Tirumala

Tirumala is a spiritual town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the suburbs of the Tirupati urban agglomeration. The town is a part of Tirupati Urban Development Authority and located in Tirupati (urban) mandal of Tirupati revenue division. It is a hill town where Tirumala Venkateshvara Temple is located, a popular shrine of Vishnu. The town is strictly vegetarian. Geography Tirumala is located above sea level and covers an area of approximately . Surrounding the hills are seven peaks of Seshachalam range, Eastern Ghats namely Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabadri, Narayanadri, and Venkatadri. The temple of Venkateshvara is on the seventh peak (Venkatadri). At the point on the Tirupati – Tirumala Ghat road, there is a major discontinuity of stratigraphic significance that represents a period of remarkable serenity in the geological history of the Earth. This is referred to as the Eparchaean Unconformity. This unconformity separates the Nagari Quartzite of the Proterozoic from the granite of the Archean, representing a time gap of 800 Mya. In 2001, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) declared the Eparchaean Unconformity to be one of the 26 "Geological Monuments of India". Silathoranam, a natural arch and a distinctive geological wonder is located in Tirumala Hills at a distance of from Tirumala Venkateshvara Temple. The arch measures in width and metres in height and is eroded out of quartizite of Cuddapah Supergroup of Middle to Upper Proterozoic (1600 to 570 Mya) by weathering agents such as water and wind.