The Angul Forest Division was notified in 1891 by Government of Odisha. Angul Forest Division is located within the civil sub-division of Angul and Talcher of Angul district and lies between 20° 31'37'' to 21°17'48'' N latitude and 84° 40' 08'' to 85° 15' 44'' E longitude. The Division is bounded in the north by Deogarh Forest Division (Pallahara civil sub-division of Angul district and Deogarh civil sub- division of Deogarh district in the north-west corner), in the south and south-east by Satkosia Wildlife Division (Angul civil sub-division of Angul district), Nayagarh civil sub-division of Nayagarh district, Athagarh civil sub-division of Cuttack district), in the east by Dhenkanal Forest Division (Hindol civil sub-division and Kamakhyanagar civil sub-division of Dhenkanal district) and in the west by Rairakhol Forest Division (Rairakhol civil sub-division of Sambalpur district).
Total geographical area of the Division comes to 2909.542 Sq.Kms. Total Forest area of the Division is 73690.836 ha under the management of present working plan. However, as per DLC report the total forest area is depicted as follows.
Total notified forest area in Angul Forest Division.
| Sl. No. | Category of Forest | Nos. | Notified area in Ha. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reserve Forest | 87 | 51357.137 ha |
| 2 | Proposed Reserve Forest | 29 | 21845.631 ha |
| 3 | Demarcated Protected Forest | 488.068 ha | |
| 4 | Un- classed Forest | 54.2 ha | |
| 5 | Village Forest | 91 | 694.0 ha |
| 6 | Revenue Forests | 29682.7 ha | |
| 7 | Total |
104121.736 ha = 1041.22 Sq. Km. |
The Division comprises of 06 Nos. of Ranges, 23 Nos. of Sections and 94 Nos. of Beats are as follows:
| Sl. No. | Range | Section | No. of Beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angul | 5 | 19 |
| 2 | Bantala | 4 | 14 |
| 3 | Chhendipada | 4 | 13 |
| 4 | Jarapada | 3 | 16 |
| 5 | Kaniha | 3 | 14 |
| 6 | Talcher | 4 | 18 |
| Total | 06 Nos. | 23 | 94 |
Demographic and administrative details.
The total population of Angul subdivision and Talcher subdivision as per 2011 census comes to 586772 and 326572 respectively. The population of Angul Forest Division may be taken as the population of these two subdivisions. Detail break up of population is presented at Table No 3.1. Population of this tract during 1971 census was 347023 , during 1981 census was 552411, during 1991 census was 685332, during 2001 census was 792320 & In last 40 years, population has increased by 2.37 times of the figure at 1971. The average annual growth rate comes to 5.6 %. The present population density of this tract as per 2011 census is 265 per sq. km, where as the population density for the entire district is 179 per sq. km. and population density for the state is 236 per sq. km. The population density of this tract during 1941, 1971, 1981 and 1991 were 72 per sq. km, 104 per sq. km , 166 per sq km and 205 per sq. km. respectively. From the figures, it is observed that the population growth of Angul and Talcher sub-Division is very high in comparison to other parts of the district.
Forest Distribution & Status
Angul Forest Division comes under peninsular Sal and Dry deciduous mixed forest types. Sal the dominant species fully established and abundant in these forests varying from a fairly pure to a mixed crop and occurs throughout the area. There are 4 types of forest found in this Division, i.e. Tropical Dry deciduous Forest and Northern Tropical Dry deciduous Forests, Dry Peninsular Sal Forests, Northern Dry Mixed Deciduous Forests.
Geology, Rock and Soil
The geological formation of Angul Forest Division is of great academic interest. Two distinct and different formations of different ages occur in this division. They are the eastern ghat group of rocks belonging to Archean age and Godwana group of rocks of younger age than eastern ghat group of rocks. These two groups of rocks are separated from each other tectonically. The southern portion of the division upto Cuttack-Sambalpur road and slightly north of it belongs to Eastern ghat group of Archean age where it is separated from Gondwana group of rocks by a fault running east to west slightly in north of Cuttack- Sambalpur road. The Gondwana group of rocks extends in the north from this fault upto river Tikira and Brahmani where it is separated again from Archean group of rocks by another fault.
Gondwana formation, which covers part of Kamakhyanagar sub-division of Dhenkanal district in the east, passes through Talcher and part of Angul and Athamallik sub-division extending further in the west in Rairakhol Forest Division of Sambalpur district. The occurrence of Gondwana group of rocks in this fashion has given the basis of the geological theory that there existed a basin between faulted boundaries at some pre-historic geological age in shape of a trough. The process of sedimentation and physical changes gave rise to Gondwana formation. The older formation was called lower Gondwana while the younger were called upper Gondwana. The lower Gondwana formation is being represented by Talchir series and Damuda series while the upper Gondwana formation is being represented by Mahadev series.
Stratigraphic Sequence of Angul District
| Period | Group | Sub- group | Formation | Range of thickness in (m) | Lithology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recent | Alluvium laterite | 2-37 | Soil, sub-soil and laterite. | ||
| Jurassic | Supra Barakar Kamthi | 250 (approx) | Fine to medium grained sand stone, Carbonaceous shale, pink clays, pebbly sandstone at the top. | ||
| Permian | Lower Gondwana | Damuda | Barkar | 500 (approx) | Medium to coarse grained sandstone, shale, coal seams with conglomerate/boulder at the base and at times intraformational |
| Karharbari | 270 | Medium to coarse-grained sandstone, often carbonaceous shale and coal seams. | |||
| Carboniferous | Talcher | 170 | Diamictite fine to medium grained greenish sandstone khaki green needle shale, rhythmite and turbidities. ` | ||
| Younger intrusive | Granite, dolerite, pegmatite and vein quartz. | ||||
| Archean | Iron Ore Super Group | Banded Iron formation, volcanic tuff, quartz-mica schist, basic lava and quartzite. | |||
| Eastern ghat Super Group | Khondalite and Charnockite and their variant, leptynites, Augengneiss, granulites etc. | ||||
| Older Metamorphosis | Granite, gneiss, migmatites, tonalite gneiss. |
Description of Common Rocks of Eastern Ghat Group
- Khondalitic Rocks: Khondalite are the major rock types of eastern ghat group of rocks and are made up of metamorphosed sediments. These rocks are named after Khonds in whose region these are commonly found. These are rich in garnet, sillimanite with varying proportion of quartz, feldspar and graphite and are found exposed in southern tract of the Division constituting lofty hill ranges covered by dense vegetation of Bantala, part of Angul and Jarapada Range. The general trend of schistosity is WNW-ESE direction. These rocks show banded nature with garnet, quartz and feldspathic mineral. Abundance of feldspars is the apparent cause of disintegration and its ultimate product of weathering is laterite.
- Basic Charnockites: This is the name given to a series of granitoid rocks occurring among the older Archean Gneisses and Schists. They contain high percentage of rhombic pyroxene, hypersthene or eristatite and dark ferro-magnesium compounds which impart dark colour to the rocks. These rocks are common associates of Khondalite with band and schistosity like Khondalite. These rocks continue over a large area in the Division. It yields good soil on weathering.
- Basic Igneous rocks: These rocks occur as intrusive within Khondalite and Charnockite suite of rocks, coarse-grained rocks exposed in Similipathar and Katada. These rocks yield good soil on weathering.
- Granites: An intrusive into the Khondalite and Charnockite suite of rocks, coarse grained and composed of quartz feldspar and biotite. These granites do not yield good soil.
- Gneisses: These rocks form the basal rocks underlying the flood plain of Mohanadi. They contain garnet, hematite, quartz, feldspar and mica and are commonly associated with Khondalite. These rocks do not yield good soil on weathering.