INTRODUCTION:
Latur district was separated from Osmanabad district on 15 Augest 1982, previously it was part of Osmanabad district having five talukas namely Latur, Udgir, Nilanga, Ausa, and Ahemadpur. Latur district lies to the South-East of Maharashtra State on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra States. The dist lies in between Latitude 17 52 to 18 50 North And Longitude 76 12 to 77 18 East. The district lies on Balaghat pleatu and having altitude 540 to 638 Mts from MSL. Most of the dist falls in assured Rainfall Zone. Average Rainfall for the district is 734 mm. The district is covering area of 7157 sq kms. The total population of district is 20,78237 souls as per 1991 census. Total talukas in district are ten namely Latur, Udgir, Nilanga, Ausa, Ahemadpur, Chakur, Renapur, Deoni, Jalkot, and Shirur Anantpal. The district headqurter is at Latur. Total Muncipal Councils in the district which are Latur, Ahemadpur, Udgir, Nilanga, Ausa. The total villages in the district are 943.
GEOGRAPHY:
The district is drained by main Manjara River and have tributaries Manyad, Tiru, Tawarja, Terna, Lendhi, Rena, and Gharni Rivers. The general drainage pattern is dendratic type and general slope is towards South-East. Almost all Rivers are originating in the district area.
GEOLOGY:
The district area is located in the deccan trap basalts of Upper cretaceous to Eocene age in the Manjara sub basin of Godavari River basin. The sub surface geological formation is massive basalt is followed by vesicular basalt and clay mixed red bole at the depths of 15 to 17 mtrs. At places fractured basalt also seen. After a carefulstudy of drill cuttings and drill time consolidated log was prepared and shown in following table.
HYDROGRAPH FOR MOGHA OBSERVATION WELL IN UDGIR TALUKA OF LATUR DISTRICT
LITHOLOG OF EXPLORATORY BOREWELL
LATUR DISTRICT, MAHARASHTRA
| DEPTH RANGE (M) | THICKNESS (m) | LITHOLOGY | |
| FROM | TO | ||
| 0.00 | 6.00 | 6.00 | Clay, black, sticky, mixed with medium grained soft weathered massive basalt |
| 6.00 | 13.00 | 7.00 | Vesicular basalt brown, medium grained, with vesicles. |
| 13.00 | 19.00 | 6.00 | Massive basalt, gray highly fractured, fine grained. |
| 19.00 | 24.00 | 5.00 | Clay black in colour , fine grained and sticky. |
| 24.00 | 34.00 | 10.00 | Vesicular basalt, gray having less vesicles, weathered medium grained. |
| 34.00 | 73.50 | 39.50 | Massive basalt, grayish black, fine grained, hard and compact |
| 73.50 | 122.50 | 48.70 | Vesicular basalt, grayish green, fine to medium grained having vesicles filled with quartz and zeolites . |
| 122.20 | 171.50 | 49.30 | Massive basalt, dark gray, fine grained, hard. |
| 171.50 | 179.00 | 7.50 | Vesicular basalt, dark, gray, black, with well developed vesicles. |
HYDROGEOLOGY :
The district area is mainly drained by manjara river which flows through basaltic terrain the waterlevels recorded in north eastern part of the district ranges between 7.00 to 8.5 meters, in central part it is observed 6.00 meters and where as in south west part it is observed 10 to 11 meters
HISTORICAL :
Reference to this district since puranas Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata suggest that it was situated in the deccan, known as Dandakaranya. In the historical times, this territory was included in the empire of Ashoka. After the death of Ashoka, Satvahna rose to power and his capital was at Pratisthana ( Paithan in Aurangabad district ) During the age of satvahnas, the district seems to have been very prosperous. Contemporary with the vakataka of vidarbha and the early Rashtrakuta of Kuntala, there was a saka family ruling over the territory in which Latur district was comprised. The chalukya and then yadavas of Deogiri ruled over the territory.
1. Kharosa caves
Kharosa Village in Ausa Tahasil is famous for caves. These caves covered on the hill in latterite formation in the period of Vakataka emperors in 6th sentuary. There are idols of Narsinha, shiv- Parvati, Ravana, Kartikeye, Tandav Nrutya, Samudra manthan, Dhanurdhari and Ram carried on this hill.Nilkantheshwar Mandir in Nilanga is famous for HemadPanthi construction built in 12 th centuary.
2. Forts
There is historical fort at Ausa. The fort is situated in a depression surrounded by high grounds on all the sides. There is famous historical fort at Udgir. The Samadhi of Udgir Buva is located in this fort.
3. Latur market
Is an ideal market in Maharashtra and has 16 roads around Ganjgolai and any person can go in the market from any of the road in a very short time. The town planner of Ganjgolai, Falyyajaddinsahab gad designed this market.
HISTORICAL:
The siddheshwar fair at latur is held every year. Thousand of people attend the Gangaram maharaj Samadhi every eakadashi at Hattibet in the Udgir tahasil. YELAMAVASYA festival is enjoyed in the district during the month of December .It is mainly for good honour to the field for good cropping in kharif season.
HOT SPOT :
The disaster earthquake was occured in 30 September 1993 which is recognized in killari earthquake this killari earthquake is recorded on Richter scale. This killari earth quake shown that the deccan trap also having weaker zone. It has been also shocked by so many tremors after this main earth quake .The earth quake prone area falls in Ausa & Nilanga tahsil .Total 67 villages were affected by earth quake .But the whole district is declared as earth quake prone district.
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE IN KILLARY VILLAGE, TALUKA AUSA