
THE large temperature changes which occur at depth in Loch
Ness are caused by an internal seiche or standing wave 1 • 2 ,
which develops a pronounced front or surge like a tidal bore
and is sometimes followed by a periodic oscillation of the
isotherms. The surge is produced by the stress of the wind on
the water surface 2 • 3 , which causes a flow of near-surface water
to one end of the· Loch and a depression of the thermocline at
that end. When the wind falls, the tendency of the thermocline
to recover a level position initiates the surge, which is often
over 10m in height. The following wave train, when it occurs,
is of comparable height and contains waves about I km long.
No effects are seen, or are expected to be seen, at the surface.
In calm weather the surge progresses up and down the Loch for
more than a week, during which time it travels more than
200 km (refs. 2 and 4).
During the summer of 1971 we examined the relation between
the thermal microstructure and the internal surge. Records
obtained from fixed moorings clearly show the passage of the
surge and conclusively demonstrate its progressive nature. The
positions of the moorings are shown in Fig. 1. We present here
some of the measurements of a typical surge which were
obtained between 1800 h on October 2 and 2400 h on October 3.
On the evening of September 30, a strong SW wind blew up
and continued until late afternoon of October I. The wind
probably exceeded 13 m s-• in mid-loch at midnight on
September 30 and speeds of 10.3 m s- 1 were measured in mid-
loch at 1430 h on October 1; it was this wind which generated
the surge which returned from the SW to the position of our
moorings during the night of October 2. There was a SW
breeze on October 2 but this was not strong enough, or of
sufficient duration, to have any effect on the thermocline, and
otherwise the weather remained calm until the afternoon of
October 3. The early morning of October 3 was a glassy calm
with thick mist hanging low over the Loch, but this lifted at
about 1000 h. The wind rose at midday and blew strongly
from the NE with speed exceeding 9 m s - 1 during the afternoon,
causing steep breaking waves and foam streaks on the Loch
surface. The wind fell during the evening and the Loch was
fairly calm by 2300 h.