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The geology of Bhutan is of special interest since it belongs already to the much less known Eastern Himalaya. The foothills are only 35 km away from the Shillong basement of the Indian Shield. It shows a striking discrepancy between the Lesser and the Higher Himalaya with one of the largest extents of polymetamorphic crystalline rock and the greatest concentration of leucogranites.

Bhutan is a landlocked, autonomous kingdom in the E Himalaya which lies between Tibet and India (Assam). The area measures about 47000 km2, extending from 26°40′ to 28°29′ N and 88°40′ to 92°10′E. The capital is Thimphu and the second town, Paro, has a small airfield. The people, (about 1000 000) are of the Tibeto-Burmese stock and know the country as ‘Druck Yul’, land of the dragon. The land is divisible into three natural regions: the foothills, the central region and the High Himalaya. The steep foothills, about 45 km wide, have a tropical climate, dense jungles and abundant wildlife. The central region...

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© 1997 Chapman & Hall

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Gansser, A. (1997). Bhutan. In: Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-74040-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4495-3

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