Tectonics and Structural Geology Indian Context 2019

Springer Geology
Soumyajit Mukherjee Editor
Tectonics and
Structural
Geology: Indian
Context
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Soumyajit Mukherjee
Editor
Tectonics and Structural

Geology: Indian Context
123
Editor
Soumyajit Mukherjee
Department of Earth Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
ISSN 2197-9545 ISSN 2197-9553 (electronic)

Springer Geology
ISBN 978-3-319-99340-9 ISBN 978-3-319-99341-6 (eBook)
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...geology contents in geological text books
for compulsory education is not regularly
updated, so new paradigms are included
belatedly (as happened, e.g., with plate
tectonics), and this is one of the reasons why
younger students lag behind in Geosciences.
—Brusi et al. (2016)
Brusi D, Calonge A, Souza E (2016)

Textbooks: A tool to support geosciences
learning. In: Vasconcelos C (ed) Geoscience
education: Indoor and outdoor. Springer,
pp 173–206. ISBN: 978-3-319-43318-0.
Acknowledgements
Annett Buettener and Helen Ranchner (Springer) are thanked for handling this
book proposal positively. The Springer proofreading team is acknowledged for
support. I thank the authors and the reviewers for their participation. Thesis students,
interns and visitors in the Geodynamics lab during 2017–2018: Narayan Bose,
Dripta Dutta and Tarunkanti Das (IIT Bombay), Prof. Seema Singh and Ajay
Kumar (Panjab University), Swagato Dasgupta (Haliburton), Troyee Dasgupta
(Reliance Industries Limited), Chandan Majumdar (Schlumberger), Tuhin Biswas
(ONGC), Rajkumar Ghosh (Geological Survey of India), Chanel Vidal (Iowa State
University), Saber Idriss (University of SFax), Puja Banerjee (Institut De Physique
Du Globe De Paris), Ishiqua Agarwal (IIT Kharagpur), Naimisha Vanik
and Haroon Saikh (MS University Baroda), Shiba Nikalje (St. Xavier’s College,
Mumbai), Amey Dashputre and Renuka Kale (Fergusson College), Rucha
Kanchan and Samidha Shinde (Pune University), Lokesh Tayade (IISER Pune),
Rohit Shaw, Madhurima Bose, Anuva Chowdhury and Jayesh Mukherjee
(Presidency University, Kolkata) helped in various ways. A research sabbatical
provided by IIT Bombay to me for the year 2017 helped much to edit this book.
Mumbai, India Soumyajit Mukherjee

June 2018 soumyajitm@gmail.com
smukherjee@iitb.ac.in
vii
Contents
Introduction to Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context . . . . 1

Soumyajit Mukherjee
Proterozoic Crustal Evolution of the Chotanagpur Granite
Gneissic Complex, Jharkhand-Bihar-West Bengal, India:
Current Status and Future Prospect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Subham Mukherjee, Anindita Dey, Sanjoy Sanyal and Pulak Sengupta
Geomorphic Characteristics and Morphologic Dating of the Allah
Bund Fault Scarp, Great Rann of Kachchh, Western India . . . . . . . . . . 55
Akash Padmalal, Nitesh Khonde, D. M. Maurya,
Mohammedharoon Shaikh, Abhishek Kumar, Naimisha Vanik
and L. S. Chamyal
Interplay Between Tectonics & Eustacy in a Proterozoic
Epicratonic, Polyhistory Basin, North Dharwar Craton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Shilpa Patil Pillai and Vivek S. Kale
NE-SW Strike-Slip Fault in the Granitoid from the Margin of the
South East Dharwar Craton, Degloor, Nanded District, Maharashtra,
India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Md. Babar, R. D. Kaplay, Soumyajit Mukherjee, Souradeep Mahato
and Chandrakant Gurav
Synthesis of the Tectonic and Structural Elements of the Bengal
Basin and Its Surroundings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Md. Sakawat Hossain, Md. Sharif Hossain Khan, Khalil R. Chowdhury
and Rashed Abdullah
Fold-Thrust Belt Architecture and Structural Evolution
of the Northern Part of the Nallamalai Fold Belt, Cuddapah Basin,
Andhra Pradesh, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Vikash Tripathy, Satyapal, S. K. Mitra and V. V. Sesha Sai
ix
x Contents
Tectonic History of the Granitoids and Kadiri Schist Belt

in the SW of Cuddapah Basin, Andhra Pradesh, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Sukanta Goswami and P. K. Upadhyay
Basement Tectonics and Shear Zones in Cauvery Basin (India):
Implications in Hydrocarbon Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
S. Mazumder, Blecy Tep, K. K. S. Pangtey and D. S. Mitra
Implication of Transfer Zones in Rift Fault Propagation:
Example from Cauvery Basin, Indian East Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Swagato Dasgupta
Remote Sensing, Structural and Rock Magnetic Analyses
of the Ramgarh Structure of SE Rajasthan, Central India-Further
Clues to Its Impact Origin and Time of Genesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Saumitra Misra, Pankaj Kumar Srivastava and Md. Arif
Geology, Structural Architecture and Tectonic Framework
of the Rocks of Southern Lalitpur District Uttar Pradesh, India:
An Epitome of the Indian Peninsular Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
G. K. Dinkar, A. R. Bhattacharya, A. K. Verma and Pankaj Sharma
Deformation in the Kangra Reentrant, Himachal Pradesh
of NW-Sub Himalaya of India: A Paradox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Tejpal Singh and A. K. Awasthi
Impact of Structural Damage Zones on Slope Stability:
A Case Study from Mandakini Valley, Uttarakhand State (India) . . . . . 397
Mohit Kumar, Ramesh Chander Joshi and Pitamber Dutt Pant
Documentation of Brittle Structures (Back Shear and Arc-Parallel
Shear) from Sategal and Dhanaulti Regions of the Garhwal Lesser
Himalaya (Uttarakhand, India) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Souradeep Mahato, Soumyajit Mukherjee and Narayan Bose
Field Structural Geological Studies Around Kurseong,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Saikat Banerjee, Narayan Bose and Soumyajit Mukherjee
Pb—Isotopic Characterization of Major Indian Gondwana Coalfields:
Implications for Environmental Fingerprinting and Gondwana
Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Rajeev Kumar, Joy Gopal Ghosh, S. S. Patel, Avijit Das, S. Sengupta,
K. V. S. S. Krishna and D. Guha
Correction to: Geomorphic Characteristics and Morphologic
Dating of the Allah Bund Fault Scarp, Great Rann of Kachchh,
Western India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E1
Akash Padmalal, Nitesh Khonde, D. M. Maurya, Mohammedharoon Shaikh,
Abhishek Kumar, Naimisha Vanik and L. S. Chamyal
Introduction to Tectonics and Structural
Geology: Indian Context
Soumyajit Mukherjee
1 Summary of Different Chapters
Tectonics and structural geology of Indian terrain is of great interest to the

Government and a number of private exploration agencies that are working pre-
sently. This edited volume aims to meet this requirement. In addition, B.Sc. and M.
Sc. geoscience students undergoing geohistory and/or tectonic courses would
benefit using this book.
This edited volume brings 16 research papers (Chaps. 2–17) from both academia
and industry.
Mukherjee et al. (2019) in Chap. 2 present an exhaustive review on the geology
and the geochronology and of the Chotanagpur Granite Gneissic Complex (CGGC).
They classify the CGGC into three domains, and also comment on the
India-Antarctica reconstruction.
Padmalal et al. (2019) in Chap. 3 perform morphologic dating of the seismo-
genic Allah Bund Fault scarp as 208, 200, and 193 yrs B.P. These dates establish
reliably that those scarps were produced by the 1819 earthquake.
Patil Pillai and Kale (2019) in Chap. 4 detail the sedimentation and the tectonic
histories of the Kaladgi Purana (Proterozoic) basin. The basin in the first stage
underwent sagging. A nested continental sag basin formed afterward.
Babar et al. (2019) in Chap. 5 describe with several field photographs the
deformation features near the basement granites around Degloor (Maharashtra).
They work out the stress regime and the stress axes orientations. One can compare
these findings with the Deccan tectonics as well by going through Misra et al.
(2014, 2015), Misra and Mukherjee (2015, 2017), etc.
S. Mukherjee (&)
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai
400076, Maharashtra, India
e-mail: smukherjee@iitb.ac.in; soumyajitm@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1

S. Mukherjee (ed.), Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context,
Springer Geology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99341-6_1
2 S. Mukherjee
In their very detailed review on the Bengal basin, Hossain et al. (2019) in
Chap. 6 present the basic division of this basin, fault distribution, and how these
divisions evolved temporally with or without volcanism.
Goswami and Upadhyay (2019) in Chap. 7 study the structural geology and
geochemistry of the Kadiri schist belt (Cuddapah) and decipher an ocean-continent
subduction tectonics and a volcanic arc setting of the terrain.
Detailed field investigation of the structural geology of the Nallamalai Fold Belt
(Cuddapah) by Tripathy et al. (2019) in Chap. 8 reveals a Pan-African thin-skinned
tectonics, which link with the tectonics of the East Gondwana fragments.
Multi disciplinary geoscientific studies by Mazumder et al. (2019) in Chap. 9
reveal that a number of E trending steeply dipping shear zones pass through the
northern part of the Cauvery Basin that was later reactivated.
Dasgupta (2019) in Chap. 10 reviews the Cauvery basin’s tectonics. Half gra-
bens in its all the three sub basins signify a rift origin of the basin. This article
analyzes the transfer zone geometries from the Cauvery basin that are crucial in
developing hydrocarbon trap conditions.
Misra et al. (2019) in Chap. 11 study the field structural geology of the Ramgarh
impact structure (SE Rajasthan), and especially its fracture patterns. They conclude
that impacting happened at the palaeo-channel of the river Parvati.
Dinkar et al. (2019) in Chap. 12 describe in detail field structural geology from
the Lalitpur district (Uttar Pradesh). The notable information are E/ENE trending
axial traces and Proterozoic to Neoproterozoic reactivation plausible in the southern
part of the study area.
Singh and Awasthi (2019) in Chap. 13 discuss the tectonics of the Kangra region
(Himachal Pradesh), which is presumably devoid of any weak layer below itself.
Overpressure condition at depth possibly due to fluid activity had helped to
propagate this crustal wedge towards the foreland side.
Kumar et al. (2019a) in Chap. 14 describe from the field along with attractive
photographs the damage zone associated with the Munsiari Thrust, a strand of the
Main Central Thrust, from the Mandakini river section, Higher Himalaya. The
authors document more landslides from the damage zone and perform engineering
geological studies from such zones.
Mahato et al. (2019) in Chap. 15 perform detailed field studies from the
Mussoorie syncline and the nearby regions from the Uttarakhand Lesser Himalaya.
Top-to-N/NE back shear and Himalayan arc-parallel shears (such as top-to-NW) are
the new meso scale findings in this work.
Banerjee et al. (2019) in Chap. 16 too document orogen-parallel shear from the
Darjeeling Group of rocks from the Sikkim Lesser Himalaya. A more detail work
from the same research group has been submitted in a journal where such defor-
mation is reported from the Siwalik Himalaya (Dutta et al. submitted).
Kumar et al. (2019b) in Chap. 17 discuss the database of lead (Pb) content in the
Indian Gondwana coal (207Pb/206 Pb = 0.7150–0.8845; 208Pb/206 Pb = 1.9484–
2.2231; Pb concentration = 3.2–566 mg kg−1). This study will have a far-reaching
implication in India-Antarctica plate reconstruction.
Introduction 3
Readers without any instructors, especially students (in some unfortunate cases),
are requested to go through few recent books on structural geological and tectonic
principles and Indian case studies (e.g., Sharma 2010; Mukherjee 2013a, b, 2014,
2015a, b; Mukherjee et al. 2017; Mukherjee and Mulchrone 2015; Mukherjee et al.
2015, 2017; Valdiya 2016; Bose and Mukherjee 2017; Dasgupta and Mukherjee
2017; Chetty 2018; Misra and Mukherjee 2018; Roy and Purohit 2018; Acharyya,
in press) before going through this book.
Refer this book as follows:
• Mukherjee S (2019) Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context.
Springer International Publishing AG, Cham. ISBN 978-3-319-99340-9.
pp. 1–455.
Refer individual chapters of this book as follows:
• Banerjee S, Bose N, Mukherjee S (2019) Field structural geological studies
around Kurseong, Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya, India. In: Mukherjee S
(ed) Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian context. Springer International
Publishing AG, Cham. ISBN 978-3-319-99340-9. pp. 425–440.
References
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Mukherjee S (eds) Developments in structural geology and tectonics. Elsevier.
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Babar MD, Kaplay RD, Mukherjee S, Mahato S, Gurav C (2019) NE-SW strike-slip fault in the
granitoid from the margin of the South East Dharwar Craton, Degloor, Nanded district,
Maharashtra, India. In: Mukherjee S (ed) Tectonics and structural geology: Indian context.
Springer International Publishing AG, Cham, pp 115–134. ISBN 978-3-319-99340-9
Banerjee S, Bose N, Mukherjee S (2019) Field structural geological studies around Kurseong,
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978-3-319-99340-9
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Kumar R, Ghosh JG, Patel SS, Das A, Sengupta S, Krishna KVSS, Guha D (2019b) Pb—isotopic
characterization of major Indian Gondwana Coalfields: implications for environmental
fingerprinting and Gondwana reconstruction. In: Mukherjee S (ed) Tectonics and structural
geology: Indian context. Springer International Publishing AG, Cham, pp 441–455. ISBN
978-3-319-99340-9
Mahato S, Mukherjee S, Bose N (2019) Documentation of brittle structures (back shear and
arc-parallel shear) from Sategal and Dhanaulti regions of the Garhwal Lesser Himalaya
(Uttarakhand, India). In: Mukherjee S (ed) Tectonics and structural geology: Indian context.
Mazumder S, Tep B, Pangtey KKS, Mitra DS (2019) Basement tectonics and shear zones in
Cauvery Basin (India): implications in hydrocarbon exploration. In: Mukherjee S
(ed) Tectonics and structural geology: Indian context. Springer International Publishing AG,
Cham, pp 279–311. ISBN 978-3-319-99340-9
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Deccan region in India: Does it link strike-slip tectonics with India-Seychelles rifting?
International Journal of Earth Sciences 103:1645–1680
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Zone around Mumbai (Maharashtra, India). In: Mukherjee S, Misra AA, Calvès G, Nemčok M
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Wiley Blackwell. ISBN: 978-1-119-15832-5
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province: an introduction. In: Mukherjee S, Misra AA, Calvès G, Nemčok M (eds) Tectonics
of the Deccan large igneous province. Geological Society, London, pp. 1–9 (Special
Publications 445)
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Chotanagpur Granite Gneissic complex, Jharkhand-Bihar-West Bengal, India: current status
and future prospect. In: Mukherjee S (ed) Tectonics and structural geology: Indian context.
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Geomorphic characteristics and morphologic dating of the Allah Bund Fault scarp, Great Rann
of Kachchh, Western India. In: Mukherjee S (ed) Tectonics and structural geology: Indian
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Proterozoic Crustal Evolution
of the Chotanagpur Granite Gneissic
Complex, Jharkhand-Bihar-West
Bengal, India: Current Status
and Future Prospect
Subham Mukherjee, Anindita Dey, Sanjoy Sanyal and Pulak Sengupta
1 Introduction
We presently believe that the continental crust grew episodically and that smaller
continents were united and disintegrated several times in the past *4000 Ma
(Hoffmann 1989; Rogers 1996). This process of plate jostling and its subsequent
destruction, commonly termed as ‘supercontinental cycle’, eventually controls the
harmonic interactions among lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere over geo-
logical time (Worsley et al. 1985, 1986; Piper 2013). The antiquity and the
petrological diversity of the rocks in the Indian shield offer unique opportunity to
configure the supercontinents that existed in the geological past (Acharyya 2003;
Meert et al. 2010). One of the outstanding and hotly debated problems is the
position of the Indian shield in the proposed Precambrian supercontinents in general
and timing of suturing of India and east Antarctica in particular (Torsvik et al. 2001;
Dasgupta and Sengupta 2003; Pisarevsky et al. 2003; Bhowmik et al. 2012). With
regard to the latter, two competing views exist. One view is India and Antarctica
were united at least from *1000 Ma (Hoffmann 1989; Dalziel 1991; Li et al.
2008). The disclaimers of this view propose that the two continents got juxtaposed
not earlier than *900 Ma (Bhowmik et al. 2012) if not after *750 Ma (Merdith
et al. 2017; Torsvik et al. 2001). In the reconstructed Rodinia, a Proterozoic
supercontinent, the CGGC and the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt juxtaposed against
the east Antarctic Precambrian basement (Dasgupta and Sengupta 2003; Chatterjee
et al. 2010; Mukherjee et al. 2017a). Therefore, rocks of these two areas of the
Indian shield are likely to provide the clinching evidence about the timing of
Indo-Antarctic suturing.
Till the end of twentieth century, limited petrological information and rudi-
mentary geochronological data were available from the CGGC that is positioned
S. Mukherjee A. Dey S. Sanyal P. Sengupta (&)

Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
e-mail: pulaksg@gmail.com

8 S. Mukherjee et al.
against the Precambrian Vestfold block of east Antarctica in the reconstructed

Rodinia (Fig. 1). In the past one decade several studies in the light of modern
petrology and robust geochronology have been published. In this work we have
reviewed the published information on the CGGC with the following aims:
(1) To establish an event stratigraphy showing the magmatic and tectonic pulses
that shaped the rocks of the CGGC during the Precambrian Era
(2) Comparisons of the thermo-tectonic pulses that are recorded in the CGGC with
the adjoining crustal domains in the Indian shield
(3) Influence of the Precambrian supercontinental cycles on the CGGC
(4) Timing of amalgamation of the Indo-Antarctic landmasses
(5) To delineate the gaps in knowledge and scope of future study.
2 Extent and the Boundary Relations
The CGGC is an east-west trending mobile belt that belongs to the east Indian
Shield and is exposed across the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and
Chhattisgarh covering an area of over 100,000 km2 (reviewed in Mahadevan 2002;
Acharyya 2003). The northern margin of the CGGC is covered by quaternary
sediments of Gangetic alluvium (Fig. 2a). Sediments of the Bengal Basin mark the
eastern boundary of the terrain and Mesozoic volcanics of Rajmahal Trap covers
the northeastern fringe of the terrain. The western margin of CGGC is dominantly
covered by Gondwana deposits of Permian to mid-Cretaceous age (Mahadevan
2002). However, in the northwestern part Vindhyan sediments and the Mahakoshal
group of rocks are in contact with the Proterozoic rocks of the CGGC. Towards the
south the contact between CGGC and Proterozoic rocks of the North Singhbhum
Fold Belt (NSFB) is marked by the east-west trending crustal scale shear zone
called the South Purulia Shear Zone (SPSZ) or the Tamar-Porapahar-Khatra Shear
zone.
3 Classification of the CGGC on the Basis of Extant

Petrological and Geochronological Data
Scarcity of detail petrological, lithological and geochronological data is the major

hindrance for a reasonable classification of the CGGC. Scattered distribution of
exposures, owing to tropical weathering and urbanization, further complicate the
problem. In earlier studies (Mahadevan 2002; Sanyal and Sengupta 2012), the CGGC
were divided into five N-S blocks (Fig. 2b). They considered the Chotanagpur pla-
teau and the Gondwana deposits (Permian-mid Cretaceous) as the basis of classifi-
cation. The authors of this communication are of the view that Precambrian CGGC
Proterozoic Crustal Evolution of the Chotanagpur Granite … 9
Fig. 1 Proposed configuration of India and Antarctica during the assembly of Rodinia; modified
after Dasgupta and Sengupta (2003). The schematic map of India and it does not represent the
erstwhile configuration as northeastern and northwestern margin (Tethyan sequence) formed later
JFig. 2 a Geological map of the Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex (CGGC) and the showing
major domains (modified after Acharyya 2003). EITZ: Eastern Indian Tectonic Zone, NPSZ:
North Purulia Shear Zone, SPSZ: South Purulia Shear Zone, RT: Rajmahal Trap. b Geological
map of the Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex (CGGC) showing five subdivisions proposed by
Mahadevan (2002) and Sanyal and Sengupta (2012), modified after Sanyal and Sengupta (2012)
should not be divided using geomorphic feature of younger sedimentary rocks of

Gondwana.
In the past few years, a large amount of petrological and geochronological
information has been published on the rocks of the CGGC. Integrating all these
information the CGGC has been divided into three roughly east-west domains each
with characteristics lithology, metamorphic history and geochronological infor-
mation. Each of the domains has broadly E-W trend and their disposition from
south to north, are Domain I, Domain II and Domain III (Fig. 2a). The CGGC is
dissected by three major lineaments (Fig. 2a). The South Purulia Shear Zone
(SPSZ) and Monghyr-Saharsa Ridge Fault roughly coincide with the southern and
northern boundaries of the CGGC respectively. The lineament, that bound the
exposure of Gondwana deposits of Damudar valley run through the Domain I of the
CGGC (Mandal 2016) and hereafter termed as Gondwana Boundary Faults (GBF;
Fig. 2a). Using the GBF as a marker, Domain I is further divided into two geo-
graphic sub-domains viz. Domain IA (south) and IB (north). No major lithological/
geochronological break has been noted across the GBF. The subdivision of
Domain I only help synthesize the published geological and geochronological data.
No tectonic lineament separate Domain II from the adjoining Domain III and
Domain I. Preponderance of mica-bearing pegmatite intrusive (the Bihar Mica Belt;
BMB) make Domain II a distinct lithounit (Fig. 2a).
It may be mentioned here that intra- and inter-domain correlation of the meta-
morphic and structural events are fraught with following problems:
(a) The areas from where the geological information is available are not continuous
and scattered over large areas of the CGGC. Practically no information is
available from a vast expanse of the CGGC.
(b) Lack of precise geochronological data renders correlation of geological events
reported from different parts of the CGGC difficult.
Nevertheless, the salient lithological, structural, petrological and geochrono-
logical features as reported in the published work from the three domains are
presented.
3.1 Domain IA
This domain covers rocks exposed in the southernmost part of the CGGC and is bounded
by GBF and the SPSZ (Fig. 2a). The geological information albeit sparse, clusters
around the Bankura-Saltora-Bero area in the east, the Raghunathpur-Adra-Ranchi areas
in the central part and Raikera-Kunkuri region in the western part of the domain (Fig. 2a).
Petrology and geochronology of the rocks exposed around Bankura-Saltora-Bero—have
been extensively studied by several workers (Manna and Sen 1974; Roy 1977;
Bhattacharyya and Mukherjee 1987; Sen and Bhattacharya 1993; Mukherjee et al. 2005;
Chatterjee et al. 2008; Maji et al. 2008), which reveals that variably deformed migmatitic
felsic orthogneisses, holding dismembered rafts of mafic granulite and calc-silicate
gneisses is the dominant rocktype intruded by massif type anorthositic rocks (Bengal
anorthosite). Metamorphic grade varies from amphibolite to granulite grade conditions.
Documentation of granulite and amphibolite facies rocks mostly coming from the eastern
and the western part of the domain respectively (Karmaker et al. 2011; Goswami and
Bhattacharya 2010, 2013; Maji et al. 2008; Chatterjee et al. 2008; Sanyal and Sengupta
2012). However the published information does not support any systemic variation in the
estimated metamorphic conditions along any geographic direction. The rocks in this
region are folded to east-west closing folds and an E-W trending axial planar fabric
dipping steeply towards north (Maji et al. 2008).
In the easternmost parts, near Bero-Saltora-Santuri, high grade metapelitic rocks
and migmatitic quartzofeldspathic rocks are exposed. Three deformation (D1-3)
phases accompanied by four metamorphic events (M1-4) have been inferred from
the area by Maji et al. (2008). Earliest tectonothermal event (M1), considered to be
of granulite grade (minimum P–T estimates of 5–6 kbar and 750–850 °C), pro-
duced the migmatitic banding of the orthogneisses (S1) (Sen and Bhattacharya
1993; Maji et al. 2008) and occurred at ca. 1.70 Ga, inferred from chemical dating
of monazite (Chatterjee et al. 2010). Both the subsequent deformations (D2-3)
occurred under amphibolite facies (M2-3) between 1.3 and 1.1 Ga and replaces the
older granulite mineralogy to variable extant (Maji et al. 2008). Towards the eastern
fringe of the domain, near Saltora (West Bengal) (Fig. 2a) intrusion of massif
anorthosite, called the Bengal anorthosite, occurred at ca. 1.55 Ga between the D1
and D2 (Bhattacharyya and Mukherjee 1987; Chatterjee et al. 2008; Maji et al.
2008). The most pervasive metamorphic event is inferred to have occurred between
1.0 and 0.95 Ga, that has been designated as M4 by Maji et al. (2008). However the
P–T conditions of the event is debated. Maji et al.(2008) inferred that the meta-
moprhism culminated at 650 ± 50 °C at 4–5 kbar whereas Chatterjee et al. (2008)
recovered a high grade conditions (850–900 °C and 8.5–11 kbar) from gabbro
anorthositic rocks. Near Kankarkiari (West Bengal), migmatitic felsic orthogneisses
has been intruded by nepheline-bearing syenite and subsequently got deformed and
metamorphosed (Das et al. 2016; Goswami and Bhattacharyya 2010). No
geochronological data is available to constrain this tectonothermal event experi-
enced by the syenitic rocks. However, field observations suggest that they have
intruded after the Grenvillian metamorphic event and subsequently got deformed
and metamorphosed under amphibolite grade yielding a P–T condition of
700–750 °C and *10 kbar, associated with development of foliation and folding
(Das et al. 2016). Younger Neoproterozoic ages (ca. 900–820 Ma) recovered from
the overgrowths on older monazite grains have been documented by several
workers (Maji et al. 2008; Chatterjee et al. 2010), which further attest for the Late
Tonian–Early Cryogenian tectonothermal event. One of the source of heating could
be deformation itself (Mukherjee and Mulchrone 2013; Mulchrone and Mukherjee
2015, 2016; Mukherjee 2017).
The area around Raghunathpur (West Bengal), west of Bero, reveals an
ensemble of different generations of felsic orthogneisses (porphyritic and deformed
granitoids), metapelitic and calcareous enclaves (Dunn 1929; Baidya et al. 1987,
1989; Ray Barman and Bishui 1994; Goswami and Bhattacharyya 2010, 2013;
Karmakar et al. 2011). Three major deformational events (D1-D3) have been
identified from the area associated with two major metamorphic phases (M1-M2).
Non-porphyritic granite intrusion occurred at 1178 ± 61 Ma (Rb–Sr whole rock
isochron, Ray Barman and Bishui 1994) and is synchronous with development of
S1 during D1 (Goswami and Bhattacharyya 2010). A porphyritic charnockite that
was emplaced prior to D2 shows a Rb–Sr whole rock age of 1071 ± 64 Ma (Ray
Barman and Bishui 1994; Goswami and Bhattacharya 2010). These porphyritic
granites have been geochemically classified as Shoshonitic to high K-calc alkalic
intrusives that were formed via mixing of mantle-derived mafic magma and crustal
melts followed by fractional crystallization in continent-continent collisional set-
tings (Goswami and Bhattacharyya 2013). Towards the southeast of Raghunathpur,
near Adra (West Bengal), migmatitic quartzofeldspathic gneiss contains enclave of
Mg–Al granulite and mafic granulites. Chemical ages of monazite from these Mg–
Al pelite and migmatitic gneiss indicate that the most pervasive and prominent
tectonothermal event of the area occurred between ca. 990–940 Ma that culminated
at *870 °C and 11 kbar pressure followed by a steeply decompressive path
(Karmakar et al. 2011). Goswami and Bhattacharyya (2010) determined a similar
temperature (*800 °C) but lower pressure (6.5–7.5 kbar) and argued that M1
spanned over during both D1 and D2. Youngest monazite age population of ca.
850–775 Ma recovered by Karmakar et al. (2011) are consistent with the
Neoproterozoic dates (870 ± 40 Ma: K–Ar biotite of porphyritic granite and
810 ± 40 Ma: K–Ar muscovite of leucogranite) reported by Baidya et al. (1987)
from the western part of the area near Jaipur, West Bengal. Although petrological
manifestations are lacking, the youngest age clusters presumably constrains the
third tectonothermal event (D3).
Litho-package exposed in the south-central of the terrain, south of Ranchi,
resembles rocktypes of the eastern part, containing garnetiferous migmatitic felsic
gneiss, pelitic schist and minor calc-silicate bodies that have been intruded by
porphyritic granite (Sarkar and Jha 1985; Rekha et al. 2011). Zircon and monazite
geochronological studies of both the older migmatitic gneiss and metapelite reveals
Neoproterozoic ages (944 ± 9 and 921 ± 18 Ma), inferred to be metamorphic,
whereas younger granites yield an emplacement age of 928 ± 23 Ma with older
inherited components of 1072 ± 17 and 1239 ± 66 Ma (Rekha et al. 2011).
At the south-western part of the terrain, near Raikera–Kunkuri region
(Chhattisgarh), different generation of granite bodies are associated with pelitic
schist (with chlorite, biotite and hornblende schist), quartzite and dolerite
dykes/sills (Singh and Krishna 2009). Two-mica bearing grey granites, derived
from juvenile crustal sources (SrI 0.7047 and low high field strength elements),
intruded the crust at 1005 ± 51 Ma (Singh and Krishna 2009). On the other hand,
younger Rb–Sr isochron age of 815 ± 47 Ma and high SrI (0.7539) determined
from the pink granite are inferred to be the late metasomatic event associated with
the Y-mineralization in the area (Singh and Krishna 2009).
3.2 Domain IB
The E-W trending Domain IB is sandwiched between GBF and Domain II

(Fig. 2a). From east to west, the geological information from this domain in con-
centrated around the cities named Masanjor, Dumka, Deoghar, Jasidih, and
Daltonganj. Amongst them, most of the granulite grade enclave rocks are exposed
around Masanjor, Dumka and Deoghar in Jharkhand (Mahadevan 2002). The
general lithology of the domain is felsic gneiss of varied mineralogy and compo-
sition which suffered granulite grade metamorphism and anatexis. Variably meta-
morphosed gneisses and schists of supracrustals and basic rocks occur as enclaves
within the felsic gneiss. The general strike of the domain is E-W to NW-SE except
its northeastern part where the strike becomes N-S. At least three stages of folding
has been identified by different workers (Ghosh and Sengupta 1999; Sanyal and
Sengupta 2012; Mukherjee et al. 2017a; Dey et al. under review a; Dey et al. under
review b) throughout the domain.
The eastern extremity of this domain (in and around Masanjor and Dumka) exposes
gneisses of variable composition. Migmatitic felsic gneiss constitutes the dominant rock
type of this area. Compositionally it varies from migmatitic charnockite (orthopyrox-
ene + K-feldspar + plagioclase + quartz + garnet + ilmenite) to amphibole-biotite
gneiss (amphibole ± biotite + K-feldspar + plagioclase + quartz + garnet + ilmenite).
Based on the on-going study of the authors it is presumed that the latter is the retro-
gressed counterpart of the former. Using unpublished U–Pb zircon dates of Ray
Barman, Acharyya (2003) constrained the protolith ages of the migmatitic
charnockite to be 1624 ± 5 Ma. The host migmatitic felsic gneiss contains rafts/
enclaves of khondalite (quartz + K-feldspar + plagioclase + sillimanite + garnet +
ilmenite), Mg–Al granulite (orthopyroxene + sapphirine + spinel + sillimanite +
quartz + perthite + plagioclase + garnet + ilmenite + biotite + cordierite), calc-
silicates (clinopyroxene + garnet + quartz + sphene + K-feldspar + plagioclase)
and mafic granulite (plagioclase + clinopyroxene + garnet + hornblende + il-
menite + titanite). A large body of porphyritic charnockite (quartz + K-feldspar +
plagioclase + orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + garnet + hornblende + ilmenite +
biotite + magnetite) intruded the host felsic gneiss and contains enclaves of the rocks
it intruded. From mutual field relations between the litho-units, three stages of
deformation have been established for the country rock (Mukherjee et al. 2017a;
Dey et al. under review a; Sanyal and Sengupta 2012). The enclave rocks developed a
gneissic banding that predates the foliation of the migmatitic felsic gneiss, formed
during D1. The foliation in the host gneiss represents the dominant foliation of the
area and strikes E-W. They refolded during subsequent D2 and D3 deformation
(Sanyal and Sengupta 2012). Protolith of porphyritic charnockite emplaced in
between D1 and D2 at 1515 ± 5 Ma (Acharyya 2003). A swarm of mafic dykes
(plagioclase + amphibole + clinopyroxene + chlorite + epidote + calcite + quartz
+ ilmenite) cut across the foliation of host gneiss but is folded by open D3 folds. The
Mg–Al granulitic enclave rocks develop a mineral assemblage of aluminous (7 wt%
Al2O3) orthopyroxene + magnetite-hercynite + sillimanite +quartz + garnet + melt
which is a good indicator of ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism (>900 °C) at a
pressure in excess of *8 kbar (Sanyal and Sengupta 2012). From conventional
geothermobarometry of the mafic enclaves, Sanyal and Sengupta (2012) has obtained
distinctly lower temperatures 825–850 °C at 8–9 kbar indicating subsequent cooling
followed by the UHT metamorphism. Geothermobarometry of the porphyritic
charnockite constrain the conditions of M3 metamorphism synchronous to D3, at
700 ± 50 °C and 6.5 ± 1 kbar (Sanyal and Sengupta 2012).
Maximum petrological and geochronological information is available from
further north-west, in between Dumka and Deoghar town (Jharkhand); especially
from northern part of Dumka. The country rock of felsic orthogneiss hosts km to cm
scale rafts of pelitic rocks (garnet-sillimanite-biotite-K-feldspar-plagioclase-
quartz ± spinel), mafic rocks (plagioclase + clinopyroxene + orthopyrox-
ene + garnet + hornblende + ilmenite + rutile), calc silicates (clinopyroxene +
plagioclase + titanite ± garnet ± amphibole ± scapolite ± calcite), granulites
and augen gneisses (K-feldspar + plagioclase + quartz + biotite + hornblende
+ apatite). Mineralogically the host gneiss varies from charnockitic
(orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + garnet + plagioclase + K-feldspar + quartz +
hornblende + biotite + ilmenite) to biotite-hornblende gneiss to hornblende-biotite
gneiss (garnet + plagioclase + K-feldspar + quartz +hornblende + biotite + il-
menite) (Mukherjee et al. 2017a). Geochemical and isotopic studies of the host
felsic gneiss confirm that they have a ferroan (A type) character (Mukherjee et al.
2017a, 2018). The ortho-gneisses show a prominent N-S trending migmatitic
banding and this regional fabric locally swerves around the enclaves. The pelitic
enclaves contain voluminous (>30%) leucosomal segregations (S1; Fig. 3a). The S1
which are discordant to and are dragged to parallelism with the pervasive foliation
(S2) of the host felsic gneiss (Fig. 3a). Numerical modelling with appropriate bulk
for the metapelites constrain an early high grade event M1 occurred at 7 ± 1 kbar
and 1000 ± 50 °C i.e. at MP (medium pressure)-UHT condition which generated
voluminous S1 leucosomal foliation (Dey et al. under review, a). This event was
followed by another metamorphism whereby the felsic orthogneisses and the
meta-sedimentary gneisses developed a prominent migmatitic foliation that are
currently *N-S trending. Numerical modelling combined with conventional
geo-thermobarometry of the host gneiss as well as the pelitic enclaves constrain the
peak of this metamorphism at 770 ± 50 °C and 9 ± 1 kbar (Dey et al. under
review, a; Chatterjee et al. 2008; Mukherjee et al. 2017a). However, petrological
study of a suite of mafic enclave reveals much higher pressure (12 ± 1 kbar and
800 ± 50 °C) for the same (Dey et al. under review, b). In all these studies
Fig. 3 a Internal foliation (S1) of metapelitic enclaves and external foliation (S2) within host felsic
gneisses; b folding of S2, designated by coarse leucosomes, and development of axial planar S3
within felsic orthogneiss; c folding of the mafic dyke during D2 and d development of S3 along the
axial planes of folded mafic dyke
this HP-MT metamorphism was followed by a steep decompressive path indicating

that the peak condition was attained through a continent-continent collisional event.
Towards the western part of this domain, in a stretch from Dumka to Jasidihi
(Jharkhand) (Fig. 2a), a swarm of mafic dykes (now amphibolites with orthopy-
roxene + clinopyroxene + hornblende + biotite + plagioclase + titanite + quartz)
occur within the felsic orthogneiss (Fig. 3c). The mafic dykes cut the S2 fabric of
the host felsic orthogneiss. Along with S2, the mafic dykes are folded by two sets of
co-axial folds with N-S closure (D3; Ghosh and Sengupta 1999; Ray et al. 2011a, b;
Mukherjee et al. 2017a; Dey et al. under review a; Dey et al. under review b).
A prominent N-S trending planar fabric (S3) that is defined by hornblende devel-
oped along the axial plane of the earliest fold (Ghosh and Sengupta 1999; Sanyal
and Sengupta 2012; Mukherjee et al. 2017a). Locally S3 is folded by an open fold
with nearly vertical axial plane (Ghosh and Sengupta 1999; Sanyal and Sengupta
2012; Mukherjee et al. 2017a). Deformation and metamorphism of the mafic dykes
and their host felsic gneiss (M3-D3) mark the latest major tectonothermal event of
Domain I. The host felsic gneiss and the metapelitic granulite enclave recorded a
P–T of 7.3 ± 0.1 kbar, 615 ± 15 °C and 4.3 ± 0.7 kbar, 600 ± 60 °C, respec-
tively for this metamorphism (Dey et al. under review, a). Bhattacharjee et al.
(2012) reported a gabbro-anorthosite body (Hizla anorthosite) near Dumka area,
Jharkhand. This anorthosite body intruded the charnockitic country rock and is
deformed and metamorphosed along with the latter rock. These rocks that are likely
to be the product of D2-M2 tectonothermal event recorded an unusually wide range
of pressure and temperature of (511–915 °C and 5.0–7.5 kbar) for the metamor-
phism of the anorthosite (Bhattacharjee et al. 2012). The published petrological
information is not robust enough for draw any conclusion about this wide range of
metamorphic P–T values. Multiple generations of pegmatitic veins criss-cross all
the lithounits. No structural data on the orientation of these veins are available.
Eastern margin of the Domain I is marked by a highly tectonized N- to NNE-zone
shear deformation. Shear driven non-cylindrical folds (D2-D3 fold interference) has
been described by Chatterjee et al. (2010). This tectonic zone is termed as the
Eastern Indian Tectonic Zone (EITZ; Chatterjee et al. 2010). A linear gravity high
follows the trend of EITZ over a length of approximately 400 km (Singh et al.
2004). From a quartzo-feldspathic gneiss from northern part of Dumka, Chatterjee
et al. (2010) has quantified the peak conditions of the shearing and anatexis along
EITZ at *11 kbar and <800 °C followed by isothermal decompression.
U–Pb zircon and monazite age of the metapelitic enclaves attests the age of M1
metamorphism at 1630 ± 50 Ma (Dey et al. under review, a). Similar
Paleoproterozoic metamorphic ages has also been obtained by Rekha et al. (2011)
and by Chatterjee et al. (2010) from metapelites and anatectic quartzofeldspathic
gneiss near Dumka. From detrital zircon study of the metapelitic enclaves, Dey
et al. (2017) has constrained the age of deposition of the sedimentary protoliths of
these enclaves within 1700–1680 Ma and has ascribed that the sediments were
derived from Archean and Paleoproterozoic sources (Rekha et al. 2011; Dey et al.
2017). The protolith of the felsic orthogneiss was derived via high temperature
partial melting of Paleoproterozoic crustal source (*1800–1600 Ma) with limited
mantle input (Lu–Hf model age: Mukherjee et al. 2018) and was presumably
emplaced in a continental rift setting at *1450 Ma (U–Pb zircon dating;
Mukherjee et al. 2017a, 2018). Mesoproterozoic dates have also been reported from
U–Pb dating of zircon from metapelites and anatectic quartzofeldspathic gneiss in
this domain (Rekha et al. 2011; Dey et al. under review, a). Rb–Sr whole-rock date
the emplacement of a syenitic rock (1457 ± 63 Ma) and a charnockite
(1331 ± 125 Ma) in Dumka-Jamua, Jharkhand area of Jharkhand (Ray Barman
et al. 1994). U–Pb zircon and Th–U–Pb monazite age constrained the age of the
granulite grade metamorphism at *1000–930 Ma (Dey et al. under review, a;
Chatterjee et al. 2008, 2010; Rekha et al. 2011; Mukherjee et al. 2017a). Chatterjee
et al. (2010) has retrieved a younger age population of *870–650 Ma from the
monazite dates, which they linked with the tectonothermal activity and sinistral
shearing along the EITZ. Zircon and monazite from metapelite and felsic gneiss
yield ages for D3 and M3, ranging within 900–800 Ma (Chatterjee et al. 2010;
Dey et al. under review, a; Mukherjee et al. 2017a) with very few ages as low
as *650 Ma (Chatterjee et al. 2010). These age of the D3 deformation of the area
have been correlated with the age duration of shearing along the EITZ.
Not much geological and geochronological information are available from fur-
ther west of Jasidih, in and around Dhanbadand and Hazaribag (Jharkhand). It is
noteworthy that the strike of the schists and gneisses of these areas varies between
E-W to NW-SE. Parts of the Dhanbad district (Jharkhand) exposes banded gneisses
of amphibolite facies (Roy Chowdhury 1979) with enclaves of hornblende schists
and gneisses, olivine-orthopyroxene bearing metanorites and quartzites. The rocks
folded thrice with development of E-W to NW-SE trending foliation axial planar to
the second generation folding (Sarangi and Mohanty 1998).
Further west, near Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), amphibolites, pelitic and calcareous
rocks dominate with a persistent E-W trending schistosity. The rocks have also
been folded thrice with first two folds being tight and coaxial, and the last one being
open warp (Roy Chowdhury 1979; Mahadevan 2002). The whole rock Rb–Sr
isochron date of biotite-K-feldspar from a migmatite record one of the youngest
ages (481 ± 18 Ma; Pandey et al. 1986b).
The area around Daltonganj (Jharkhand) exposes granite gneisses and migma-
tites interbanded with Graphite-bearing pelitic schists, limestones, quartzites and
intruded by mafic-ultramafic, anorthositic-komatiitic rocks (Bhattacharya et al.
2010). These ultramafic rocks host magnetite (Ghose 1983; Sinha and Bhattacharya
1995), fluorite (Soni et al. 1991) and base metal mineralization (Ghose 1992;
Bhattacharya et al. 2010). Thermometry of granite gneiss confirms that the gneissic
foliation formed under high grade condition (850–800 °C; Chatterjee and Ghosh
2011). The granite gneisses are intruded by non-foliated granitic to granodioritic
rocks (Rode, 1948; Ghose 1983; Mazumdar 1988). Anatexis of granulite to form
leucogranite, and partial melting of metapelite forming these non-foliated granitoids
probably occurred at 650–800 °C and 2–6 kbar (Srivastava and Ghose 1992).
Whole-rock Rb–Sr dating of the granite gneiss suggests an event of granitic
magmatism at 1741 ± 65 Ma (Ray Barman and Bishui 1994) followed by high
grade metamorphism and anatexis. Chatterjee and Ghosh (2011) has dated this high
grade metamorphism from xenotime at 975 ± 67 Ma. The granite gneiss and
metapelitic sequence deformed thrice (D1-D3) (Lahiri and Das 1984; Patel 2007).
Interference of D1 and D2 produced NW-SE trending domal structure with devel-
opment of prominent axial planar schistosity. Post-D3 pegmatite veins and mafic
dykes are common in the area. In the Tatapani area, the calc-silicate rocks develop
the rare assemblage vesuvianite + grossular garnet + diopside + wollastonite +
quartz. Patel (2007) estimated the conditions of vesuvianite formation at <4 kbar
and 590–650 °C in presence of a highly aqueous fluid.
3.3 Domain II
Sandwiched between Domain III (in the north) and GBF (in the south), this domain
is the ENE-WSW trending the Bihar Mica belt (BMB) exposes a distinct
lithological ensemble in the CGGC (Fig. 2a). The geological formation in this belt
include meta-sedimentary sequence dominantly constituting muscovite-biotite
schist interbedded with micaceous quartzites, conglomerates, calc-silicate rocks
and hornblende schists. The carbonate metasediments are occasionally found
associated with economic grade base-metal mineralization (Ghose 1992). These
metasedimentary rocks of BMB rest on the high grade rocks of CGGC with an
erosional conglomerate base (Ghose and Mukherjee 2000). The Pb/Pb age of galena
from base-metal deposits brackets the sedimentation age in the BMB within the
time span of 1700–1650 Ma (Singh et al. 2001). Rb–Sr whole rock dating of a
migmatitic granite gneissic basement from south of BMB yields an age of
1717 ± 102 Ma (Mallik et al. 1991). The meta-sedimentary package recorded three
phases of folding (D1, D2 and D3), where first two folds are most dominant and
produce E-W trending axial planar foliation while the third fold is weak and less
pervasive. The whole litho-unit is extensively intruded by large bodies of granitoid
rocks, dolerite dykes, gabbro anorthosite and mica pegmatites (sometimes REE and
rare metal rich). Granitoids were emplaced syn- to post-D2 folding with ages of
most of the granite intrusives clustering within 1300–1100 Ma and age of oldest
granite intrusion around 1600 Ma (Whole-rock and Rb–Sr mineral isochron ages;
Pandey et al. 1986a; Misra and Dey 2002). K–Ar dating of granitoids yields lower
ages (1080–850 Ma) (Sarkar 1980). The BMB plutons characteristically show very
high SrI ratio which suggests their derivation from sialic crustal sources (Misra and
Dey, 2002). Different generations of mica-bearing granite–pegmatites emplaced
pre-D2 to post-D3 folding (Mahadevan 2002). The conditions of emplacement as
well as formation of the BMB granite plutons is estimated *5 kbar and slightly
>1000 °C in a relatively anhydrous condition within a possible post-orogenic set-
ting (Misra and Dey 2002). The age of emplacement of the oldest REE-rare
metal-bearing mica pegmatites of the BMB has been restricted within
960 ± 50 Ma (Pb/Pb age; Vinogradov et al. 1964) and 910 ± 20 Ma (U–Pb and
Pb/Pb ages of the Columbite–Tantalite minerals; Krishna et al. 2003). Fission-track
ages of garnet (830 Ma), muscovite (760 Ma), biotite (590 Ma) and apatite
(590 Ma) date the final exhumation of the mica pegmatites of this region (Lal et al.
1976). It suggests that the rocks of this area had not received any significant thermal
pulse, which by implication means cratonization, since 590 Ma (Lal et al. 1976). In
summary, this domain bears history of Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic
granitic activities. Evidence of Paleoproterozoic sedimentation is noteworthy. The
abundant intrusion of pegmatites took place in Neoproterozoic which cooled
gradually.
3.4 Domain III
The northern fringe of CGGC, north of the Bihar mica Belt, exposes an ensemble of
migmatitic quartzofeldspathic gneisses and supracrustals. Sedimentary rocks of the
Munger Group and the Rajgir Group showing basement–cover relationship with the
CGGC gneisses demarcated by a conglomerate horizon (Ghose and Mukherjee

2000). Supracrustals are dominated by quartzite and phyllite, metamorphosed under
low-grade in association with mafic-ultramafic and felsic intrusives.
The basement of these sedimentary units is marked by the porphyritic granite
(K-feldspar + plagioclase + biotite + quartz) near Gaya (Bihar) and biotite granite
in the Bhagalpur area (Bihar) (Chatterjee and Ghose 2011). The intrusion age of
the granitoids are constrained at ca. 1697 ± 17 Ma from U–Th–Pb monazite
(Chatterjee and Ghose 2011). U–Pb xenotime age of 1583 ± 50 Ma is inferred to
be the cooling age of the porphyritic granitoids (Chatterjee and Ghose 2011).
Detailed geochemical study of the porphyritic granites reveal an A-type character
and suggest that they have been derived from predominant crustal source in an
extensional (Yadav et al. 2014). In and around Bathani village, near Gaya (Bihar) a
volcanic and volcano sedimentary sequence comprises of banded iron formation
(BIF), garnet-mica schist, chert bands and mafic-intermediate volcanics (Saikia
et al. 2014). Detailed geochemical studies suggest that the intrusion of bimodal
volcanics, tholeiitic affinity of the basalt and calc-alkaline trend of the
intermediate-felsic magmatism corroborate well with an island-arc setting (Saikia
et al. 2014, 2017). U–Pb zircon geochronology constrains the intrusion of the felsic
magmatism between ca. 1750–1660 Ma. Subsequently the lithounit got metamor-
phosed at ca. 930 Ma and at 768 Ma. Earlier metamorphism occurred under
granulite grade whereas the younger age associates with a shearing linked with the
Eastern Indian tectonic Zone (Chatterjee et al. 2010).
4 Discussions
4.1 Tectonothermal Events at CGGC
This section collates the geological and geochronological information (Table 1) and
reconstructs a plausible event stratigraphy that shaped the CGGC.
4.1.1 Sedimentation History of the Supracrustal Enclaves
Timing of sedimentation and provenance of the precursor sediments of metasedi-

mentary rocks provide critical information about the tectonic history of a terrane
(Sengupta et al. 2015; Dey et al. 2017). In CGGC, the supracrustal enclave rocks
with quartzite, metapelite sand metacarbonate are likely to correspond to of sand-
stone, shale and limestone found in a stable continental shelf (Malone et al. 2008;
Basu et al. 2008, 2014; Sengupta et al. 2015; Dey et al. 2017). Strong structural and
metamorphic overprints virtually obliterate the sedimentary features of these
supracrustal rocks. This renders reconstruction of sedimentary process in high grade
rocks difficult. However, using the dates obtained from detrital zircon or other
Table 1 Available geochronological data from different domains of CGGC; ages are in Ma
Age Method Type of age References
Domain IA
595 U–Pb monazite Alteration Chatterjee et al. (2010)
784 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Chatterjee et al. (2010)
810 ± 40 K–Ar muscovite Magmatism Baidya et al. (1987)
815 ± 47 Rb–Sr whole rock Metasomatism Singh and Krishna (2009)
825–818 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Maji et al. (2008)
850–775 U–Pb monazite Deformation event Karmakar et al. (2011)
860–830 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Chatterjee et al. (2010)
870 ± 40 K–Ar biotite Magmatism Baidya et al. (1987)
921 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Rekha et al. (2011)
923 U–Pb zircon Metamorphism Rekha et al. (2011)
947 ± 27 U–Pb zircon Metamorphism Chatterjee et al. (2008)
990–940 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Karmakar et al. (2011)
1005 ± 51 Rb–Sr whole rock Magmatism Singh and Krishna (2009)
1021–967 U–Pb monazite Metamorphic/magmatic Maji et al. (2008)
1059 ± 104 Rb–Sr whole rock Magmatism Krishna et al. (1996)
1071 ± 64 Rb–Sr whole rock Retrogression Ray Barman et al. (1994)
1176 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Maji et al. (2008)
1178 ± 61 Rb–Sr whole rock Retrogression Ray Barman et al. (1994)
1200–1100 U–Pb monazite Older thermal events Karmakar et al. (2011)
1331 ± 42 Rb–Sr whole rock Krishna et al. (1996)
1422–1305 U–Pb monazite Older thermal events Chatterjee et al. (2010)
1550 ± 12 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Chatterjee et al. (2008)
1717–1446 U–Pb monazite Older thermal event?? Chatterjee et al. (2010)
1800 U–Pb monazite Inherited Karmakar et al. (2011)
1870–1691 U–Pb monazite Older thermal event?? Chatterjee et al. (2010)
(continued)
Table 1 (continued)
Domain IB
481 ± 18 Rb–Sr Bt, Kfs ? Pandey et al. (1986a)
850–750 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Sanyal et al. (2007)
902 U–Pb zircon Metamorphism Mukherjee et al. (2017a)
907 ± 49 U–Pb zircon Metamorphism Mukherjee et al. (2018)
943 U–Pb zircon Metamorphism Mukherjee et al. (2017a)
948 ± 22 U–Pb zircon Metamorphism Mukherjee et al. (2018)
950 ± 20 U–Pb monazite Retrogression Chatterjee et al. (2008)
975 ± 67 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Chatterjee and Ghose (2011)
995 ± 24 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Chatterjee et al. (2008)
1119 Rb–Sr whole rock ? Sarkar et al. (1986)
1183 U–Pb monazite Older thermal events Chatterjee et al. (2010)
1190 ± 26 U–Pb monazite Metamorphism Chatterjee et al. (2008)
1270 U–Pb zircon ? Rekha et al. (2011)
1331 ± 125 Rb–Sr whole rock Cooling age Ray Barman et al. (1994)
1446 ± 7 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Mukherjee et al. (2018)
1447 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Mukherjee et al. (2017a)
1457 ± 63 Rb–Sr whole rock Older thermal events Ray Barman et al. (1994)
1470 ± 2 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Mukherjee et al. (2018)
1480 U–Pb monazite ? Rekha et al. (2011)
1515 ± 5 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Acharyya (2003)
(continued)
Table 1 (continued)
1522 ± 71 Rb–Sr whole rock Magmatism Mallik et al. (1991)
1624 ± 5 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Acharyya (2003)
1720 U–Pb monazite Older thermal event Chatterjee et al. (2010)
1741 ± 65 Rb–Sr whole rock ? Ray Barman and Bishui (1994)
1824–1659 U–Pb monazite Older thermal event Chatterjee et al. (2010)
1870–1720 U–Pb monazite UHT metamorpism Sanyal et al. (2007)
2600–1900 U–Pb zircon Detrital grains Rekha et al. (2011)
Domain II
590 Apt Fission Track Cooling age Lal et al. (1976)
595 Bt Fission Track Cooling age Lal et al. (1976)
760 mus Fission Track Cooling age Lal et al. (1976)
830 grt Fission Track Cooling age Lal et al. (1976)
855 ± 25 Mica Rb–Sr Magmatism Pandey et al. (1986b)
910 ± 19 U–Pb, Pb–Pb Magmatism Krishna et al. (2003)
960 ± 50 Pb–Pb Magmatism Vinogradov et al. (1964)
1086–850 K–Ar ? Sarkar (1980)
1020 ± 46 Rb–Sr whole rock Magmatism Mallik (1993)
1100–700 Fission track mica Cooling age Lal et al. (1976)
1242 ± 34 Rb–Sr whole rock ? Pandey et al. (1986a)
1300–1100 Rb–Sr whole rock ? Pandey et al. (1986a, b)
1590 ± 30 Rb–Sr whole rock Magmatism Pandey et al. (1986b)
Domain III
557 ± 99 U–Pb xenotime ? Chatterjee and Ghose (2011)
768 ± 11 U–Pb uraninite Metamorphism Chatterjee and Ghose (2011)
929 U–Pb xenotime Metamorphism Chatterjee and Ghose (2011)
1044 ± 35 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Wanjari et al. (2012)
1337 ± 26 Rb–Sr whole rock Magmatism Wanjari et al. (2012)
1583 ± 50 U–Pb xenotime Cooling age Chatterjee and Ghose (2011)
1697 ± 17 U–Pb Monazite Magmatism Chatterjee and Ghose (2011)
1737–1664 U–Pb zircon Magmatism Saikia et al. (2017)
Fig. 4 a Basin formation and sedimentation over an unknown basement of CGGC

during *1700–1650 Ma. b Moderate pressure ultra-high temperature metamorphism and
deformation (M1-D1) induced by continent-continent collision, lithospheric delamination and
mantle upwelling during *1650–1550 Ma and intrusion of syn- to post-collisional granitoids and
anorthosites. c Intrusion of ferroan granites in an extensional setting at *1450 Ma. d High
pressure-granulite grade metamorphism and deformation (M2-D2) in continent-continent colli-
sional setting at 1000–950 Ma. e Intrusion of syenite and mafic dykes within the granulitised crust
of CGGC. f Deformation and shear related folding accompanied by metamorphism (M3-D3) in
CGGC
authigenic datable minerals, few studies from northern part of CGGC (domain IB &
II) have attempted to constrain the timing of sedimentation of the protolith of
meta-sedimentary rocks. From the Pb–Pb dating of galena Singh et al. (2001) has
inferred a sedimentation age of 1700–1650 Ma in parts of BMB. Dey et al. (2017)
has analysed and studied 207Pb/206Pb apparent dates of the detrital zircons from
UHT pelitic granulite from Dumka and Deoghar (Jharkhand) (Fig. 2a). The ages of
the youngest analysed detrital zircon cores and the oldest metamorphic overgrowth
constrain the age of sedimentation of the precursor of metapelites within a narrow
age bracket of *1700–1680 Ma. From the detrital zircon dates, the authors sug-
gested that protoliths of these sediments were sourced from the *2700–1700 Ma
old domains in the adjoining cratonic areas and also from the rocks of similar age
now occurring in the Lesser Himalayan region. Both the studies are consistent with
the interpretation that during *1700–1650 Ma the (unknown) basement of CGGC
experienced a phase of basin formation and sedimentation (Fig. 4a). A part of these
sediments got subsequently metamorphosed by later tectonothermal events.
4.1.2 Magmatic History
The oldest tectonothermal event reported so far from northern and central CGGC
occurred in the late Paleoproterozoic (ca. 1750–1640 Ma) (Mallik et al. 1991; Ray
Barman and Bishui 1994; Chatterjee and Ghose 2011; Saikia et al. 2017). U–Pb
zircon ages distinctly indicates the intrusion of arc-related bimodal volcanics in the
northern part (Saikia et al. 2017). However, contemporaneous (1697 Ma; Chatterjee
and Ghose 2011) porphyritic granites from the northern domain are inferred to be of
anorogenic affinity (Yadav et al. 2014). In the eastern fringe of the terrain, intrusion
of massif anorthosite body, occurred at 1550 Ma and inferred to be the manifes-
tation of post-orogenic magmatism (Fig. 4b) (Chatterjee et al. 2008). Subsequently
in the eastern part of the domain Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1450 Ma) ferroan granites
have intruded the Paleoproterozoic crust in an extensional setting (Fig. 4c)
(Mukherjee et al. 2017a, 2018). A body of syenite near Dumka (Jharkhand) yields a
Rb–Sr whole rock age of 1457 ± 63 Ma (Ray Barman and Bishui 1994). Early
Neoproterozoic felsic magmatism so far has been reported only from southern part
of the CGGC (Singh and Krishna 2009). However, post-Grenvillian (<950 Ma)
magmatic pulses, including granite, syenite, mafic dykes and pegmatite intrusions
have been documented from different parts the terrain (Fig. 4e). Biotite bearing
granites have considered to intrude the early crust *870–810 Ma (Baidya et al.
1987). Although no geochronological dates are available, a body of syenite intruded
the granulitised crust in the southwestern part of the terrain, associated with NPSZ
(Das et al. 2016, 2017c). A set of mafic dykes also intruded the granulitised crust in
the northeastern part of the CGGC (Sanyal and Sengupta 2012; Mukherjee et al.
2017a). Numerous mica-bearing pegmatites with intrusion age of 960–855 Ma
have been reported from the northern part of the terrain (Pandey et al. 1986b;
Krishna et al. 2003; Vinogradov et al. 1964).
4.1.3 Metamorphism and Deformation: Summary of the Events
The oldest metamorphic event recorded in the CGGC is characterised by an ultra-high

temperature metamorphism (M1) at *1640 Ma (Dey et al. 2017). Similar ages (ca.
1850–1600 Ma; U–Pb zircon and Th–U–Pb monazite dates) have been recorded by
several workers and inferred to be the manifestation of high grade thermal event
(Chatterjee et al. 2010; Rekha et al. 2011). Peak metamorphic conditions recovered
from the metapelitic rocks yield a P–T condition of 1000–950 °C at 7–5 kbar pressure
(Sanyal and Sengupta 2012; Dey et al. under review, a). Moderate pressure ultra-high
temperature metamorphism and a clockwise P–T–t path, inferred from the mineral
phase equilibria of the metapelite, presumably reflect continent-continent collision
followed by lithospheric delamination and mantle upwelling (Fig. 4b) (Dey et al.
under review, a). Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1450–1300 Ma) ages, recovered by several
workers, are inferred to be the manifestation of thermal imprint (Maji et al. 2008;
Chatterjee et al. 2010; Karmakar et al. 2011; Rekha et al. 2011). The most pervasive
tectonothermal event recorded from different parts of the CGGC occurred at
1000–950 Ma (M2). From the northeastern margin of the terrain, several workers
(Mukherjee et al. 2017a, Dey et al. under review, a, Dey et al. under review, b) have
inferred that the metamorphism culminated at 770–800 °C and 9–12 kbar pressure,
followed by a steep decompressive path. Similar P–T path has been recorded from the
southern part of the terrain where the peak culminated at 870 °C and 11 kbar followed
by decompression (Karmakar et al. 2011). Such high pressure event associated with
clockwise path is inferred to be the manifestation of continent-continent collision
(Fig. 4d). Post-Grenvillian metamorphic event (M3) has been reported from north-
eastern margin of the terrain where U–Th–Pb monazite constrains the age of the event
between 900 and 780 Ma (Chatterjee et al. 2010; Mukherjee et al. 2017a, Dey et al.
under review, a). Chatterjee et al. (2010) estimated a high-pressure peak for M3
culminating at 820 °C and 11 kbar which correlates with the development of Eastern
Indian tectonic Zone (Fig. 4f).
Structural analyses from different parts of the terrane reveal that the CGGC has
experienced multiple deformational events (Mahadevan 2002; Maji et al. 2008;
Goswami and Bhattacharyya 2010; Karmakar et al. 2011; Sanyal and Sengupta
2012; Mukherjee et al. 2017a). However, structural data from scattered places and
scarcity of detailed geochronological information are some of the major hindrance
for correlating the different deformational and metamorphic events reported by
different workers over the entire CGGC. Unfortunately, sizable amount of structural
and geochronological information are available only from the rocks of Domain I. In
the following section an attempt has been made to develop a structural history of the
CGGC using the structural, metamorphic and geochronological information from
Domain I. Three major deformational phases seem to have affected the rocks of
Domain I. The earliest deformational event (D1) is preserved in the metasedi-
mentary enclaves within the felsic orthogneiss. This event is marked by a mig-
matitic banding (S1) which is inferred to be associated with M1 metamorphic event
that is dated to be *1650 Ma (Fig. 4a) (Sanyal and Sengupta 2012; Mukherjee
et al. 2017a; Dey et al. under review a; Dey et al. under review, b). The next major
deformational event (D2) is manifested by the development of S2 foliations within
the felsic orthogneisses and transposition of S1 within the metasedimentary
enclaves. The D2 is associated with *1000–950 Ma old granulite facies meta-
morphism (M2) (Fig. 4c), especially from the eastern margin of the terrane (Maji
et al. 2008; Karmakar et al. 2011; Mukherjee et al. 2017a; Dey et al. under review a;
Dey et al. under review, b). Folding of the late intrusives (mafic dykes in the
northeastern part and nepheline syenite in the southern part), along with the S2 of
the host felsic orthogneisses, depicts the third major deformational event (D3).
There is no detail information on the age of emplacement of the mafic dykes and
subsequent D3 deformation. The EITZ and with its characteristic asymmetrical
folds, N-NNE trending planar fabric and high pressure metamorphism appear to be
coeval with the D3-M3 tectonothermal event (Fig. 4f). Similar shear-related folds
also reported by Mukherjee et al. (2015b) and Mukherjee (submitted manuscript).
4.2 Evaluation of Shear Zones
Several prominent crustal-scale shear zones cross through the CGGC. The
‘Tamar-Porapahar-Khatra’ shear zone is the southernmost lineament affecting the
Proterozoic gneissic rocks of CGGC and separating it from the low grade meta-
morphites of North Singhbhum Fold Belt (NSFB). This ENE-WSW trending
150 km long shear zone passes through the south of the Purulia town (West Bengal)
and also known as ‘South Purulia Shear Zone’ (SPSZ). *150 km long, the ‘North
Purulia Shear Zone (NPSZ) is another prominent E-W to NE-SW trending linea-
ment that affects the CGGC rocks occurring north of Purulia.
Approximately 150 km long arcuate shear zone which is referred to as the South
Purulia Shear Zone (SPSZ: Mazumdar 1988), or Northern Shear Zone (NSZ: Kumar
et al. 1978), or Tamar-Porapahar-Khatra Fault Zone (TPKF: Mahadevan 2002), is a
crustal-scale ENE-WSW trending brittle-ductile shear zone that marks the southern
margin of the CGGC and separates the terrain from the low to medium grade
meta-sedimentary and meta-igneous rocks of the North Singhbhum Fold Belt
(Fig. 2a; Mahadevan 1992; Acharyya et al. 2006; Mahato et al. 2008; Sanyal and
Sengupta 2012). This shear zone has been extensively deformed during several
tectonothermal events (Bhattacharyya et al. 1992; Sengupta et al. 2005) and represents
an ensemble of a nepheline-bearing syenite, tuffaceous rocks, tourmalinite, carbon-
atite, apatite bearing rocks and granitoids altered hydrothermally (Banerji 1985; Basu
1993; Acharyya et al. 2006; Chattopadhyay et al. 2015a). Abundance of carbonatite
and alkaline connotes crustal rifting (Acharyya et al. 2006; Chakrabarty and Sen
2010). Intrusion of the alkaline rocks at ca. 922 Ma, evident from the U–Pb zircon
geochronology (Reddy et al. 2009), constrains the timing of the extensional event,
which was followed by another tectonothermal event that deformed the
carbonatite-alkaline rocks forming DARCs (Deformed Alkaline Carbonatite Rocks)
(Chattopadhyay et al. 2015a). Economically viable apatite deposit, tuffaceous rocks
and Fe-ore are reported from the area (Banerji 1985).
The NPSZ is an E-W to ENE-WSW trending crustal-scale shear zone with a
prominent steep northerly dip traversing the metamorphites of CGGC. This lineament
passes through Jhalda-Jaypur in the west through Raghunathpur in the central part and
can be traced up to north of Murlu near Saltora (West Bengal) in the east (Baidya et al.
1989; Mahadevan 1992; Dasgupta et al. 2000; Som et al. 2007; Maji et al. 2008;
Goswami and Bhattacharyya 2010). The shear zone is best developed in the granitoids
where an early mylonitic fabric has developed in deep structural level in amphibolite
facies condition. The crystal plastic deformation of quartz and feldspar indicates the
temperature *650–700 °C during this early ductile deformation (Vernon 2004).
The NPSZ has the signatures of protracted period of ductile deformation where the
early shear foliation folded. Later stage of brittle deformation has affected the early
mylonitic fabric of the NPSZ. Discrete bodies of nepheline syenite is found to be
emplaced along this crustal lineament near Kankarkiari–Kusumda area near Saltora
(West Bengal) cross-cutting the gneissic fabric of felsic gneiss and khondalite and get
metamorphosed and deformed when NPSZ formed (Goswami and Bhattacharyya
2010; Das et al. 2017b). Das et al. (2017a) has also reported carbonatite in the central
part of NPSZ where apatite-Fe-oxide/hydroxide-silica bearing veins coexist with
alkali metasomatised granitoids. In the western part of NPSZ late stage pegmatite
veins within granite and calc-silicate rocks have been explored for Cs, Li and other
rare elements (Som et al. 2007).
The Eastern Indian Tectonic Zone (EITZ), roughly N- to NNW trending
crustal-scale shear zone, is observed towards the eastern margin of the CGGC
(Fig. 2a) (Chatterjee et al. 2010). The shear fabric, manifested by asymmetric folds,
developed over the older lithounits and is traceable along CGGC, North Singhbhum
Fold Belt and Singhbhum Craton. Detailed petrological studies by Chatterjee et al.
(2010) have shown that the metamorphism associated with the development of the
shear zone culminated at *11–12 kbar and 800 °C. Monazite geochronology
constrains the timing of the of the tectonothermal event at ca. 870–780 Ma, which
agrees with the field observations that EITZ developed after the major tectonic
event at CGGC i.e. granulite grade metamorphism dated *950 Ma.
4.3 Extension of the CGGC
4.3.1 Northern Boundary of CGGC
Quaternary sediments of Gangetic alluvium cover the northern margin of the CGGC.
Further north, the Late Paleoproterozoic rocks of the Lower Lesser Himalaya occurs
interleaved with the Phanerozoic rocks (Mukherjee et al. 2013, 2015a; Mukherjee
2013, 2015). These units expose metamorphosed and unmetamorphosed sedimen-
tary sequence and granitic plutons of age *1900–1700 Ma (Fig. 5). Geochemical
signatures of the granitoids point towards their emplacement in a continental arc
setting (Kohn et al. 2010) existing along the northern boundary of India at that time.
Detrital zircon populations of the sedimentary units are characterized by
Paleoproterozoic–Late Archean ages (2.6–1.8 Ga), with no younger population
(Richards et al. 2005). According to Richards et al.(2005) “Detrital zircon ages are
younger than their respective Hf-isotope derived crustal formation ages by 0.7–
2.1 Ga, indicating that the source regions of the detrital zircons consisted of older
terranes with considerable amounts of reworking and renewed magmatism”. Many
workers have suggested that these Proterozoic rocks of the Lesser Himalaya con-
stitute the remnants of the Greater Indian Landmass, subducted below the
Himalayan orogenic belt (DeCelles 2000). Petrological and limited geochronolog-
ical studies suggest that the Paleoproterozoic felsic orthogneisses exposed within the
quaternary alluvium towards the north of the CGGC resembles the basement
orthogneisses of the CGGC. Felsic magmatism in the northern part of the CGGC,
near Bathani, shows enrichment of Th, U, and Pb over Nb, Ta and Ti which cor-
roborates with the geochemical characters of the Paleoproterozoic granitoids of the
lower Lesser Himalaya. Elevated magmatic temperature, derived from the zircon
saturation thermometry and predominance of crustal source also poses the possibility
that the Paleoproterozoic basement orthogneisses presumably continued beneath the

Gangetic alluvium to the lower Lesser Himalaya.
4.3.2 Western Boundary of CGGC
The Mohakoshal Belt (MB) and the Sausar Mobile Belt (SMB) occur to the NW
and SW of CGGC respectively (Fig. 2a) and constitute the northern and the
southern structural blocks of Central Indian Tectonic Zone (CITZ) that sutures two
Achaean blocks: Bundelkhand at the north and Bastar at the south (Acharyya 2003;
Jain et al. 1991; Mishra et al. 2000; Radhakrishna and Naqvi 1986; Yedekar et al.
1990).
The Mahakoshal belt is composed of intercalated riftogenic volcano-sedimentary
successions (Roy and Prasad 2003 and the references therein), metamorphosed and
intruded with post-orogenic granitoids aging 1800–1700 Ma (Rb/Sr whole rock age
and U/Pb zircon age; Bora et al. 2013; Pandey et al. 1998; Sarkar 1998; Srivastava
et al. 2000). The sedimentary sequence was metamorphosed in low pressure–
medium temperature conditions in a possible back arc setting (Roy and Prasad
2003; Wani and Mondal 2016). On contrary, a recent study proposed that the
sediments were metamorphosed in moderate pressure–low temperature conditions
in a collisional setting followed by rapid exhumation (Deshmukh et al. 2017).
The Sausar Mobile Belt occurs at the southern margin of CITZ and is a collage
of different litho-tectonic components. The southern Bhandara-Balaghat granulite
(BBG) domain exposes enclaves of supracrustal and meta-igneous granulites
occurring within felsic gneisses. They have been metamorphosed under lower
crustal, ultra-high temperature (UHT) granulite facies conditions along a
counter-clockwise P–T path (Bhowmik 2006; Bhowmik et al. 2005) in a possible
back arc setting associated with emplacement of arc magma (Bhowmik et al. 2011).
Although early workers predicted an Archean–Early Paleoproterozoic age
(Bhowmik 2006; Bhowmik et al. 2005; Roy et al. 2006), precise U–Pb zircon and
texturally controlled monazite dating constrains the timing of this metamorphism
and magmatism at *1600 Ma (Bhandari et al. 2011; Bhowmik et al. 2011, 2014).
This event was followed by several events of granulite-amphibolite grade over-
printing (BasuSarbadhikari and Bhowmik 2008; Bhowmik et al. 2014) with a
terminal phase of metamorphism at *1400 Ma (Bhandari et al. 2011; Bhowmik
et al. 2011). The central Sausar Group of rocks deformed multiply and metamor-
phosed in greenschist to amphibolite facies during *1060–950 Ma in a collisional
orogeny (Bhowmik et al. 1999, 2011, 2012; Bhowmik and Roy 2003;
Chattopadhyay et al. 2015b; Pal and Bhowmik 1998) accompanied by felsic
magmatism (Chattopadhyay et al. 2015b; Pal and Bhowmik 1998). The northern
Ramakona-Katangi granulite (RKG) domain contains mafic, felsic and pelitic rocks
as rafts, which are metamorphosed in high pressure upper amphibolite to granulite
facies along a clockwise P–T path indicating a continent-continent collision
(Bhowmik and Roy 2003; Bhowmik and Spiering 2004) at 1040–950 Ma
(Bhowmik et al. 2012). This was followed by emplacement of post-orogenic
Fig. 5 Timing of magmatic and metamorphic events in different Proterozoic mobile belts of India, c
Lower Lesser Himalaya and east Antarctica. Age scale changes at 1000 Ma. References: CITZ
(Central Indian Tectonic Zone): Bhandari et al. (2011), Bora et al. (2013), Bhowmik et al.
(2005), Roy et al. (2006), Panigrahi et al. (2004), Deshmukh et al. (2017), Pandey et al. (1986b),
Bhowmik et al. (2011); Aravalli-Delhi Fold Belt: Kaur et al. (2009), (2011), (2017a, b); Buick
et al. (2006), Chatterjee et al. (2017), Deb et al. (2002), Biju-Sekhar et al. (2003), Pandit et al.
(2003), Bhowmik et al. (2010), Wiedenbeck et al. (1996), Dharma Rao et al. (2011, 2013),
Mukhopadhyay et al. (2000), Gupta et al. (1998), Sivaraman and Raval (1995); North
Singhbhum Fold Belt: Bhattacharya et al. (2015), Mahato et al. (2008), Rekha et al. (2011),
Ramakrishnan and Vaidyanadhan (2008), Roy et al. (2002); CGGC: Chatterjee et al. (2008),
Chatterjee and Ghose (2011), Karmakar et al. (2011), Rekha et al. (2011), Chatterjee et al. (2010),
Mallik et al. (1991), Ray Barman and Bishui (1994), Dey et al. (2017), Mukherjee et al. (2017a,
2018), Saikia et al. (2017), Sanyal et al. (2007); Lower Lesser Himalaya: Kohn et al. (2010),
Sakai et al. (2013), Larson et al. (2016), Chambers et al. (2008), Treloar and Rex (1990), Richards
et al. (2005), Miller et al. (2000), Célérier et al. (2009), DiPietro and Isachsen (2001), Yin et al.
(2010), Liao et al. (2008), Upreti et al. (2003), Decelles et al. (2000), Long et al. (2008), Daniel
et al. (2003); EGMB (Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt): Dobmeier and Simmat (2002), Simmat and
Raith (2008), Bose et al. (2011), Das et al. (2011), Upadhyay et al. (2006), Upadhyay and Raith
(2006), Sarkar and Schenk (2016), Das et al. (2017a, b, c), Rickers et al. (2001), Korhonen et al.
(2013), Krause et al. (2001), Dharma Rao et al. (2012), Mezger and Cosca (1999), Dobmeier and
Raith (2003), Henderson et al. (2014); SMGC (Shillong-Meghalaya Gneissic Complex): Kumar
et al. (2017), Chatterjee et al. (2007); East Antarctica: Kelly et al. (2002), Corvino et al. (2008),
Liu et al. (2013, 2017, 2009), Morrissey et al. (2015), Tsunogae et al. (2014, 2016), Owada et al.
(2003), Zhang et al. (2012b), Asami et al. (2002), Elburg et al. (2015), Goodge et al. (2008)
granites at *940 Ma derived from a Paleo-Proterozoic crustal source (Bhowmik

et al. 2012). Two suites of intrusive granite from Betul metamorphic belt, adjacent
to Sausar Mobile Belt, yield Rb–Sr whole rock-mineral ages of *1550 Ma and
*850 Ma (Roy and Prasad 2003).
Based on all these study (summarised in Fig. 4), the workers have concluded
that the CITZ indicates amalgamation of northern and southern Indian blocks and
formation of a proto-greater-Indian landmass since Paleo-Mesoproterozoic. The
Mahakoshal belt is a product of northward subduction or subduction to collisional
event prevailing in Early Paleoproterozoic along southern margin of Bundelkhand
craton (Deshmukh et al. 2017; Roy and Prasad 2003; Wani and Mondal 2016). The
southern Sausar Mobile Belt bears signature of arc setting resulting from probable
subduction of north Indian blocks under the Bastar craton in the Late
Paleoproterozoic (Bhandari et al. 2011; Bhowmik 2006; Bhowmik et al. 2005). It is
noteworthy that evidence of Neoproterozoic (*1050–950 Ma) collision, which is
widespread in the Sausar belt is yet to be recorded from the Mahakoshal belt. Based
on meagre data base Mesoproterozoic to Early Neoproterozoic tectonothermal
events that is recorded in the CGGC (D2-M2) has been correlated with the
tectonothermal events recorded in the Sausar mobile belt and the gneissic complex
of Shillong Meghalaya. (Acharyya 2003; Bhandari et al. 2011; Bhowmik et al.
2005, 2012). More detail studies are required to support (or reject) this proposition.
4.3.3 Eastern Margin
In the eastern margin, the CGGC is bordered by the Cenozoic sediments of Bengal basin
that ranges more than 200,000 km2 comprising the largest alluvium delta in the world
covering parts of West Bengal and Tripura and Bangladesh (Hossain et al. 2019).
Sedimentation occurred in the continental passive margin (pre-Oligocene) to a remnant
ocean basin (beginning of Miocene) (Alam et al. 2003). Basement rocks below the
Phanerozoic sedimentary cover compositionally ranges from tonalite, diorite to granite
(Ameen et al. 1998, 2007; Kabir et al. 2001; Hossain et al. 2007). U–Pb zircon
geochronology of basement rocks recovered from subcrop investigations near
Maddhapara, in the northeastern Bangladesh, reveals an intrusion ages of 1722 ± 6 Ma
from a tonalite suite (Ameen et al. 2007) and 1730 ± 11 Ma from a diorite suite
(Hossain et al. 2007). Limited geochemical data suggest ‘pre-plate collision’ affinity for
the tonalite and ‘syn-collisional’ affinity for granitic basements (Ameen et al. 2007)
whereas contemporaneous diorite are inferred to have a calc-alkaline origin associated
with a subduction zone settings (Hossain and Tsunogae 2014).
Towards the northeastern part of the Bengal basin, the Shillong-Meghalaya
Gneissic Complex (SMGC) comprises an ensemble of basement gneisses, meta-
morphosed to amphibolite-granulite grade, overlain by the Shillong Group of
sediments (Ahmed 1983; Nandy 2001). Different generations metamorphosed
granite and garnodiorites and porphyritic granitoids (Fig. 4), having a wide range of
isotopic age (ca. 1700–550 Ma), are reported from the terrane (Mazumdar 1976;
Ghosh et al. 1994; Bhattacharya and Ray Barman 2000; Ghosh et al. 2005; Kumar
et al. 2017). Lal et al. (1978) calculated P–T conditions of 750 °C and 5 kbar from
the metapelitic rocks near Sonapahar, eastern SMGC, whereas Chatterjee et al.
(2007) determined a higher P–T of 850 °C and 7.5 kbar associated with a
counter-clockwise P–T–t path. Chemical monazite dating constrains the age of
the metamorphism at *1596 ± 15 Ma whereas in the western part near
Garo-Goalpara, the dominant metamorphism is dated to be 500 ± 14 Ma
(Chatterjee et al. 2007). Mitra (1998) determined Pb–Pb ages of 1550–1530 Ma
from the detrital zircons from the supracrustals. In a recent publication Kumar et al.
(2017) documented that granitoids from Rongjeng and Guwahati (Assam) intruded
the Neo-Archean crust at 1778 ± 37 and 1630 ± 16 Ma respectively. Detailed
geochemical studies reveal dominant crustal source and intrusion of the granitoids
during syn-collisional settings.
Lithological and geochronological similarities indicate that the SMGC has been
a part of the Indian Shield (Evans 1964; Crawford 1974) or extension of CGGC
(Desikachar 1974; Chatterjee et al. 2007). Considering the distinct geochronolog-
ical similarity, it is also suggested that basement of the Bengal basin is the
extension of the Paleoproterozoic crust of CGGC and CITZ (Hossain et al. 2007;
Hossain and Tsunogae 2014). All these inferences further confirms the idea of
Paleoproterozoic crust o CGGC being extended up to SMGC as the Garo-Rajmahal
gap represents a shallow basement ridge (Desikachar 1974).
4.4 Southern Margin: North Singhbhum Fold Belt &

Singhbhum Craton
The contact between the Paleoproterozoic CGGC and Archean Singhbhum craton is
demarcated by the North Singhbhum Fold belt (NSFB), a 200 km long and 50 km
wide curvilinear orogenic belt. Extant geological information suggest that the NSFB
represents Proterozoic rift-related sedimentation along major suture zones (Sarkar
1982; Sarkar and Saha 1983; Gupta and Basu 2000; Sarkar 2000; Bhattacharya and
Mahapatra 2008; Bhattacharya et al. 2015). The Dalma Ophiolite Belt (DOB), an
ensemble of dominantly mafic- ultramafic rocks with minor felsic components
representing bimodal mafic-felsic volcanics, forms the most conspicuous part of
the NSFB. Geochemical evidences suggest that the magmatism occurred at
1619 ± 38 Ma (Rb–Sr whole rocks isochron age: Roy et al. 2002) under an exten-
sional regime, presumably in a back-arc like settings (Chakrabarti 1985; Bose et al.
1989). Metasedimentary rocks of the NSFB have been deformed-metamorphosed in
at least three tectonothermal events (Mahato et al. 2008) representing a greenschist
facies that grades into amphibolite facies at the contact of the CGGC (Bose 1954; Ray
and Gangopadhyay 1971; Mahato et al. 2008). Available geochronological study
from the southern part of the NSFB (S-NSFB) reveals that the metamorphism
occurred between 1.72 and 1.55 Ga in the southern part of the Dalma Volcanics
(Mahato et al. 2008; Chatterjee et al. 2010; Rekha et al. 2011). In the northern part
(N-NSFB) geochronological data are scarce and reveals an Early Neoproterozoic
tectonothermal event (*0.95 Ga; Rekha et al. 2011).
Discordant structural analyses, mismatching metamorphic grade and distinctly
different geochronological records suggest that Singhbhum Craton and CGGC
evolved separately in distant geological time and got amalgamated afterwards. The
contact between the Singhbhum Craton and the CGGC has been severely debated
and scarcity of geochronological and petrological data further blurs the nature and
the timing of the amalgamation and in this perspective the NSFB plays an important
role in the formation of the East Indian Shield (EIS). Several tectonic models have
been proposed to construct the evolutionary history of the EIS (Mahadevan 2002),
which mostly revolves around two major ideas: (1) subduction of the Singhbhum
Craton beneath the CGGC followed by collision between two continents (Sarkar
and Saha 1962, 1977; Sarkar 1982; Mahato et al. 2008; Rekha et al. 2011). and
(2) plume-driven basin formation accompanied by mafic magmatism and crustal
shortening (Mukhopadhyay 1990; Gupta and Basu 2000). Former model (Sarkar
and Saha 1962, 1977; Sarkar 1982; Mahato et al. 2008; Rekha et al. 2011) con-
siders the Singhbhum Craton and the CGGC as separate blocks that collided
together and the NSFB represented a milieu of arc magmatism, sedimentation and
obducted oceanic crust. Latter model indicates the presence of a unified crustal
section suggesting a prolonged connection between the Singhbhum Craton and the
CGGC where NSFB represented basin formed via incipient rifting. In a recent
publication Bhattacharya et al. (2015) argued that different sedimentary basins and
magmatic bodies in the NSFB did not evolve synchronously suggesting that the
juxtaposition of the CGGC and the Singhbhum Craton is not straight forwards and
warrants further geochronological and petrological investigations.
4.5 CGGC and the Proterozoic Supercontinental Cycles
4.5.1 Columbia Supercontinent
Late Paleoproterozoic history of the Earth has been largely influenced by the
presence of Columbia Supercontinent that was inferred to be amalgamated between
2.1 and 1.8 Ga (Rogers and Santosh 2009). However, several recent publications
argued for more prolonged amalgamation and placed the timing of final packing at
ca. 1450 Ma (Sarkar and Schenk 2016; Meert and Santosh 2017). The configuration
of the supercontinent is also debated owing to the scarcity of adequate petrological,
geochronological and paleomagnetic data. Abundance of Late Paleoproterozoic
magmatism and metamorphism (Figs. 5 and 6) and available paleomagnetic data
indicate that Indian plate played an important role during the formation of
Columbia supercontinent (Rogers and Santosh 2002; Zhao et al. 2002; Zhang et al.
2012a). Apart from its position in the supercontinent assembly, the configuration of
Greater Indian Landmass raised considerable debate as the timing of the CITZ,
through which different Archean-Early Paleoproterozoic cratons of India (Yedekar
et al. 1990; Acharyya 2003; Roy and Prasad 2003) amalgamated remained unclear.
Initial notion of a Late Paleoproterozoic-Mesoproterozoic (*1.8–1.5 Ga) suturing
(Acharyya 2003; Roy and Prasad 2003; Bhandari et al. 2011) has been challenged
by the proposition of Neoproterozoic (1.0–0.95 Ga) assembly of the CITZ
(Chattopadhyay and Khasdeo 2011; Bhowmik et al. 2012). However, high-grade
metamorphic events at ca. 1800–1600 Ma reported from the northern and southern
part of CITZ (Bhandari et al. 2011; Deshmukh et al. 2017) and arc magmatism at
ca. 1750 Ma (Bora et al. 2013) points towards an accretion orogen.
In the Ongle domain (Andhra Pradesh) of Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (EGMB)
arc magmatism occurred at 1750–1710 Ma, followed by an UHT metamorphism at
Fig. 6 Regional diagram summarizing Paleoproterozoic magmatic and metamorphic events in c

India and Antarctica. The schematic configuration is drawn after Dasgupta and Sengupta (2003).
The pressure–temperature trajectories of different domains are presented with their geochrono-
logical data using the following references: a. Bhowmik et al. (2005, 2014); b. Bhandari et al.
(2011); c. Chatterjee et al. (2007); d. Mahato et al. (2008); e. Dey et al. under review a; f. Sarkar
et al. (2014); g. Sengupta et al. (1999); h. Roy et al. (2005); i. Kelly et al. (2002); j. Halpin et al.
(2013); k. Halpin et al. (2013). Data for the magmatic events are collected from: Saikia et al.
(2017), Chatterjee and Ghose (2011), Treloar and Rex (1990), DiPietro and Isachsen (2001),
Zeitler et al. (1989), Miller et al. (2000), Singh et al. (1994), Richards et al. (2005), Chambers et al.
(2008), Célérier et al. (2009), Decelles et al. (2000), Kohn et al. (2010), Daniel et al. (2003), Long
et al. (2008), Yin et al. (2010), Mandal et al. (2016), Ameen et al. (2007), Hossain et al. (2007),
Bora et al. (2013), Bhowmik et al. (2011), Sarkar et al. (2015), Henderson et al. (2014), Kovach
et al. (2001), Kumar et al. (2017), Kaur et al. (2009, 2017a), Bhattacharya et al. (2015)
*1610 Ma (Sarkar and Schenk 2014; Sarkar et al. 2015). Calc-alkaline magmatism
of arc-affinity with intrusion age of 1791–1771 Ma is also reported from Vinjamuru
domain of the EGMB (Vadlamani et al. 2013). Paleoproterozoic (*1860–
1810 Ma) arc magmatism is also reported from Aravalli-Delhi Mobile Belt (Kaur
et al. 2009, 2017a).
Although geochronological data are scarce from the vast terrain of the CGGC,
Paleoproterozoic dates, corresponding to tectonothermal and magmatic events, are
reported from different parts of the terrain (Fig. 6). Dey et al. (2017) and Dey et al.
(under review, a) reported Late Paleoproterozoic (*1650 Ma) UHT metamorphism
from the northeastern part of the terrane and the inferred P–T path corroborate
with convergent margin settings. Saikia et al. (2017) reported Paleoproterozoic
volcano-sedimentary sequence from the northern part of the terrain and the asso-
ciated felsic magmatism (ca. 1750–1660 Ma) resembles an arc settings. Evidences
of such tectonothermal events from parts of CGGC indicate its involvement in the
formation of the Greater Indian landmass during the assembly of Columbia
supercontinent.
The Mesoproterozoic extensional events throughout the world, manifested by
rift-related magmatism, deemed to be linked with the breakdown of the super-
continent (Rogers and Santosh 2002). Contemporaneous rift-related magmatism,
manifested by several ferroan granite and alkaline batholiths (Vinukonda granite:
1589 Ma: Dobmeier et al. 2006; Elchuru alkaline rocks: 1442 ± 30 Ma; Upadhyay
et al. 2006; Errakonda and Uppalapadu alkaline rocks: 1352 ± 2 Ma; Vijaya
Kumar et al. 2007) has been widely reported from western margin of the Eastern
Ghats belt which reflect the extensional events. Despite their restricted occurrence,
extension-related Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1450 Ma) anorogenic granites have intru-
ded the Paleoproterozoic crust in the northeastern part of CGGC (Mukherjee et al.
2017a, 2018). The multiple tectonothermal events (*1.75–1.3 Ga) that are recor-
ded in the EGMB and CGGC are also recorded from the fragments of the erstwhile
Columbia Supercontinents (Australia: Hand et al. 2007; Cutts et al. 2013; East
Antarctica: Kelly et al. 2002; Halpin et al. 2007b; Namibia: Kroner et al. 2010;
Scotland : Friend and Kinny 2001). This observation points to the fact that the
Indian shield was a part of the Columbia supercontinent.
4.5.2 Rodinia Supercontinent
Configuration and position of the Greater Indian landmass during the formation of
Rodinia supercontinent remained highly debatable (e.g. Bhowmik et al. 2012).
Widely inferred notion places the Greater Indian landmass adjacent to Australia and
East Antarctica along the marginal part of the Rodinia supercontinent (Dalziel
1991; Hoffman 1991; Torsvik et al. 1996; Weil et al. 1998; Dasgupta and Sengupta
2003; Li et al. 2008). However, the view has been opposed by several workers
(Fitzsimons 2000; Powell et al. 2001; Torsvik et al. 2001; Powell and Pisarevsky
2002; Merdith et al. 2017) based on available Paleomagnetic data. Numerous
studies have shown that Early Neoproterozoic (ca. 1000–900 Ma) tectonothermal
events experienced by the EGMB and the Rayner Complex of East Antarctica are
very much similar, which lends the idea of the Greater Indian landmass being
connected to Antarctica (Dasgupta and Sengupta 2003). Neoproterozoic
tectonothermal events presented in this review is consistent with evolution of the
CGGC in a continent-continent collision zone (Chatterjee and Ghose 2011;
Karmakar et al. 2011; Sanyal and Sengupta 2012). The NSFB that is located to the
south of the CGGC does not record strong impress of *1000–950 Ma
tectonothermal event (reviewed in Chatterjee et al. 2010). The pervasive planar
fabric in most part of the CGGC is E-W (Mahadevan 2002). This feature and the
Fig. 7 Regional diagram summarizing pressure–temperature trajectories and the geochronolog-

ical data of different Neoproterozoic metamorphic events in India and Antarctica. The schematic
configuration is drawn after Dasgupta and Sengupta (2003). The other abbreviations are NC:
Napier complex, RC: Rayner Complex, ADFB: Aravalli Delhi Fld belt, BnC: Bundelkhand
Craton, CGGC: Chotanagpur Granite Gneissic Complex, SMGC: Shillong Meghalaya Gneissic
Complex, SC: Singhbhum Craton, NSFB: North Singhbhum Fold Belt, EGMB: Eastern Ghats
Mobile Belt, BC: Bastar Craton, SGT: Southern Granulite Terrain, CITZ: Central Indian Tectonic
Zone. The references are as follows: a. Dey et al. (under review; b). Mukherjee et al. (2017a); c.
Chatterjee et al. (2010); d. Karmakar et al. (2011); e. Bhowmik and Spiering (2004); Bhowmik
et al. (2012); f. Pal and Bhowmik (1998); Bhowmik et al. (2012); g. Bhowmik et al. (2010); h.
Bhowmik et al. (2009); i. Saha et al. (2008); j. Bose et al. (2017); k. Das et al. (2011), Das et al.
(2017c); l. Bose et al. (2016); m. Chattopadhyay et al. (2015a); n. Halpin et al. (2005, 2007b,
2013); Kelly et al. (2002); Kelly and Harley (2004); o. Halpin et al. (2007b); p. Halpin et al.
(2007a)
structural attributes supporting that the NSFB is overridden by the CGGC (re-
viewed in Mahadevan 2002). This deduction by implication points to the fact that
the overthrusted unit possibly came from the north. The CGGC is surrounded by
Phanerozoic sedimentary cover on its three sides (Fig. 2a). For this reason the
nature of northern continent could not be studied.
Grenvillian tectonothermal events similar to CGGC are also recorded from the
EGMB and the entire Rayner Complex of east Antarctica (reviewed in Mukherjee
et al. 2017a; Li et al. 2008). Neoproterozoic clockwise P–T paths recovered from
different parts of the CITZ further corroborates the reworking of the
Paleoproterozoic mobile belts of India and amalgamation of the Greater Indian
landmass (Fig. 7). However, geochronological studies have shown that although
most of the cratons were amalgamated by *1000 Ma, India was not attached to the
supercontinent assembly until * 950 to 900 Ma (Li et al. 2008).
Timing of the break-up of Rodinia supercontinent has been controversial and
mostly placed at ca. 825 Ma, as manifested by widespread plume-related mag-
matism throughout the world (reviewed in Li et al. 2008). However, late
Tonian-Cryogenian (ca. 900–800 Ma) subduction-related magmatic activity has
been reported from different peripheral parts of Rodinia (reviewed in Cawood et al.
2016). Post Grenvillian (<950 Ma) tectonothermal activity, reported from different
parts of the CGGC, EGMB and East Antarctica suggest that the final assembly and
breakup of the Rodinia was prolonged in these parts. Contemporaneous (ca. 870–
780 Ma) high grade metamorphism event and shearing associated with the devel-
opment of EITZ further poses the possibility that fragmentation of amalgamated
East Antarctica and Greater Indian landmass did not initiate until ca. 780 Ma
(Chatterjee et al. 2010).
5 The CGGC: Future Prospects
(A) Intra- and inter domain correlation of the magmatic, metamorphic and tectonic
history is of paramount importance to understand the evolution of the CGGC.
As mentioned above, the present data base are meagre (and imprecise too) to do
this correlation. Strain patterns can change with space and metamorphic
intensity may vary from place to place. Consequently, geometry of structure
and estimated P–T values may vary from place to place. This may lead to a
wrong interpretation about the tectonic evolution of the CGGC. It is not clear if
the contrasting metamorphic and structural information that are reported from
different parts of the CGGC reflects imprecision of the data base or they are
indicative of special/temporal variation of strain pattern and metamorphic
intensity. This problem can be approached by the following ways:
(i) combined petrological and structural studied along continuous segments

of the CGGC
(ii) Precise dating of metamorphic and structural events. This can also help
correlate the geological events over a large area.
(B) Studies in the light of modern petrology and geochronology are published
mostly from the Domain I of the CGGC. The other two domains viz. Domain II
and III are least studied. *1700 to 1650 Ma old supracrustal rocks (in the
jacket of low grade metamorphism) of the Domain II and III cannot be traced
south of the BMB. Though similar sedimentation age (1700–1680 Ma) has
been reported for some metapelitic enclaves from Domain I, it is not clear if the
sedimentary protoliths of the metapelites (Domain I) are temporally and spa-
tially linked to the supracrustal rocks of the Domain II and III of the CGGC.
Basement of the low grade supracrustal rocks of Domain II and III are also not
well studied. It is also not clear if the basement of the low-grade supracrustal
rocks continued further south. The *1000–850 Ma metamorphic events that
are preponderant in Domain I are absent in Domain II-III. These contrasts in
geology and geochronology raise the following questions:
(i) Do Domain II and III constitute a different crustal block that was sutured
to Domain I after 850 Ma?
(ii) Is the oldest basement of all the three domains are same and that the
Grenvillian front runs south of the BMB?
(C) Several workers (Chatterjee and Ghose 2011; Saikia et al. 2017) argued that the
litho ensemble that are now exposed in Domains II and III form eastward
extension of the Paleoproterozoic Mahakoshal Group of Central Indian
Tectonic Zone (CITZ) where such rocks are abundantly found. If this be the
case then only the Domain I should represent the CGGC. Detail petrological
and geochronological information including delineation of the oldest compo-
nents from the basement rocks of Domains II and III are likely to validate (or
discard) the proposition.
(D) Studies have shown that nepheline syenite and carbonatite signifies crustal
extension that are related to breakdown of supercontinental cycle (Upadhyay
and Raith 2006). These rocks are present in NPSZ and SPSZ. It has been
mentioned before in Sects. 3.1 and 4.2 that the alkaline rocks and carbonatite
rocks are deformed and metamorphosed (DARC, Burke et al. 2003). Several
studies have shown that DARCs represent opening and closing stage of the
Wilson cycle of plate tectonics. Detail petrogenesis and geochronology of the
DARCs may provide valuable information on the evolution of the CGGC.
(E) The extent of the *1650 Ma old UHT metamorphism as has been documented
from the NW part of the Domain I should be evaluated through rigorous studies
in other parts of Domain I.
(F) A few reports (cf. Misra and Dey 2002) show intrusion of voluminous hot
granitic magma (*1000 °C) within low grade supracrustal rocks in the BMB.
Though heat rendering capacity of felsic magmas are certainly lower than those
of basaltic compositions, yet some contact effects are expected in view of the
large volume of the felsic magma in the BMB.
(G) Felsic orthogneisses constitute the major component of the Domain I. Existing
petrological and geochronological information is available from a few scattered
areas. It is not clear if the magmatic protoliths of the entire felsic orthogneisses
were emplaced within a short time during crustal extension (Mukherjee et al.
2018). Or else, different pulses of felsic magmatism were emplaced in diverse
tectonic setting over a protracted period of time.
(H) The relation between the CGGC (Domain I) and the NSFB require to be studied
in great detail. In view of the last high grade event at 1000–950 Ma in Domain I
and its absence in NSFB, suturing of the two unit during Paleo-
Mesoproterozoic time seems implausible. Timing and mechanism of juxtapo-
sition between CGGC and NSFB are to be studied.
Acknowledgements S.M. and A.D. acknowledge the financial support in the form of research
fellowships from the University Grant Commission, New Delhi and Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, New Delhi respectively. P.S. and S.S. acknowledge the grants received from
the programs awarded to the Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University: University
Potential for Excellence (UPE-Phase II), Promotion of University Research and Scientific
Excellence and Fund for Improvement of Science and Technology (FIST-Phase II) from
Department of Science and Technology and Center of Advance Studies (CAS-phase VI).We
express our sincere thanks to Soumyajit Mukherjee for providing very constructive detailed
review. Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this work.
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Geomorphic Characteristics
and Morphologic Dating of the Allah
Bund Fault Scarp, Great Rann
of Kachchh, Western India

Mohammedharoon Shaikh, Abhishek Kumar,
Naimisha Vanik and L. S. Chamyal
1 Introduction
The 16 June 1819 Allah Bund earthquake is the largest known earthquake in
western India that produced spectacular geomorphological changes in its epicentral
area in the Great Rann of Kachchh (Lyell 1855). The earthquake though not
instrumentally recorded, is described in several historical accounts (MacMurdo
1824; Baker 1846; Wynne 1872; Oldham 1926). The earthquake produced
*90 km long E-W trending and south facing low fault scarp to its north, blocking
the distributary of the Indus river that flowed through the Kori creek into the
Arabian sea and caused subsidence of the area around Sindri, which was submerged
by a local tsunami. The scarp is located in the logistically challenging and largely
inaccessible saline terrain of Great Rann, which shows peculiar geomorphic char-
acters (Roy and Merh 1982; Merh 2005). This is the most likely reason for the fact
that very few field-based studies have been carried out on the Allah Bund Fault
scarp (Rajendran and Rajendran 2001; Thakkar et al. 2012). The Great Rann is a
tectonically formed basin bounded by the Kachchh Mainland Fault (KMF) in the
south and the Nagar Parkar Fault (NPF) in the north (Biswas 1987). Towards the
west the basin opens up to the Arabian Sea and the Indus delta region. The basin
formed a major sink for sediments during Pleistocene-Holocene that are dominantly
fine-grained (clayey silt to silty clay) and presumably sourced from the Himalaya
The original version of this chapter was revised: Missed out author corrections in figure captions
have been incorporated. The correction to this chapter is available at
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99341-6_18
A. Padmalal N. Khonde D. M. Maurya (&) M. Shaikh

A. Kumar N. Vanik L. S. Chamyal
Department of Geology, The M. S. University of Baroda,
Vadodara 390002, Gujarat, India
e-mail: dmmaurya@yahoo.com

56 A. Padmalal et al.
through the now extinct Vedic Saraswati river and the Indus delta and deposited in
shallow marine marginal gulf environment (Valdiya 2002; Maurya et al. 2013;
Khonde et al. 2017a, b). In this article, we describe the geomorphological charac-
teristics along the Allah Bund Fault scarp in detail and demonstrate the application of
morphological dating technique to determine the age of the scarp. We begin with a
detailed description of the enigmatic landscape characteristics of the Great Rann to
understand the geomorphic setting and evolution of the Allah Bund Fault scarp.
2 Great Rann of Kachchh
The major geomorphic components of the Great Rann are the almost flat and
hyper-saline surface, hereafter described as the Rann surface, several islands
(locally called ‘bet’) of different shapes and sizes and the * E-W Allah Bund scarp
(Fig. 2). Part of the extensive Rann surface is salt-encrusted while the remainder is
free of salt crust though the sediments are inherently saline. The most overbearing
part of the Rann is the flatness of the Rann surface that lies 2–6 m amsl. The Rann
surface consists of several large to small islands that remain above the submergence
level. There are several smaller islands rising up to 1–10 m above the Rann surface,
especially in the northern part of the Great Rann and consist of sediments resem-
bling the Rann surface raised to a higher level (Khonde et al. 2013). The top cover
of these islands is usually made up of 1–2 m thick aeolian sediment blown from the
wind-swept Rann surface.
The major factor responsible for the unique present day environmental condi-
tions of the Rann surface is its periodic submergence by sea water and annual
monsoon precipitation. The flat Rann surface and the negligible westward gradient
allows extensive inundation by sea water from the Arabian sea in the west and by
river waters from the northeast and south during the monsoon season (Glennie and
Evans 1976; Roy and Merh 1982). The submergence pattern of the Rann surface is
however not uniform as it shows very small variations in elevation which has
resulted in variable geomorphic characteristics. The Great Rann is therefore geo-
morphologically divisible into four geomorphic units (Fig. 2 and 3) the Banni plain,
Supra tidal salt flat, Inland saline flat and the Bet zone. Owing to imperceptible
gradient, the boundaries between the various geomorphic units are gradational.
2.1 The Banni Plain
The Banni plain is a vast flat terrain, highly vegetated with thorny shrubs and
grasses, and extending from the mainland Kachchh in the south and the Pachham
island in the north (Fig. 1a). It is a distinct geomorphic surface of the Great Rann
that occurs at the highest elevation and is consequently completely free of present
day marine influence (Figs. 2, 3 and 4a). The entire terrain of the Banni plain is
regarded as a vast raised mudflat (Kar 1995) that coincides with the subsurface
Geomorphic Characteristics and Morphologic Dating … 57
Fig. 1 a Digital elevation model (DEM) of Kachchh region prepared from SRTM data (http://
srtm.csi.cgiar.org). DEM prepared by Patidar (2010). Inset-Location map. b Digital Elevation
Model (DEM) of Allah Bund Fault Scarp prepared from SRTM data (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org)
showing the various geomorphological characteristics. Profile location indicated is for profiles
given in Fig. 8
Median High. Based on variations in elevation, Kar (1995) has divided the Banni
plain into three sub-units-high level mudflat, an undifferentiated and sloping low
level mudflat and a residual depression.
2.2 Supra Tidal Salt Flat
This is a vast but linear and narrow E-W trending low lying zone with several
centimeters thick salt crust between the Banni plain in the south and the Bet zone to
the north (Fig. 2 and 4b–d). This zone occurs at the lowest elevation (*2 m) in the
west and gradually rises to *4 m towards east. Being at the lowest elevation, this
zone forms the main pathway through which the saline waters of the Arabian sea in
the west enter and spread out (Roy and Merh 1982) submerging about two-thirds of
the Rann surface to varying degrees depending upon the volume/magnitude of the
Fig. 2 Satellite image of Great Rann of Kachchh basin showing the variations in surface
morphology. The image shows the completely dry Rann surface as it appeared in the extreme arid
season in May, 2003. Source www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov. The geomorphological divisions of
the Great Rann (1–4) are also indicated. 1-Banni plain, 2-Supra tidal salt flat, 3-Inland saline flats
and 4-Bet zone. (Pa-Pachham island, Kh-Khadir island, Be-Bela island, Ch-Chorar island)
Fig. 3 N-S topographic profile across the Great Rann basin showing the geomorphic divisions.
Vertical scale is highly exaggerated. The elevation data is based on the SOI topographical maps
(survey years-1960–66)
Fig. 4 a Photograph showing the typical nature of the surface of the Banni plain. Sand storms as c
seen in the picture are a common sight during the peak summers. b Photograph showing the
typical extensive flat surface of the supra tidal salt flat. The salt crust is the result of regular marine
inundation of the surface. c Close view of the large polygonal cracks in the salt crust. d Photograph
showing the thickness (*10 cm) of the salt crust. e View of the Inland saline flat to the north of
Bela island. The scarp in the background marks the geomorphic expression of the Island Belt Fault
(IBF). f View of the typical salt crust free surface of the Bet zone. g Northward view of the
developing gullies in the northern most part of the Bet zone. The northward upslope nature of the
surface is also clearly visible. h Surface of the Bet zone covered with numerous bivalve shells
which thrive during periods of submergence
ingression resulting in a thick salt crust (Fig. 4d). Evaporation to dryness results in
several centimeteres thick, residual salt crusts, which characterize the surface of the
supra tidal salt flats (Fig. 4b–d).
2.3 Inland Saline Flat
This zone comprises the easternmost part of the Great Rann (Fig. 2 and 4e) that is
not influenced by marine submergence, but is inundated by monsoon precipitation
and by the rivers from the east and north. The elevation rises towards the margins of
the zone, giving it a shallow bowl like morphology and comprise inherently saline
Rann sediments (Roy and Merh 1982).
2.4 The Bet Zone
It comprises the flat Rann surface in the northwestern part of the Great Rann shows
several bets occurring few metres above the Rann surface (Fig. 4f–h). The Bet zone
is delimited by the Kuar and Bedia bets in the east and the supra tidal salt flat in the
south (Fig. 2). In addition to the bets with well defined margins, several elevated
parts within the Rann surface also exist which gradually rise above the Rann
surface. Many of these are comparable to the bets in terms of their size. Their
surfaces comprise aeolian sediments and generally support small vegetation like
scrubs and grasses of various size. Morphologically, the shapes of all bets and
almost all elevated tracts described above are elongated in N-S direction, which, on
a map gives the misleading impression of wide N-S trending channels separated by
bets. However, these are not ‘channels’ in any sense as they are basically flat Rann
surfaces several tens of kilometers wide comprising the inter-bet regions (Khonde
et al. 2013). The surface of the Bet zone shows a very gradual northward slope
away from the Allah Bund scarp which testifies to the uplift along the ABF (Fig. 3).
The western part of the Bet zone i.e. the area around Vigukot and further west
shows submergence characteristics which is slightly different from the rest of the
Bet zone and the Great Rann (Khonde et al. 2013). The 1819 Allah Bund earth-
quake caused drastic geomorphological changes along with subsequent flooding
events of the now defunct distributary of Indus River (Burnes 1835; Oldham 1926;
Bilham 1998). The now disconnected distributary of Indus—the Nara river/Pooran
flowed into this region and joined Arabian sea through the Kori creek in the south
before the earthquake. This part therefore formed the eastern margin of the Indus
Delta till the 1819 earthquake changed the morphology of the area. Presently also,
the region to the west and SW of Vigukot is prone to flooding frequently by river
floods from the north and relatively less frequently by sea water influx from the
south. In addition numerous small shallow (*0.5 m deep) channels of uncertain
affinity also exist. Overall, the role of rivers is evidently more pronounced in the
western most part than the rest of the Bet zone. Contrary to the rest of the Great
Rann, the Bet zone shows wide variation in elevation due to the presence of bets
and is characterized by several seasonal short distance channels, pools i.e. local
depressions and elevated surfaces (Khonde et al. 2013).
The E-W trending intrabasinal structural features within the Great Rann like the
Island Belt Fault (IBF), the Allah Bund Fault (ABF) and the subsurface Banni faults
correlate remarkably with the geomorphic divisions described above. A critical
evaluation of the elevation differences of the various geomorphic divisions of the
Great Rann shows a strong correlation with the above mentioned regional structural
elements worked out by Biswas (1987, 1993). All geomorphological units of the
Great Rann show prominent structural control (Maurya et al. 2013). The Banni
plain astrides the subsurface Median High, while the supra tidal salt flat and the
inner saline flats occupy a structural depression to the north of the subsurface
Bhirandiyala high and the Island Belt Fault (IBF). The supra tidal flats extends into
a depression to the south of the island belt between the Pachchh and Khadir islands,
the Wagad highland to the east and the mainland in the south. The Bet zone occurs
on the upthrown northern block of the roughly E-W trending Allah Bund Fault.
Based on the distinct geomorphic divisions attributed to variable submergence
pattern and their correlation with structural elements, it is inferred that the emer-
gence of the Rann surface may have occurred gradually due to differential tectonic
activity along the various subsurface intrabsinal faults in the recent past, which
formed the morphologic units viz. the Banni plain, the Bet zone and the supra tidal
salt flat (Maurya et al. 2013, 2016). The Banni plain astrides the subsurface Median
high and is separated from the remainder of the Rann basin by the Banni Fault to
the north (Biswas 1974). Similarly, the Bet zone is delimited by the Allah Bund
Fault to its south (Roy and Merh 1982). The close association of these units with
faults suggest differential tectonic activity along subsurface faults within the Great
Rann basin may have played a major role in the emergence of various morphologic
units at different times (Maurya et al. 2013). Based on elevation and present day
submergence characteristics, the Banni plain appears to be the first to emerge
followed by the Bet zone, the inner saline flat and the supra tidal salt flat, which still
gets submerged by marine waters regularly.
3 The 1819 Allah Bund Earthquake
The 16 June, 1819 Allah Bund earthquake is considered as a major intraplate

earthquake event (Johnston 1989) which produced remarkable surface deformation
in the Great Rann of Kachchh. The shocks were felt almost all over the Indian
subcontinent (MacMurdo 1824). The event is specifically well known for the
extensive destruction and ground deformation. The event that killed 1543 inhabitant
was estimated to be of intensity of XI (Oldham 1926). Intense damage was reported
from all over Kachchh including Bhuj and Anjar towns. Far away cities such as
Ahmadabad also suffered damage to buildings and monuments. Based on the
intensity report, Gutenberg and Richer (1954) assigned a magnitude of 8.4 to the
event. Later on Chandra (1977) and Johnston and Kanter (1990) estimated the
magnitude to be 7.8 and epicenter on 23.6° N and 69.6° E, while Quittmeyer and
Jacob (1979) estimated the epicenter at 24° N and 69° E. According to Bilham
(1998), the 1819 event was a near the surface (0–10 km depth) reverse-slip rupture
on a 90-km-long, 50° to 70° N-dipping fault plane which matches the measured
elevation changes from the event. To et al. (2004) estimated a 50-km-long rupture
dipping 45 to the north with 3–8 m slip.
Prior to the 1819 earthquake, the region was a flourishing trade route extending
northward into Sind through Kori creek and the distributary of the Indus (Grindlay
1808). The Sindri fort was a major halting point and a revenue collection centre
along this route. Extensive surface effects resulting due to the 1819 earthquake have
been documented in several historical records (MacMurdo 1824; Baker 1846;
Wynne 1872; Oldham 1926; Frere 1870. A detailed review of historical accounts
for this earthquake is available in Bilham (1998). The earthquake produced an
astonishing variety of surface effects that includes vertical movements of the
ground, flooding of regions near sea level, widespread liquefaction, and a local
tsunami and the complete damming of a distributary of the Indus river. Two sig-
nificant changes occurred in the region around Sindri fort at the western part of
Great Rann. The foundation of fort and surrounding Rann surface subsided by more
than 1 m and the region 7 km north of fort got elevated to 3–6 m, shutting out
northward navigation into the Sind province due to blocking of the distributary of
Indus river. The northern region (the present Bet zone) was uplifted forming a
10–15 ft high south facing scarp which caused the complete damming of the river.
The natural dam so formed was named by local people as the Allah Bund (dam of
God). The scarp presently marks the sharp boundary between the Bet zone in the
north and the active tidal flats of Kori creek and the Bet zone Notably all the above
surface changes documented in the available historical records are from the western
part of the Great Rann of Kachchh. However, it is also mentioned that several
temporarily active rivers with subsequent sand venting caused transient flooding of
major part of Rann surface (Baker 1846; Oldham 1926).
4 Nature and Morphology of Allah Bund Fault Scarp
The Allah Bund Fault scarp is an elongated steeply dipping south facing scarp
bordered on the south by the salt encrusted surface of Rann. The Bet zone com-
prises the flat Rann surface in the northwestern part of the Great Rann shows
several bets occurring few metres above the Rann surface. The Bet zone is
delimited by the Kuar and Bedia bets in the east and the supra tidal salt flat in the
south. To the north lie the sand ridges of Sind (Pakistan). Towards the west, the Bet
zone imperceptibly merges with the Indus delta. Historical documents suggest that
the south facing fault scarp was produced during the 1819 earthquake, causing
uplift of the northern part of the Great Rann (Burnes 1835; Oldham 1926),
Fig. 5 Topographic profile drawn over the crest of the Allah Bund scarp. The supra tidal salt flat
surface is also shown to indicate the height of the scarp. Vertical scale is highly exaggerated. The
elevation data is based on the Survey of India topographical maps (survey years-1960–66)
which corresponds with the present day Bet zone. The scarp trends E-W and
laterally extends for *90 kms (Oldham 1926). However, presently the scarp is
visibly identifiable for about *60 kms length in the western and central part of the
extension as per Oldham (1926). In the westernmost part, the scarp rises gently
northward rise of the ground above the intertidal flats of the Kori creek (Figs. 5 and
6). Further east, the scarp gains elevation and therefore is more distinctly identi-
fiable (Fig. 5). The scarp height continues to increase eastward with the highest
elevation recorded *4–5 m from the supra tidal salt flat in the central part (Figs. 5
and 6). Beyond this the scarp again gradually reduces in height and finally disap-
pears in the flatness of the Rann surface to the southeast of Shakti bet. As per
Oldham (1926), the scarp continued eastward where it is presumably represented by
the southern cliffy margins of the Gainda bet, Mori bet and the Kuar bet. Sediments
of the bund consist of thinly laminated alternate layers of dark brown silt and clays
encrusted with salt and ferruginous tubules; these differ from the land-derived
fluvial bet sediments that impinge against the bund in the north (Rajendran and
Rajendran 2001).
At places, the height of the scarp is accentuated by the deposition of 1–2 m thick
wind-blown saline silty sediments. This especially observed in the central part
where the scarp attains highest elevation. A major significant characteristic that
defines the scarp as an erosional scarp is its deeply gullied nature (Thakkar et al.
2012). The gullies are 1–3 m deep and usually form a dendritic pattern over the
crest of the scarp. Another significant characteristic feature of the scarp is the
subvertical northward face of the scarp surface, which finally merges with the flat
Rann surface. The northward slope developed over the scarp is attributed to the
back tilting of the Rann surface due to upliftment along the scarp. The backtilting
being subtle is not recognisable in the field at many places as the elevation drop is
marginal (1–2 m) that occurs over the distance of few kilometers (Fig. 6). The back
tilted surface over the scarp suggests that the scarp is tectonically formed and is in
sharp contrast to the flat surface of the Great Rann.
Fig. 6 Topographic cross sections drawn across the E-W trending Allah Bund scarp. The top
profile is from the western extremity while the bottom one is from the eastern extremity of the
scarp. Vertical scale is highly exaggerated. The elevation data is based on the SOI topographical
maps (survey years-1960–66)
5 Morphological Dating of the Allah Bund Fault Scarp
Numerical dating methods have opened a way for estimation of age of geomor-
phological features such as fault scarps and river terraces (Wallace 1977). This
method has been successfully used in determining the age of the fault scarps in
Southern Arava, Israel (Enzel et al. 1994), West Yellowstone, Montana (Nash
1984), Lost River fault in Custer County, Idaho (Hank and Schwartz 1987),
and terrace risers in Rhine Graben (Niviere and Marquis 2000). In tectonically
active areas, this method characterizes the degradation of a geomorphic marker
based on rate of vertical movement and erosion (Carretier et al. 2002). The evo-
lution of a cohesionless slope through time can be evaluated quantitatively by
assuming that sediment transport is a diffusion process (Colman and Watson 1983).
Generally, the word diffusion describes how chemicals in solution move from areas
of high concentration to areas of low concentration, and how heat moves from areas
of high temperature to areas of low temperature. The sediment diffusion indicates
the gravity transport of sediment from an area of high elevation (the top of the
slope) toward an area of low elevation (the base of the slope). Without fresh uplift
or down cutting, diffusion tends to make slopes smoother and less steep temporally.
Scarp evolution is controlled by climate and several other geological factors.
Measure of age dependent parameters such as maximum scarp slope or the cur-
vature of crest will point towards the age (Wallace 1977). Under conditions in
which the transport efficiency is uniform and the flux is dictated linearly by the local
slope, the combination of the mass flux and mass conservation equations results in
the diffusion equation (Colman and Watson 1983).
d2 1
jt ¼ ðColman and Watson 1983Þ ð1Þ
4p ðtan h tan aÞ2 ;
This solution and model (Eq. 1) is applied as discussed in Colman and Watson
(1983) is applied to determine the morphological age of the Allah Bund Fault
scarp. The parameters applied (Fig. 7) in the equation are given in Table 1.
Over a time, the morphology of a scarp is altered by gravitational and slope
processes (Enzel et al. 1994). For the most part of this time, it follows geomorphic
process of slope modification i.e. mass wasting and wash processes (Summerfield
1991). Fault scarps that cut unconsolidated sediment or soil are very promising for
Fig. 7 Schematic model of a fault scarp showing the various input parameters to be measured for
the solving the diffusion equation (after Colman and Watson 1983)
Table 1 Details of Parameter Explanation Unit

parameters utilized in solving
diffusion equation (after j Diffusivity m2/year
Colman and Watson 1983) t Time Years
d Vertical displacement on a scarp Meters
P Pi = 3.14159 None
h Maximum scarp slope angle Degree
a Average far field slope Degree
diffusion modeling as they form instantly and then systematically degrade. In

practice, several criteria must be met for a solution to be possible (Colman and
Watson 1983):
(A) The scarp must be transport-limited.
(B) After the formation of scarp, it must degrade under constant conditions.
(C) Overall landscape level and constant scarp base level should be maintained.
(D) The scarp must have formed in a single rupture event.
Therefore, it is apparent that selecting an ideal value for the diffusivity constant
or rate constant (j) is the key aspect of morphologic dating of fault scarp. Several
studies of morphologic dating in arid regions have implied lower values of j and
vice versa (Begin 1992). Altogether j value should be a constant, which satisfies
these slope degradation parameters.
5.1 Morphological Dating Parameters and Site Selection
For applying morphologic dating technique to the Allah Bund Fault scarp, it is
essential to appreciate its peculiar climato-geomorphic setting. The Kachchh basin
is located in the hyper-arid zone of western India that includes the Thar desert to its
north. The region consequently receives very little rainfall during the monsoon
season. This is testified by the rocky topography of other parts of Kachchh that are
literally free of any vegetation except the thorny bushes. The rivers too are strongly
ephemeral with water flow during monsoon seldom lasting more than a few days.
We therefore consider negligible role of rain splash, slope wash and mass wasting
in the degradation of the Allah Bund Fault scarp.
Apart from the extremely dry climatic regime, the location of Allah Bund Fault
scarp in the Great Rann with peculiar geomorphologic characteristics is also sig-
nificant as far scarp degradation is concerned. In the western part, the scarp marks
the high tide line to the north of the Kori creek. The tidal water flushes against the
scarp, which can lead to erosion especially during extreme tides. However, this
process is limited to the western part only that is also the zone of the maximum
recorded surface effects during 1819 earthquake. As a result, the scarp suffered
maximum degradation in this part as evidenced by its very low height. The highly
gullied nature of the scarp in this part also testifies to the relatively higher mag-
nitude of scarp degradation.
The scarp in the central and eastern parts is located above the high tide line.
Here, the scarp witnesses periodic submergence of the vast supratidal salt flat in
front of it. The submergence however is generally < a meter and rarely reaches the
base of the scarp. We therefore rule out erosion by the submerging waters of the
scarp in this part. The Bet zone also gets submerged by thin sheet of rain water that
flows along the general southward slope. These waters are responsible for the
formation of gullies on top of the scarp. However, as mentioned above, the scarp is
highly gullied in the western part, whereas the gullies are significantly less in the
central and eastern part. This is due to the presence of rivers from the north
dissecting through the scarp to drain into the intertidal flats of the Kori creek.
However, there are no such drainages in the central and eastern parts resulting in
significantly less number of gullies, which are also shallower and wide spaced.
Also, the height of the Allah Bund Fault scarp is the maximum in the central
part. In the eastern part, the scarp height gradually reduces before finally disap-
pearing in the flat Rann surface. Evidently therefore that the scarp has undergone
least degradation in the central part.
Taking into account the climatic and geomorphologic factors as discussed above,
*2 km length in the central part of the Allah Bund Fault scarp is most suitable for
morphologic dating. Moreover, the scarp in this part can be included in the transport
limited category of slope classification i.e. transportation process occurs much
slower than the weathering. For the same reasons, we assume negligible sediment
transportation rate and diffusion constant for calculating the age of the Allah Bund
Fault scarp. Previous studies show that faults that cut unconsolidated sediment are
the most promising ones for diffusion modeling because it forms instantaneously
and will systematically degrade (Colman and Watson 1983). This criterion is met in
the case of Allah Bund scarp, which makes it relatively easier to quantify. Further,
the scarp is not affected by any anthropogenic influences as the Great Rann is an
inhospitable terrain due to its difficult environmental conditions.
Three sites were selected from the central part of the Allah Bund Fault scarp that
shows maximum elevation, is sub-vertical and has clear-cut morphological
expression. The general shape of the scarp is determinable by a single profile
without the need of large sample sizes. The selected scarp face is away from the
vicinity of notches, gullies and local channels. The base of the selected scarp
locations are devoid of colluvium or small fan deposits, which can create irregu-
larities in the scarp profile. The thickness of post-Allah Bund aeolian deposit is
removed from the profile to get the original scarp height. The age of the scarp was
calculated for these three sites as outlined by Colman and Watson (1983) and Nash
(1987).
6 Dating Results
In this study the application of diffusion equation is used to estimate the age of
Allah Bund scarp. Topographic profiles were prepared using the Survey of India
topographical maps (Nos. 40 H/4, 40 H/8) and the SRTM Digital Elevation Model
data (Fig. 8). The study site is located near the north of Rann, an area with extreme
arid condition. The climate of the region is consistent since last *2000 years after
the marked withdrawal of high sea (Merh and Patel 1988). The salt encrusted
sediment deposits are consistent with such conditions. The Late Holocene sedi-
ments, which make the scarp, consist of fine alluvial (silty clay and clayey silt).
Maximum slope angles measured along the free face at all three places were above
80°. This is consistent with the almost vertical nature of the Allah Bund Fault
scarp. Steeper slope angles further suggest a much younger age for the scarp
(Wallace 1977; Bucknam and Anderson 1979). Average far field (a) is calculated
Fig. 8 Topographic profiles drawn at three sites across the Allah Bund Fault in the central
part. Location of the profiles is marked in Fig. 1b. Vertical scale highly exaggerated. Profiles were
drawn from SRTM data (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org). The thickness of aeolian deposit capping the
scarp is as measured in the field
by averaging the base and crest far field angles. Since there are no previous studies
available on the rates of sediment deposition, transportation and erosion, we used a
estimated regional diffusion constant generally applied to regions of high aridity
(e.g. Northern Negev, Israel, Begin 1992). The minimum diffusion constant value
of 1 104 m2 year1 matches with the geomorphological scenario of the scarp as
described above. The morphologic ages were calculated using Eq. 1.
Site 1
The topographic profile drawn over the Allah Bund Fault scarp along 24° 5′ 29″N,
69° 19′ 42″E to 24° 3′ 37.6″N, 69° 17′ 20.5″E is shown in Fig. 8. The 2.4 km long
N-S transect shows a near vertical (80°) scarp with measured height of 2.9 m above
the ground level. The thickness of the aeolian sediment cover is subtracted to get
the actual height of the scarp. As described previously the average far field value is
negligible (a = 0°). The scarp marks the abrupt change in the topography from the
supra-tidal flat to the elevated surface of the Bet zone. The morphologic age of the
scarp is determined using Eq. 1 as below.
8:41 1
1 104 t ¼
4 3:14159 ðtan 80Þ2
t ¼ 208 years:
Site 2
Figure 8 shows the topographic profile across the Allah Bund scarp at this site
(24° 5′ 40.7″N, 69° 19′ 31.7″E to 24° 3′ 9.94″N, 69° 17′ 3.2″E). The near vertical
scarp (80.5°) here gave a measured height of 3 m above the supra-tidal salt flat. The
thickness of the aeolian sediment cover was substracted to get the correct scarp
height. Taking the average far field value as negligible (a = 0°), the morphologic
age is determined using Eq. 1 as below.
9 1
1 104 t ¼
4 3:14159 ðtan 80:5Þ2
t ¼ 200 years:
Site 3
The topographic profile was drawn along a N-S transect along 24° 5′ 38.5″N, 69°
19′ 8.60″E to 24° 3′ 22.95″N, 69° 17′ 22.69″E. The profile shows a 2.5 km long
transect with well demarcated sharp contrast in the topography marked by the Allah
Bund Fault scarp (Fig. 8). The scarp marks the abrupt change in elevation of Bet
zone in the upthrown block and the flat monotonous supra-tidal salt flat in the
downthrown block to the south. The total height of the scarp is 4 m, however, the
correct scarp height is determined as 2.8 m after subtracting the thickness of
the aeolian sediment cover. The near vertical scarp (80°) and the negligible average
far field value is used to determine the morphological age using Eq. 1 as below.
7:84 1
1 104 t ¼
4 3:14159 ðtan 80Þ2
t ¼ 193 years:
Here values of t obtained represent the morphological age i.e. the time since the
fault scarp was formed. The morphological ages of the Allah Bund Fault scarp
obtained at the above three sites are 208, 200 and 193 years before present. These
ages indicate that the scarp was formed in 1809, 1817 and 1824 A.D. respectively.
The results unequivocally suggest that the scarp was produced during the 1819
earthquake event.
7 Concluding Discussion
The landscape of the Great Rann of Kachchh shows unique geomorphological

characteristics (Roy and Merh 1982). The high intensity earthquakes during historic
and prehistoric times together with marine processes from the west have governed
the geomorphic evolution of the Great Rann (Roy and Merh 1982; Glennie and
Evans 1976). Looking to the several devastating earthquake that have occurred
along the various faults in Kachchh during last 200 yrs viz. in 1819, 1845, 1956 and
2001 (Wynne 1872). It is apparent that the region may have been affected previ-
ously by several other high-magnitude earthquakes though there is no paleoseismic
record nor historical accounts (MacMurdo 1824, Baker 1846, Oldham 1926). The
available historical accounts suggest the 1819 earthquake formed a 10–15 ft high
scarp that blocked the drainages from the north and simultaneously the area around
Sindri subsided and was submerged by a local tsunami (Macmurdo 1824; Baker
1846). However; all contemporary accounts that describe the spectacular landscape
changes are from the western part only, which formed the trade route from Lakhpat
to Sind via Sindri and a part of the eastern fringe of Indus delta. According to
Oldham (1926), the Allah Bund scarp extended for *90 km, however presently the
scarp is identifiable for *60 km length only. Our investigations show the Allah
Bund scarp is highly eroded in the western parts due to the tide from the Kori creek
in the south and the river water from the north during monsoon. The eastern part of
the scarp is also low and disappears completely in the Rann surface. The scarp
shows the maximum height in the central part where it is locally covered by aeolian
deposits. Modern investigations have indicated that the height of the fault scarp is a
reflection of cumulative uplift during 1819 and previous earthquakes (Rajendran
and Rajendran 1999). However, there is no such indication from the available
historical accounts. In the present study morphologic dating was carried out to
determine the age of the Allah Bund scarp.
The Allah Bund scarp though having low height and laterally extensive, is found
suitable for morphologic dating in its central part. The scarp here fulfills the nec-
essary geomorphic conditions for carrying out morphologic dating (Colman and
Watson 1983; Nash 1987). The basic parameters where measured in the field.
Topographic profiles across the scarp at the selected sites were prepared from
topographical map and SRTM data. The present geomorphological environment
along scarp summarized earlier in the article suggests that the central part is a zone
of minimum erosion and subsequently least amount of scarp degradation. The hyper
arid climate and the non influence of anthropogenic activity means the diffusion
constant for arid region can be applied to the Allah Bund scarp for determining its
morphologic ages. We therefore selected the value of diffusion constant as
1 10−4 m2 year−1, which has been applied successfully in the morphologic
dating of fault scarps located in the arid regions (Begin 1992). The morphological
ages of the Allah Bund scarp can be calculated as per Colman and Watson (1983).
The morphological ages of the Allah Bund fault scarp at the three selected sites
yielded an age of 208, 200 and 193 years B. P. Effectively these ages means that the
scarp was produced during the 1819 Allah Bund earthquake, since no other major
earthquake occurred in the Great Rann during the period indicated by the ages i.e.
between 1809 and 1825.
Our studies substantiate the description in the historical accounts regarding the
Allah Bund fault scarp. We therefore rule out the possibility of the scarp being a
product of multiple earthquake events. Our study also suggests that the 1819 Allah
Bund earthquake was the largest earthquake that occurred in the Great Rann after its
emergence from the shallow marginal sea. This is evident from the large-scale
landscape changes, that includes the formation of a *90 km long E-W trending
south facing scarp and also that no other comparable scarp occurs in the vast extent
of the Great Rann. Other earthquake that may have occurred during the time
possibly did not rupture the surface. However, the possibility of earthquakes of
comparable magnitude in prehistoric times in Holocene cannot be ruled out. It is
likely that some of them may have produced surface rupture, however these may be
buried under thick sediments, as the Great Rann was a shallow marginal gulf during
the Late Pleistocene to Holocene (Maurya et al. 2013; Khonde et al. 2017a, b).
It is pertinent to mention here that several large earthquakes have occurred in the
Kachchh rift basin, including the 1819 Allah bund earthquake and 2001 Bhuj
earthquake. The heightened level of seismicity is anomalous in view of the low
level seismic activity witnessed in the surrounding regions viz. Saurashtra in south,
Gujarat alluvial plain in the east and Barmer-Jaisalmer basins in the northeast
(Maurya et al. 2017). It has been suggested that the stress changes related to large
earthquakes in the Kachchh region affect the subsequent pattern of earthquakes. To
et al. (2004) demonstrated that the 1819 Allah Bund earthquake induced stress
changes which led to several moderate magnitude earthquake in the Great Rann.
Post-seismic relaxation following the 1819 earthquake resulted in the loading of
2001 Bhuj earthquake to a significant amount (To et al. 2004). The 2001 event was
followed by long aftershock activity and increased seismic activity along the South
Wagad Fault (SWF), Gedi Fault (GF) and the Island Belt Fault (IBF) (Mandal
2009). Earthquake swarm activity in different part of Saurashtra since 2001 has
been attributed to stress perturbation caused by 2001 Bhuj earthquake (Rastogi
et al. 2013). Low magnitude shocks are repeated from the Gujarat alluvial plain in
the last 200 years (Maurya et al. 2000). Reactivation of pre-existing lineaments and
faults have resulted in moderate to low seismic activity in Barmer basin also in
recent times (Dasgupta and Mukherjee in press). However, none of the known
historical earthquakes are known to have produced surface rupture apart from the
1819 Allah Bund earthquake. Moreover, the co-seismic and post-seismic stress
changes due to pre-instrumental events still remain a topic of debate (Rajendran and
Rajendran 2001). Detailed palaeoseismic studies are necessary to unravel the
seismic history of the Great Rann for which the Allah Bund fault scarp can serve as
an analog.
Acknowledgments We are grateful to Soumyajit Mukherjee for inviting us to contribute this

article and for providing two rounds of review comments. The present study was funded by the
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India in the form of a research project (Project
No. MoES/P.O. (Seismo)/1(170)/2013) to DMM and LSC. Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this
work.
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294
Interplay Between Tectonics & Eustacy
in a Proterozoic Epicratonic, Polyhistory
Basin, North Dharwar Craton
Shilpa Patil Pillai and Vivek S. Kale
1 Introduction
Modern developments in sedimentary basin analysis (e.g. Einsele 2000; Miall 2000;
Allen and Allen 2013) have accepted the role of Wilson cycle in the formation,
growth and termination of sedimentary basins. The tectonic classifications of sed-
imentary basins (Dickinson 1974; Kingston et al. 1983; Allen et al. 2015) reflect
this perception. The sediment fill of a basin manifests the interplay of sediment
supply, eustacy and subsidence. Climate, topography and petrographic constitution
of the source region control the sediment supply. The geometry and volume of the
fill depends upon the available accommodation space, moderated by tectonics and
eustacy. In Precambrian basins, their deformation and metamorphism hampers the
elucidation of the contents, distribution patterns and sequences of the basin fills.
Sparse age controls in Precambrian sediments when compared to fossiliferous
Phanerozoic sediments further hampers their accurate elaboration (Eriksson et al.
2001). The Indian Peninsular Shield amalgamated into a singular continental block
towards the end of the Archean (2700–2500 Ma) with a series of K-rich granitic
batholiths representing the terminal events of this unification (Naqvi and Rogers
1987; Ramakrishnan and Vaidyanadhan 2010; Meert et al. 2010). Two contrasting
regimes punctuate its ensuing history (Kale 1995). The narrow, linear metamor-
phosed Early and Middle Proterozoic Mobile Belts with compressive tectonic
history (Radhakrishna and Naqvi, 1986; Ramakrishnan and Vaidyanadhan 2010)
are juxtaposed against the wide, extensional epicratonic platform basins that display
S. Patil Pillai
Department of Environmental Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University,
Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007, India
V. S. Kale (&)
Advanced Center of Water Resources Development and Management
(ACWADAM), Kshipra Society, Karvenagar, Pune 411052, India
e-mail: dr.vivekale@gmail.com

76 S. Patil Pillai and V. S. Kale
a paucity of pervasive metamorphism and/or deformation (Fig. 1). The latter are
known as the ‘Purana’ basins (Radhakrishna 1987; Kale and Phansalkar 1991).
They contain thick sequences of shallow marine sediments deposited in discrete
basins which are in tectonic contacts with the mobile belts on one side (Kale 2016).
The Kaladgi and Bhima basins on the northern exposed edge of the Dharwar craton
are the exceptional Purana basins that do not have any Proterozoic mobile belts
adjoining them. The Kaladgi basin is additionally unique amongst the Purana
basins in that it has suffered stronger deformation along the median sectors of the
basin, unlike all others which have deformation restricted to their margins (Kale
1991).
The three Purana basins surrounding the Dharwar craton (Fig. 1) display diverse
modes of evolution (see Kale and Phansalkar 1991; Kale 1991, 2016; Meert et al.
2010; Allen et al. 2015). The Cuddapah basin has a record of its early growth as an
Fig. 1 Precambrian terrains of Peninsular India (modified after Kale 1995; Sharma 2009;
Ramakrishnan and Vaidyanadhan 2010)
Interplay Between Tectonics & Eustacy in a Proterozoic … 77
extensional basin attended by basic volcanism; that eventually gave way to a

retro-arc basin with overthrusting of the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (including the
Nellore belt) from the east (Matin 2015 and citations therein). The Bhima basin in
the north is a pull-apart basin (Kale and Peshwa 1995). The Kaladgi basin on the
north-west shows events of initial extension (with minor transtensional component),
compressive deformation and late extension (Dey 2015; Patil Pillai et al. 2018). The
different margins of the Dharwar craton have obviously suffered diverse tectonics
and basin growth histories during the Proterozoic.
The Kaladgi basin hosts commercially exploited limestone reserves and asbestos
mines located in its basement (Jayaprakash 2007). It is a “Category IV” petrolif-
erous basin (Pratap et al. 1999; Biswas 2008; Kalpana et al. 2010). Uranium
mineralization has been recorded from various locations within it (Dey et al. 2008;
Sridhar et al. 2014). Our group has conducted extensive field studies of these
sediments across the last couple of decades; supplemented by petrographic labo-
ratory studies. We enumerate the contents and architecture of this unique Purana
basin: and demonstrate signatures of the tectono-eustatic interplay during its
evolution.
2 Regional Geology
2.1 Location
The Kaladgi basin extends between the 73°E and 76°E longitudes and 15° 30′N to
17°N latitudes, from the Konkan coastal tract in Sindhudurg district; across the
Western Ghats and the Deccan Plateau in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra state
into the Belgaum, Bagalkot and Bijapur districts of northern Karnataka state.
Isolated outliers of these sediments are scattered south of the main basin around
Saundatti and Gajendragad. Inliers within Deccan Traps occur near Kallamavadi
and near Jamkhandi to the north of the main basin. The westernmost exposures are
found as patchy inliers (within the Deccan Traps) in the Konkan coastal strip,
around Phonda and Malvan. They are collectively referred to as the Konkan
Kaladgis (Sarkar and Soman 1985; Deshpande and Pitale 2014). These discon-
nected outcrops show that the main basin extended far beyond its currently exposed
limits. The present exposures of about 8000 km2 represent only a fraction of the
span of the basin, that can be interpreted to occupy more than 30,000 km2.
The sediments in this basin are subdivided into the Bagalkot and Badami Groups
(Viswanathiah 1979) separated by an angular and erosional unconformity. The
Bagalkot Group occupies an irregular ovoid shaped basin in the eastern parts (Inset
Fig. 2). The Badami Group covers more than 300 km in an E-W direction.
It is significant that while the Konkan Kaladgis are exposed at elevations of less
than 200 m above mean sea level, none of the remaining exposures (east of
Kallamavadi) occur at elevations below 550 m. This elevation difference may the
78
Fig. 2 Regional geological map of the Kaladgi basin and its surrounding areas (compiled from Foote 1876;
GSI 1981; Jayaprakash 2007). Inset is a sketch of the geographic spread of the exposures of the older
Bagalkot and younger Badami Groups showing the two subbasins that developed at different times
S. Patil Pillai and V. S. Kale
Table 1 Lithostratigraphy of the Kaladgi basin (after Kale et al. 1999; Kale and Patil Pillai 2011)
The Mallapur Intrusive (sensu: Jayaprakash et al. 1987) should be separated from the Simikeri
Subgroup as the intrusive bodies post-date the Simikeri sedimentation and early deformation (Patil
Pillai et al. 2018) and is hence shown with an asterisk before it
result of the downfaulting of the coastal strip prior to the Late Cretaceous—Early
Paleogene eruption of the Deccan Traps since the trappean basalts do not display
any evidence of faulting of this magnitude. It is likely that this elevation difference
is an artifact of the pre-Trappean downfaulting related to the rifting and separation
of the Indian plate from Madagascar—Syechellis in the Late Cretaceous, but it
could also be a much earlier event. The significance of this is that the Kaladgi
sediments have been subjected to Phanerozoic upheavals along with the rest of the
Dharwar craton. Its local implications could be several, when trying to correlate the
terrain evolution of this basin.
Archaean cratonisation, Proterozoic sedimentation, and the Cretaceous-Tertiary
Deccan volcanism have contributed to the overall geology in this region that was
eventually subjected to emergent erosion, fluvio-colluvial sedimentation and loca-
lised lateritization during Quaternary times. Table 1 summarises the sequence of
strata exposed in the Kaladgi basin and its surroundings.
2.2 Basement
The basement for the Kaladgi Supegroup consists of Archean to Early

Paleoproterozoic rocks of the Dharwar craton (Radhakrishna and Ramakrishnan
1988; Ramakrishnan and Vaidyanadhan 2010; Valdiya 2016). They are collectively
termed as the “basement” or “Archean basement” in the ensuing text. These
sequences not only served as the basement for the Kaladgi sediments, but also have
acted as the source for their detrital sediments (Sambasiva Rao et al. 1999; Dey
et al. 2008, 2009).
This basement consists of a typical cratonic assemblage of gneisses, schist belts
and intrusive granitic batholiths (Fig. 2). The Peninsular Gneissic Complex is
composed of amphibolite facies tonalitic-trodndhjemitic-granodioritic
(TTG) gneisses. The NNW-SSE Shimoga Schist belt exposed southwest of the
basin is composed of genisses, meta-conglomerates, phyllites and banded iron
formations (BIFs). The Hundgund-Kushtagi Schist Belt forms the basement in the
eastern parts of the Kaladgi basin. It is composed of BIFs, basalt, minor ultramafic
and metasediments engulfed by the Peninsular Gneisses and intruded by the
Clospet Granites. The 2600 Ma old potassic granites of Closepet Granites and
equivalent rocks constitutea NW-SE trending belt. Towards the northern parts of
the Dharwar craton (in and around the Kaladgi basin), the basement trends swirl
from NW-SE to almost E-W. Basic dykes intrude this mixed basement
(Ramakrishnan and Vaidyanadhan 2010). Some of the dykes in it may be as young
as 1800 Ma (French et al. 2008; Meert et al. 2011).
2.3 Kaladgi—Basement Unconformity
The pre-Kaladgi basement profile was essentially a peneplained one with local
undulations, such as one below the Chitrabhanukot Dome, that emerge from the
geophysical data (Ramakrishna and Chayanulu 1988; Mallick et al. 2012). Deeply
weathered basement (sometimes with a paleosol horizon on top) is exposed
immediately below the sedimentary cover, at several locations along the northern
and southern rims of the basin.
Linear ridges of quartzites present on the eastern, northern and southern rims of
the main basin host the basal terrigenous clastics of the Bagalkot Group resting on
the basement. This contact between the basement and the capping sediments is an
angular and erosional non-conformity (Fig. 3a). Shear zones and faults that affect
both the Kaladgi sediments and their basement are exposed at places where the
contact between them is a structural one (see: Fig. 8). The exposures east of Bilgi,
between Idgal and Suriban, southeast of Ramdurg (Fig. 3b) and near Saundatti are
excellent examples of such structural contacts.
The subhorizontal Badami sediments rest on the dipping Bagalkot Group sedi-
ments with an angular and erosional unconformity in the eastern parts of the
Fig. 3 a Exposure of the Badami Group (on the top with subhorizontal disposition) resting
unconformably upon the steeply dipping Bagalkot Group sediments (appearing as barren linear
ridges) with a nonconformable contact with the basement at B. N. Jalihal looking eastwards. The
location is about 3 km NE of Badami. b Steeply dipping Saundatti Quartzite exposing the sheared
contact with the basement (on the right hand side—not in the picture). The photo is looking
northeastwards at a location about 4 km east of Ramdurg. Author standing is 1.7 m tall.
c Erosional and angular unconformity between the northwards dipping Manoli Argillite (Bagalkot
Group) and the capping Cave Temple Arenite (Badami Group) at Torgal Tanda located about
3 km south of Ramdurg. The conglomerate is 7 m thick. d Thin cap of subhorizontal Cave Temple
Arenites resting directly on the Archaean Basement at the Gokak hill forming flat-topped mesas
Kaladgi basin (Fig. 3a, c). This was first recorded at B. N. Jalihal (northeast of
Badami) and Torgal Tanda (south of Ramdurg) by Viswanathiah (1968). In the
western parts, the Badami sediments are exposed resting directly upon the basement
without the intervening Bagalkot Group sediments, forming flat topped mesas and
buttes (Fig. 3d).
2.4 Phanerozoic Cover
Sediments in the Kaladgi basin are capped by the Deccan Trap basalts, which
conceal large tracts of the basin, making it difficult to establish their lateral conti-
nuity particularly in the western parts of the basin (Fig. 2). The Deccan Trap basalts
were erupted close to the Cretaceous—Tertiary Boundary and manifest one of the
largest continental flood basalt provinces in the world (Renne et al. 2015). At places
near Badami, Belgaum (where it is quarried) and along the western Konkan coastal
tract Late Tertiary—Quaternary lateritic caps are developed on top of the older
strata (Fig. 2). In some of the river valleys Quaternary fluvial sedimentary deposits
are developed capping the Kaladgi sediments. All of them contribute to masking of
the exposures of the Kaladgi rocks and making the lateral correlation difficult.
3 Kaladgi Supergroup
3.1 Stratigraphy
The early description of the geological successions in this region by Captain

Newbold in the mid nineteenth century were compiled with additional inputs by
Foote (1876). He classified this sedimentary sequence into six subunits ascribed to
the “Upper and Lower Kaladgi Series” that remained unquestioned for almost a
century. Recognition of the unconformity separating the undeformed succession of
sandstones, shales and limestones (‘Unit 3’ of Foote 1876) and the deformed lower
sediments around B. N. Jalihal and Torgal Tanda by Viswanthiah (1968) led to the
recognition of the two Groups (Badami and Bagalkot) from this basin. Jayaprakash
et al. (1987) identified three cycles of sedimentation within the basin and further
refined the stratigraphy by dividing the deformed Bagalkot Group into two sub-
groups, namely the Lokapur and Simikeri separated by a basin-wide disconformity.
This was further elaborated upon by Jayaprakash (2007).
The spread of the exposures of the two constituent Groups (after discounting the
younger cover) shows that they were deposited in slightly different geographical
realms (Fig. 4). They are recognised as subbasins of the Kaladgi basin, and can be
justified to be sedimentologically, structurally and temporaly different from each
other. They overlap in the eastern part of this basin, but the older Bagalkot Group
does not extend in the western areas that host the Badami Group (Fig. 2 Inset).
Jayaprakash et al. (1987) recognised 21 members assigned to 8 formations in the
Bagalkot Group and 6 members from 2 formations in the Badami Group. The
Fig. 4 a Map of the Bagalkot subbasin depicting the exposures of various stratigraphic units. c
Chitrabhanukot Dolomite and Chikshellikeri Limestones are Members of the Petlur Carbonate
Formation. The locations of the stratigraphic logs (Fig. 6a) are given. Note the outline of this basin
marked in this map is traced by connecting the outermost exposures of the Bagalkot Group as
exposed today. The detached exposures south of Manoli are separated from the others by structural
contacts and hence shown separately. They comprise of Saundatti Quartzite. They indicate a larger
southward expanse of this subbasin, which is detached by structural disruptions or has been
disconnected due to subsequent erosion. b Map of the Badami subbasin depicting the distribution
of various stratigraphic units. Locations of the measured logs (Fig. 6b) are given for reference.
West of the limits of the Bagalkot subbasin, the Badami sediments rest directly on the Archean
basement complex
Lokapur and Simikeri Subgroups are characterised by basal quartzitic sandstones

with minor rudaceous component. Similarly, the Badami Group is floored by
sandstone—conglomerate beds. Lithological boundaries between horizons are
generally gradational and interfingered in nature. Upward fining arenites pass into
the argillites. The siliceous and ferruginous argillites grade into calcareous argillites
and eventually into the carbonates.
These horizons display a lateral facies change into the adjoining lithology. This
lateral facies changes have been earlier elaborated for a part of the basin by Kale
et al. (1996) and Patil Pillai (2004). Consequently there is a repetition of the argillite
—carbonate horizons encountered along several traverses across the basin.
Jayaprakash et al. (1987) and Jayaprakash (2007) recorded these as a number of
‘members’ that they clubbed into ‘formations’. This is not valid within the
framework of standard stratigraphic practices and Walther’s Law of facies suc-
cession (Brenner and McHargue 1988; Catuneanu 2006). A process responsive
lithostratigraphy (Table 1) of simplified, lithology-based, mappable formations was
erected for the Kaladgi basin (Kale et al. 1996, 1999; Patil Pillai 2004; Kale and
Patil Pillai 2011).
Direct onlap of the quartzitic sandstones of the Bagalkot Group without the
intervening conglomerates is seen at numerous locations located along the structural
contact with the basement. This indicates landward transgressive flooding beyond
the structural boundaries of the basin. While the Lokapur Subgroup is spread all
across the Bagalkot subbasin, the Simikeri Subgroup is restricted to the cores of the
synclines (Figs. 2 and 4). The Badami Group does not show any structural contacts
with its basement. In the western exposures of this subbasin, the Bagalkot Group is
not present at all between the Badami sediments and the Archean basement (see
Fig. 2). At no place does the Badami Group rest upon the Simikeri Subgroup. This
could be an indication of the limited development of the Simikeri Subroup, which
has no representatives south of the Badami subbasin.
3.2 Constitutents
Foote (1876) described the Kaladgi sediments within the framework of the con-
temporary formats. Since then, more than a century of research has been invested in
the understanding of the sediments of this basin. Viswanathiah (1979) recognized
four major lithofacies from this basin, namely the sandstones (/quartizites), shales (/
phyllites), carbonates (limestones and dolomites) and chertbreccias. The discovery
of stromatolites from the older carbonates (Viswanathiah and Chandrasekhara
Gowda 1970; Viswanathiah and Sreedhara Murthy 1979) was interpreted as
additional evidence of shallow marine environments.
Jayaprakash et al. (1987) showed that there were three cycles of shallow marine
epicratonic sedimentation within the basin, yielding three successions separated
from each other by unconformable contacts. Kale et al. (1996) further refined this
view using lithofacies classification to the southern parts of the basin (see: Figs. 7
and 8 of Kale et al. 1996) and later to the basin as a whole (Kale et al. 1999; Kale
and Patil Pillai 2011). A summary of the petrological characters of these facies
based on our studies is given below.
The Bagalkot Group is characterized by two sequences comprising of four
lithofacies, namely (a) detrital siliciclastic arenites and rudites (sandstones and
conglomerates), (b) argillites (siltstones, shales, mudstones and phyllites),
(c) chertbreccias and (d) carbonates (limestones and dolomites/dolostones). They

occur as concentric stripes with an essentially E-W to ESE-WNW trend, swirling
parallel to the rim of the basin. The clastics occur closer to the basin margin and
others successively inwards towards the basin axis. In the Badami Group, the
arenaceous lithofacies dominates significantly, and the argillites and carbonates are
restricted to a narrow linear patch in the northern part of the eastern sector of this
subbasin (Fig. 4b). Chertbreccia is absent in the Badami succession.
3.2.1 Detrital Siliciclastics
Cap the basal unconformities. In case of the Lokapur Subgroup (=Saundatti

Quartzite), they rest on the weathered basement; while those from the Simikeri
Subgroup (=Muchkundi Quartzite) rest on the deformed sediments of the Lokapur
Subgroup. They occur as ridges that stand out in the low-lying terrain surrounding
them. This facies from the Badami Group (=Cave Temple Arenite) rests either on
the basement or on the deformed sediments of the Bagalkot Group, as gently
undulating table-lands.
Conglomerates occuring immediately above the basement are several meters
thick. Thin, sandy cross-stratified interbeds are common in them. Further upwards
in the sequence, they are present as thin sheets or thicker lensoid beds with poor
internal stratification (Fig. 2c) interbedded within the sandstones/quartzites.
The conglomerates are generally polymictic, matrix supported, poorly sorted
rudites. The clasts in the Bagalkot conglomerates are dominantly composed of
quartzitic, vein quartz, granitoid, schists and gneissic fragments embedded in a
clastic matrix which is often silicified (Fig. 5a). The Badami conglomerates contain
clasts derived from the Bagalkot sediments as well.
The Bagalkot sandstones display planar bedding (Fig. 5b) separated by thin mud
or silt partings, with low angle internal trough cross-stratification. Low angle
cross-laminations, climbing ripple laminations and widespread wave ripple marks
on bedding planes (Fig. 5c) suggest a coastal shoreface regime of deposition in a
variety of marginal to shallow marine environments such as strandplains, beaches,
deltas, estuaries, off-shore sand bars, and beaches that occasionally were influenced
by tidal currents (Kale et al. 1996; Jayaprakash 2007). Some of these beds, notably
from the exposures around Bilgi and Jamkhindi on the northern parts of the basin
are interpreted to be deposited under fluvial influence in deltaic/esturine environ-
ments (Bose et al. 2008). Some of the coarser detritus (rudites) may be lag deposits
or gravelly shoreline rim deposits on the landward side of the basin, representing
inception of the transgression in it. Their provenance is the Dharwarian basement
from where they were transported in a fluvial medium (Dey et al. 2009;
Mukhopadhyay et al. 2014). Palaeocurrent studies (Jayaprakash et al. 1987;
Stephen George 1999) have indicated a centripetal pattern. The northern exposures
display southward directed palaeocurrents and the southern exposures in the
Ramdurg–Saundatti tract have northerly palaeocurrent directions. Change in the
orientations of the current ripples in successive beds (Fig. 5c) suggest limited tidal
JFig. 5 a Thickly bedded conglomerates with parallel stratified interlayers of sandstones occurring
at the base of the Badami Group (at Gokak falls). They grade upward into the sandstone beds. The
photographed section is about 5 m high. b Parallel bedded quartzitic sandstones of the Saundatti
Quartzite exposed in a quarry face near Bilgi. Beds dip gently towards the south (right of photo).
The quarry face is about 10 m high. c Current ripple marks on the bedding plane of Muchkundi
Quartzite exposed near the Muchkundi reservoir. Note the change in ripple axis orientations in
successive beds. d Trough cross bedded sandstones of Badami Group (exposed around Badami
town). The geometry of troughs, indicate small shifting channels similar to those in braided
channels of mature river systems close to their mouth (in estuaries/deltas). e Lenticular beds of
Yadhalli Argillite exposed near Manoli. Note the gently wavy nature of the bedding in the upper
part of the photograph. f Thin parallel bedding with alternations of grey (siliceous) and purple
(ferruginous) shales of Halkurki Formation exposed near Halkurki. They are extremely friable and
weather easily. Hammer for scale is 34 cm long. g Alternate laminations of calcareous (buff
colored) and pure crystalline limestones (dark grey colored) from the Chikshellikeri Limestone
exposed near Gaddankeri. Note the climbing ripple laminated beds interspersed within the parallel
laminated bedding. They indicate reworking of the lime-mud under influence of currents. Pinching
and swelling of the lamina thicknesses is due to uneven compaction. h Variegated parallel
stratified Kokankoppa Limestone with an interbedded limestone breccia horizon. The clasts of the
breccia are embedded in an impure calcareous muddy matrix. Such intraformational breccia
horizons testify to intermittent emergence (shallowing) or may manifest synsedimentary
deformation
influence during their deposition. The sandstones from the Bagalkot Group have
been altered to glassy orthoquartzites due to diagentic recrystallisation and further
during deformation.
The Badami sandstones are dominantly trough cross-bedded (Fig. 5d) with
occassional birectional and parallel stratification. This suggests their deposition in
braided fluvial to transitional marine environments with minor tidal influence.
Slope-base conglomerates and the sandbars, over-bank mud drapes on hummocky
sand beds and upward fining beds that are interrupted by gravel beds or local
erosional surfaces (overlain by coarser sands) are often seen. These characters and
the stratal patterns of dominantly wide amplitude trough-cross bedded channels
suggest the deposition in braided channels. They are therefore attributed to a wide,
mature braided river system that drained into a shore-face environment. Few of
these sandstones (e.g. those exposed north of Ramdurg and northwest of Badami)
display tidal silty interlayers. Their stratification with low amplitude shallow and
wide troughs stacked one above the other (Fig. 5d) is also suggestive of their being
estuarine or deltaic channel deposits.
3.2.2 Argillites
Siltstones, shales and mudstones represent this facies. The Bagalkot Group also
contains horizons of phyllitic shales (with chlorite neocrystallisation) having
well-developed slaty cleavages. This is the result of the localised, low grade
metamorphism in the strongly deformed northern sector of the Bagalkot subbasin.
The argillites shows basinward progressive compostional gradation from silic-

eous near the basin margins to ferruginous to calcareous in the centre of the basin.
The argillites occur as flat and laterally extensive facies that occupy vast tracts
within the basin, with subparallel to parallel stratification. They display a variety of
primary sedimentary structures such as flaser and lenticular bedding (Fig. 5e),
discontinuous or lensoid bedding, mud cracks, clay gals, rip up clasts, raindrop
impressions etc. These features testify to their deposition in a tidal regime which
was intermittently flooded. The occurrence of manganese nodules within the
Arlikatti Argillite near Niralkeri village reported by Patil Pillai et al. (1999) indi-
cates the possibility of a locally developed condensed sequences within the basin.
The argillaceous sediments from the Bagalkot Group (Yadhalli Argillite and
Arlikatti Argillite) are products of shallow intertidal off-shore flats, that suffered
phases of emergent and submergent conditions.
The shales of Badami subbasin are dominantly thinly stratified (Fig. 5f) and are
ocassionally glauconitic. This indicates their deposition in transitional marine set-
tings. The calcareous shales (generally occurring at the top of the argillite beds)
progressively grade into the impure limestones of the carbonate facies. Distribution
and sedimentological characters suggest that they (Halkurki Shale) were deposited
in a lagoonal environment.
3.2.3 Chertbreccias
They occur only in the Bagalkot Group but are not present in the Badami
Group. Two separate horizons are present in the Lokapur and Simikeri Subgroups
(Mahakut and Niralkeri Chertbreccia Formations respectively). In field exposures
they can be easily misidentified as fault breccias, but are unequivocally interbedded
horizons within the rest of the Bagalkot sediments. They have been deformed
coherently with the other enveloping sediments of this Group. They are interpreted
as washed fault-generated debris produced during the synsedimentary tectonic
movements along the basinal faults and subsequently silicified (Kale and Patil Pillai
2011).
The chertbreccia and argillaceous beds display a mutually exclusive develop-
ment in the Bagalkot sequence. In the sectors of the basin that suffered synsedi-
mentary tectonism, where chertbreccia deposits developed, the extent of the
mudflats was curtailed. This led to accumulation of thinner deposits of the
argillaceous sediments. In other sectors such as in the southern sector around
Manoli and west of Badami, where the basin floor subsided in a more gentle
continuum, wide tidal mudflats yielded thicker argillaceous deposits (see: Kale et al.
1996).
3.2.4 Carbonates
This facies is represented by limestones and dolomites, with the latter being
restricted to the Bagalkot Group. The limestones display a variety of colours (pink,
white, green and grey) attributed to the impurities in them. The limestones of
Bagalkot Group display flat, parallel-laminated alternations of impure lime muds
and pure crystalline limestone. Occurrence of climbing ripple laminations and
cross-stratified lenses (Fig. 5g) indicate that they were deposited in a very shallow
shelf affected by currents. The dolomites or dolostones of the Bagalkot Group
display tabular parallel-laminated stratification. They are often diagenetically sili-
cified. They contain wavy algal-laminated dolomites with stromatolitic colonies
(Viswanathiah and Sreedhara Murthy 1979; Sharma et al. 1998) indicating water
depths of less than 20 m and a warm equitable climate. These carbonates are
interpreted to be deposited in a carbonate flat regime with occasional interruptions
of storm surges manifested as thin sandy lenses. Occurrence of intraformational
limestone breccia horizons (Kale et al. 1998) in them is indicative of their episodic
emergence or the manifestation of synsedimentary deformational events during
their accumulation.
The flaggy limestones of Badami Group are varigated (Fig. 5h) and contain thin
lensoid intercalations of siliciclastics. They display wave ripples, clay galls, rip up
clasts, tidal couplet laminae suggesting a tidally influenced depositional setting.
Presence of glauconites in the sandy lenses suggests locally developed reducing
environments during their deposition.
3.2.5 Mafic Bodies
Basic dykes and quartz veins intruding discordantly into the sediments have been
recorded from the northern folded sector of the Bagalkot subbasin (Foote 1876;
Jayaprakash et al. 1987; Jayaprakash 2007). They are collectively named as
Mallapur Intrusives Formation of the Simikeri Subgroup. Their occurrence along
the axial planes of folds in the Simikeri Subgroup indicates that they were emplaced
after the cessation of sedimentation. Therefore they are separated as an independent
formation post-dating the Simikeri Subgroup as listed in Table 1 (Patil Pillai et al.
2018).
3.3 Lithologs
Besides the detailed lithological mapping (Fig. 4), logs of stratigraphic sections
were reconstructed based on sections measured during field studies (Fig. 6). They
include the sedimentary structures, stratal patterns and thicknesses of the various
lithotypes.
Fig. 6 (continued)
JFig. 6 a Measured stratigraphic lithologs reconstructed from vertical sections/traverses across

different exposures of the Bagalkot Group. The locations of the logs are shown in Fig. 4a. The
lithofacies encountered are colored as per the lithological map of the Bagalkot subbasin given in
the inset, with significant sedimentary structures and bedding patterns superimposed on them. The
logs are broadly arranged west to east (left to right successively) in a north-up sequence, with
reference to their base. Indicative correlations of the stratigraphic boundaries are shown with
dashed red lines. These logs show (a) the interfingering nature of the lithofacies leading to
recurrence of the same lithofacies in the same sequence; and (b) paucity of chertbreccias in
sections where the argillites are prolific and vice versa as discussed in the text. b Measured
stratigraphic lithologs reconstructed from vertical sections/traverses across different exposures of
the Badami Group. Locations of the logs are given in Fig. 4b. The logs are arranged west to east
(left to right successively) and plotted against the elevations above msl rather than in terms of
absolute thickness as in case of the Bagalkot logs (a). This is enabled by the fact that barring low
(<5°) rolling dips, the Badami sediments occur in a subhorizontal disposition indicating that they
have not suffered any post-depositional deformation
Petrological studies of the strata from these sections, to establish their textural
and composition are embedded in these logs. These logs provide a synoptic view of
the various lithotypes occuring in different sections. In conjunction with the geo-
logical map they provide a clear understanding of the vertical and lateral distri-
bution of various horizons from the Kaladgi basin.
3.4 Subsidence Analysis
A combination of supply (types and rates) and accommodation space (as a function
of relative subsidence, driven by eustacy and tectonics) defines the sedimentation
patterns and contents in a sedimentary basin (Catuneanu et al. 2005; Allen and
Allen 2013). The motifs of the sediment piles that accumulate at different locations
within a basin manifest the patterns of relative subsidence in those parts. The
reconstruction of successive stages of sediment accumulation within a basin plotted
against time enables understand the relative subsidence of the basin floor at different
stages of its evolution (Gallagher and Lambeck 1989).
This analysis requires primary data of (a) the lithotypes and their compaction and
diagenetic history, (b) estimated paleobathymetry of the different types of sedi-
ments, (c) stratigraphic (plotted as vertical) succession of the constituent sediments,
(d) the ages of the different strata within the stratigraphic succession; and
(e) backstripping that enables quantify the removal or loss of sediments that were
accumulated but are not preserved (Sclater and Christie 1980; Bond and Kominz
1984).
In case of the Phanerozoic successions, in which accurate ages of the strata are
provided by their fossil assemblages, such subsidence analysis has led to the
development of a robust global eustatic sea-level curve (e.g. Vail—EXXON curve
—Vail et al. 1977; Haq et al. 1987; Miller et al. 2005). However, this is not possible
in the unfossiliferrous Precambrian sequences where age data is sparse
(Catuneanu et al. 2005). In such cases, accurate determination of the net rate of
subsidence of the basin floor cannot be plotted and needs to be estimated using
other proxies. Kale (1991) used these principles to plot the ‘sediment accumulation
curves’ (‘SAC’s) of the Purana basins, using the total accumulated stratigraphic
thickness in the basin as a proxy of 100% time of the basin evolution. The maxi-
mum stratigraphic thickness of each stratigraphic unit computed as a percentile
value of the total thickness represents the relative time taken by it in the basin. This
yields a relative (rather than absolute—as in case of the Phanerozoic) scale for the
basin. We have used our observations (as enumerated in Figs. 4 and 6) and the
maximum thicknesses of strata as defined by Jayaprakash (2007) in these compu-
tations. The cumulative uncompacted maximum stratigraphic thickness for the
Bagalkot Group is 13,717 m and for the Badami Group is 1846 m. These values
match well with the geophysically determined maximum depth to basement (e.g.
Ramakrishna and Chayanulu 1988; Kale 1991) of the Kaladgi basin.
3.4.1 Sediment Accumulation Curves
This analysis uses Cant’s (1989) equation that derives a relationship between
eustacy (E), subsidence (Sub), sediment accumulation (Sed) and the depth of the
depositional interface (D). It is postulated that the change in water depth (DD)
during the deposition of a single uninterrupted stratum with thickness (DSed), in a
basin where space is created due to subsidence (tectonic or gravity driven) of the
basin floor (DSub) and eustatic sea-level change (DE) will be as follows:
DSub þ DE DSed ¼ DD ð1Þ
If the combined effects of subsidence and eustacy are clubbed together into a
single parameter (DDI), this equation can be simplified into the following form:
DDI DSed ¼ DD ð2Þ
In other words, the sum of sediment thickness and its depositional depth of each
strata gives the net change in the depth of the depositional interface due to subsi-
dence and eustacy:
DDI ¼ DSed þ DD ð3Þ
It is assumed that during the deposition of a single lithotype, the sediment

accumulation (DSed) kept pace with the net subsidence (DDI) and that the change
in this resulted in the succeeding lithotype to be deposited in succession. The
uncompacted thickness of each stratum in a single stratigraphic section is computed
to generate the progressive accumulation, computed as the ‘cumulative DDI’.
Plotting the successive values of DDI against time (as determined by the age of the
sediments in a sequence) provides a glimpse of the nature of changes in the
Table 2 Listing of compaction factors and depositional depths used in the subsidence analysis of
the Kaladgi sediments
Lithology Value
Compaction factor
1. Highly compacted and recrystallized sandstones (quartzites) 0.76
2. Well-indurated, cemented sandstones 0.86
3. Siltstones 0.53
4. Mudstones and shales 0.41
5. Carbonates (without significant recrystallisation) 0.75
6. Carbonates (recrystallized) 0.69
Depositional depth in meters
1. Carbonates (unaffected by influence of surface waves) -7
2. Carbonates (deposited within wave-influence depths) -5
3. Tidal muds and silts (=shales) -3
4. Supratidal and beach sandstones +3
5. Conglomerates +7
6. Chertbreccias (reworked tectonically generated debris) 0
progressive changes in the accommodation space available in a basin. Such plots

are called Sediment accumulation curves (SACs).
For ancient sediments, the stratigraphic thickness represents the compacted
thickness of the preserved sediments. The compaction curves by Sclater and
Christie (1980) provide ranges of 0.76–0.86 (sandstones), 0.41–0.53 (siltstones and
shales) and 0.69–0.75 (carbonates) for different overburden depths. Subsequent
studies of sediment compaction (Baldwin and Butler 1985; Audet and Fowler 1992;
Bjørlykke 2014) have also shown that authigenic recrystallisation, cementation and
diagenetic changes can affect the compacted thicknesses of sediments. Taking these
factors into account, we have used the estimated values of compaction factors for
the different lithotypes occurring in the Kaladgi basin as given in Table 2.
The optimum depositional depths for these lithotypes estimated assuming the
value of zero for the contemporary mean sea level are also listed in Table 2.
Positive values indicate deposition above the mean sea-level while negative values
indicate submergent accumulation of the sediments.
The uncompacted thickness of each stratum in a single stratigraphic section is
successively added to generate the progressive accumulation, computed as the
‘cumulative DDI’. The percentile ratio of the uncompacted stratal thickness with the
maximum Group-wise thicknesses gives a proxy of the time taken by that sequence
to accumulate. The locations of the SACs for the two constituent Groups (Fig. 7)
are the same (in numbers) as the stratigraphic sections (Figs. 4 and 6) that were
used to plot them.
The overall flatness of the Badami SACs in comparison to those of the Bagalkot
Group indicates a relatively slower accumulation in a gradually subsiding basin
floor of the former. This indicates a paucity of tectonic influence in the subsidence
Fig. 7 SACs of the Kaladgi Supergroup. The curves are numbered as per the stratigraphic section
(Fig. 6a, b) used to plot them. For the Bagalkot Group rows are arranged from east to west (right to
left) respectively to give a perception of the along-strike changes in subsidence patterns. The rows
are arranged north to south (top-bottom) respectively. For the Badami Group only two
representative SACs are given
history of the Badami Group. The steeper Bagalkot SACs suggest a faster subsi-
dence, which must have been enabled by tectonic deepening besides the eustatic
changes in the sea-level through its evolutionary history.
The SACs of the section numbers 2, 7, 9, 14, 15, 16 displays a consistent
gradient with little or no deflection; pointing to a rapid subsidence with a fairly
consistent rate. These sections are not located close to any of the basement shears.
On the other hand, the SACs of section numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, 11 that are located near
the basement shears display intervening deflections. These deflections reflect

modifications in the relative subsidence rates due to synsedimentary tectonic events.
Kale et al. (1998) showed the record of increasing frequency of the intraformational
limestone breccia horizons in the Gaddankeri sector indicating enhanced tectonic
modifications of the basin floor. Similar observations recorded by us in the other
sectors in the form of SSDs in the measured sections (Fig. 6) reinforce this
interpretation.
3.5 Depositional System
The broad picture that emerges is of a continent-margin shallow platform complex

with segments of continental deposits. The geographic spread of the basin, with the
basement exposed on all sides shows that it was in all probability a land-locked
basin with sediments supplied from all sides and deposited in it. Our data supports
the interpretation (Kale et al. 1996; Jayaprakash 2007) of the Kaladgi sediments
being deposited in transitional to shallow-marine regimes with local gentle depo-
sitional dips of 2°–5°. The detrital siliciclastics (quartzitic sandstones and con-
glomerates) were deposited in near-shore environments. Carbonate mudflats that
yielded the limestones and dolomites were further away from the shoreline, on a
shelf with shallow depths within the wave-base. The intervening mudflats yielded
the silicious and ferrugenous argillites on the landward side and calcarous mud-
stones on the open sea-side. The bedding plane markings, mud cracks, rip up clasts
and thin lensoid bedding evidence their accumulation under tidal influence with
alternate pulses of flooding and subaerial emergence.
Intricate sediment patterns in some sectors of the Bagalkot subbasin (particularly
the parts between Mudhol–Lokapur–Bagalkot) as depicted in the map (Fig. 4a) and
evident in the stratigraphic logs (Fig. 6a) suggest that the gently sloping profile of
the basin floor in these sectors was subjected to deviations, leading to uneven
relative subsidence. Pulses of temporary (and localised) shallowing or deepening in
excess of that expected during a normal trangressive sequence are reflected by the
alternations of shales and carbonates in these sectors. Some of these deviations
could be artifacts of the original basin floor geometry, such as basement highs and
lows. Deviations in the sediment supply rates may also have contributed to the
diversity in the dispersal (and consequently depositional) patterns of the sediments.
Some of these variations are interpreted to be consequences of synsedimentary
instability of the basin floor, created by tectonic events. The distribution of the
intraformational breccias in Petlur Carbonate, chertbreccias and seismites in other
horizons (Kale et al. 1998; Kale and Patil Pillai 2011; Patil Pillai and Kale 2011)
reinforce this possibility.
4 Structural Configuration
For understanding the evolution of the basin, it is necessary to try and separate the
diverse influences (basement undulations, supply rate variations, sea-level changes
and tectonics) and their imprints in the sedimentary record. The primary require-
ment for enabling this was to establish the three-dimensional geometry of various
horizons. This is relatively straight forward in case of the subhorizontal Badami
Group. However, the tightly folded sequence of the Bagalkot Group does not
permit the lateral continuity of the lithostratigraphic units to be established without
deciphering the structural patterns and ‘unfolding’ the strata.
The deformation patterns in the basin were earlier documented by Awati and
Kalaswad (1978), Nair and Raju (1987), Jayaprakash et al. (1987), Gokhale and
Pujar (1989), Jayaprakash (2007), Mukherjee et al. (2016), Jadhav and Kshirsagar
(2017) amongst others. Traverse mapping to validate earlier observations and field
observations on the orientations of the bedding planes, fractures and phyllitic
cleavage (in case of the argillites) have been used to understand the sense of
movement in different folds and faults in the basin.
Figure 8 compiles these observations in the Bagalkot subbasin that has under-
gone significant tectonic deformation. It is apparently divided into the northern and
southern sectors (Figs. 4a and 8) that are structurally different from each other,
separated by younger cover. The northern sector hosts tight eastwards or westwards
plunging folds. The southern sector exposes monoclinal, northward dipping strata
from the Lokapur Subgroup (Fig. 8). This stronger deformation of the Bagalkot
Group in the central parts than that along its fringes is akin to mobile belts. This
contrasts to that recorded from the other Purana basins, which display deformed
margins and relatively undeformed mid-basinal sectors.
The narrow linear Badami subbasin (Inset Figs. 2 and 4b) is almost undeformed.
The Badami Group is characterized by subhorizontal dips and small local faults
showing dragging along them. No other structural deformation is recorded from this
Group.
4.1 Regional Faults/Shears
The Kaladgi basin displays several sets of inherent as well as superimposed faults
(with evidence of brittle deformation and displacement) and shears (zones of
quasi-ductile to ductile deformation). The sense of slip along them is recorded
based on slickenside surfaces, drag of the bedding and joint patterns along them.
They dominantly trend E-W to ESE-WNW with gentle swirls along their lengths
and occur close to the margins of the basin.
The Sirur Shear zone extends for >100 km across the central part of the basin
and further eastwards into the basement terrain. It displays a minor right-lateral
sense of movement and a larger dip-slip component with downthrows towards
Fig. 8 Structural map of the Bagalkot subbasin showing the major folds and faults. The dotted
outline marks the boundary of this subbasin that is surrounded on all sides by basement rocks.
Regional shear zones such as the Kolchi and Anagwadi Shears have been recorded in geophysical
studies as crustal scale lineaments. The Sirur Shear separates the northern folded sector and the
southern monoclinal (northward dipping) sector of this subbasin
north. This shear zone (Fig. 8) is largely concealed below younger cover (of the
Badami Group and Deccan Traps). It occurs along the boundary between the
northern and southern sectors of the Bagalkot subbasin. It also marks the northern
edge of the Badami subbasin in the eastern sector (Fig. 4b). This suggests that it
may have suffered a reversal of sense of movement, yielding southward down-
throws during the Badami sedimentation. Most of the other E-W trending faults
display dominantly dip-slip displacements with basin-ward downthrows, and neg-
ligible to no strike-slip components.
The NW-SE trending sinistral Anagvadi and Kolchi Shears extend into the
basement. The imprints of the former are exposed across the Bagalkot subbasin.
The northward continuity of the Kolchi Shear is concealed below younger cover
and is hence shown with a thinner line in Fig. 8. Both correspond to megascale
geophysical lineaments of Peninsular India (Sridhar et al. 2017; Rajaram et al.
2016) that extend far beyond the bounds of the Kaladgi basin.
Minor faults have been mapped in several parts of the basin with NNE-SSW,
N-S, NNW-SSE trends (Fig. 8). They appear related to folding as sympathetic
fractures that show brittle deformation when transecting the quartzitic and
conglomeratic horizons, while the argillites and carbonates suffered ductile drag-
ging coherent with the sense of movement (see Mukherjee 2014).
The synsedimentary deformation from the Bagalkot Group is oriented parallel to
the adjoining shears and faults (Kale et al. 1998; Kale and Patil Pillai 2011; Patil
Pillai and Kale 2011). This indicates that they may be inherited structures from the
basement that were reactivated during and after the sedimentation in the Kaladgi
basin. Faulted contact of the basement and cover sediments when traced laterally,
assumes the nature of an unconformable relation, with the trace of the fault con-
cealed below the sedimentary cover. This suggests that although faulting played an
active role in the basin subsidence, transgressive onlap of sediments beyond the
faults did take place. The combination of the NW-SE trending regional shears and
the E-W trending Sirur Shear suggest that basinal growth took place in a
transtensional regime.
Several cross-faults that display quasi-ductile deformation in the argillaceous
and carbonate sediments cross the quarzitic ridges as brittle faults lined with fault
breccia. This aspect of competency contrast provides a better understanding of the
stress distribution during deformation and provides clues to the sense of slip along
them.
4.2 Folds
Folds in the Bagalkot subbasin are easily mappable from aerial photographs and
satellite imageries (Awati and Kalaswad 1978; Nair and Raju 1987) due to the rims
of the quartzite ridges along them (Fig. 9). These folds are large amplitude, small
wavelength ‘close folds’ with inter-limb angles of less than 30°. They display
plunging fold axes and curviplanar axial planes (as shown in Figs. 8 and 9).
This has been interpreted as a weaker event of cross folding (Mukherjee et al.
2016; Jadhav and Kshirsagar 2017). Alternatively, the fold geometry may have also
been influenced by inherited structures such as the basement shears and paleoto-
pographic undulations, yielding a perception of a second phase of coaxial folding.
Incipient greenschist facies metamorphism is manifested as development of
chlorite, sericite, albite (Govinda Rajulu and Chandrasekhar Gowda 1972) and
phyllitic cleavages in argillaceous sediments; and uralitization of pyroxenes and
albitisation of plagioclase in the Mallapur Intrusives (Patil Pillai et al. 2018). It is
pronounced at locations where the secondary faults cut across them and along fold
axes, but becomes indistinct away from the faults and on the fold limbs.
4.3 Synthesis
Three N-S geological cross-sections are reconstructed to depict the complex nature
of deformation and the stratigraphic relationships between various horizons in the
Fig. 9 Sketch maps of major folds in the Bagalkot subbasin. The fold axes are shown with their
plunge direction and anticlinal/synclinal symbol. Faults are shown with thin dotted red lines.
Strike-slip faults are depicted with the sense of slip along them. Faults with dominant dip-slip
component are shown without any marking of sense of movement along them
Kaladgi basin (Fig. 10). Besides enabling understanding of the lateral facies
changes, they also show the relationships between various folds and faults in the
deformed sector of the Bagalkot subbasin.
The E-W and NW-SE trending regional shears in the basement continue as faults
affecting the sediments. The parallel orientations of the synsedimentary deforma-
tional structures to them (Patil Pillai and Kale 2011) indicate that they were active
during the sedimentation in the basin (D0) and have influenced the basin geometry.
The sediment distribution patterns as lithofacies stripes parallel to these basement
structures reinforces this interpretation. They controlled its deepening by subsi-
dence of the continent-margin shallow marine platform.
The pattern of the SACs (Fig. 7), the shore-line—shelf depositional regimes of
the sediments and their stripping patterns collectively indicate that extensional
subsidence was responsible for the growth of the basin. Presence of synsedimentary
extensional faults as documented by Patil Pillai and Kale (2011; Fig. 5) in the lower
sequences of the Kaladgi basin and the onlap of sediments across bounding faults
are additional evidences in support of multiple transgressions that occurred in a
progressively deepening basin. In absence of systematic geophysical or drilling
data, it is difficult to validate the depth penetration of the structures recognized
during surface mapping as depicted in the cross-sections (Fig. 10).
Fig. 10 Sketches of N-S geological cross sections across the eastern part of the Kaladgi basin at
locations given in Fig. 9. The sections are N-S sections along the longitudes of 75° 20′E, 75° 35′E
and 75 45′E from top to bottom respectively. Note that the subsurface extension of the dips of beds
and of the fault/shear zones have limited validation from field observation
These features suggest a dominantly extensional regime during the growth of

this basin, with minor but significant strike-slip component. We therefore conclude
that the inception and growth of the Bagalkot subbasin occurred in a transtensional
tectonic regime.
The parallel orientation of fold axes with these basement structures suggests their
control on the deformational history of the sediments at a later date (D1). Jadhav
(1987) and Jadhav and Phadke (1989) interpreted the large amplitude, WNW-ESE
trending sinusoidal folds in the multilayered succession of Bagalkot Group to form
by buckling under relatively homogenous stress conditions. Based on the fold
orientations and field data, we infer that the initial buckling was caused by trans-
pressional stresses active in NE-SW and NW-SE directions during the D1 event. As
the strain gradually increased, sinistral as well as dextral verging cross-folds
developed along the limbs of these folds, accompanied by transverse fractures and
faults during a later event (D2). This interpretation of reactivated basement shears
governing the deformation history is more plausible than the gravity gliding model
proposed by Mukherjee et al. (2016).
The Badami sediments were deposited on the eroded surface of the deformed
Bagalkot Group (D3). These younger sediments do not display significant defor-
mation except for some local faults. Its depositional characters dominated by
continental deposition suggest that the younger Badami subbasin was nested in the
uplifted and eroded fold-mountains of the Bagalkot Group in the north and the
ridges of the Saundatti Quartzites in the south.
5 Basin Analysis
This basin had developed on the continental crust of the Dharwar craton (Kale
1991; Basu and Bickford 2015; Allen et al. 2015). The Dharwarian basement
served as the source of its sediments. The geometric relationship between the
regional basement shears that were active during the sedimentation and the sedi-
mentation patterns of the Bagalkot Group indicates that movements along them
facilitated the inception and growth of the basin. The tectonic influence on the
evolutionary history of this basin therefore precludes the possibility of this being an
intracratonic sag as suggested earlier (Jayaprakash et al. 1987; Jayaprakash 2007;
Dey et al. 2009; Dey 2015). A different model of the evolution of the Kaladgi basin
emerges based on the evidence and analyses documented above.
5.1 Phases of Basin Evolution
While integrating these observations, the ages of different events (Table 3) inferred
by Patil Pillai et al. (2018) are used. It is necessary to recognize that the ranges of
the ages inferred in the Table 3 are not the durations of the sedimentation. An
average sediment accumulation rate of 0.1 mm/year yields a duration of *130
million years to the Bagalkot Group and *19 million years for the Badami
Group. Modern accumulation rates in deltas range between 1 mm/year (=1 m/
k year) and 10 cm/year (=0.1 km/k year). They are slightly different, but in the
same magnitude range for shelf seas (Saddler 1999; Sommerfield 2006). Using
analogs of Phanerozoic sediments from the near-shore systems, the actual durations
of sedimentation in the Kaladgi basin are more likely to be a fraction of the
estimates based on average sedimentation rates (Kale 2015, 2016). This adds to
certain uncertainties when tagging the ages of the events in this basin.
5.1.1 Early History
Given the ages of the Mesoproterozoic dyke swarms, occurring in the adjoining
areas (Kumar et al. 2015), it is evident that the Kaladgi sedimentation cannot be
older than 1800 Ma (see also Basu and Bickford 2015). This cratonic block of the
Table 3 Chronology of events in the Kaladgi basin modified after Patil Pillai et al. (2018)
Subbasin Sedimentological events Tectono-thermal events Estimated age
range/measured
age (Ma)
Badami Continental sedimentation Extension (D3) *900–800
with localised marine
transgression
Emergence and erosion of Hiatal break 1100–900
folded strata (+basement)
Bagalkot Post depositional events Low grade 1150–1100
metamorphism and
deformation (D2′)
Mafic intrusion 1154 ± 4
Folding and faulting
(D2)
Basin deepening with Extension *1200
synsedimentary intra-basinal
tectonics
Local intra-basinal Intra-basinal tectonics >1200
reorganisation (?) with co-axial
deformation (D1)
Peak transgression Extension and <1300 + 50
Basin inception subsidence (D0) *1400 + 50
Basement Emergence and Continental regime >1600 Ma
peneplanation
northern Dhawar craton was subjected to an emergent period of continental

weathering and erosion leading to a peneplained topography with gentle gradients
following the event of dyke intrusion. This is consistent with the period of stability
of supercontinental assembly (between 1800 and 1500 Ma) predicted by Condie
et al. (2015).
The reorganization of continental blocks and assembly of Rodinia after the
breakup of Nuna started around 1400 Ma (Cawood and Hawkesworth 2014;
Condie et al. 2015). Similar coeval extensional regimes and cratonic rifting are
recorded from the other Purana basins of Peninsular India (Kale 2016). It is
speculated that the primary inception of this basin on the northern edge of the
Dharwar craton may be a part of this global tectono-thermal event. Transtensional
reactivation of some of the basement shears, like the Sirur Shear, enabled tecton-
ically driven subsidence in the Bagalkot subbasin. It is generally accepted that
during the existence of the Mesoproterozoic supercontinents, due to their low
topographic gradient, even small sea-level increase could lead to flooding of large
areas creating wide-spread platform basins (Eriksson et al. 2006; Bradley 2011),
similar to the Kaladgi basin.
5.1.2 Growth
The growth of the Kaladgi basin between 1400–1300 Ma is consistent in the global
context of marginal break-up of the supercontinents. The upper crustal regime
would normally be expected to fail (under extensional stress) along brittle fault
planes. The brittle upper crustal levels of the continental crust would essentially
display failure during extension with fault complexes analogous to those found in
present day continent margin rifts (Gibbs 1984; Allen and Allen 2013) as postulated
in the model in Fig. 11a. The cross-sections across the Kaladgi basin (Fig. 10), and
fault-plane orientations, can be modeled into an analogous listric system.
A postulated listric geometry of the main faults/shear zones that governed the
growth of this basin is endorsed by the fact that at several locations, mesoscopic
listric and antithetic fault complexes of meter-scale dimensions are seen (Fig. 11b–
e). The field exposures not only endorse the basin-scale listric geometry of the
growth fault complex, but also show it’s replicability at smaller scales. The max-
imum recorded vertical thickness of sediments (of *5000–6500 m) suggests that
the depth of the detachment plane was located at those depths.
Given the element of horizontal movements recorded from various associated
faults (see Figs. 8 and 10); the extension was associated with a degree of horizontal
shear. It is therefore interpreted that the early growth of the Kaladgi basin was in a
transtensional regime rather than purely extension driven by gravity as previously
modeled by Mukherjee et al. (2016). The essentially extensional, fault-driven
subsidence (=D0) of the floor of the Bagalkot subbasin enabled accumulation of
thick sediments in it.
A minor, localized event of basin floor reorganization led to the intrabasinal
unconformity between the Lokapur and Simikeri Subgroups in the northern sector
of this subbasin (Kale et al. 1998; Jayaprakash 2007). The Simikeri sediments are
confined within the doubly plunging synclinorial areas. These areas are closely
aligned with the Anagvadi, Sirur and Gaddankeri Shears (see Fig. 8). We infer that
the localized restructuring of the basin floor in these narrow parts of the Bagalkot
subbasin may be linked to reactivation of these shears (D1). The incremental
occurrence of intraformational limestone breccia horizons towards the Gaddankeri
Shear (Kale et al. 1998) endorses it.
Sedimentation in other parts of the basin appears to be uninterrupted by this
localized event (D1). It may have also produced the first generation folds in the
central parts of this subbasin, leading to the exposure of some of the strata to
weathering and erosion. The emergent strata of the Lokapur Subgroup have con-
tributed sediments to the Simikeri Subgroup as evident in basal conglomerates from
the Muchkundi Quartzites. This event reflects as kinks in the SACs that cover both
the subgroups from the central parts of the basin (e.g. nos. 6 and 10 in Fig. 7).
Extension, consequent relative deepening of the basin and sedimentation continued
after that for a relatively shorter duration, during which the thinner Simikeri
Subgroup was deposited. Based on the chronological data available (Patil Pillai
et al. 2018) and the assumption of sedimentation rates ranging between *0.1 to
1.0 mm/year; the event D1 is estimated to have occurred slightly before 1200 Ma.
Fig. 11 a Schematic N-S model of the fault/shear framework of the Bagalkot subbasin based on
models of continental rifting with a listric geometry predicted by Bott and Mithen Bott and Mithen
1983; Dula 1991). The inferred listric geometry is based on field evidence of movement along
various faults. The postulated northward verging listric geometry is endorsed by the occurrence of
similar mesoscopic arrays of faults, whose examples are given below (b and d). b Field photograph
of subvertical dipping Chikshellikeri Limestone near Gaddankeri. Uneven compaction of the
alternating impure and pure limestone strata have produced several synsedimentary deformation
features such as compaction lobes, flame structures and pinching and swelling of the parallel
bedded strata. Note the small-scale fault system transecting it, which has not affected the overlying
(top of the photo) strata indicating its intraformational nature. c Sketch of the photograph in
b. Note two sets of small listric faults and antithetic faults terminating against the substrate of
undisturbed strata can be marked in this exposure. The lack of penetration into the underlying
strata and termination against the overlying bed confirms their intraformational status. d Field
photograph of subhorizontal Kokankoppa Limestone at Chandargi village (see Fig. 4b). Weakly
stylolitic parallel bedded limestones are interspersed with thin muddy impure beds resulting in a
flaggy appearance to them. A small fault system has affected only the strata in between; that shows
a ‘saucer-like geometry’ analogous to listric fault systems. e Sketch of the photograph in d. Their
intraformational nature of the listric array of faults is established by the lack of penetration into the
underlying strata and termination against the overlying bed. Typical antithetic faults and roll-over
anticline is observed on the northern (right) side of the picture as marked
5.1.3 Deformation
The Bagalkot sediments were folded and faulted during the event recognized as D2.
The sub-parallel alignment of the fold-axes with the NW-SE to WNW-ESE regional
shear zones indicates that this event was related to another pulse of activity along
them or that these zones channelized N-S oriented compressive stress systems. The
D2 event did not affect the southern sector of the Bagalkot subbasin as much as it
did the northern sector.
The deformation of the Bagalkot Group was interspersed with the intrusion of
dykes (=Mallapur Intrusives) along the D2 fold axes. The dykes are dated at
1154 ± 4 Ma by 40Ar/39Ar method (Patil Pillai et al. 2018). The estimated age
(*1200 Ma: based on the dating of a dyke (Mallapur Intrusives) that is emplaced
along the D2 fold axes) of this event corresponds well with the period of super-
continental reassembly leading to the development of Rodinia (Condie and Kroner
2013; Condie et al. 2015).
Further deformation and low grade greenschist facies metamorphism of the
sediments along with the intrusives is recognized as the event D2’, since there is
insufficient evidence to say whether it represents the peak of the deformation event
(D2) or is a separate episode altogether. Cross faulting of the earlier folds and
co-axial second generation shear folds observed here are likely to have evolved at a
later stage than the main folding. Jadhav and Phadke (1989) recognize two separate
events of folding while Jayaprakash (2007) records only a single deformational
event for the Bagalkot Group. The sedimentation in this subbasin ceased following
the deformation and low grade metamorphism.
5.1.4 Hiatal Break and Younger Cycle
The subsequent period of quiescence coincides with the period of stability of the
Rodinia supercontinent estimated between *1100 and 900 Ma. This period was
marked by the emergence and erosion of the folded hills of the Bagalkot Group
along with its basement. The deposition in the Badami subbasin is essentially a
continental sedimentation with very little component of the marine interface. The
presence of ichnofossils from the Badami sediments (Kulkarni and Borkar 1997)
confirm their Neoproterozoic age. Given that some parts of the Badami Group rest
directly upon the basement, suggests a significant removal of the preceding
Bagalkot sediments prior to the inception of these younger sediments. We therefore
project the age of the extensional growth (D3) of the Badami subbasin to be
between 800 and 900 Ma corresponding to the age of the early breakup of Rodinia
before its reorganization into the Gondwanaland assembly (Cawood and
Hawkesworth 2014).
The thickly-bedded, poorly-sorted conglomerates at the base of the Badami
Group are analogous to debris-wash deposits commonly found at the base of slopes
in a continental regime. Fluvial influence in the form of braided channel sands is
overprinted on the sandstones of the Badami Group. Taken together with the
narrow linear expanse of the Badami subbasin, a bulk of these sediments are
interpreted as continental fluvial deposits derived from the flanking hill ranges of
the folded Bagalkot Group and its basement. They are eventually overlain on the
eastern side by the mudflat siltstones and flaggy impure limestones. This indicates
that a transgressive event on a shallow shelf occurred during this sequence of
sedimentation. The adjoining sandstones in this tract between Yargatti–Chandargi
(on the west) and Badami (in the east) show evidence of deposition in a near-shore
environment. It is concluded that the Badami sedimentation occurred in a nested
basin, attended by limited extension and subsidence. The subsidence curves
(Fig. 7b) indicate this to be a very slow subsidence that was overtaken by a marine
transgression during its terminal phase.
5.2 Relative Sea-Level
All configurations of the assembly of Proterozoic supercontinents (Rogers and

Santosh 2004; Piper 2013, 2018) show the Indian peninsula to be located close to
the edges of the successive supercontinents. The Proterozoic eustacy is primarily
driven by gradually reducing crustal growth rates, large continental assemblies (that
depress the sea-level) and consequent evolution of large continental freeboards,
enabling flooding of large areas of craton-margins (Eriksson et al. 2001, 2006;
Bradley 2011). This led to platforms that promoted the spread of cynobacterial mats
(stromatolites and microbial mat deposits) along with mudflats where argillaceous
and carbonate sediments accumulated in thick sequences. The proximity to the
oceanic waters (due to its position on the edge of supercontinental assemblies)
enabled flooding in the Purana basins as also in the Kaladgi basin.
Taking the depositional environments and geographical interrelations into
account, the relative sea-level curve (Fig. 12) indicates that eustatic fluctuations
contributed to the evolution of the basin. There have been at least two major
flooding events in the history of the Kaladgi basin, one during the Mesoproterozoic
and the second during the Neoproterozoic.
The transgressive events were closely interlinked with the tectonic subsidence in
the Bagalkot subbasin. The tectonic influence on evolution of the younger Badami
subbasin appears to be milder. The tectonic subsidence has left its imprints in the
form of growth faults, seismites, synsedimentary deformational structures and
fining upwards sequence. The tectonic subsidence, as discussed above, was
essentially extensional with minor strike-slip component for the Bagalkot subbasin.
It was purely extensional during the Badami sedimentation.
This compiled data of sedimentary environments, subsidence, deformation and
stratigraphic succession of the Kaladgi Supergroup enables a more robust analysis
of its basinal history. It is evident that this interpretation matches well with recent
understanding of Proterozoic systems (e.g. Condie and Kroner 2008, 2013; Cawood
and Hawkesworth 2014) and the supercontinental and climatic cycles (Evans 2013;
Fig. 12 Depositional environments of the successive lithostratigraphic units from the Kaladgi
Supergroup. The relative sea-level curve plotted is based on the depth of deposition of
corresponding lithologies and their mutual interrelations (adjoining/overlapping) across different
parts of the basin. The tectonic events interpreted in this work are depicted in the next column to
demonstrate the relative temporal relation between the tectonic events and sea-level fluctuations as
inferred by us
Piper 2013; Rooney et al. 2015; Condie et al. 2015) that controlled Proterozoic
sedimentary basin evolution (Eriksson et al. 2006; Allen et al. 2015).
5.3 Basin Classification
The Kaladgi basin was described as an intracratonic sag/rift basin by earlier workers
(Jayaprakash 2007; Dey 2015). Using the classification parameters of sedimentary
basins (see Allen et al. 2015), the Kaladgi basin qualifies as an intracratonic/
continent interior basin, bounded on all sides by the basement rocks of the Dharwar
craton. Miall et al. (2015) consider this to be a ‘fault-bounded basin related to far
field tectonism’, given that there is no contemporary tectonic zone in its vicinity.
Our work shows that the two constituent Groups in this basin display different
tectonic styles. A unified classification of this basin is therefore not appropriate. It
must therefore be recognized as a polyhistory basin (sensu Kingston et al. 1983).
Although reactivation of pre-existing shear zones appear to have played an

important role in its evolution, the fault-bounded Bagalkot subbasin shows typical
geometry of a rifted continental crust with listric faults, suggesting an extensional
origin. Its overall geometry and sediment distribution is consistent with typical
Precambrian intracratonic fault-bounded sag basins (Gibbs 1984; Pirajno and
Santosh 2015; Roberts et al. 2015). On the other hand, the Badami subbasin is best
ascribed to a ‘successor basin’ (post-tectonic intermontane basin: sensu Allen et al.
2015) that ensued after the tectonic deformation of the Bagalkot Group.
Its tectonic history bears a close temporal relationship with the break-up and
reassembly of the Proterozoic supercontinental cycles; but lacks any tectonic pro-
vince or oceanic crustal interface in its proximity. It is therefore concluded that the
Kaladgi basin is an intracratonic polyhistory basin and its origin and growth was
driven by reactivation of basement shear zones.
6 Conclusions
The Kaladgi Supergroup is comparable to the large platform sediments accumulated

in the Purana basins of Peninsular India, but differs from them in the nature and
intensity of its deformation. Its position on the northern edge of the Dharwar craton,
lack of proximity to any orogenic belt or large intrusive complex; pose difficulties
in ascertaining its origin and growth.
Our studies conclude that the Bagalkot Group was deposited during a eustatic
sea-level rise and transgressive incursions on the cratonic platform, in close asso-
ciation with basement tectonics resulting from reactivation of the basement struc-
tures. Activity along synsedimentary growth faults modified the geometry and
geography of the depositional interface in different sectors of the Bagalkot subbasin
(Fig. 11). We recognize cycles of extensional subsidence interspersed with folding
and faulting during the history of this basin (Fig. 12). Our work shows that there
have been at least two clear transgressive events (and a possible third one that was
either a part of the first or an independent one) during the Mesoproterozoic and
Neoproterozoic times. Whether they are contemporaneous with the transgressive
events in the Cuddapah and Bhima basins surrounding the Dharwar craton (Kale
2016) and how this compares in the global framework of the supercontinental
assemblies and breakups during the Proterozoic remains in the realm of future
studies.
We conclude that the Kaladgi basin provides a rare glimpse of how eustacy and
tectonics closely worked in generating this Proterozoic polyhistory basin. The ages
of the constituent sediments are as yet poorly constrained and remain an area
requiring focused attention. Similarly, a detailed isotopic profiling of the sediments
in the basin may not only help understand its provenance character, but actually
may enable decipher the unroofing history of the emergent landmass of the Dharwar
craton during its evolution.
Acknowledgements This work is the result of more than 3 decades of research in the Kaladgi
basin that was funded by CSIR, DST and AMD. Different students and colleagues at different
times have helped in the data collection and we acknowledge their contributions to the work. We
are thankful to Prof. V. V. Peshwa, Prof. T. K. Biswal, Prof. V. G. Phansalkar, Dr. Amogh Chitrao,
Dr. Anand Kale, Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni and Dr. Pradeep Jadhav for their suggestions and dis-
cussions on this work. We thank Prof. Soumyajit Mukherjee for inviting us to contribute this
chapter and his patient support and encouragement. The comments and suggestions from the
reviewers helped improve the manuscript significantly.
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NE-SW Strike-Slip Fault
in the Granitoid from the Margin
of the South East Dharwar Craton,
Degloor, Nanded District, Maharashtra,
India
Md. Babar, R. D. Kaplay, Soumyajit Mukherjee, Souradeep Mahato

and Chandrakant Gurav
1 Introduction
Present study emphasizes deformations in the basement granite from the ‘South
East Deccan Volcanic Province’ (SEDVP) around Degloor/Diglur. W dipping
thrusts (Kaplay et al. 2013), steep normal faults, fault planes dipping towards S,
from basalts and deformations from Quaternary deposits (Kaplay et al. 2017a) were
reported from the area around Nanded. Similarly, Kaplay et al. (2017b) studied the
margin of SEDVP around Kinwat lineament, Maharashtra, India, (northern part of
Nanded district). The E-W strike-slip faults (with maximum net-slip of 24 cm) were
identified in the basement granite from the Kinwat region. The zone was designated
as the ‘Western Boundary East Dharwar Craton Strike-Slip Zone’ (WBEDCSZ).
This prompted us to study the structural aspects of another margin of SEDVP with
basement granite near the Degloor region. The study area (Fig. 1) is loca-
ted *135 km SSW of Kaddam fault, the area from where strike-slip faults were
reported from the basement granite (Sangode et al. 2013).
Basement structures affected Deccan tectonics. For example, *N-S Dharwar
trend in the basement was inherited as weak planes in Deccan trap in subsequent
strike-slip faulting around Mumbai (Misra et al. 2014).
Md. Babar C. Gurav

Department of Geology, Dnyanopasak College, Parbhani 431401
Maharashtra, India
R. D. Kaplay
School of Earth Sciences, S.R.T.M. University, Nanded 431606
Maharashtra, India
S. Mukherjee (&) S. Mahato
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Powai, Mumbai 400076, Maharashtra, India
e-mail: soumyajitm@gmail.com

116 Md. Babar et al.
Fig. 1 Location map showing deformation zones along SEDVP contact with EDC. SEDVP:
South East Deccan Volcanic Province, EDC: East Dharwar Craton, EDMDZ: East Dharwar
Margin Deformation Zone, and WBEDCDZ: ‘Western Boundary East Dharwar Craton Deformed
Zone’. Right corner inset: Rose diagram- dominant trend of the strike-slip faults from the regions
1–5. Data population: N = 129. (Geology after Banerjee et al. 2012)
The Degloor region is characterized by westernmost part of East Dharwar Craton

with basement granite. The Deccan trap exposes about *10 km from the Degloor
granite. The Degloor region consists of Palaeoproterozoic high K-granitoids
(Banerjee et al. 1993; Wesankear and Patil 2000). These rocks are also referred to
as the Nanded granitoids (NG) by Banerjee et al. (2012). They are the continuation
of ‘Peninsular Gneissic Complex’ (PNG) along the Deccan Traps boundary
(SEDVP) (Banerjee et al. 2012). These granites are coarse-grained pink and gray
with porphyritic texture. Quartzo(-feldspathic) veins and pegmatite dykes intrude
them profusely. The dark coloured basic enclaves are also commonly associated
with these granites. At places WNW trending mafic dykes also exposed. The
granites exposed as detached mounds/along the course of the river. These granites
are part of the reactivated and remobilized EDC (GSI 1979, 2001).
Banerjee et al. (2012) report that these granitoids demonstrate well developed
mostly NE and NW trending joints and local foliations. These authors also report
(i) minor slip in pink feldspar bands near Sagroli- *24 km NE of Degloor; and
(ii) several minor faults close to the ‘South East Deccan Volcanic Province-East
Dharwar Cratorn margin, and minor folding within the EDC. However, Banerjee
et al. (2012) did not present structural details. On the other hand we worked on this
basement granite for detail structural geology. The methodology of the present
study have been data collection through fieldwork, and their interpretation.
NE-SW Strike-Slip Fault in the Granitoid from the Margin … 117
2 Structures Observed in Degloor—The Present Study
Reverse faults, normal faults (step faults), strike-slip faults, brittle shear along the
boundary of veins, minor folds and boudins are observed in the basement rock. In
Fig. 2, a thin quartz vein is faulted in normal manner at as many as 12 locations.
These faults are (sub) parallel to each other and constitute a step-like array with
small throw. The fault plane dips 80° due W. The slip of fault plain varies from 1.6
to 6.5 cm.
Brittle strike-slip faults are numerous in the study area. In some cases, single
veins are strike-slip faulted (Fig. 3a). In Fig. 3b, a pegmatite vein is dextrally
faulted. In Fig. 3c, slightly folded pegmatite vein is slipped possibly with a “reverse
drag” (Mukherjee and Koyi 2009). A medium size pegmatite vein (A) in granitic
country rock (B), at the contact of basic dyke (C) shows reverse slip but no drag
close to the fault plane (Fig. 3d). A pegmatite vein is strike-slip sinistrally faulted
twice in two directions. Sigmoid P-planes decode the former slip, and sharp offset
the later one (Fig. 3e). Brittle shear fractures and fault planes were also observed;
Y-planes and the fault planes in Fig. 4a–d and also in Fig. 5 trend NE, showing
both sinistral and dextral slip. A thin vein, observed on a horizontal plane, is reverse
dragged only at one side of the fault plane. At the other side, no drag is noted
(Fig. 3f). The slip is 17 cm and fault strikes *NE. A rather irregular basic intru-
sion in granitic rock shows faulting. This is a strike-slip fault (Fig. 6a).
In other cases, single veins are multiply faulted (Fig. 6b). Fault ‘A’ strikes N20°
E and slips 9.0 cm; ‘B’ strikes N50°E and slips 5.0 cm; ‘C’ strikes N75°W and
slips 24 cm; and ‘D’ strikes N80°E and slips 28 cm. In Fig. 6c, the
quartzo-feldspathic vein is dextral faulted at three places. The en-echelon joints
Fig. 2 Step faulting in quartz vein (12 faults in vertical section). We tend to think them as a
manifestation of a major fault, since our observations repeat
Fig. 3 a Normal step faults exposed on steeply inclined exposure, at ‘A’ and ‘B’ dip towards E at
25°. Net slip: 5.5 cm both at ‘A’ and ‘B’. b Dextral sheared pegmatite vein, 2.1 cm net slip along
NE trending fault plane. c Joints acted locally as brittle-ductile fault planes (strike N20°E, 3.2 cm
slip), at horizontal outcrop. d Dextral brittle slip. Net slip 12 cm; N45°E (horizontal exposure).
e Sinstral shear (at horizontal outcrop). Strike of the fault is N20°E; net slip is 5.0 cm. f A thin vein
shows bending before it is deformed in an brittle manner (horizontal exposure)
locally acted as fault planes. In Fig. 6d as well, the quartzo-feldspathic vein faulted
along joint planes at three places both dextrally and sinsitrally.
In Fig. 7a, the vein is faulted at four places. At ‘A’ the sense of movement is
sinistral, while at ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ the sense is dextral. At ‘B’ the vein has not lost
the continuity indicating local ductile deformation. At ‘A’, the vein is bent close to
the fault plane indicating drag.
A quartz vein (Fig. 7b) slips at three places along parallel set of N6°W-S6°E
trending faults. The displacement at ‘A’ is 7 cm, at ‘B’ it is 4.2 cm and at ‘C’ it is
4 cm. In Fig. 7c, curved joints act as fault planes slipping the vein at five places.
One more slip is noted at ‘F’. Some of these fault planes are curved. In some of the
cases, one of the veins is strike-slip faulted (Fig. 7d) while the other parallel vein is
Fig. 4 Brittle strike slip shear observed on horizontal exposures. Y-plane trends * NE. a, c,
d Sinistral slip. b Dextral slip. Additionally: d secondary quartz along Y-plane
Fig. 5 a Quartzo-feldspathic vein dextral slipped along N40°E striking fault. b Three fault planes
marked on the diagram are vertical, striking N69°E, N85°E and N54°E from bottom to top of the
image also show dextral slip
Fig. 6 a Basic intrusion faulted with 2.2 cm slip. Fault strikes NE. b Multiple faults (at horizontal
outcrop). c Joints acting as fault planes, at horizontal outcrop. Fault strikes N65°E at ‘A’ with 3 cm
slip, at ‘B’: strike: N65°E, slip: 2.0 cm; at ‘C’, strike: N65°E, slip: 3.5 cm. d ‘A’ and ‘B’ are the
joints which acted as fault planes in displacing pegmatite vein (horizontal outcrop). At ‘A’ the fault
strikes N48°E, with 4.0 cm slip, at ‘C’, strike: N78°W, slip: 9.0 cm
Fig. 7 a Vein displaced at four places, at horizontal outcrop. Strike of the fault at ‘A’: N30°E,
slip: 7.0 cm, at ‘B’ strike: N30°E, slip: 10 cm, at ‘C’ strike: N65°E, slip: 6.5 cm; at ‘D’ strike:
N50°E, slip: 13 cm. b Quartz vein faulted at three places: ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. Sense of slip: dextral.
c Curvilinear en-echelon joints acting as fault planes, at horizontal outcrop. Slip at ‘A’ is 8.0 cm, at
‘B’ 0.2 cm, at ‘C’ 4 cm, at ‘D’ 2 cm, at ‘E’ 14 cm; and at ‘F’: 3.8 cm. The strike all these small
faults is N35°E. d At ‘A’ the vein shows deformation with 8 cm strike slip. Fault strikes N60°E. At
‘B’ the vein is unaffected by faulting and is open folded (at horizontal outcrop)
undeformed. In other words, in meso-scale one can see termination of fault planes.
In Fig. 8a, the topmost vein (A) faults at four places (locations ‘D’ to ‘G’) along
parallel en-echelon joints while the lower vein (‘B’) is not. The host rock (‘C’)
above and below the vein ‘A’ is also faulted. In some other cases, parallel veins
faulted (Fig. 8b). Here, left vein shears sinistrally and the right vein oppositely and
dextrally. In Fig. 8c, however, both the veins shear dextrally.
Fig. 8 a En-echelon joints (marked as ‘D’, ‘E’, ‘F’ and ‘G’) displaced the vein in brittle and
ductile-brittle manner (at horizontal outcrop). At ‘D’ slip: 2.0 cm, at ‘E’: 0.6 cm, at ‘F’ the vein is
ductile deformed, at ‘G’ slip is 0.5 cm. These faults strike *NE. b brittle deformation (at
horizontal outcrop). Strike of the fault at ‘A’ is N40°W with 26 cm slip; at ‘B’ strike: N70°E, slip
14.0 cm. c Two parallel veins brittle deformed. At ‘a’ 2 cm strike slip, at ‘B’ 1.5 cm slip. Fault
strikes N40°E. d Multilayered faulting
Several layers in the rock got faulted (Fig. 8d). Two conjugate joints, i and ii, cut
through the layers. Joint i does not slip the layer, however, joint ii does dextrally.
Therefore joint ii can be called more accurately a fault. The strike of the fault is
N30°E. The displacement for layer ‘A’ is 0.8 cm, for ‘B’ 0.9 cm, for ‘C’ 1.1 cm, for
‘D’ 1.2 cm, and for ‘E’ 1.4 cm. Slip increases locally towards SW. Commonly fault
planes demonstrate maximum slip near their central part and at the margins mini-
mum or zero (review in Mukherjee 2014a). Figure 8d is an exception.
Conjugate strike-slip faults at *30° are observed in this study at places
(Figs. 6d, 9a, b and 10). Fault ‘A’ strikes N50°E and slips 7 cm. Fault ‘B’ strikes
N80°E and slips 6 cm. Spectacular conjugate multilayer strike-slip faulting is
observed in the ancient granitoid rock (Fig. 10). On a *N striking fault,
brittle-ductile slip of 3 cm is noted at ‘A’, 5 cm at ‘B’, and 1.2 cm at ‘C’. On a
Fig. 9 a, b Conjugate strike-slip faults
Fig. 10 Multilayer strike-slip faults (at horizontal outcrop)

N30°E striking plane, slip at ‘A/’ is 1 cm, at ‘B/’ is 1.1 cm, and at ‘C/’ is 1 cm. The
thickest pegmatite layer is sheared sinistrally. Note fracture patterns inside the vein.
That shear acted prior to the conjugate faulting. The left hand side geographic
direction in this snap is N30°W/330°. A pegmatite vein faults along two
sub-parallel planes. Since the angle between the two fault planes is rather low, they
are not conjugate faults. Fault ‘A’ strikes N25°W and slips 2 cm. Fault ‘B’ strikes
N6°W and slips 4 cm.
‘Intrusion-in-intrusion’ feature is ductile sheared (Fig. 11). Basic intrusion (B),
with quartz vein (C) within, inside host granitic rock (A), is ductile sheared along
N20°W-S20°E. Both the basic intrusion and the quartz vein thin significantly inside
the shear zone (Fig. 11). Outside and inside the shear zone, ‘B’ is 22 and 6 cm
thick, respectively. Likewise, ‘C’ is 6 and 1 cm thick.
Though major/regional folds are absent, small (ptygmatic) folds are found in
vertical and horizontal sections. Synclinal type of fold is observed at one place
(Fig. 12a). The axial plane is slightly inclined. A folded structure, at the horizontal
outcrop, is exposed in granitic gneiss (Fig. 12b).
Folding in quartzo-feldspathic vein/pegmatite veins is also a common feature
observed in the study area (Fig. 12c). At many places, pegmatite veins intruded in
host granitoids is ptygmatic folded (Fig. 12d; also see Mukherjee et al. 2015).
Drawing tectonic inferences from ptygmatic folding would be difficult because of
their irregular and sometimes inconsistent geometries. ‘S’ and M-type folding in
Fig. 11 Quartz vein (C) within basic intrusion (B) in host granitoid (A) ductile deformed. Shear
zone is marked by red lines (at horizontal outcrop)
Fig. 12 a Asymmetric folds at vertical outcrop. b Folding in granitic gneiss (horizontal outcrop).
Axial plane trends N. c Folding in pegmatite vein (horizontal outcrop). d Ptygmyatic folding.
(E-W trending photo). e Pegmatite vein folded (W-E trending photo). f Folding in pegmatite vein
(horizontal outcrop)
pegmatite dyke in granitoid (Figs. 12e, f and 13a, b) do exist though we do not
decipher any regional folding. ‘Z’-type tight fold with hinge thicker than the limbs
is observed in one of the pegmatite veins. Multiple (faint) faults also occur in the
close vicinity (Fig. 13c). Pinch and swell structures of pegmatite layer indicates
local brittle-ductile NW-SE extension. Not all swells resemble geometrically, while
few are sub-elliptical.
There are two major trends of vertical joint planes observed. Trend-1 varies
N10° to 340°NW and trend-2 260°SW to 280°NW (Fig. 14).
Fig. 13 a Folding in pegmatite vein. b ‘M’ type of folded pegmatite vein. c ‘Z’ type folding with
multiple faulting in its close vicinity (W-E trending photo)
Fig. 14 Mechanism of strike-slip conjugate faulting. Strike of the fault is N50°E. Red dash lines:
actual fault lines, black solid lines intersecting shear axes. r1: short solid black arrow, r3,
compressive stress axis: open arrow
3 Discussions
The faults/fractures/shear zones, in the Degloor region, are represented by a number

of N to NNE, NE, NE and E bound lineaments (Banerjee et al. 2008). One NE
trending fault is reported in between Shahapur and Sujayatpur, 9 km NE to the
present study area and a shear zone near Madnoor. However, there has been no
report of faults from the study area by the previous workers.
We document 129 small faults (Table 1) out of which 116 (*90%) are
strike-slip, 12 (*9%) are normal faults, and only one (1%) is a reverse fault from
the study area (Fig. 1). From these faults, 72% are of the strike-slip faults trend NE.
80% of the total strike-slip faults shear dextrally. Net slip of all the strike slip faults,
where decipherable, varies 0.5–82 cm.
Conjugate or ‘X’ type joints at *30°, devoid of any slip along them, is also
observed. Conjugate joins were not observed in earlier studies from (other parts of)
Deccan Traps such as Devey and Lightfoot (1986), Mitchell and Widdowson
(1991), Babar et al. (2017), Bhave et al (2017), Kaplay et al. (2017a, b), Misra and
Mukherjee (Misra and Mukherjee 2017) and Mukherjee et al. (2017). Most
prominent sets of joints strike N50°E at ‘A’ and N80°E. These trends mostly match
with the conjugate faults reported in Fig. 6d (N48°E), Fig. 9a (N50°E), Fig. 9b
(N50°E), and Fig. 10 (N30°E). These joints played crucial role in displacing the
veins in the region in a strike-slip manner. Similar types of joints have displaced
various veins at other outcrops (Figs. 9a, b and 10). The angle between these two
joints is 30°.
This work finds that the deformation style observed in the basement granite near
Degloor, close to the contact of SEDVP with E Dharwar Craton, is dominantly
strike-slip. This suggests that the region belongs to a tectonic regime with inter-
mediate stress axis r2 vertical (in the past). Fault planes most dominantly trends
NE.
Numerous conjugate strike-slip faults exist in the study area (Figs. 6b, d, 8b, 9a,
b and 10). At some places, conjugate shear develop within the strike slip fault
system (Fig. 14). The state of stress in such type of faulting consists of two hori-
zontal principal stresses that are compressional push (r1; Fig. 14) in one direction
and tensional pull (r3) in the perpendicular direction. The r1 direction bisects the
acute angle, and the r3 the obtuse angle between the two fault planes that constitute
the single conjugate set. The mechanism of faulting is shown in Fig. 14.
We refer the study area as the ‘Degloor Strike-slip Shear Zone’. Note that
strike-slip shear is reported from the basement granite nearer to the margin of
SEDVP with Dharwar Craton at Kinwat (Kaplay et al. 2017a, b), which is
*135 km NNE of the present study area. The strike-slip faults, with movement
parallel to the NE trend of Kaddam fault, are also reported close to Kaddam
lineament (Sangode et al. 2013). Thus the Kinwat-Degloor-Kaddam triangular
zone, so far explored, shows strike-slip tectonics. However, the deformation style,
*NE-SW at Degloor, does not match with the trend of those at northern margin of
SEDVP with Dharwar craton near Kinwat (*E-W) and at Kaddam (*NW-SE),
Table 1 Deformation types and characters

Structure No. Deformation regime Fault type Shear sense Fault trend Net slip (cm)
F1 Brittle Strike slip Dextral N43°E 3.5
F3 Brittle Strike slip Dextral N70° E 4.0
F6 Brittle Strike slip Dextral N20°W 2.5
F14 Brittle Strike slip Sinistral N25°W 1.6
F26 Brittle Strike slip Sinistral E-W 2.7
F27 Ductile/Brittle Strike slip Dextral N47°E 0.6
F28 Ductile/Brittle Strike slip Sinistral E-W 2.8
F31 Brittle Strike slip Dextral N28°E 13
F35 Brittle Strike slip Dextral N05°W 05
F40 Brittle Strike slip Sinistral N70°E 5.7
(continued)
Table 1 (continued)
F42 Brittle Strike slip Sinistral N60°E 08
F50 Brittle Strike slip Sinistral N35°W 03
F63 Brittle Normal – – 12.5
(continued)
Table 1 (continued)
F104 Brittle Strike slip Sinistral E-W 07
F109 Brittle Thrust – – 13
F118 Brittle Strike slip Dextral E-W 05
(continued)
Table 1 (continued)
which is located along the SE of Kinwat region. This NE-SW trend of strike-slip
faults from Dharwar Craton near Degloor mismatches with the trend of the N-S
trending strike-slip faults near Mumbai reported by Misra et al (2014) (also see
Misra and Mukherjee 2015). The easternmost fault reported at Malshej Ghat (Misra
et al. 2014) is *500 km west of Degloor. These faults cannot be related with the
study area presumably because they are far away from the study area.
The Degloor region is bound at SW by seismically active Killari region, NW by
the present day microseismically active Nanded and NE by seismic event nearer to
Kaddam fault/lineament reported in 2015 (Kaplay et al. 2017a, b). The study area
locates exactly at the edge of one of the side of a seismically active triangle i.e.,
Killari-Kaddam-Nanded. Killari seismically activated since 1993, Nanded since
2006 and a small-scale seismicity is reported recently in 2015 nearer to Kaddam
fault/lineament (Kaplay et al. 2017a, b). So far no (micro)seismic events are
reported from Degloor. The region Killari and Nanded in Maharashtra and Kaddam
in the Indian state Telangana lies in the zone III of Indian map of seismic zonation
(Subhadra et al. 2015). Killari is a typical example of intracratonic seismicity and a
‘slow-deforming non-rifted zone’ (Rajendran 2016). Nanded and Kaddam too
exemplify intracratonic microseismicity. The studies in Killari region suggested that
Killari had experienced similar earthquakes in past (Rajendran et al. 1996). The
Nanded region also experienced earthquakes in 1942 (review in Valdiya 2015).
Killari and Nanded seismicity occurred in the SEDVP, which was previously
considered tectonically stable. The Kaddam event occurred in granitic province.
The E-W strike-slip deformation zone is reported at the SEDVP contact around
Kinwat (Kaplay et al. 2017a). A stretch of 60 km (Adampur-Bhaisa) SW of Kinwat
along SEDVP contact has been recently designated as the “East Dharwar Margin
Deformation Zone” (EDMDZ; (Kaplay et al., submitted). The reporting of
strike-slip faults from Degloor, 15 km SW of Adampur-Bhaisa stretch, is marked as
the EDMDZ in Fig. 1 confirms that the stretch EDMDZ continued further SW up to
Degloor and hence this zone is designated as ‘Western Boundary East Dharwar
Craton Deformed Zone’(WBEDCDZ) which includes entire EDMDZ. The zone
might continue SW right down up to Killari and also towards NE from Bhisa to
Kinwat, but is to be checked by fieldwork. The study area is bound towards SE by
seismically active Killari, towards NW by microseismically active Nanded and
towards NE by recently reported microseismic event near Kaddam.
4 Conclusions
A. Deformation style, *NE-SW structures, at Degloor does not match with those
at the South East Deccan Volcanic Province (SEDVP), with Dharwar craton at
Kinwat with *E-W trend and the NW-SE strike-slip faults at Kaddam.
Therefore, the stretch of *105 km from Degloor to Bhainsa is designated
separately as the ‘Western Boundary East Dharwar Craton Deformed Zone’
(WBEDCDZ).
B. Orientation of stress axes deciphered from this study: Fig. 6d: r3 (N83°E), r1
(N8°W/352°). Figure 9a: r3 (N65°E), r1 (N25°W/335°). Figure 9b: r3 (N20°
W/340°), r1 (N66°E/66°). Figure 10: r3 (N°55E/°), r1 (N40°W/320°). This
shows the extent of local variation of stress regime. This work presents the first
detail information on orientation of stress axes from the remobilized EDC.
Future structural geological works in the same line can provide comparison of
how stress pattern had varied in the past. A statistical model highlighting the
probability of earthquake occurrence can better justify the suggestion of
installing a seismic network along the SEDVP.
Acknowledgements D. Kaplay thanks the School of Earth Sciences, S.R.T.M. University. Dr.
Babar thanks the Principal, Dnyanopasak College, Parbhani, Maharashtra for support and
encouragement. S. Mukherjee was supported by the CPDA grant of IIT Bombay. A research
sabbatical provided by IIT Bombay helped him to finish this work. Fieldwork by S. Mahato was
supported partially by IIT Bombay. The anonymous reviewers provided several positive inputs in
two rounds. Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this work.
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Synthesis of the Tectonic and Structural
Elements of the Bengal Basin and Its
Surroundings
Md. Sakawat Hossain, Md. Sharif Hossain Khan, Khalil

R. Chowdhury and Rashed Abdullah
1 Introduction
The Bengal Basin is one of the largest peripheral collisional foreland basins in
South Asia (Mukherjee et al. 2009; DeCelles 2012; DeCelles et al. 2014) consisting
of Permo-carboniferous to Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits covered by the Recent
alluvium. This is one of the thickest sedimentary basins of the world consisting of
*21 km thick Early Cretaceous–Holocene sedimentary succession (Curray 1991;
Curray and Munasinghe 1991). Geographically, the Bengal Basin lies approxi-
mately between 20° 34′ to 26° 40′N and 87° 00′ to 92° 45′E with its major portion
being constituted by Bangladesh and also covering parts of the Indian States of
West Bengal, Tripura and Assam (Fig. 1). To the north, the basin passes into the
Tertiary Shelf of the Assam Basin, and to the south, it continues as the Bengal Fan
(Acharyya 2007). The Bengal Basin is bordered on the west by the Indian Shield
and the Shillong Plateau to the north, the Indo-Burman Ranges to the east and the
Bay of Bengal to the south (Uddin and Lundberg 2004).
The basin occupied dominantly by the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna
(GBM) delta named after the Ganges (Padma in Bangladesh), the Brahmaputra
(Jamuna in Bangladesh) and the Meghna rivers, constituting the largest
fluvio-deltaic to shallow marine sedimentary basin of the world. The Ganges enters
the basin from the northwest, the Brahmaputra from the northeast, whereas the
Meghna drains the Sylhet Trough and part of the Tripura hills before flowing into
the Brahmaputra and finally into the Bay of Bengal. Cumulative sediment dispersal
through the Bengal Basin into the Bay of Bengal per year is estimated to about 1.1
Gigatonne (GT), results the formation of the biggest submarine fan of the world, the
Md. S. Hossain (&) Md. S. H. Khan K. R. Chowdhury R. Abdullah

Department of Geological Sciences, Jahangirnagar University,
Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh
e-mail: sakawat@juniv.edu

136 M. S. Hossain et al.
Fig. 1 Simplified map of the geotectonic provinces of the Bengal Basin and its surroundings.
Solid blue lines indicate the cross-sections position. The boundaries of the three geotectonic
provinces are taken from Bakhtine (1966), Guha (1978) and Matin et al. (1983), and the domain
boundaries are taken from Wang et al. (2014). Faults and lineaments are mostly taken from Kayal
(2008) and Wang et al. (2014). MBT: Main Boundary Thrust; MFT: Main Frontal Thrust; MT:
Mishmi Thrust and T.: Thrust
Bengal Fan (Kuehl et al. 1989; Milliman et al. 1995; Curray et al. 2003; Goodbred
et al. 2003; Syvitski et al. 2005; Curray 2014; Reitz et al. 2015). The GBM delta
receives most of the sediments shed from the Himalaya and is subjected to tectonic
Synthesis of the Tectonic and Structural Elements … 137
influence from the Himalayan front and the Shillong Plateau uplift in the north and
the accretionary fold belt in the east (Reitz et al. 2015). The Bengal Basin traps and
accumulates less than half of the total sediment budget through flexural subsidence
over a broad area, in addition to faulting, folding and localized compaction
(Goodbred and Kuehl 1998, 1999). This accumulated sediment has caused the
entire Bengal Basin margin to prograde more than 300 km since the Eocene
(35 Ma) (Najman et al. 2008; Reitz et al. 2015).
The geotectonics of the eastern part of the Indian Plate is dominantly influenced
by its collision with the Eurasian Plate (Mukherjee 2013a, 2015; Mukherjee et al.
2013, 2015) to the north and the Burmese Plate to the east, uplifting the Himalaya
and the Indo-Burman Ranges (IBR) in the north and east, respectively (Alam et al.
2003; Vernant et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2014; Hossain et al. 2016). The Himalayan
mountain range started to form in the Mid-Late Eocene (Garzanti et al. 1987;
Klootwijk et al. 1992; Searle et al. 1997; Ali and Aitchison 2008; Baxter et al.
2016), whereas the IBR began to form approximately in the Middle Miocene
(Acharyya 2007; Steckler et al. 2008). The Bengal Basin at the eastern part of the
Indian Plate is tectonically active since the collision began (Eocene). Although the
direction of subduction of the Indian Plate below the Eurasian Plate is *N-S,
whereas below the Burmese Plate, it is NE–SW (Goodbred et al. 2003; Reitz et al.
2015). In the north of the Bengal-Assam Basin, *E trending Himalaya takes a
southward turn towards Myanmar and connects with the IBR (Hossain et al. 2016).
The geodetic measurements show that the motion of the Indian Plate relative to the
Burmese Plate is *36 mm/year (Socquet et al. 2006; Steckler et al. 2016) and the
convergence between the Shillong Plateau and the Bengal Basin across the Dauki
Fault varies from 3 mm/year in the west to >8 mm/year in the east (Socquet et al.
2006; Vernant et al. 2014). Plate boundary deformation along these collisional belts
is broadly distributed over a series of reverse and strike-slip structures, including
the Dauki and Haflong-Disang Faults to the north and Chittagong-Teknaf, Kaladan
and Sagaing Faults to the east of the Bengal Basin, respectively (Hossain et al.
2014, 2016).
The Bengal Basin rests on lithosphere that is transitional (along the
paleo-continental slope also known as the Eocene Hinge Zone) between thick,
buoyant Indian continental lithosphere in the west and north and dense Indian
oceanic lithosphere in the east (Bender 1983; Curray 1991; Reimann 1993; Uddin
and Lundberg 2004; Singh et al. 2016). Along its northern edge, it is subjected to
continent-continent collision whereas along eastern and southeastern edge, it is
subjected to ocean-continent subduction. According to Ingersoll et al. (1995), due
to continued oblique subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the Burmese Plate to
the SE, the Bengal Basin turned into a Remnant Ocean Basin at the beginning of the
Miocene. Due to eastward component of subduction of the oceanic part of the
Indian Plate, the thick pile of sediments of the Bengal Basin has been deformed into
a fold belt and a huge flat accretionary prism (Alam et al. 2003; Steckler et al.
2008). In general, by considering the overall regional tectonic setting, the Bengal
Basin as a remnant ocean basin can be divided into three major geotectonic pro-
vinces: (i) the stable shelf to the northwest—passive to extensional cratonic margin
in the west, (ii) the deeper foredeep basin at the center—remnant ocean basin, and
(iii) fold belt to the east—the Chittagong Tripura Fold Belt (CTFB) (Bakhtine 1966;
Alam 1972; Khan and Rahman 1992; Khan and Agarwal 1993; Reimann 1993;
Shamsuddin and Abdullah 1997; Alam et al. 2003).
The northwest Stable Shelf of the Bengal Basin consists of an easterly dipping
shelf that is separated from the Precambrian Indian Shield to the west by a
prominent fault zone (Basin Margin Fault Zone: more than 350 km in length and
width is variable in hundreds of metres) with dislocation and cataclasis (Raman
et al. 1986; Matin and Misra 2009; Roy 2014). To the southeast it is bounded by the
Eocene Hinge Zone that forms the paleo-continental slope (Sengupta 1966; Guha
1978; Bender 1983; Rahman et al. 1990a; Reimann 1993; Uddin and Lundberg
2004). Only a few studies have been performed on the basement rocks and their
possible origin in the Stable Shelf part of the Bengal Basin (e.g., Ameen et al. 2007;
Hossain et al. 2007, 2017; Ameen et al. 2016). The deeper Foredeep Basin lies in
between the Eocene Hinge Zone to the west and CTFB to the east. The northern
Boundary of the Foredeep Basin is marked by the Shillong Plateau consisting of
Garo-Khasi-Janitia-Mikir Hills of Assam, India with *2000 m elevation. In con-
trast, immediate south of the plateau, the Foredeep Basin contains up to 20 km
thick pile of sediments. The Shillong Plateau and the Foredeep Basin are separated
by the E-W trending Dauki Fault (Bilham and England 2001; Biswas and
Grasemann 2005a; Najman et al. 2016). This Foredeep Basin has been studied by
Holtrop and Keizer (1970), Woodside (1983), Hiller and Elahi (1984), Murphy and
Staff BOGMC (1988), Shamsuddin (1989), Johnson and Alam (1991), Mannan
(2002), Alam et al. (2003), Rahman and Suzuki (2007), Najman et al. (2012),
Farhaduzzaman et al. (2014) and Rahman and Worden (2016) to understand tec-
tonic evolution of sedimentary basin architecture and provenance of the Neogene
sediments.
Since 1914, the CTFB has been drawing attention to both structural and
exploration geologists because of numerous earthquake epicenters and structural
complexities including major thrust fault, and mud volcanoes (Bakhtine 1966;
Hossain and Akhter 1983; Hossain 1985; Sikder 1998; Chowdhury et al. 2003,
Steckler et al. 2008; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Das et al. 2010; Wang et al. 2014;
Steckler et al. 2016). Moreover, presence of several anticlinal folds, numerous
faults and associated gas seepages attracted several national and international oil &
gas companies to conduct seismic survey and drilling in the CTFB area
(Shamsuddin and Abdullah 1997; Racey and Ridd 2015). Orogenic development
and morphotectonic elements of the CTFB and IBR have been studied extensively
by Bakhtine (1966), Gilbert (2001), Acharyya (2007), Richards et al. (2007),
Bhattacharya et al. (2008), Das et al. (2011a) and Hossain et al. (2014). In addition,
numerous investigations have been carried out in this area focusing mainly on 2D
structural modeling (Sikder and Alam 2003; Mandal et al. 2004; Kabir and Hossain
2009; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Najman et al. 2012; Abdullah et al. 2015),
geochemistry and provenance studies (Najman et al. 2008; Dina et al. 2016;
Rahman et al. 2017), active tectonics (Goodbred and Kuehl 1999; Khan et al. 2005;
Wang et al. 2014; Khan et al. 2015), and earthquake and landslide hazard studies
(Ansary et al. 2000; Cummins 2007; Steckler et al. 2008; Wang et al. 2014;
Steckler et al. 2016). Based on spatial deformation intensity and geometry of the
folds, Bakhtine (1966) subdivided the CTFB into three zones: eastern highly
compressed disturbed zone, middle asymmetric thrust faulted zone, and western
quiet zone. Chowdhury (1970), Hossain and Akhter (1983), and Hossain (1985)
performed single-fold geometric analysis on a few anticlines in the area. No
comprehensive analysis of the fold geometric features has been carried out for a
large population of folds till date. As a result, there are still many uncertainties
concerning the original geometric shape as well as spatial distribution of the fold
deformation intensity within the CTFB.
The first stratigraphic scheme of the Bengal Basin was originally proposed by
Evans (1932) based purely on the exposures found in the CTFB and their simple
long distance lithostratigrahic correlation with type sections in Assam. Over the
years, several researchers have attempted to improve this scheme based on
micro-paleontological studies (Ahmed 1968; Ismail 1978), palynological studies
(e.g., Chowdhury 1982; Uddin and Ahmed 1989; Reimann 1993), and
seismo-stratigraphic studies (Lietz and Kabir 1982; Salt et al. 1986; Lindsay et al.
1991; Alam et al. 2003), and consequently, abetted in solving some of the strati-
graphic problems of the Bengal Basin. Three stratigraphic schemes for the three
respective geotectonic provinces of the Bengal Basin have been proposed (Bakhtine
1966; Guha 1978; Khan 1991a, b; Alam et al. 2003) and these are: (i) Geotectonic
Province 1—Stable Shelf (Zaher and Rahman 1980; Lindsay et al. 1991; Reimann
1993; Alam 1997; BOGMC 1997); (ii) Geotectonic Province 2—Central Deep
Foredeep Basin (Hiller and Elahi 1988); and (iii) Geotectonic Province 3—CTFB
(Fig. 1) (Gani and Alam 1999).
Deposition of sediments within the Bengal Basin is believed to be controlled by
tectonic cycles or stages related to the interaction and collision patterns of major
plates, and has taken place in five distinct phases (Alam et al. 2003): (1) Syn-rift
stage: Permo-Carboniferous to Early Cretaceous (Sclater and Fisher 1974; Molnar
and Tapponnier 1975; Uddin and Lundberg 2004); (2) Drifting stage: Cretaceous–
Mid-Eocene (Banerji 1981; Ramana et al. 1994); (3) Early collision stage:
Mid-Eocene–Early Miocene (Bender 1983; Uddin and Lundberg 1998, 2004);
(4) Late Collision stage: Early Miocene–Mid-Pliocene (Ingersoll et al. 1995); and
(5) Latest collision stage: Mid-Pliocene–Quaternary (Alam et al. 2003; Najman
et al. 2016). However, proper correlation of the stratigraphic succession in the three
tectonic provinces and with other adjacent foreland basins is yet to be done.
Based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that there is no compre-
hensive study that synthesizes the tectonic evolution and structural elements of the
Bengal Basin as a whole including its adjacent areas. Therefore, this chapter is
aimed at understanding the tectonic evolution, structural framework, and strati-
graphic succession of the Bengal Basin. The work will not only enhance the
understanding of present day structural and tectonic elements of the Bengal Basin
but also help to comprehend their evolution with time.
2 Geological Boundary of the Bengal Basin
The Bengal Basin is bounded on all sides by different tectonics and structural
controlled features which evolved at different geological times between the Late
Cretaceous and Late Neogene, except in the south where the basin is open to the
Bay of Bengal (Fig. 1) (Alam et al. 2003; Ali and Aitchison 2008; Roy and
Chatterjee 2015; Baxter et al. 2016). The southeastern boundary of the Bengal
Basin coincides with the eastern margin of the Chittagong Tripura Fold Belt
(CTFB) bordering the western fringe of the Indo-Burman Ranges (IBR) (Acharyya
2007; Hossain et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2014). In the north, the basin is bounded by
the Himalayan Foredeep, the Shillong Plateau and the Assam Basin (Roy and
Chatterjee 2015; Najman et al. 2016). In the NNW corner, the Bengal Basin extends
up to the Major/Main Frontal Thrust (MFT), which separates the Sub-Himalayan
Zone from the Indo-Gangetic Alluvial Plain (Roy and Chatterjee 2015). The
western and southwestern parts of the Bengal Basin consist of an easterly inclined
shelf, separated from the Singhbhum Craton of the northeastern part of the Indian
Shield (Acharyya 2003; Hossain et al. 2007, 2017; Kumar et al. 2017). The
southern boundary of the basin is marked by the northern edge of the Bengal Fan
(Fig. 2) (Curray et al. 2003). A generalized description of these bordered tectonic
features is summarized below.
2.1 Indo-Burman Ranges
The Bengal Basin is flanked to the east by an approximately NNW–SSE trending

fold belt known as Indo-Burman Ranges (IBR)/Paleogene Inner Burman Ranges
that is separated from the CTFB/Neogene Outer Burman Ranges to the west by N-S
striking Kaladan Fault (Najman et al. 2016). The IBR is a grand arcuate hill ranges
which stretch from approximately 16–27.5°N originating from the collision of the
Indian Plate with the Burmese Plate/Sunda Plates (Fig. 1). As a result of the col-
lision, the oceanic part of the Indian Plate subducted below the Burmese Plate
leading to the emergence of westward propagating accretionary wedge of sediments
exhibiting an imbricate thrust system (Hossain et al. 2014) constituting the IBR. It
evolves from a narrow-low hills in the south to a very broad-high range in the
middle, and then again to a narrow-high range in the north. The IBR, which is
bounded by the Kaladan Fault in the west and the Kabaw Fault in the east, is a
distinct entity in the tectonic framework of the eastern Himalaya and SE Asia
(Najman et al. 2016). It is thought to be the northern prolongation of the Indonesian
island-arc linking with the Himalaya along the Tidding Suture Zone. In an east-west
section, the IBR may be subdivided into two broad domains, a Western Belt and an
Eastern Belt separated by the Carnian quartzose turbidites and flysch sediments
(Acharyya 2007).
Fig. 2 Gravity mosaic of the Bengal Fan (Bay of Bengal) obtained from the satellite derived data
(modified after Desa et al. 2013). Thick dashed lines mark the extent of the subsurface 85°E Ridge
inferred using the satellite gravity mosaic. Blue dashed lines indicate the likely hotspots tracks of
the 85°E and 90ºE Ridges. Fracture zones are marked by the thin dashed black lines. Thin blue line
outlines the large igneous provinces. ANI: Andaman-Nicobar Islands; BD: Bangladesh; IN: India;
MN: Myanmar; SL: Sri Lanka; SoNG: Swatch of No Ground; ST: Sunda Trench
Wang et al. (2014) divide the IBR and the CTFB into three domains along
north-south direction, and these are the Ramree domain to the south, the Dhaka
domain in the middle, and the Naga domain to the north (Fig. 1). The Ramree
domain sustained oblique subduction to nearly orthogonal subduction and accretion
along the 450 km long plate margin. This subduction produced a belt of defor-
mation that increased not only the width from 170 km in the south to 250 km in the
north, but also the height of the IBR from <1000 m in the south to >2000 m in the
north. In the middle Dhaka domain, plate margin sustained collision, resulting in
the formation and rapid westward propagation of a great fold belt and low angle
subduction mega thrust within the sediments of the eastern side of the Ganges–
Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) Delta (Maurin and Rangin 2009a). The total length
of domain is *500 km and the maximum width along 23°N is about 400 km. The
height of the IBR in this domain increases towards N, and attains *3000 m at
21.3°N.
The CTFB lies to the western margin of the Dhaka domain swing eastward to its
northern end. The approximately east-west oriented Dauki Fault (Biswas et al.
2007; Hossain et al. 2016) marks the northern end of the Dhaka domain (beyond
which CTFB is absent), and the beginning of the Naga domain. A major change in
the collisional characteristic occurs at the beginning of the Naga domain approxi-
mately at 25°N. The Naga domain consisting of the Naga Hills (northern edge of
the Burmese Plate) overrides the narrow continental shelf of the Assam Basin to the
northeast (Wang et al. 2014). The significant geomorphologic difference between
the Dhaka and the Naga domains seems to reflect the contrast in collision at shallow
crustal level rather deep-seated ones. The length of the Naga domain is *430 km
and the width of the domain narrows from *170 km in the southwest to *90 km
to the northeast, suggesting a northeastward depletion in total shortening across the
hill range (Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Wang et al. 2014).
2.2 Assam Basin, Shillong Plateau and Himalayan

Foredeep
The Bengal Basin in the northeast is bounded by the Shillong Plateau, which was
uplifted during the Pliocene (Acharyya et al. 1986; Biswas et al. 2007), and sep-
arated the Assam Basin from the Bengal Basin at the juncture of the southwestern
part of the Naga domain (Fig. 1). Approximately E-W stretching Shillong Plateau
raised *2000 m elevation as continental basement pop-up structure due to two
seismically active steep reverse faults along its southern and northern edges. These
two prominent faults are the E-W trending Dauki Fault in the south and the
WNW-ESE trending Oldham Fault in the north (Fig. 1) (Bilham and England 2001;
Biswas and Grasemann 2005a; Kayal et al. 2006; Kayal 2008). South-dipping
Oldham Fault is thought to be the backthrust of the north dipping master Dauki
Fault (Yin et al. 2010; see Mukherjee 2013b for backthrust kinematics in general,
also see Bose and Mukherjee, submitted-a, b). The importance of the Oldham Fault
is considered to be minor compared to the Dauki Fault for the plateau uplift (Biswas
et al. 2007). However, another school of thought believes the Shillong Plateau to be
a large anticlinorium floored by Archean and Proterozoic basement rocks with
remnants of the passive margin strata on its steep southern face adjacent to the
Surma basin (Singh et al. 2016).
The plateau is separated from the Mikir Massif to the east by the NW-SE
trending Kopili Fault (also known as the Kopali Fracture Zone) (Evans 1964;
Biswas and Grasemann 2005a; Biswas et al. 2007; Angelier and Baruah 2009). In
the west, the plateau abuts against the Bengal Basin along a prominent fault, which
continues northward up to the Himalayan front. Up to the point of inflection of the
sharply bent Brahmaputra River course from westward to southward, the fault is
known as the Jamuna Fault and to the further north as the Dhubri Fault (Desikachar
1974; Nandy 2001). According to Johnson and Alam (1991) and Uddin and
Lundberg (1999), the paleo-Brahmaputra River flowed towards SW between the
current day juncture of the Shillong Plateau and the Naga Domain (accretionary
prism of the IBR) until the Miocene ended. The uplift of the Shillong Plateau as
well as the westward encroachment and the final abutment of the CTFB accre-
tionary prism (Neogene Outer IBR) against the already-uplifted Shillong Plateau
led to a *300 km westward shift of the Brahmaputra River to its present course
during the Pliocene (Najman et al. 2012; Bracciali et al. 2015; Najman et al. 2016).
Towards the east, the Shillong Plateau comprises the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia hills,
which stretch for *97 km in N-S and *240 km in E-W (Morgan and McIntire
1959). The basement of the plateau is primarily composed of intensely stressed
Precambrian and Early Paleozoic metamorphic and intrusive rocks overlain by the
Cretaceous and Cenozoic sediments in its steep southern face as well as east and
west margins (Wadia 1953; Nag et al. 2001; Biswas et al. 2007; Najman et al.
2016).
The Shillong Plateau presumably has had a major influence on strain partitioning
and consequently tectonics of the Eastern Himalaya that influenced the seismic risk
in the surrounding regions (Bilham and England 2001; Banerjee et al. 2008;
Najman et al. 2016). According to Mitra et al. (2005) and Vernant et al. (2014), the
southern edge of the Shillong Plateau is elevated by stresses arising from the master
thrust (Dauki Fault), and the plateau is tilted northward at approximately 2°–4° as
indicated by a 1–2 km increase in depth of the Moho between the northern edge of
the plateau and the Himalayan Front. Under the Shillong Plateau and the Surma
basin, the Moho has been observed at similar depths of *37 km despite the
contrast of craton vs. thick sedimentary basin. This possibly indicates the uplift of
the overthrusting Shillong Plateau and the concurrent downward flexure of the
Surma basin (Singh et al. 2016). The thickness of the crust of the Indian Plate
beneath the Shillong Plateau is *38–40 km (Singh et al. 2015, 2016). To the north
and northwest, the Bengal Basin extends up to the Himalayan front where it is
separated by the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) or Himalayan Frontal Thrust
(HFT) (Acharyya 1994; Ganguly 1997). The Assam Basin, situated in the north of
the Shillong Plateau and northwest of the Naga domain, was connected to the
Bengal Basin up to the end of the Miocene. During the Pliocene, the upliftment of
the Shillong Plateau separated the Assam Basin from the Bengal Basin except to the
western part, across the N-S oriented Dhubri Fault.
2.3 Indian Shield and Rajmahal Hills
Peninsular India lying south of the Indo-Gangetic Alluvial Plain commonly referred
to as the Indian Shield reportedly occupied a much wider area than the present
triangular shaped region, made up of a diverse mosaic of igneous and metamorphic
terrains that has undergone deformation and metamorphism (Roy 2014). These
terrains, constituting the continental crust have attained tectonic stability since the
Precambrian and are designated as cratons (Valdiya 2010, 2016). The cratons are
flanked by fold belts, with or without a discernible suture or shear zone, suggesting
that the cratons, as crustal blocks or micro-plates, moved against each other (Naqvi
2005). Alternatively, these cratons could be the result of fragmentation of a large
craton that constituted the Indian Shield. Welded fold belts in between the neigh-
bouring cratons indicate either rifting or splitting of cratons. The crustal blocks of
Indian shield are divided into six cratons (Sharma 2010; Valdiya 2010, 2016).
Among these cartons, northeastern Chhotanagpur Granite-Gneiss Complex
(CGGC) and Singhbhum Craton (SC) together with Satpura Mobile Belt or Central
Indian Tectonic Zone (CITZ) and Eastern Ghat Mobile Belt are lying along the
western margin of the Bengal Basin (Misra 2006). The thickness of the crust of the
Indian Plate near the western part of the Bengal Basin is *38 km (Singh et al.
2015). The approximately N-S running Malda-Kishanganj Fault (Nandy 2001;
Vaccari et al. 2011; Mohanty et al. 2013, 2014; Prasad and Pundir 2017) reaches up
to the eastern and northeastern margins of the Rajmahal Hills which is considered
as the northwestern margin of the Bengal Basin.
The Bengal Basin constitutes the eastern continuation of the Indo-Gangetic
Alluvial Plain (IGAP), which separates the Extra Peninsular India to the north and
the Peninsular India to the south (Oldham 1893; Roy 2014). The Indo-Gangetic
plains are stretching across northern India between Punjab to the west and Assam to
the east through Bangladesh. The Extra Peninsular India, which is the mountainous
region formed by the Himalayan ranges and their extensions into the Baluchistan to
the west and Myanmar to the east (Valdiya 2010).
To the north northwest, the Bengal Basin is separated from the Rajmahal Hills by
the approximately N-S running Rajmahal Fault (Ghose et al. 2017). The Rajmahal
Hills of West Bengal and Bihar is a fault bounded small tectonic element situated in
the western edge of the Stable Shelf of the Bengal Basin (Fig. 1). The Early
Cretaceous (100–118 Ma; McDougall and McElhinny 1970; Baksi 1995; Kent et al.
2002) Rajmahal Traps (RT), a sequence of tholeiitic basalts, crop out in the
Rajmahal Hills (McDougall and McElhinny 1970). Geologically, the Rajmahal Hills
is located at the juncture of the Singhbhum Craton (SC) towards west and the
Rangpur Saddle of the Bengal Basin to the east (Bage et al. 2014; Singh et al. 2016).
Rajmahal Hills is bounded by the Rajmahal Fault and Saithia-Brahmani Fault in the
east and the west sides, respectively (Ghose et al. 2017). The RT is the result of the
Kerguelen Plume upwelling activity in the Early Cretaceous (Ghatak and Basu 2011,
Roy and Chatterjee 2015), which resulted in a massive amount of mantle material
covering the entire surface (Baksi et al. 1987).
According to Nandy (2001), Ghatak and Basu (2011), Sager et al. (2013) and Roy
and Chatterjee (2015), the N–S running Jamuna Fault is coincident with the Ninety
East Ridge along the path of the Kerguelen Plume in the Bay of Bengal as evidenced
by the hotspot-related magma upwelling in the region. Roy and Chatterjee (2015)
suggest that the Tista Fault, the Dauki Fault and N30°E–S30°W oriented Basin
Margin Fault form a triple-point intersection of lineaments/fractures because of local
doming up of the crust during upwelling of the mantle plume. Mantle upwelling
extruded tholeiite lava through fractures over a wide region in and around the Bengal
Basin. The Rajmahal Hills evolved along the then eastern continental margin of the
Indian Plate, following rifting from the Gondwana. Over time, the upper part of this
tectonic element subjected to extensional brittle deformation and formed graben
structures (Singh et al. 2004). The basalts of the RT above the Rajmahal Hills are
commonly vesicular that are filled with secondary minerals e.g., calcite, analsite,
chalcedony, and agate (Ball 1877). The intertrappean beds are composed of sedi-
mentary rocks like siltstone, claystone, and shale (Valdiya 2010). The central part
carries the impression of up to 28 flows, which has been identified earlier by the
Geological Survey of India (Pascoe 1975; Mukhopadhyay et al. 1986). On the other
hand some other authors refer that the maximum exposed thickness of the lava is
about 230 m or approximately ten flows (Kent et al. 1997). The Sylhet Traps are
equivalent to the Rajmahal Traps, and are reported to be found in the northern edge
of the Surma basin (Roy and Chatterjee 2015). Talwani et al. (2016) suggest that the
Rajmahal and the Sylhet Traps are not separate eruptions as they are connected by a
prominent magnetic doublet (Rahman et al. 1990a). According to them, both the
Rajmahal and the Sylhet Traps are originated from same igneous activity.
2.4 Bengal Fan
The Bengal Fan (Fig. 2), which marks the southern end of the Bengal Basin and
northeastern lobe of the Indian Ocean, floors the entire Bay of Bengal, forming the
largest submarine fan in the world (Curray et al. 2003; Curray 2014). Continental
slope of eastern Sri Lanka and India, southern Bangladesh, and the Sunda Trench
extending from Myanmar to Andaman-Nicobar Islands marks the western, northern
and eastern margins of the fan, respectively (Fig. 2). The southern end of the fan
reaches up to the south distal end of the Bay of Bengal at *7°S. The fan was first
apparently recognized by Dietz (1953), and delineated and named by Curray and
Moore (1971). The length of the fan is *3000 km along N-S, the width is
*1430 km along E-W, the area is *3 106 km2 and the maximum sediment
thickness of the fan is *16.5 km (Curray et al. 2003; Shanmugam 2016).
The development of the Bengal Fan is related to the creation of the Bay of Bengal,
which was the direct result of the India–Asia collision and uplift of the Himalaya and
thickening of the Tibetan Plateau. The initial Late Paleocene–Eocene collision of the
Indian Plate with the subduction zone of the north side of the Tethys Ocean initiated a
small fan in the northern Bay of Bengal, now lying beneath the younger deltaic and
shelf sediments of the Bengal Basin (Curray and Moore 1974; Alam et al. 2003;
Curray 2014). From the Eocene onward, collision continued resulting rapid clastic
sedimentation in the Bengal Basin primarily from erosion of the high standing and
rising Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau, and formation of fan on top of this conti-
nental rise (Curray et al. 2003; Curray 2014). The GBM delta formed by the river
Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna gradually filled the Bengal Basin. The surplus
sediment, which has passed through has been distributed across the entire Bay of
Bengal to eventually form the world’s biggest submarine fan. The fan gradually
prograded southward during the Tertiary (Curray et al. 2003). The Swatch of No
Ground (SoNG) is the main avenue that funneled down sediment from the Bengal
Basin to the Bengal Fan (Curray et al. 2003). It is a shelf-incising aggrading canyon
(Fournier et al. 2016) located 250 km *S of the confluence of the Ganges and the
Brahmaputra rivers and only 30 km south from the coastal delta plain of Bangladesh.
Curray and Moore (1974) assumed that the formation of the modern Bengal Fan
commenced during the Oligocene to the Early Miocene. Two lobes of the fan
separated by the Ninety East Ridge were active until the Middle Pleistocene,
namely the Bengal Fan proper in the west and Nicobar Fan in the east (Curray and
Moore 1974). The SoNG, which was the main supplier of sediments to the Bengal
Fan is largely cut off from its supply of sediment as the modern river sediments
trapped on the Bengal shelf due to the Holocene transgression (Emmel and Curray
1985; Kuehl et al. 1989). The supply of sediments to the Nicobar Fan was cut off by
the convergence of the Ninety East Ridge and the Sunda Trench during the Early
Pleistocene. At present, only the axial area of the Sunda Trench is still receiving
sediments from the fan in the Bay of Bengal (Curray and Moore 1974; Bender
1983). The surface features of the Bengal Fan are mainly active and abandoned
turbidity current channels, and the Ninety East Ridge and Eighty Five East Ridge
(Curray et al. 2003; Curray 2014).
3 Basin Geometry and Tectonic Evolution
The Bengal Basin, a complex collisional foreland basin, exhibits intense variability
in Neogene sediment thickness that reflects a complicated depositional environment
and tectonics (Curray et al. 2003; Uddin and Lundberg 2004; DeCelles 2012). With
broad attributes of basin geometry, tectonic evolution and stratigraphy, the dis-
cussion begins with the basin geometry, followed by the tectonic evolution. Finally,
the stratigraphy in context to the basin geometry and tectonic evolution has been
discussed in the later part.
3.1 Basin Geometry
The Bengal Basin is a peripheral foreland basin formed due to continent–continent

collision after the subduction of the oceanic part of the Indian Plate (Mukherjee
et al. 2009). The basin geometry is complex and asymmetric having thinner, gently
sloping sediment cover in the western and northern parts, which thicken in the
basin-ward direction to the south and southeast (Curray et al. 2003; Uddin and
Lundberg 2004). Gravity anomaly information indicates a considerable hetero-
geneity in different parts of the basin in terms of stratigraphy, sedimentation, tec-
tonics and basin evolution (Uddin and Lundberg 2004). Considerable difference in
the basement height results significant variations not only in sedimentary rock types
but also in their individual thickness (Mukherjee et al. 2009). Based on geodynamic
development, basement configuration and sedimentation pattern, the Bengal Basin
can be divided into three distinct geotectonic provinces: (i) Stable Shelf or
Geotectonic Province 1, (ii) Central Foredeep Basin or Geotectonic Province 2, and
(iii) Folded Flank (CTFB) or Geotectonic Province 3.
The Stable Shelf or Geotectonic Province 1 has a sub-basin in the north that lies
between the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) to the north and the Rangpur Saddle
(Bakhtine 1966) of the Garo–Rajmahal Gap, i.e. concealed Dinajpur Block (Ameen
et al. 2007, 2016) to the south. Shallowest part of this sub-basin is in the south,
where the thickness of the Neogene sediments overlying the Precambrian basement
and the Phanerozoic Gondwana rift-basin rocks (Khan et al 1994) varies between
128 and 1160 m (Rahman 1987; Khan 1991a, b; Ameen et al. 2007). The southern
part of the Stable Shelf that lies between the Indian Shield to the west and the
Eocene Hinge Zone to the east, is a prominent fault zone with dislocation and
cataclasis running along the N15°E–S15°W marked by the crowding of gravity
contours, and shows the occurrence of laterite and lateritic soils, the protoliths
(Matin and Misra 2009; Roy 2014; Roy and Chatterjee 2015). A number of half
graben structures containing Permian coal deposits as well as numerous faults are
present in the northeastern part of this sub-basin (Rabbani et al. 2000). The
southernmost part of the Stable Shelf has a low southeasterly gradient, and is
characterized by several down-to-basin growth faults. Sediments thicken uniformly
from the west to the southeast (Khan and Agarwal 1993). In general, based on the
concealed basement depth and gradient, the Foreland Shelf is divided into four
different parts. From north to south, these are the Himalyan Foredeep, the Dinajpur
Shelf, the Rangpur Saddle, and the Bogra Shelf (Sengupta 1966; Guha 1978; Khan
and Rahman 1992; Khan and Agarwal 1993; Reimann 1993; Guha et al. 2010).
The Central Foredeep Basin or Geotectonic Province 2 basically comprises of
three sub-basins between the Eocene shelf-break to the west and the Folded Flank
of the Bengal Basin to the east characterized by a huge sediment thickness ranging
between 10 and 22 km (Curray 1991). These sub-basins are the Surma basin to the
north separated from the Faridpur Trough (a sub-basin) to the southwest by the
Madhupur-Tripura High. On the otherhand, the Faridpur Trough is separated from
the Hatia Trough (another sub-basin) to the east by the Barisal-Chandpur High
(Alam 1972; Das Gupta 1977; Guha 1978; Reimann 1993). In general, the
Foredeep Basin shows small-amplitude, isometric or geographically equant gravity
anomalies (Bakhtine 1966). The transitional zone of the continent–ocean crust of
the Indian Plate occurs in this sub-basin between the Eocene shelf-break in the west
and the Barisal–Chandpur Gravity High in the east (Shamsuddin and Abdullah
1997; Uddin and Lundberg 2004; Mukherjee et al. 2009).
The folded flank of the Bengal Basin or Geotectonic Province 3 comprises the
eastern part of the Bengal Basin and is one of the active collisional orogenic belts in
the world. Approximately NNW to SSE trending folds that have developed in the
upper part of the thick deltaic sequence of the CTFB generally exhibit linear or
elongated gravity anomalies with large amplitudes (Figs. 5 and 6) (Bakhtine 1966).
3.2 Tectonic Evolution
To understand the tectonic evolution of the Bengal Basin, it is necessary to have

insight on the plate tectonic and paleogeographic reconstruction model of
Gondwana to Asia. Therefore, for the convenience, plate tectonic and paleogeo-
graphic reconstruction model of Gondwana to Asia is discussed first and followed
by a discussion on the tectonic evolution of the Bengal Basin.
3.2.1 Plate Tectonic and Paleogeographic Reconstruction Model
Although standard traditional models suggest that the India–Eurasia (Tibet part)
collision event started 50–55 Ma ago (Rowley 1996; Hodges 2000; DeCelles et al.
2002; Zhu et al. 2005; Najman 2006), Ali and Aitchison (2005, 2008), Aitchison et al.
(2007), Metcalfe (2013), Misra et al. (2015), Baxter et al. (2016) and Mukherjee et al.
(2017) proposed new model with much younger age (Tables 1 and 2). Ali and
Aitchison (2008) discourse the revised plate tectonic reconstructions model into two
phases: (i) Break-up and dispersal of Gondwana—Middle Jurassic through
end-Paleocene, and (ii) Convergence and collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasia
Plate—Eocene. However, before discussing the revised plate tectonic reconstruction
model, it is necessary to consider the palaeogeography of the Neotethys Ocean.
The commonly accepted standard models involved the present-day Indian Plate
with some form of extension to the north as a passive margin, north of which lay
oceanic crust of the Neotethys. As the Indian Plate moved towards the Eurasian
Plate, the Neotethys was consumed beneath the Lhasa Block in a setting similar to
the present-day Sunda Arc (Hall 2002). This palaeogeographic scenario is con-
sidered to be the ‘one ocean–two continent convergence model’. However, fol-
lowing seismic tomography studies of the mantle beneath the Indian Ocean–South
Asia region, geological investigations of the India–Asia suture zone, and paleo-
magnetic and magnetic anomaly based India and Asia motion models, paleogeo-
graphic scenario of Neotethys are considered as the ‘two ocean–two continent
Table 1 Major tectonic events related to the Indian and Eurasian plate collision and subsequent
development of the Bengal Basin
Geologic time Age in Ma Major tectonic events
Convergence and collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate—Eocene
Mid- to Late Pliocene *3.5–2.5 The major thrust related uplift of the Shillong Plateau along
the Dauki Fault in the south and the Oldham Fault in the
north. Centre of the Bengal Basin started evolving as a
foreland basin
Late Oligocene *25 Remnant ocean basin took shape due to the collisional
orogeny of the Barail–Cachar Hills at the northeastern corner
of the Indian Plate
Eocene-Oligocene *35 The continental crust of the Indian Plate impacted with the
transition Tibet part of the Eurasian Plate, resulted in subduction of the
northern part of the Indian Plate beneath the southern Tibet,
therefore, initiated the continent–continent collision
Middle Eocene *45 The northern edge of the Indian Plate was still at some
distance south of the Lhasa Block, i.e. southern front of the
Eurasian Plate
Early Eocene *55 The collision of Indian Plate with a Neotethyan intra-oceanic
arc (Dazhuqu Arc/Kohistan–Ladakh Arc), but not with the
Eurasian Plate
Break-up and dispersal of the Gondwana supercontinent—middle Jurassic through Late Paleocene
Late Paleocene *55.9 Indian Plate appears to have reached its maximum level of
isolation after being jettisoned by the Seychelles block
Cretaceous–Paleogene *66 Indian Plate started breaking from the Seychelles
transition
Late cretaceous *90–85 India–Seychelles separated from the Madagascar
Mid-cretaceous *118 The Kerguelen large igneous province began forming on the
floor of the SE Indian Ocean, resulting the Rajmahal Trap
eruptions, and provided a stepping-stone for migrations
between the India–Seychelles–Madagascar and Australia–
Antarctica for much of the Mid-Cretaceous
Mid-early cretaceous *125 East Gondwana moved along the Davie Fracture Zone on a
trail roughly parallel to the coast of the eastern Africa, which
led to formation of true ocean floor (Somalia and
Mozambique Basin)
Early cretaceous *132 Australia–Antarctica began to drift away from the India–
Seychelles–Madagascar with a fan-shaped expanse of ocean
floor that separated the two elements by gradually widening to
the east
Middle Jurassic *170–175 Gondwana supercontinent started breaking following the
rifting of South America–Africa (West Gondwana) from the
India–Seychelles–Madagascar–Australia–Antarctica (East
Gondwana)
Paleozoic—Mesozoic *180 Indian Plate presumably occupied a central location in the
(Early—Middle Jurassic) Gondwana supercontinent
Compiled from Smith and Hallam (1970), Norton and Sclater (1979), Ingersoll et al. (1995), Storey et al.
(1995), Acton (1999), Torsvik et al. (2000), Bilham and England (2001), Biswas and Grasemann (2005a),
Schettino and Scotese (2005), Rabinowitz and Woods (2006), Aitchison et al. (2007), Ali and Aitchison (2008),
Yin et al. (2010), Metcalfe (2013), Misra et al. (2014, 2015), Misra and Mukherjee (2015), Baxter et al. (2016),
Najman et al. (2016, 2017), Mukherjee et al. (2017)
Table 2 Major tectonic events related to the Indian and Burmese plate collision and subsequent
development of the Folded Flank (CTFB) of Bengal Basin
Geologic time Age in Major events
Ma
Late *0.075 The fold has been progressively growing westward, and some
Pleistocene - of the folds in the westernmost part have been actively
Recent developing
Early *2 Sediments in the upper part (*up to 5 km) within the major
Pleistocene individual thrust started to deform above a de’collement level
by combined thin-skinned and thick-skinned tectonic
processes. Many of the folds in the westernmost part have been
actively developing
Late Pliocene *3.5–3 Oblique subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the Burmese
Plate in an arc-trench setting developed accretionary prism and
the CTFB started to develop within the upper parts of the thick
deltaic sequence in the eastern margin of the Bengal Basin
Early Miocene *20 Sediment contributions to the Bengal Basin began to arrive
from the Indo-Burman Ranges (IBR) due to subduction of the
Indian Plate beneath the Burmese Plate
Early Eocene *45 The northeast corner of the Indian Plate making a glancing
contact with the Sumatra Block, followed by the Burmese Plate
Compiled from Curray et al. (2003), Uddin and Lundberg (2004), Acharyya (2007), Ali and
Aitchison (2008), Maurin and Rangin (2009a), Wang et al. (2014) and Najman et al. (2016)
convergence model’ (Fig. 3) (Allégre et al. 1984; Abrajevitch et al. 2005; Aitchison
et al. 2007; Ali and Aitchison 2008; Baxter et al. 2016). According to this model,
during the Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic passage of the Indian Plate towards the Tibet
part of the Eurasian Plate, the Neotethys comprises two oceanic plates separated by
north-dipping subduction zone (Ali and Aitchison 2008). Considering the
present-day island arcs as a guide, Ali and Aitchison (2008) and Baxter et al. (2016)
suggest that there might have some volcanic islands (Neotethyan arc) spaced every
30–90 km apart present in the Neotethys ocean. If the ‘two ocean–two continent
convergence model’ is correct, one might, therefore, predict that remnants of the
two separate ocean slabs are present beneath the subduction system in the India–
Eurasia collision belt in southern Tibet (Yarlung Tsangpo Suture Zone- Indus
River) and northern India (Himalayan Foredeep) (Ali and Aitchison 2008).
Break-up and Dispersal of Gondwana—Middle Jurassic Through Late

Paleocene
In standard plate tectonic reconstruction, the Indian plate presumably occupied a

central location in the Gondwana supercontinent throughout the Paleozoic and much
of the Mesozoic (*180 Ma), i.e. up to the beginning of the Middle Jurassic (Smith
and Hallam 1970; Norton and Sclater 1979). In the Middle Jurassic (*170–175 Ma),
this supercontinent started breaking following the rifting of South America–Africa
Fig. 3 Revised model

describing the Late
Cretaceous–Cenozoic
convergence and collision of
the Indian Plate with the
Eurasian Plate. The model
shows that the Neotethys
comprises two oceanic plates
separated by north-dipping
subduction zone (modified
after Ali and Aitchison 2008)
from India–Seychelles–Madagascar–Australia–Antarctica (Schettino and Scotese

2005). India–Seychelles–Madagascar–Australia–Antarctica together is known as the
East Gondwana whereas South America–Africa is regarded as the West Gondwana.
As the two parts of the Gondwana drifted over the next 50 Ma (*125 Ma), Indian
Plate together with the rest of the East Gondwana moved along the Davie Fracture
Zone on a trail roughly parallel to the coast of eastern Africa (Rabinowitz and Woods
2006). The East Gondwana migrated more than 400 km SSE relative to eastern
Africa. This led to formation of true ocean floor (Somalia and Mozambique Basin)
whose spreading ceased in the mid-Early Cretaceous and reached to its present-day
separation of *430 km at about 116 Ma. On the other hand, Australia–Antarctica
began to drift away from India–Seychelles–Madagascar for 11–12 m.y. in the
Early Cretaceous (*132 Ma) with a fan-shaped expanse of ocean floor, separating
the two elements by gradually widening to the east. The Kerguelen large igneous
province began forming on the floor of the SE Indian Ocean at about 118 Ma,
resulting the Rajmahal Trap eruptions. This could have provided a stepping-stone for
migrations between India–Seychelles–Madagascar and Australia–Antarctica for
much of the mid-Cretaceous. India–Seychelles–Madagascar was connected until the
beginning of the Late Cretaceous (recent reviews in Misra et al. 2014, 2015; Misra and
Mukherjee 2015; Mukherjee et al. 2017). In the Late Cretaceous (90–85 Ma), India–
Seychelles separated from Madagascar (Storey et al. 1995; Torsvik et al. 2000;
Aitchison et al. 2007). India started breaking from Seychelles around the Cretaceous–
Paleogene boundary (*66 Ma), and India appears to have reached its maximum level
of isolation after being jettisoned by Seychelles block at the end of the Paleocene
(55.9 Ma). It is believed that the jettisoned Seychelles block coincided with the main
Deccan Trap eruptions. The centre of the Indian Plate, which now sits on *23.5°N
(Tropic of Cancer), was at *30°S in the Late Cretaceous, some 6000 km to the south
from where it is today (Ali and Aitchison 2008).
Convergence and Collision of Indian Plate with Eurasian Plate—Eocene
The Indian Plate migrated rapidly northwards during the Late Cretaceous and the
Paleocene (Acton 1999). According to Acton’s (1999) model, northwards advance
of the Indian Plate in between 120 and 73 Ma was *6.6 cm/year, which increased
to *21.1 cm/year between 73 and 57 Ma. At *57 Ma, the plate motion abruptly
decreased to 9.5 cm/year, which continued until 20–30 Ma when there was a fur-
ther major slowdown of the rate of movement. According to Ali and Aitchison
(2008) and Baxter et al. (2016), the ‘57 Ma event’ mark the collision of the Indian
Plate with a Neotethyan intra-oceanic arc, but not with the Eurasian Plate. Ali and
Aitchison (2004, 2006) and Aitchison et al. (2007) calculate the position of the new
pole that sits 5°–9° further from the present-day North Pole. This new pole places
the southern Lhasa Block at *28°N at 55 Ma. Since then, this part of the Eurasian
Plate has rotated *21° clockwise relative to the spin axis and migrated 1100 km
east. Ali and Aitchison (2008) suggest that evidence related to the collision of the
oceanic part of the Indian Plate with the Dazhuqu Arc in the earliest Eocene
(*55 Ma) has been found along the 2500-km-long Indus–Yarlung Tsangpo suture
zone (trending *E-W in the eastern part and *NW-SE in the western part;
Aitchison et al. 2007). The Dazhuqu Arc, also known as the Kohistan–Ladakh Arc
(Metcalfe 2013) may have been formed as early as *135 Ma, i.e. in the Early
Cretaceous (Bosch et al. 2011). A number of island arc fragments that had obducted
onto India after it collided with the Dazhuqu Arc at *55 Ma are present in this
suture zone. At the Middle Eocene (*45 Ma) the northern edge of the Indian Plate
was still at some distance south of the Lhasa Block, i.e. southern front of the
Eurasian Plate. Isotopic studies of igneous rocks and the biostratigraphic investi-
gations of sedimentary rocks from the suture zone, led to the conclusion that the
hard collision between continental part of the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate
(southern Tibet, i.e. Lhasa Block), i.e. continent-continent collision happened at the
very end of the Eocene, *35 Ma (Ali and Aitchison 2008; Baxter et al. 2016).
Therefore, Aitchison et al. (2007), Ali and Aitchison (2008) and Baxter et al. (2016)
reasonably argued that oceanic crust of the Indian Plate collided into a
sub-equatorially located intra-oceanic arc (Neotethyan arc) at *55 Ma, and later
the continental crust of the Indian Plate impacted with the Tibet part of the Eurasian
Plate starting around 35 Ma (Table 1). Approximately at the Eocene-Oligocene
boundary (*35 Ma), northern Indian Plate entered the north-dipping subduction
zone beneath southern Tibet, thus marking the initiation of continent–continent
collision (Baxter et al. 2016). To the east, the northeast corner of the Indian Plate
making a glancing contact with Sumatra Block, followed by the Burmese Plate
from *45 Ma, i.e. Early Eocene onwards (Ali and Aitchison 2008).
3.2.2 Tectonic Evolution of the Bengal Basin
The basin evolved through two major tectonic episodes. First, it initiated as an
intra-cratonic rift basin within Gondwana landmass during Late Paleozoic–Mid
Mesozoic and received the continental Gondwana sediments. This episode of basin
development ended with widespread volcanism as continental flood basalts known
as the Rajmahal Trap covered the Gondwana sediments. The second episode of
basin development began in the Late Mesozoic with the break-up of Gondwana and
is still going on (Alam 1989). At this stage, the tectonic evolution of the greater
Bengal Basin is fundamentally related to the collision pattern of the Indian Plate
with the Eurasian Plate to the north and the Burmese Plate to the east. The first
uplift in the Himalayan and Indo-Burman region commenced in the Oligocene and
the Early Miocene, respectively (Bender 1983). In its northern journey, the Indian
Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate and caused folding and thrusting forming the
Himalayan orogenic belt. Further movement of the Indian Plate was in the
north-easterly direction, resulted in collision of northeastern end of the Indian Plate
with the Burmese Plate, the former subducting below the latter, and the sedimentary
accretionary prism gave rise to the formation of the CTFB and the IBR (Alam et al.
2003; Steckler et al. 2008; Wang et al. 2014).
The peri-cratonic part on the eastern margin subsided continuously and received
voluminous sediments from the Late Mesozoic through Tertiary to the Recent
times. This foreland basin containing a succession of dominantly deltaic sediments
derived primarily from the erosion of the Himalaya and the IBR. Sediments
accumulate in the basin through the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna
(GBM) River systems, and are dispersed into the Bay of Bengal, forming the largest
submarine fan in the world (Curray et al. 2003). According to Curiale et al. (2002)
and Curray et al. (2003), sediment contributions to the basin began to arrive pri-
marily from the Himalaya and the Indo-Burman Ranges around the Early Oligocene
(*35 Ma), and the Early Miocene (*20), respectively, and have been prograding
southward presently. To keep the isostatic equilibrium (Mukherjee 2017), the
arriving mass of these huge sediments loaded and depressed the underlying litho-
sphere further, producing additional accommodation space for deltaic sediments.
The additional lithospheric depression and accommodation space have resulted
from the southward thrusting of the Shillong Plateau over the basin through the past
5 Ma in the north, and from the westward thrusting of the Indo-Burman Ranges
toward the basin in the east (Johnson and Alam 1991).
Geodynamic development of the previously mentioned three geotectonic pro-
vinces and their successive tectonic evolution are now discussed under the light of
the India and Asia collision to the north, and the India and Burma collision to the
east. Among the three geotectonic provinces (Alam et al. 2003), the development of
the Geotectonic Province 1—Stable Shelf and Geotectonic Province 2—central
Foredeep Basin are related to the collision between the Indian Plate to the south and
the Eurasian Plate to the north, whereas development of Geotectonic Province 3—
CTFB is related to the collision of the Indian Plate to the west and the Burmese
Plate to the east.
The Early Cretaceous rifting of the Indian Plate from Gondwana and con-
comitant volcanic eruptions along the northeastern margin of the Indian Plate ini-
tiated the tectonic evolution of the Geotectonic Province 1 and 2 (Alam et al. 2003).
In Geotectonic Province 1, pre-rift Permo-Carboniferous sediments are encountered
within the subsurface graben basins on top of the Precambrian Basement rock
(Khan 1991a, b; Reimann 1993). SW–NE trending lineaments are observed in both
the aeromagnetic anomaly map (Rahman et al. 1990a) and in the Bouguer gravity
anomaly map (Rahman et al. 1990b; Khan and Rahman 1992). This reflects grabens
on the continental crust part of the Geoteconic Province 2 (Surma basin)
beneath the thick Late Cenozoic sediment cover, which may also hold the Permo-
Carboniferous sediments at depth. The basement rock beneath the Geotectonic
Province 1 is characterized by tensional tectonics. Tension created a complex
graben system with tilted and/or downthrown blocks, which were intersected by
many normal faults (Khan and Agarwal 1993).
Along the Eocene Hinge Zone and its immediate east, alternating high and low
magnetic values could represent (*750–950 nT; Rahman et al. 1990a) a probable
transition from continental to oceanic crust (Curray 2014). The Barisal–Chandpur
Gravity High probably indicates the rift valley formed during the initial break-up of
Gondwana and formation of the Indian Plate along which transitional zone between
continent-ocean crust of the Indian Plate has been marked by pulses of basalt flow
(Desikachar 1974; Lohmann 1995; Alam et al. 2003; Curray 2014). Further to the
east, seismic signature on top of the basement is characterized by numerous
cross-cutting and down-going reflectors associated with basalt flows. They indicate
oceanic crust below. Alam et al. (2003) also suggest that the continent–ocean crust
boundary bends eastward beneath the Surma basin, and probably continues towards
the juncture of the Dauki-Haflong Thrust. Hence, north of this Hinge Zone, at least
northern part of the Surma basin is floored by the continental crust, whereas
southeast of this line, basement rocks of the Bengal Basin are oceanic rather than of
continental origin (BOGMC 1997). In addition, it is believed that position of the
Eocene Hinge Zone is within Geotectonic Province 1, and it truncates against the
Dauki Fault in the northeast boundary of the deeper foredeep centre.
Up to the Oligocene, the Geotectonic Province 1 and 2 are believed to be
undergone similar tectonic and sedimentary evolution (Alam et al. 2003). From the
Late Oligocene onward, when the remnant ocean basin (Ingersoll et al. 1995) took
shape due to the collisional orogeny of the Barail–Cachar Hills at the northeastern
corner of India (Nandy 1986), Geotectonic Province 2 has undergone its own
tectonic evolution. A major change in sedimentation pattern here probably occurred
in the Mid Pliocene by the major thrust related uplift (upthrust) of the Shillong
Plateau (Najman et al. 2016) along the Dauki Fault (Bilham and England 2001;
Biswas and Grasemann 2005a) in the south and Oldham Fault (Yin et al. 2010) in
the north. In the Shillong Plateau, the Archaean Basement rocks are found *2 km
high, whereas equivalent rocks occur *16–18 and 4–5 km below sea level, in the
south and north of the plateau, respectively (Alam et al. 2003; Najman et al. 2016).
The Geotectonic Province 3—CTFB started to develop during the Late Pliocene
(Maurin and Rangin 2009a) within the upper parts of the thick deltaic sequence in
the eastern margin of the Bengal Basin. At the same time, the Geotectonic Province
2 started evolving as a foreland basin at the centre; whereas in the Geotectonic
Province 1, the authors of this chapter believes foredeep sediments will thrust
northwestward in near future. Oblique subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the
Burmese Plate in an arc-trench setting developed accretionary prism as well as
major east-dipping thrusts (Kaladan Fault to the east, and Chittagong Coastal Fault
to the west), which largely controlled the structural evolution of the Geotectonic
Province 3 (Gani and Alam 1999; Acharyya 2007; Maurin and Rangin 2009a;
Wang et al. 2014). In this province, the sediments in the upper part (*up to 5 km)
within the major individual thrust deformed above a de’collement level by com-
bined thin-skinned and thick-skinned tectonic processes during the last 2 Ma
(Uddin and Lundberg 2004; Maurin and Rangin 2009a), giving rise to a series of
elongate, N–S trending curvilinear folds (Sikder and Alam 2003). Through a bal-
anced cross section across this geotectonic province, Maurin and Rangin (2009a)
estimated a total E-W shortening of about 11 km in the past 2 Ma, which suggests a
shortening rate of about 0.5 cm/year. In this regard, recent investigations suggest
that the fold belt has grown progressively westward and many of the folds in the
westernmost part of this province have been active only from the Late Pliocene or
even later (Table 2) (Johnson and Alam 1991; Khan et al. 2005; Steckler et al.
2008; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Wang et al. 2014; Khan et al. 2015, 2018).
4 Stratigraphy
The foremost depositional phase in the Bengal Basin began following the separa-
tion of the Indian Plate from Antarctica at about the beginning of the Late
Cretaceous. This is in exception of minor Carboniferous coal that preserved at least
locally on Precambrian continental crust (Sclater and Fisher 1974; Molnar and
Tapponnier 1975; Uddin and Lundberg 2004). In the beginning of the Late Eocene,
thick Tertiary clastic sediments accumulated in the basin with deposition acceler-
ating with the arrival of clearly orogenic sediments in the earliest Miocene (Bender
1983; Uddin and Lundberg 1998, 2004). According to Alam et al. (2003), the
present day active sediment depocentre is the Hatia Trough in the Geotectonic
Province 2 as well as its extension to the south into the Bengal Fan.
The sediments preserved in the Stable Shelf part of the Bengal Basin, i.e.
Geotectonic Province 1 (Tables 3 and 4) show a progressive thickening towards
north and south from the shallowest part of the basement at the Rangpur Saddle
from which it continues to slope progressively in both directions. Sediments attain a
thickness of 3–4.5 km, and *3.5 km to the northern and southern edge of the
Stable Shelf, respectively (Uddin and Lundberg 2004; Guha et al. 2010). The
stratigraphic unit on top of the Stable Shelf as well as in both southern and northern
slopes varies in thickness, spatial extent and lithology over geologic time (Reimann
1993). The basement grabens are filled up by the Gondwana sediments comprising
sandstone, shale and coal. The Rajmahal Trap lies above the Gondwana sediments
and are overlain by the Tura Sandstone, followed by the fossliferous Eocene Sylhet
Limestone and then the post Eocene sediments comprising sands, gravels and clay.
The facies evolution ranges from continental and volcanics through brackish and
lagoonal to shallow open marine to estuarine and fresh water environments
(Reimann 1993; Alam et al. 2003).
The sediments preserved within the Foredeep part, i.e., Geotectonic Province 2
(Table 5) and 3 (Table 6) are ca.16–22 km thick sequence of Cenozoic sediments
(Curray and Moore 1971; Curray 1994; Gani and Alam 1999; Uddin and Lundberg
2004), where facies evolution ranges from marine through deltaic to fluvial envi-
ronments. From oldest to youngest, the stratigraphic units are the Tura Sandstone,
Sylhet Limestone, Kopili Shale, Barail, Bhuban, Bokabil, Tipam Sandstone,
Girujan Clay, Dupi Tila Sandstone, and Dihing Formations. Although Rahman
et al. (2017) have tried to correlate sediment provenance with different Himalayan
tectonic units, the relative contributions of the sediments to the basin from the
Himalaya, CTFB-IBR, and Indian Shield and Shillong Plateau are much debated
(Johnson and Alam 1991; Gani and Alam 1999; Uddin and Lundberg 2004;
Najman et al. 2008, 2016).
5 Geotectonic Provinces, Tectonic Elements, and Their

Related Structures
The India-Eurasia and India-Burma (Myanmar) collisions have affected the basin since
the Tertiary (Bender 1983). Conventionally, the basin can be divided into two large
divisions based on overall geotectonic settings: Stable Continental Shelf to the west
and Bengal Foredeep to the east separated by the Continental Slope also known as the
Eocene Hinge Zone (Bakhtine 1966; Guha 1978; Bender 1983; Reimann 1993;
Uddin and Lundberg 2004). The Bengal Foredeep occupies the enormous area between
the Eocene Hinge Zone to the west and the Indo-Burman Ranges to the east and plays
important role in the tectonic evolution of the Bengal Basin. In the foredeep part of the
Bengal Basin, a thick pile of sedimentary strata overlies a deeply subsided basement.
Table 3 Stratigraphic succession of the Geotectonic Province-1A: Southern Slope of the Rangpur Saddle, Stable Shelf of the Bengal Basin in Bangladesh
Age Thickness Depositional

Group Formation Lithology Tectonic Events
(approx) Max (m) Environment
Holocene Alluvium Silt, clay, sand and gravel
Folding in
Silty clay, clay and silty sand
Barind Clay 50 Fluvial-alluvial and eastern Bengal
Recent - with minor sand
Barind rapidly prograding delta Basin
Pleistocene Oxidized sand with clay and
Dihing 150
silicified wood fragments Fluvial and prograding
Pleistocene - Sandstone, siltstone, claystone delta-shelf
Dupi Tila Dupi Tila 280
Early Pliocene and gravel
Early to Middle Alternating sandstone, siltstone Delta front to shelf and Folding in Indo-
Jamalganj Jamalganj 415
Miocene and shale slope Burman Ranges
Siltstone, carbonaceous shale and Increasing
Oligocene Bogra Bogra 165
sandstone sedimentation rates
Shale, sandstone, locally Deltaic slope
Late Eocene Kopili Shale glauconitic and fossiliferous; with 240
calcareous bands
Sylhet Nummulitic limestone with Carbonate platform Hard Collision
Middle Eocene Jaintia 250
Limestone sandstone interbeds
Early Eocene Deltaic to outer shelf Soft Collision
Tura
Sandstone, shale, and coal 245 Close Sutures
Palaeocene Sandstone
Middle to Late Shibganj Sandstone, volcanic materials Coastal to fluvio-

230
Cretaceous Trapwash with clay alluvial
Synthesis of the Tectonic and Structural Elements …
Rajmahal Amygdaloidal basalt, andesite, Sub-aerial lava flows Main Break-up

Early Cretaceous Rajmahal
serpentinized shale and 610 Fluvio-deltaic to
- Jurassic Traps
agglomerate shallow marine
Feldspathic sandstone with thick Fluvial to delta plain, Rapid Extension
Late Permian Paharpur 465
coal seams coal swamps
Gondwana
Permian - Graben
Kuchma Sandstone with coal beds 490
Carboniferous Formation
Stable
Precambrian metamorphic and
Precambrian Basement Gondwana
igneous basement rocks
continent
Modified after Zaher and Rahman (1980), Khan (1991a, b), Lindsay et al. (1991), Reimann (1993), Alam (1997), BOGMC (1997) and Alam et al. (2003)
157
Table 4 Stratigraphic succession of the Geotectonic Province-1B: Southern Slope of the Rangpur
Saddle, Stable Shelf of the Bengal Basin in West Bengal, India
Environment
Age Lithological Description
Shelf Facies Basin Facies
Bengal Alluvium Bengal Alluvium
Recent - Pleistocene
Debagram Formation Ranaghat Formation
Silty sandstone with clay
Pliocene Brakish to marshy Brakish to marshy
Lagoonal to littoral Lagoonal to littoral
Late
Pandua Formation Matla Formation
Siltstone with sandstone and
claystone
Brakish to marshy Brakish to marshy
Miocene Middle Lagoonal to littoral Lagoonal to littoral
Shallow marine Shallow marine
Memari/Burdwan
Formation
Siltstone sandstone and
Early carbonaceous shale
Brakish to marshy
Lagoonal to littoral
Late
Oligocene Shallow marine

Early Sandstone with coal and claystone Continetal
Brackish deltaic
Kopili Shale
Brakish to marshy
Calcareous shale
Late Lagoonal to littoral
Eocene Shallow marine
Sylhet Limestone
Middle
Foraminiferal and algal limestone Brakish to marshy
Early with sandstone Lagoonal to littoral
Shallow marine
Late Jalangi Formation
Paleocene
Continental
Early Coarse to medium grained
sandstone with lignite and shale
Brakish to marshy
Lagoonal to littoral
Late
Bholpur/Ghatal
Formation
Cretaceous
Kaolinitic sandstone with shale
Estuarine
Early
Continetal
Basalt Rajmahal Trap
Sandstone, shale, carbonaceous Pre-Trappean/Gondwana
Permo-Carboniferous
shale, coal and sandstone
Precambrian Granite and gneiss Basement
Modified after Biswas (1963), Sengupta (1966) and National Data Repository (2015)
Based on the gravity studies, the foredeep part is divided into a northeast-southwest
deeper Foredeep Basin or Western Platform Flank of the foredeep, just east of the
Continental Slope, and an Eastern Folded Flank of the foredeep that comprises the
CTFB (Guha 1978; Khandoker 1989; Khan 1991a, b; Reimann 1993; Uddin and
Table 5 Stratigraphic succession of the Surma basin (northern part of the Geotectonic Province-2), central deeper Foredeep Basin, Bengal Basin
Thickness Depositional
Age (approx) Group Formation Lithology Tectonic Events
Max (m) Environment
Holocene Alluvium Fluvial
Poorly consolidated sandstone
Pleistocene Dihing
Dihing and clayey sandstone.
Upper 3350 Fluvial
Medium to coarse ferruginous
Dupi Tila sandstone with layers of quartz
Dupi Tila Folding in the eastern
Late Pliocene pebbles and siltstone with
Lower lignitic fragments and petrified Bengal Basin
Dupi Tila wood.
Girujan Clay Clay and siltstone. 3500 Alluvial

Mid Pliocene Tipam Coarse-grained, pebbly, cross Dauki Fault
Tipam Sandstone
bedded sandstone.
Upper Fluvial Uplfit of the
Shale.
Marine Shale
tidal-deltaic Himalayas.
Dark grey pyrite-bearing shale,
Boka Bil sandy shale, siltstone, and estuarine
Early Pliocene sandstones.
Surma 3900 Orogeny
Miocene
Shallow marine Subduction and
Sandstone and sandy shale,
Bhuban folding Indo-Burman
sitstone.
Ranges
Synthesis of the Tectonic and Structural Elements …
Pale grey, multi-coloured, fine Shallow marine Hard collision,

Undifferentiated grained sandstone and siltstone, to basinal shale closing of the Eurasian
Oligocene Barail 7200
Barail grey carbonaceous siltstone and
silty sandstone and shale. Tethys
Kopili Shale Sandstone, glauconitic shale, Shelf edge Soft collision

carbonaceous and highly
limestone Northward movement
fossiliferous limestone;
Eocene Sylhet Limestone calcareous sandstone, of India and sea-floor
Jaintia
Paleocene carbonaceous shale and coal
spreading
seams.
Medium to coarse grained grey Marginal part of
Tura Sandstone
sandstone. the shelf
Undifferentiated sedimentary
Pre-Paleocene
rocks (with some volcanics?)
Modified after Evans (1964), Holtrop and Keizer (1970), Khan et al. (1988), Hiller and Elahi (1988), Khan (1991a, b), Reimann (1993), Shamsuddin et al.
(2001) and Alam et al. (2003)
159
160
Table 6 Stratigraphic succession of the Chittagong-Tripura Fold Belt (Geotectonic Province-3), Folded Flank, Bengal Basin
Age Thickness Depositional

Group Formation Lithology Tectonic Events
(approx) Max (m) Environment
Holocene Fluvial
Alluvium
Coarse ferruginous sandstone with Fluvial Folding in the

layers of quartz pebbles and eastern Bengal
siltstone with lignitic fragments and Basin
Dupi Tila petrified wood.
Plio-Pleistocene Clay and siltstone. 1,600

Girujan Clay
Tipam Alluvial Dauki Fault

Coarse-grained, pebbly, cross-
Tipam Sandstone bedded sandstone.
Dark grey pyrite-bearing shale, Fluvial

sandy shale and sandstone. tidal-deltaic Uplift of the
Late
Boka Bil 1600 estuarine Himalayas
Miocene
Surma
Sandstone and pebbly sandstone at Shallow marine
Miocene
Middle the top and sandy shale at the
Bhuban bottom 1500
Miocene
Modified after Evans (1964), Khan (1991a, b), Reimann (1993), Gani and Alam (1999, 2003), Alam et al. (2003)
M. S. Hossain et al.
Lundberg 2004). The Western Platform Flank or Foredeep Basin shows

small-amplitude, isometric or geographically equant Bouguer anomalies, whereas the
folded flank or the CTFB exhibits large-amplitude, linear or elongate Bouguer
anomalies (Bakhtine 1966; Uddin and Lundberg 2004). As earlier mentioned in
Sect. 3.1, based on the result of geophysical investigations (gravity, aeromagnetic, and
seismic), field geological mappings and on well data, Bengal Basin can be divided into
three major geotectonic provinces (Fig. 1): (i) the Stable Shelf to the northwest or the
Geotectonic Province 1—Passive to extensional cratonic margin, (ii) the Foredeep
Basin to the center or the Geotectonic Province 2—remnant ocean basin, and
(iii) Folded Flank to the east or the Geotectonic Province 3—the CTFB (Bakhtine 1966;
Alam 1972; Khan and Rahman 1992; Khan and Agarwal 1993; Reimann 1993;
Shamsuddin and Abdullah 1997; Alam et al. 2003). These three geotectonic provinces
are synthesized in the following paragraphs.
5.1 The Stable Shelf—Geotectonic Province 1
The Stable Shelf (Fig. 4) to the northwest, also known as the Stable Pre-Cambrian
Platform or Western Flank of the Bengal Basin, comprises two major tectonic
elements: (i) the Foreland Shelf to the west, and (ii) the Eocene Hinge Zone or shelf
break to the east (Bakhtine 1966; Guha 1978; Matin et al. 1983). The Bouguer
anomaly map of the Stable Foreland Shelf is characterized by large negative
anomalies (0 to −140 mGal), mostly related to the basement structural features
(Fig. 5) (Rahman et al. 1990b; Khan and Rahman 1992). Khan and Rahman (1992)
identified four tectonic zones on the basis of the trend, shape and magnitude of the
Bouguer gravity anomaly contours and the basement faults from the aeromagnetic
data. Except the Eocene Hinge Zone, alternating gravity highs and lows with closed
contours indicate the presence of numerous graben and half-graben structures in
most of the Foreland Shelf, where Gondwana coal/sediments have been deposited
(Khan 1978; Khan and Rahman 1992; Khan and Chouhan 1996).
5.1.1 The Foreland Shelf
The Foreland Shelf is characterized by the presence of complex graben system,

transected by many synthetic and antithetic faults (Khan and Rahman 1992; Khan
and Agarwal 1993). Based on geophysical and borehole data, the Foreland Shelf is
divided into four tectonic elements which are oriented approximately ENE.
Towards the south, the four tectonic elements are the Himalyan Foredeep, the
Dinajpur Shelf, the Rangpur Saddle or the Platform Flank, and the Bogra Shelf
(Fig. 4) (Bakhtine 1966; Sengupta 1966; Guha 1978; Matin et al. 1983; Khan and
Rahman 1992; Khan and Agarwal 1993; Reimann 1993; Guha et al. 2010).
Recent GPS derived geodetic data suggest an overall very low subsidence rate
(<1 mm/year) of the Foreland Shelf compared to the other geotectonic provinces of
Fig. 4 Simplified tectonic map of the Geotectonic Province 1 of the Bengal Basin and its
surroundings. The tectonic element boundaries are based on Bakhtine (1966), Guha (1978) and
Matin et al. (1983). Faults and lineaments are mostly taken from Kayal (2008). MBT: Main
Boundary Thrust; MFT: Main Frontal Thrust
Fig. 5 Bouguer gravity anomaly map of Bangladesh, which covered major portion of the Bengal
Basin. Projection used in this map is the Lambert Conformal Conic with Everest 1969 spheroid
(modified after Rahman et al. 1990b)
the Bengal Basin (Reitz et al. 2015). Starting from the northernmost tectonic ele-
ment, the sequential description of these tectonic elements of the foreland shelf is
given with their tectonic evolution history. Note as the N-S oriented Rajmahal Hills
is situated outside the Basin Margin Fault Zone (Raman et al. 1986; Roy and
Chatterjee 2015) and at the western edge of the Foreland Shelf (Raman et al. 1986),
it is not a part of the Bengal Basin.
Himalayan Foredeep
This tectonic element forms the northwestern most part of the Bengal Basin, lies
south of the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) and is covered by the Recent to sub-Recent
piedmont plain deposits. This element is marked by the high negative Bouguer
gravity anomaly from −110 to −150 mGal within a short distance in the extreme
northwest of Bangladesh, and suggests noticeable thickening of basinal strata
northward into the Siwalik foreland basin of the northeastern Himalaya (Khan and
Rahman 1992; Rabbani et al. 2000; Uddin and Lundberg 2004). The −110 mGal
contour near Panchagarh represents the approximate southern boundary of the
Himalayan Foredeep with the Dinajpur Slope. The width of this tectonic element at
the centre is <50 km, but gradually increases towards both east and west.
The Neogene sediments consisting of sandstones, subordinate shales and clays,
and gravel beds are well developed in this tectonic element and attain a thickness of
3–4.5 km (Rabbani et al. 2000; Guha et al. 2010). The only well drilled in this
tectonic element is located on the north-western most tip of Bangladesh at
Salbanhat in Tetulia by Shell Oil Co. in 1988. The well touched the basement at
2518 m depth penetrating the Mio-Pliocene sequence but did not encounter the
Eocene Limestone (Rabbani et al. 2000). The northern edge of this tectonic element
along the MFT shows clear evidence of an active deformation zone as indicated by
active faulting, uplift and surface-rupture, and earthquakes (Thakur 2004). The
main deformation front related to the India-Eurasia collision slowly migrated
southward in this zone. Two major lineaments transect the Himalayan Foredeep of
the Bengal Basin along NW-SE direction, namely Tista and Gangtok lineaments
(Chopra et al. 2013; Baruah et al. 2016).
Dinajpur Shelf/Dinajpur Slope
The Dinajpur Slope is characterized by almost E-W trending linear Bouguer gravity
contours, with values ranging between −50 and −110 mGal and sloping NNW
between Panchagarh to the north and Nilphamari to the south (Khan and Rahman
1992; Rabbani et al. 2000). The Neogene sediments are deposited in this tectoni-
cally down-warped part of the Foreland Shelf, which is known as the northern slope
of the Rangpur Saddle, or Dinajpur Slope or Northern Foreland Shelf (Reimann
1993) of the Bengal Basin. Although Reimann (1993) included Dinajpur Slope into
the Himalayan Foredeep, Guha et al. (2010) placed Dinajpur Slope as a separate
tectonic element in between Himalayan Foredeep to the north and Rangpur Saddle
to the south. The width of this zone ranges between 100 and 70 km from WSW to
ENE, and gently plunges northward to the Himalyan Foredeep approximately at 1°–
3°. The Dinajpur Slope turns *E-W north of the Garo Hills of the Shillong Plateau
and then connects to the Assam Basin. The Dhubri Fault with approximately N-S
orientation separates the Dinajpur Slope to the west and the Assam Basin to the
east. One major fault and two major lineaments transect this tectonic element in
which the Katihar-Nilphamari Fault along *E-W, and the Tista and the Gangtok
lineaments along NW-SE (Chopra et al. 2013; Baruah et al. 2016). Moreover, N-S
graben structures with Gondwana fill are also present (Khan and Rahman 1992;
Reimann 1993).
Rangpur Saddle
The Rangpur Saddle is characterized by irregular shaped Bouguer gravity contours

with several closed gravity highs and lows typical of a shallow basement, extending
from south of Nilphamari and Dinajpur up to Gaibandha and Panchbibi (i.e. in and
around Rangpur region). This tectonic element is a part of ENE prolongation of the
Indian Shield to the Shillong Plateau and Mikir Hills (Bakhtine 1966; Guha 1978;
Khan 1978; Matin et al. 1983; Hossain et al. 2017) within the so-called
Garo-Rajmahal gap (Desikachar 1974; Khan and Chouhan 1996), and separates
the Bogra Shelf to the south and Dinajpur Shelf to the north. The approximate
boundary of the Rangpur Saddle with the northern and the southern tectonic ele-
ments has been marked at *−700 m contour line on the basement. The eastern
margin of the concealed block along the Garo Hills is a fault zone connected to the
east-west-oriented Dauki Fault. This dome-shaped tectonic element is the shal-
lowest part within the Stable Shelf bounded by N-S trending faults in the east and
the west (Khan and Rahman 1992). In its shallowest portion, the basement is
uplifted to a depth of 128 m from the surface (Rahman 1987) and is overlain by thin
sedimentary deposits of the Plio-Pleistocene Dupi Tila Sandstone and Madhupur
Clay. Geophysical methods traced approximately N-S oriented Dhubri-Jamuna
Fault to the western end of the Garo Hills of the Shillong Plateau, and an
approximately 160 km long N-S oriented Rajmahal Fault to the eastern edge of the
Rajmahal Hills (Vaccari et al. 2011; Mohanty et al. 2013, 2014; Roy and Chatterjee
2015). These two faults form the eastern and western margins of the Garo-Rajmahal
Gap, therefore, enclose the Rangpur Saddle.
In the eastern part of this tectonic element, the SE end of the Tista and Gangtok
lineaments is terminated by the N-S oriented Jamuna Fault. In SRTM 30 m reso-
lution image, surficial expression of three graben structures with NNE-SSW ori-
entation has been observed in the western part of this tectonic element. Geophysical
and well data indicate that this tectonic element (Desikachar 1974; Khan and
Chouhan 1996) is underlain by the Permian Gondwana sediments followed upward
by the Late Cretaceous Rajmahal tholeiitic basalts trap flows (Baksi 1995) and the
Cretaceous-Tertiary sediments. Near N-S oriented graben structures with

Gondwana fill are also indicated by the above data set (Khan and Rahman 1992).
Although the concealed basement rocks of the Rangpur Saddle and northern part
of the Bogra Slope are generally considered to be an eastward subsurface contin-
uation of the Indian Shield, Ameen et al. (2007, 2016) and Tapu et al. (2016)
considered them as separate microcontinental blocks. Evidently diorite, tonalite and
granodiorite constitute the basement of the Rangpur Saddle, which is dissected by
pegmatites and mafic/ultramafic dykes (Ameen et al. 1998; Kabir et al. 2001;
Hossain et al. 2007). Based on SHRIMP Zircon U-Pb age dating, both Ameen et al.
(2007) and Hossain et al. (2007) reported identical Paleoproterozoic ages 1.72, and
1.73 Ga of the tonalite, and diorite from Maddhapara, respectively. A pegmatite
dyke from Maddhapara has also given age similar to the host rock (1.72 Ga—based
on SHRIMP Zircon U-Pb age dating; Hossain et al. 2017). It may be mentioned that
the undeformed tonalite/diorite pluton with age similar to 1.72 Ga has been iden-
tified neither in the Chhotanagpur Granite-Gneiss Complex (CGGC) nor in the
Shillong Plateau. Thus, based on the 1.72 Ga age from an undeformed calc-alkaline
I-type granitoid (tonalite) in Maddhapara and tentative gravity enclosure sur-
rounding the region Ameen et al. (2007) and Tapu et al. (2016) suggest that
Maddhapara and surrounding diorite-tonalite basement may have constituted a
Paleoproterozoic micro-continental block, which they referred to as Dinajpur
Block. Few latest investigations (Chatterjee 2017; Hossain et al. 2017) however,
argued that the diorite-tonalite basement of the Rangpur Saddle is a continuation of
the Central Indian Tectonic Zone (CITZ). Nevertheless, further isotopic age dating
of basement samples from different locations, detailed geochemical and structural
studies, robust geodynamic and tectonic model related to its emplacement history
are required to check the validity of either hypothesis.
Bogra Shelf/Bogra Slope
The northern edge of the Bogra slope is characterized by the elongate close-spaced
gravity contours of 0 to −30 mGa1, extending from Nawabganj to Jamalganj up to
Gaibandha. From south of the Nawabganj-Gaibandha up to Singra area, several
prominent closed anomaly contours are observed reflecting gravity highs and lows
within −20 to −50 mGal range representing intra-cratonic basins, i.e. graben
structures where Gondwana sediments deposited (Khan and Rahman 1992). This
tectonic element is also known as Southern slope of the Rangpur Saddle or the
Western Foreland Shelf of the Bengal Basin, which contains various Permian to
Recent rocks, laid down on the Precambrian Basement rocks (Khan and Rahman
1992; Reimann 1993). The width of this zone ranges 60–125 km from NE to SW,
and gently plunges southeast to the shelf edge at 1°–3° is clearly marked by the
Eocene Sylhet Limestone on the seismic section (Salt et al. 1986; Reimann 1993).
Seismic contours on top of the Eocene Limestone reveal a number of NE-SW
trending faults of which the Debagram-Bogra Fault is the most prominent (Fig. 4).
Another two major faults are also present in this tectonic element and these are the
NW-SE oriented Ganges-Padma Fault to the west and the N-S oriented Jamuna
Fault to the east. Recent GPS derived geodetic data suggest an overall very low
subsidence rate of less than 1 mm/year in the area (Reitz et al. 2015). The Bogra
Slope (Fig. 4) turns approximately E-W near the Garo Hills of the Shillong Plateau
and then traverses along the southern slope of the plateau towards the Khasi and
Jaintia Hills and reaches up to the southern fringe of the Mikir Hills. This tectonic
element started developing at the time of rifting of the Gondwana during the
Carboniferous-Permian when graben and half-graben structures were formed, fol-
lowed by the drifting of the East Gondwana from the remainder during the
Jurassic-Cretaceous. The later event results the Rajmahal lava flows and formed the
Rajmahal Trap, which crops out in the Rajmahal Hills. From the Late Cretaceous to
Eocene, carbonate sediments deposited at the lower edge of the shelf, whereas
arenaceous sediment were deposited at the upper edge (Reimann 1993).
5.1.2 Eocene Hinge Zone
This zone is also known as shelf break or paleo-continental slope or trace of the
Eocene shelf edge (Bakhtine 1966; Sengupta 1966; Bender 1983; Matin et al. 1983;
Rahman et al. 1990a; Reimann 1993; Uddin and Lundberg 2004; Singh et al. 2016)
and lies between the Stable Shelf/Foreland Shelf to the west and the Foredeep Basin
to the east. This tectonic element is characterized by almost ENE-WSW trending
linear Bouguer gravity contours, with values ranging approximately between −30 to
−15 mGal and sloping towards southeast (Khan and Rahman 1992). Precambrian
basement rock dips southeast abruptly from 2°–3° to 6°–12° at the contact of the
stable platform and the Eocene Hinge Zone to the west, and then dips more gently
1°–2° again in the southeast at the contact of the Hinge Zone and deeper foredeep
basin to the east (Uddin and Lundberg 2004). At its upper northwestern edge, the
recorded seismic depth on top of the Eocene Sylhet Limestone is 3500 m, whereas
at its lower southeastern edge, the recorded seismic depth on top of the same
limestone is 5000 m. Although Sengupta (1966) and Khandoker (1989) named this
NNE-SSW running narrow 25–100 km Hinge zone as the ‘Calcutta–Mymensingh
gravity high’, more recent data (Khan and Agarwal 1993) suggest that this term is
to some extent confusing and named more appropriately as Shelf-Break (Uddin and
Lundberg 2004; Roy and Chatterjee 2015). Although it is usually shown to truncate
against the Dauki Fault in the northeast, the other school of thoughts suggest that
the Hinge Zone progressively convexes basin-ward to the northeast and then passes
somewhere through the northern end of the Surma basin and possibly continues
towards the Haflong Thrust at the northeastern corner of the Bengal Basin (Alam
et al. 2003).
The Eocene Hinge Zone marks the structural as well as depositional transition
between central foredeep basin to the southeast and stable shelf to the northwest.
This tectonic element possibly marks the transition from the thick continental crust
(west) to extended thinned crust of the continental margin (east) (Singh et al. 2016).
Eocene Sylhet Limestone, the most prominent seismic reflector of the Bengal Basin
has been interpreted to imply this shelf break (Reimann 1993). However, results of
the recent seismic investigations suggest NE alignment of this Hinge Zone up to
90° 40′E and 25° 15′N, where the E-W oriented Dauki Fault presumably truncates
this structural element. More towards east, this paleo-continental slope is not rec-
ognizable even in the deeper seismic section (6 s TWT). This probably indicates
that the southern portion of the shelf as well as slope are downthrown by the Dauki
Fault and now hidden under the thick pile of the Neogene sediments deposited in
the northern part of the Surma basin (Salt et al. 1986). Although significant increase
of sedimentary thickness from *3 to *17 km is noticed across the Hinge Zone
(west to east), the crust thins from 38 km at the Indian Craton to 34 km at the Hinge
Zone to 16–19 km at the central deeper foredeep basin (Singh et al. 2016). Such
thickness of crust at the central deeper foredeep basin may result from igneous
activity related to the Kerguelen Plume at the time of rifting (Ray et al. 2005; Singh
et al. 2016).
5.2 The Foredeep Basin—Geotectonic Province 2
The central deeper Foredeep Basin or the Western Platform Flank occupies the
huge area between the Eocene Hinge Zone to the west, the Shillong Plateau to the
north, and the CTFB to the east. This deeper foredeep basin is approximately
200 km wide to the north, narrowed at the middle, and then gradually widens to
about 500 km to the south, shows an overall NE trend (Fig. 6) (Reimann 1993).
The basin shows small-amplitude, isometric or geographically equant Bouguer
gravity anomalies (Bakhtine 1966; Uddin and Lundberg 2004). The deeper fore-
deep basin is a mosaic of few sub-basins (lows) and buried highs/ridges. This
deeper foredeep basin narrowed north-eastward by the Madhupur High in west and
the Tripura Uplift in the east, and broadly divides the basin into two parts. The oval
shaped Surma basin occupies the northern part of the deeper foredeep basin
whereas southern part is known as southern sub-basin. A NE-SW trending gravity
and magnetic anomaly known as the Barisal-Chandpur High separates the southern
part of the deeper foredeep basin into another two sub-basins, the Faridpur Trough
in the west and the Hatia Trough in the east (Alam 1972; Das Gupta 1977; Guha
1978; Reimann 1993). The deeper foredeep basin, therefore, can be divided into six
tectonic elements, and from the north to the south these are the Surma basin/Sylhet
Trough, the Madhupur-Tripura High/Tangail-Tripura High, the Faridpur Trough,
the Barisal-Chandpur High, the Hatia Trough, and the Bay of Bengal (Fig. 6)
(Bakhtine 1966; Guha 1978; Mirkhamidov and Mannan 1981; Matin et al. 1983;
Uddin and Lundberg 1999; Mukherjee et al. 2009).
Fig. 6 Simplified tectonic map of the Geotectonic Province 2 of the Bengal Basin and its
surroundings. The tectonic elements boundaries are based on Bakhtine (1966), Guha (1978) and
Matin et al. (1983). Faults and lineaments are mostly taken from Biswas and Grasemann (2005a),
Kayal (2008), Khan et al. (2011), and Wang et al. (2014). A: Anticline; Atg: Atgram; Bakh:
Bakhrabad; Bang: Bangora; Beani: Beanibazar; Begum: Begumganj; Bi: Bibiyana; CCF:
Chittagong Coastal Fault; Ch: Chhatak; Com: Comilla; Daud: Daudkandi; F: Fault; Fench:
Fenchuganj; Go: Gowainghat; Ha: Habiganj; Haka: Hakaluki; Ja: Jalalabad; Ka: Kamta; Kac:
Kachua; Kai: Kailas Tila; Ku: Kutubdia; Kus: Kushiara; Lalm: Lalmai; Magn: Magnama; Me:
Meghna; Moul: Moulvibazar; Na: Narsingdi; Path: Patharia; Ra: Rashidpur; Rajn: Rajnagar; S:
Syncline; San: Sangu; Sand: Sandwip; Sh: Shahbazpur; Sri: Srikail; Srim: Srimangal; Sun:
Sunamganj; Sundal: Sundalpur; Sy: Sylhet and Ti: Titas
5.2.1 Surma Basin
The Surma basin/Sylhet Trough is a depositional basin of thick sedimentary strata

along the northeastern part of the Bengal Basin, just south of the Shillong Plateau
with a structural relief of about 20 km between the trough and the neighboring
plateau separated by the E-W running Dauki Fault (Fig. 7) (Mirkhamidov and
Mannan 1981; Murphy and Staff BOGMC 1988; Johnson and Alam 1991). It is
bounded to the north by the striking Barail Range of the Shillong Plateau, to the
east by the Barail-Imphal Ridge (southwestern margin) of Assam, to the south by
the Madhupur-Tripura High, and to the west by the Eocene Hinge Zone (Fig. 6).
Although, much accepted sediment thickness in the Surma basin exceeds 20 km
(Hiller and Elahi 1984; Ali and Raghava 1985; Hiller and Elahi 1988; Murphy and
170
Fig. 7 Schematic cross-section across the Bengal Basin and its surroundings (drawn approximately N-S along the line AB as shown in Fig. 1)
(modified after Murphy and Staff of BOGMC 1988; BOGMC 1997 and Webb et al. 2013)
Staff BOGMC 1988; Curray 1994; Uddin and Lundberg 2004), thickness <18 km
is also reported (Paul and Lian 1975; Banerji 1979; Guha 1978; Matin et al. 1986;
Singh et al. 2016). Beneath this thick sedimentary pile, type and thickness of the
crust of the Indian Plate is still debated (Singh et al. 2016). However, it is more or
less accepted that beneath the northwestern half of the Surma basin, the crust is
continental to transitional type; whereas beneath southeastern half of the basin, the
crust is oceanic. The Bouguer gravity map of Bangladesh suggests a minimum
Bouguer anomaly (−80 mgl) for the Surma basin (Ali and Raghava 1985; Uddin
and Lundberg 2004). Along N-S section, more or less flat and tectonically less
disturbed nature of the Moho has been observed at similar depth of *37 km
beneath this tectonic element as well as the Shillong Plateau (Singh et al. 2016).
Except for the western border made by the Eocene Hinge Zone, all other structural
features framing the Surma basin in north, east and south are the results of mostly
the Pliocene-Recent compressional tectonics (Reimann 1993). It is assumed that the
major subsidence of the Surma basin did not take place during the Miocene, rather
the Pliocene uplift of the Shillong Plateau and gradual westward encroachment of
the IBR might have subsided the Surma basin during the Pliocene (Johnson and
Alam 1991; Uddin and Lundberg 2004). Along the southern edge of the basin, a
major NE-SW oriented fault with a length of >150 km has been reported as the
Sylhet Fault (Kayal 1998; Bhattacharya et al. 2008; Kayal 2008; Angelier and
Baruah 2009; Vaccari et al. 2011; Mohanty et al. 2013, 2014), which probably
controls the course of the Surma River (Ovi et al. 2014).
Several investigations have noticed that the Surma basin, a complex conspicuous
subbasin of the Bengal Basin with thick sedimentary fill (Hiller and Elahi 1988;
Murphy and Staff BOGMC 1988; Uddin and Lundberg 2004; Singh et al. 2016),
has evolved from a passive continental margin with sedimentary packages thick-
ening south, to a flexural basin with sedimentary packages thickening north
(Johnson and Alam 1991; Uddin and Lundberg 2004; Bracciali et al. 2015). These
changes of thickness of sedimentary packages are interpreted to be related to
loading from the adjacent uplifting Shillong Plateau. According to Najman et al.
(2016), passive margin configuration of the Surma basin with southward thickening
of the sedimentary packages ceased at the end of the Bokabil Formation deposition
(3.5 Ma). Transition of the Surma basin from passive margin to flexural basin
occurred during 3.5 to *2 Ma. At this time, the Tipam Formation deposited, which
does not show any lateral variation in thickness, and has sub-horizontal dips in the
basin centre. This also marks the onset of flexural loading by the Shillong Plateau.
The IBR also propagated westward in this area at this time, as evidenced by
thinning of Tipam Sandstone over the IBR anticlines. The combined influence of
the uplifting Shillong Plateau and westward encroachment of the IBR together
resulted the palaeo-Brahmaputra diversion away from the Surma basin, i.e. from the
east to west of the Shillong Plateau by the end of the Tipam Formation deposition
*2 Ma (Najman et al. 2012, 2016). After the drainage diversion, sedimentation in
the flexural Surma basin continued with the meandering facies of the Dupi Tila
Formation, sourced primarily by recycling of Himalayan-derived materials from the
sedimentary cover of the rising Shillong Plateau to the north (Evans 1932; Biswas
1961; Hiller and Elahi 1984; Najman et al. 2016). From the Dupi Tila Formation
onward (*2 Ma–Recent), sedimentary packages in the flexural Surma basin has
been thickening as well as dipping to the north. On the other hand, the
pre-Oligocene rock within the Surma basin is the Jaintia Group consisting of
Paleocene Tura Sandstone, Middle Eocene Sylhet Limestone and Upper Eocene
Kopili Shale, and all of which crop out in the northern margin of the Surma basin
(Reimann 1993; Alam et al. 2003). The Tura Sandstone, Sylhet Limestone and
Kopili Shale are interpreted to be deposited in shallow-marine to marine,
shallow-marine carbonate, and deltaic to slope depositional environments, respec-
tively (Alam et al. 2003). Moreover, Oligocene Barial Group (also exposed along
the northern fringe) is believed to be deposited in a predominantly tide-dominated
shelf environment (Alam 1991). In addition, the Surma Group consisting of the
Lower Bhuban and the Upper Boka Bil Formations (Holtrop and Keizer 1970;
Hiller and Elahi 1988; Khan et al. 1988) crop out along the northeastern margin of
the basin. Those deposited in a large, mud-rich delta system that might have drained
a significant portion of the eastern Himalaya through the palaeo-Brahmaputra River
(Johnson and Alam 1991). Sultana and Alam (2001) and Alam et al. (2003)
mentioned that the Surma Group was deposited within a cyclic transgressive–
regressive regime ranging from shallow marine to tide-dominated coastal settings.
The Tipam Sandstone also crops out in the same area and is interpreted to have
deposited in bed-load dominated braided-fluvial systems (Johnson and Alam 1991).
According to Uddin and Lundberg (2004), paleo-Brahmaputra, paleo-Meghna,
paleo-Karnafuli are most likely responsible for the consistent increase in the
thickness of the Miocene sediments in this part of the Bengal Basin as these rivers
delivered detritus from the eastern Himalaya and IBR straight to the Bengal Fan
through the Surma basin and forming a major delta complex at the northeastern part
of the Bengal Basin.
According to Holtrop and Keizer (1970) and Hiller and Elahi (1984), the Surma
basin was structurally engraved in almost sub-Recent geological time, i.e. since 3–
6 Ma and the tectonic movements are presumably still going on, as indicated by
shallow lakes between the anticlinal ridges, especially during the monsoon period.
Recent geodetic measurements (e.g., Nielsen et al. 2004; Vernant et al. 2014;
Steckler et al. 2016) and geochronology studies (e.g., Biswas and Grasemann
2005a; Khan et al. 2006) also suggest that oblique subduction of the Indian Plate to
the NE direction is going on and the basin is still tectonically active. This tectonic
convergence results in complex anticlinal and synclinal systems as well as over-
lapping thrust systems in and around the Surma basin due to overall E-W and N-S
shortening of the basin at the rate of 7 mm/year and 18 mm/year to the northern and
eastern margins, respectively (Akhter et al. 2010; Steckler et al. 2012; Bulbul
2015). Moreover, the northern margin of the basin is subjected to flexural loading
due to the Shillong Plateau. The above tectonic activities also result overall sub-
sidence of the Surma basin currently at the rate of approximately 7–12 mm/year
(Reitz et al. 2015). Primary structures of the basin is dominantly anticlines whose
orientation changes from N-S (e.g., Rashidpur, Maulvi Bazar, Fenchuganj,
Habiganj, Kailas Tila) at the southern part to the ENE-WSW (e.g., Patharia, Sylhet,
Jalalabad, Atgram) to the middle-eastern part (Fig. 6). Most of these anticlines are
plunging to the north. To the northern part of the basin, the anticlines show
approximately E-W oriented Type 1 folding (e.g., Chhatak, Gobamura, Dupi Tila)
probably due to two sets of compressional forces, i.e. shortening direction one is
N-S and the other is E-W, acting simultaneously (Biswas and Grasemann 2005b;
Ovi et al. 2014). Some of these anticlines are fault controlled (Sikder and Alam
2003; Steckler et al. 2008; Najman et al. 2012), and few of them are dissected by
the approximately N-S and E-W oriented faults (Hiller and Elahi 1984). The Surma
basin has been studied extensively as a result of successful hydrocarbon explo-
rations (Holtrop and Keizer 1970; Woodside 1983; Shamsuddin 1989; Chowdhury
et al. 1996; Khanam et al. 2017). Anticlinal structures are the principal type of
hydrocarbon trap in the Surma basin (Lietz and Kabir 1982). The Miocene to
early-Pliocene shales up to a depth of 4.5 km are the source of gas/condensate
accumulated in the sandstone of the Bhuban and Bokabil Formations (Shamsuddin
1989).
5.2.2 Madhupur-Tripura High
The Madhupur High to west and the Tripura Uplift to the east are connected by a
threshold known as the Madhupur-Tripura High/Tangail-Trupura Uplift. This sepa-
rates the Surma basin to the north and the Faridpur Trough to the southwest
(Mirkhamidov and Mannan 1981; Reimann 1993; Guha et al. 2010). The Madhupur
High, aligned approximately NW-SE, forms the south-western margin of the Surma
basin which is the northernmost sub-basin of the Bengal Foredeep. The Madhupur
High is a Pleistocene Terrace (Morgan and McIntire 1959), which represents slightly
undulated and elevated topography from the adjacent flood plains, and is an exposed
Quaternary interfluve between two pathways for the Brahmaputra River. Gravity and
aero-magnetic data suggest that the basement is relatively uplifted beneath this area
(Reimann 1993; Guha et al. 2010). Dissection of the initial Madhupur High is resulted
from the Late Pleistocene monsoon climatic episodes that caused a tremendous cur-
rent flow over the plain (Monsur 1995). According to Guha et al. (2010), the Nagarpur
dome and the Nandina high are considered as protrusions from the basement without
deforming the overlying sedimentary packages above this tectonic element. Although
its upper part is heavily eroded, the crests of the hill keep flat surfaces which are gently
tilted to the east (CDMP II 2013). A series of en-echelon faults, known as the
Madhupur Fault flanks the western side of the uplifted Madhupur High/Madhupur
Tract. These en-echelon faulting resulted either from torsion of the region, possibly as
rotational faulting (Mukherjee and Khonsari 2017) or from the effect of shear (e.g.,
Mukherjee 2014a) along an assumed blind fault or possibly a combination of both
(Morgan and McIntire 1959). The upliftment of the Madhupur High may have exerted
a significant control over the avulsion history of the Brahmaputra/Jamuna River. This
avulsion history is cyclic, with a periodicity of *1800 years, and the position of the
Brahmaputra has fluctuated between east and west of the Madhupur High (Pickering
et al. 2014). It is assumed that the Holocene Brahmaputra avulsion history, to some
extent, is related to competition between tectonic deformation and transverse sedi-

ment input (Grimaud et al. 2017). Therefore, any future seismicity can cause river
avulsions and related flooding (Reitz et al. 2012; Hossain et al. 2015). However, GPS
derived geodetic data suggest an overall very low subsidence rate (<1 mm/year) for
the Madhupur High (Reitz et al. 2015) compared to the other parts of the centre deeper
foredeep basin. Moreover, Pickering et al. (2017) claimed that the Madhupur High as a
terrace is resulted from the highstand floodplain deposition of eustasy-driven cycles,
and subsequent lowstand exposure and weathering as well as active tectonics.
Though Madhupur High/Tract is popularly known and accepted to be a
Pleistocene Terrace, but based on the morphology of the tract and other geomorphic
signatures (e.g., relief features, river morphology, and river incision), the authors of
this chapter assume that this Tract is the expression of a buried anticline. However,
as the uplift did not expose the older bedrocks (open fold), the younger sediments
are very soft to survive, and the structure is very young in age, this anticline is not
so pronounced. Moreover, the Madhupur High is located just immediate west of the
eastern deformation front. Such close proximity to the active deformation front
justifies the possibility of a tectonically developing young subsurface anticline
whose surficial expression is known as Madhupur High.
On the other hand, the Tripura Uplift/High forms a topographically high zone from
where the terrain slopes northward as well as southward, as characterized by the nature
of drainage network of the region. However, overall decreasing trend of the elevation
is towards west. Beneath the Agartala region, a dome-shaped structure has been
recognized based on seismic survey (Ganguly 1993), suggesting that the area
up-arched (Das et al. 2011b). The western part of the Tripura High occupies the frontal
fold belt of the CTFB, comprises of sedimentary rocks with linear ridges and basins
resulting due to E-W convergence between the Indian Plate and the Burmese Plate
(Desikachar 1974; Ganguly 1984; Nandy 2001). As this part of the tectonic element is
considerably young both in terms of geology and tectonics (Das et al. 2011b), hence it
is likely to exhibit more prominent morphological expressions due to continued
tectonics. The region is characterized by a series of approximately N-S oriented
sub-parallel, elongated, doubly plunging folds exhibiting an arcuate shape with mild
westward convexity (Ganguly 1993). The Tripura High mostly comprising the
Akhaura Terrace, is primarily deeply dissected by valleys running out of the adjoining
hills (Brammer 2012, 2014). It also exhibits complex mixture of uplifted terrace and
piedmont, anticlines, synclines, and river floodplains. Overall, the Madhupur High to
the west and the Tripura High to the east together form a threshold region known as the
Madhupur-Tripura High tectonic element to the south of the Surma basin and the
northeast of the Faridpur Trough (Figs. 5 and 6).
5.2.3 Faridpur Trough
The Faridpur Trough/Patuakhali depression (Mirkhamidov and Mannan 1981),

located southeast of the Hinge Zone, is characterised by a general gravity low of <
−20 (Ali and Raghava 1985; GSB, 1980) with development of the Neogene
sequence. To the immediate southeast of the Eocene Hinge Zone near the con-
fluence of the Padma and the Jamuna rivers, the depth of the Sylhet Limestone is
6500 m (Guha et al. 2010). This tectonic element is bounded to the north by the
Madhupur-Tripura High and to the southeast by the Barisal-Chandpur High
(Fig. 8). Within this tectonic element, Chalna and Bagerhat are the two notable
structural highs of very low amplitude. While Khan and Agarwal (1993) and Khan
and Chouhan (1996) suggest that this tectonic element is underlain by oceanic crust.
The recent data reveal that oceanic crust is situated more to the east below the
Barisal–Chandpur Gravity High (Alam et al. 2003; Curray 2014; Singh et al. 2016),
and consequently, this tectonic element is underlain most likely by transitional
crust. Sediment thickness in the Faridpur Trough is more than 16 km, and beneath
this sediment, thickness of the transitional extended crust of the Indian Plate is
*16–19 km (Singh et al. 2016). The more or less flat and tectonically less dis-
turbed nature of the Moho has been observed at 31–32 km depth beneath this
tectonic element (Fig. 8) (Khan and Agarwal 1993; Singh et al. 2016). However,
GPS derived geodetic data from Khulna area indicate that the overall subsidence
rate is high (*8 mm/year) here (Reitz et al. 2015). Higgins et al. (2014) assumed
that this high rate appears to be related to the sediment properties as the Holocene
organic-rich muds: notably compaction (Mukherjee and Kumar in press; Dasgupta
and Mukherjee submitted).
5.2.4 Barisal-Chandpur High
It is a tectonically uplifted zone of the Bengal Foredeep Basin that separates the
Faridpur Trough to the northwest and the Hatia Trough to the southeast (Fig. 8)
(Bakhtine 1966; Guha 1978; Uddin and Lundberg 1999). Reimann (1993) mentioned
that the Barisal-Chandpur High can be interpreted as a gravity and magnetic anomaly
caused by a magnetic body at a great depth. The gravity maxima of the
Barisal-Chandpur High shows NE-SW trend. The average width of this tectonic
element is *70 km, and corresponds to a slightly uplift of the overlying sedimentary
cover. Muladi, Kamta and Daudkandi are the three main gentle anticlinal structures
located in this tectonic element. The arc shape deformation front (Maurin and Rangin
2009a; Steckler et al. 2016) of the Bengal Basin passes approximately N-S through
this tectonic element with slight concavity to the E. It is assumed that the continent-
oceanic crust boundary of the Indian Plate in the Bengal Basin is located beneath the
Barisal–Chandpur High (Curray 2014; Singh et al. 2016). Recent GPS derived
geodetic data suggest variable subsidence rate of this High (Reitz et al. 2015). The
northern part of this tectonic element (in Dhaka) shows high subsidence rate
(>10 mm/year) compared to the southern part near Patuakhali (*3 mm/year). The
very high subsidence around Dhaka city, which is situated at the southern edge of the
Madhupur High may be related to the extensive groundwater extraction in and
around the city and consequent rapid fall of the groundwater table (Bhuiyan and
Hossain 2006; Hoque et al. 2007; Akhter et al. 2010), but cannot represent the natural
subsidence rates over the Holocene timescale (Reitz et al. 2015). Nevertheless, if
176
Fig. 8 Schematic cross-section across the Bengal Basin and its surroundings (drawn approximately W-E along the line XY as shown in Fig. 1)
(modified after Murphy and Staff of BOGMC 1988; BOGMC 1997; Maurin and Rangin 2009a and Wang et al. 2014)
such high rate of subsidence continues, channel steering behavior (Reitz et al. 2015)
is most likely going to occur in near future around the Dhaka city. However, based on
the study of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, Higgins et al. (2014) points
out that the ground subsidence in and around Dhaka varies significantly, and appears
to be related to the sediment properties with the lowest rates observed in the
Pleistocene Madhupur Clay and the highest rates in Holocene organic-rich muds.
Within the city, the subsidence rate ranges 0 to >10 mm/year, and outside the city the
subsidence rate ranges 0 to >18 mm/year.
5.2.5 Hatia Trough
The Hatia Trough of the Bengal Basin is located in the southeastern part of the
basin and forms the outermost part of the west-propagating CTFB, situated in
between CTFB to the east and the Barisal-Chandpur High to the west (Fig. 6). The
base of this tectonic element is formed by oceanic crust of the Indian Plate (Khan
and Chouhan 1996; Curray 2014; Singh et al. 2016). This tectonic element rep-
resents the deepest trough of the Bengal Foredeep Basin and has received the
highest accretion of clastic sediments. Sediment thickness in the Hatia Trough
exceeds 18 km, and beneath this sediment, the Indian Plate is not more than 16 km
thick (Singh et al. 2016). As pointed by Najman et al. (2016), the Himalaya forms
the dominant source for the Late Neogene-Recent sediments in the Hatia Trough.
Small amount of arc-derived sediments from the Trans-Himalaya or Paleogene
Indo-Burman Ranges are also reported. Data from the Shahbazpur 1 well in the
Hatia Trough indicate the presence of more than 2000 m of Plio-Pliestocene sed-
iments overlain by 480 m thick Holocene sediments (Alam et al. 2003). As in
Faridpur Trough, the more or less flat and tectonically less disturbed Moho has also
been observed at 31–32 km depth beneath this tectonic element (Khan and Agarwal
1993; Singh et al. 2016). Guha et al. (2010) claimed that the axis of the Bengal
Foredeep runs through the apex of this tectonic element. Char Kajal, Shahbazpur,
Kutubdia/Magnama, Sangu and a number offshore anticlinal structures are located
in this tectonic element, of which Sangu and Shahbazpur yield hydrocarbons.
Recently obtained GPS derived geodetic data suggest variable subsidence rate for
the Hatia Trough (Reitz et al. 2015). The northern onshore part of this tectonic
element (in Raipur, Noakhali) shows lower subsidence rate (*3 mm/year) than the
southern offshore part far from the Magnama structure (*5 mm/year).
5.2.6 Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern lobe of the Indian Ocean (Curray 2014)
bordered to the west and the north by the passive continental margin of the Indian
east coast and southern edge of the Bengal Basin, respectively (Fig. 2). It is bor-
dered by the oblique subduction zone between the Indian Plate to the west and the
Burmese/Sunda Plate to the east, and extends into the northernmost part of the
Indian Ocean to the south. The entire Bay of Bengal is floored by the Bengal Fan
(Curray and Moore 1971; Curray 2014). Along 16°N, the Bay of Bengal is about
1400 km in width. According to Desa et al. (2013), the Bay of Bengal is the drifted
half part of the Early Cretaceous Enderby Basin formed as a result of the Kerguelen
hotspot (Banerjee et al. 1995) as Australia drifted away from India during Early
Cretaceous (*132 Ma) with a fan-shaped expanse of ocean floor, separating the
two plates by gradually widening to the east (Ali and Aitchison 2008). Therefore,
the crust of the Bay of Bengal can be considered as a drifted part (Rangin and
Sibuet 2017). Gravity data revealed the presence of NE-SW trending highs and
lows in the western part of the Bay of Bengal along the coast of the Mahanadi-
Krishna-Godavari (KG)-Cauvery basins. NNW-SSE transverse oceanic fracture
zones truncated and offset the NE-SW trending gravity lows, which probably
correspond to the graben infilling of the detrital sediments (Rangin and Sibuet
2017). Along the western part of the Bay of Bengal oldest sediments deposited are
of Early Cretaceous in age (Desa et al. 2013).
Two aseismic ridges namely 90°E Ridge and 85°E Ridge are observed on the
floor of the Bay of Bengal. The 90°E Ridge is largely present in the eastern part of
the Bay of Bengal. Quaternary to Eocene sedimentary sequence was locally
deposited on top of the volcanic rocks that form 90°E Ridge. The volcanic rocks in
the 90°E Ridge are attributed to the drifted Kerguelen Hotspot Igneous Province
(Coffin et al. 2002), which show a general decreasing age trend (90–38 Ma) from N
to S (Royer et al. 1988). Presence of exhumed gabbro along the 90°E Ridge
suggests that the Ridge was formed during the Early Cenozoic along the previously
existing transform boundary due to injection of underplated spreading centre vol-
canism (Rangin and Sibuet 2017). The northern end of this ridge is traceable up to
19°N (Maurin and Rangin 2009b), but further northward of the Bay of Bengal, the
gravity as well as topographic signature of the ridge disappear completely (Rangin
and Sibuet 2017).
The 85°E Ridge (Sar et al. 2009) is an approximately linear and aseismic ridge
west of the 90°E Ridge, and named for its near-parallel strike along the 85°E
meridian (Fig. 2) (Bastia et al. 2010). The ridge extends from the Mahanadi Basin
in the north, shifts westwards by *250 km around 5°N, southeast of Sri Lanka and
then continues to the south in the Indian Ocean. In the northern part, it is blind
beneath the thick sediments of the Bay of Bengal and shows a negative gravity
anomaly and in the southern part, it occasionally rises above the sea floor and is
associated with a positive gravity anomaly (Michael and Krishna 2011). The vol-
canic rocks in the 85°E Ridge may be attributed to the drifted short lived hotspot,
which show a general decreasing age trend ranging from *80 Ma near the
Mahanadi Basin to *55 Ma near the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount (Michael and
Krishna 2011). Curray and Munasinghe (1991) proposed a model to explain the
origin of the 85°E Ridge. They proposed that the origin of Afanasy Nikitin
Seamount, 85°E Ridge, and Rajmahal and Sylhet Traps as the trace of the
Kerguelen hotspot that now lies beneath the Crozet Islands in the southern Indian
Ocean. Moreover, they placed the Kerguelen hotspot, which was also responsible
for the origin of the 90°E Ridge, at the triple junction between Greater India,
Australia, and Antarctica before the breakup of eastern Gondwana at *120 Ma.
Based on marine magnetic data combining with petrology, seismic reflection, deep
seismic sounding, and magnetic information of the Bengal Basin, Talwani et al.
(2016) also suggest that Afanasy Nikitin Seamount, 85°E Ridge, and Rajmahal and
Sylhet Traps are related to the Kerguelen hotspot activity. Two sets of oceanic
fracture zones have been found in the Bay of Bengal. The oldest fractures are
transform faults with orientation S50–S60°E, are considered to be of Early
Cretaceous, and occured during an early spreading episode. The youngest fractures
are submeridian and resulted from the northward drift of the Indian Plate since the
end of the Mesozoic (Maurin and Rangin 2009a). Moreover, between 20° and
18°N, the tilted clastic sequences dip southwest and are truncated by the dominant
NE-SW trending listric normal faults (Rangin and Sibuet 2017). It is more or less
well established that the basement in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal is of
oceanic crust. However, Sibuet et al. (2016) and Rangin and Sibuet (2017) argued
that the crust in the northern Bay of Bengal is thinned continental in nature intruded
by volcanic products linked to the passage of the Kerguelen hotspot after the
continental rifting of the northern Bay of Bengal. The Moho is *15 km deep at the
northernmost part of the Bay of Bengal, and it gradually goes deeper to *37 km
below the northern edge of the Bengal Basin (Singh et al. 2016).
In the Bay of Bengal, another major geomorphic unit is observed known as the
Swatch of No Ground (SoNG) (Fig. 2), an active submarine canyon represents the
present submarine drainage system of the Bay of Bengal (Curray et al. 2003). It
serves as a point source for one of the major active fan valley deposits into the Bay
of Bengal/Bengal Fan. In the northern end, the head of the canyon lies in shallow
water depth (*38 m) at 21° 27′N, 89° 41′E, and then continues south for 160 km
as a long, straight trough with an average gradient of 8.2 m/km. At *20°12′N and
89° 12′E, it reaches *1400 m depth. At midshelf, the broad U-shaped trough has a
width of *20 km from rim to rim, and below 862 m from the rims, the width is
8 km (Curray et al. 2003). The canyon continues to the south as an active channel
and reaches as far as the 0° latitude (Curray 2014). The location of the mouth of this
canyon is presumably related to the confluence of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra
rivers during the last glacial low stand sea level, because an active submarine
canyon is related to river mouth migrations, sedimentation, and the Quaternary sea
level fluctuations. Due to sea level rise, the confluence of the Ganges and the
Brahmaputra rivers shifted *90 km further east, therefore, the canyon receives
very little sediments at present (Curray et al. 2003). Currently, the turbidity currents
generated within the SoNG are relatively small, and reach only to the middle
Bengal Fan, due to present highstand sea level (Curray et al. 2003; Curray 2014).
Besides, large influx of sediments mainly from Himalaya and to some extent from
the Indian peninsula is transported by the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers,
especially during the northeast and the southwest monsoons (Chauhan and
Vogelsang 2006). The origin of these sediments is dominantly detrital rather than
biogenic (Achyuthan et al. 2014).
5.3 The Folded Flank (CTFB)—Geotectonic Province 3
The Folded Flank of the foredeep (Fig. 9) generally known as CTFB developed
within the upper parts of the thick deltaic sequence, and exhibits large-amplitude,
linear or elongated gravity anomalies (Bakhtine 1966). Structural complexity of the
Folded Flank increases towards east (Khan 1991a, b) and to the farther east, it
merges into the Indo-Burman Ranges (IBR)/Paleogene Inner Burman Ranges. This
folded belt is bounded by the central Foredeep Basin to the west and the IBR to the
east. Although the CTFB gradually merges into the IBR/Mizo Fold Belt, they are
structurally separated by approximately NNW-SSE running Kaladan Fault (Ram
and Venkataraman 1984; Reimann 1993). The strata exposed in this belt are
broadly lithologically similar to those exposed along the southern edge of the
Sub-Himalayan belt of the Himalayas. Although the timing of initiation of the IBR,
in the east, is widely debated, the estimates range from the Late Eocene–Early
Oligocene (Mitchell 1993) to the Late Miocene (Ni et al. 1989), thus costraining the
timing of development of CTFB (Najman et al. 2016). According to Maurin and
Rangin (2009a), a very rapid development and westward propagation of the CTFB
since 2 Ma is facilitated from uplift of the Shillong Plateau, and consequent
deepening and filling of the Surma basin with a large amount of unconsolidated
sediments. The progressive westward overprinting of thin-skinned tectonics by
thick-skinned tectonics within the IBR was due to rapid propagation of the
accretionary wedge westward since Pliocene (Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Najman
et al. 2016). Thus, the age of the structures gradually decreases from east (IBR) to
west (CTFB) and the youngest structures are observed at the western margin of the
CTFB, i.e. near the deformation front. This looks, therefore, like an ‘in-sequence’
deformation. According Wang et al. (2014), many of the folds in the western part of
the CTFB activated only from the Late Pliocene onward, but some of the folds in
the eastern CTFB appear inactive. In this regard, GPS derived geodetic data suggest
variable subsidence and uplift rates for the CTFB (Reitz et al. 2015). In general, the
eastern margin of the CTFB shows very small uplift signature, whereas the western
margin demonstrates small subsidence signature. Although Reitz et al. (2015)
suggest that these variable rates depend on whether the GPS sites are located in
synclines or anticlines, this is unlikely to get subsidence in the CTFB as the area
subjected to continuous convergence collision. It is most likely that the GPS sta-
tions used in their study are positioned in the underthrust flanks (culminate to
synclines) of the anticlines as seems to be the case at least for the Sitakund
Anticline. Based on balanced cross-section across the CTFB, Maurin and Rangin
(2009a) estimated about 11 km total east-west shortening in the past 2 Ma, which
in turn indicates *5 mm/year long-term shortening rate.
The CTFB consists of sediments that were deposited in the Bengal Basin, and
were subsequently uplifted and incorporated into the Neogene accretionary prism
due to the oblique subduction of the oceanic crust of the Indian Plate beneath the
Burmese Plate to the east during Pliocene (Gani and Alam 1999; Najman et al.
2012). It is one of the active orogenic belts in the world susceptible to produce
moderate to large earthquakes and holds potential for hydrocarbon exploration.

Several investigations have been carried out in this area mainly focusing on
structural modeling (Sikder and Alam 2003; Mandal et al. 2004; Kabir and Hossain
2009; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Najman et al. 2012; Abdullah et al. 2015; Khan
et al. 2018), active tectonics (Goodbred and Kuehl 1999; Wang et al. 2014; Khan
et al. 2005, 2015, 2018), earthquake and landslide hazards studies (Ansary et al.
2000; Cummins 2007; Steckler et al. 2008; Wang et al. 2014; Steckler et al. 2016),
geochemistry and provenance studies (Najman et al. 2008; Dina et al. 2016;
Rahman et al. 2017).
In general, gradual increase of negative gravity values to east reflects the
deepening of the Moho, apparently due to lithospheric flexure caused by loading of
the IBR (Uddin and Lundberg 2004). However, this is comparatively much less
distinct than the sharp increase of negative gravity values of the Himalayan
Foredeep in northwestern part of the Bengal Basin (Khan and Rahman 1992). The
Neogene CTFB reveals large-amplitude, linear or elongated gravity anomalies, and
structural complexity increases towards east and merges into the IBR farther east
along approximately N-S running Kaladan Fault (Bakhtine 1966; Khan 1991a, b;
Najman et al. 2012). To the west, deformation of the CTFB ceases along the
deformation front. From 24°N up to Shillong Plateau, the alignment of the fold belt
shows an overall arc shaped broad curvature, starting as NNW-SSE trend from the
south near Rakhine-Teknaf-Chittagong to approximately N-S trend near Tripura in
the middle and then finally NNE-SSW in the Surma basin to the north (Khan and
Chouhan 1996; Reimann 1993). Rapid westward propagation of the deformation
front is responsible for this broad curvature of the CTFB (Wang et al. 2014).
The CTFB has developed exemplary linear NNW-SSE to N–S to NNE-SSW
oriented doubly plunging folds, which are arranged in a set of alternating
valley-forming synclines and ridge-forming anticlines (Das et al. 2010). Some of
the folds in the CTFB region are elliptical and cusp shaped synclines bounded by
fault-affected ridges. According to Das et al. (2010) multi-curved geometry of some
of the CTFB fold ridges are attributed to the free westward migration of fold,
multi-phase deformation of soft sediments, and longitudinal thrust as well as
transverse faulting. The surficial expressions of the CTFB anticlines to the west are
limited in the offshore along the line drawn western edge of the St. Martin’s Island
to the shore of the Sandwip Island. To the onshore the line continues NNW towards
Lalmai anticline and then bends to follow the NE-strike and finally ends at the
southeastern edge of the Shillong Plateau near the northeast corner of the Surma
basin (Reimann 1993). Based on the geometric shape and degree of intensity of
folding, Bakhtine (1966) divided the CTFB tectonic element into three subdivi-
sions. Towards west, these are eastern highly compressed disturbed zone, middle
asymmetric thrust faulted zone, and western quiet zone.
Eastern Highly Compressed Zone: The eastern intensely folded narrow
ridge-shaped zone is highly compressed, and comprises of sharp anticlines with
steeply dipping limbs. The overall structural trend is NNW-SSE, and axial planes are
steeply inclined either to the east or to the west. The asymmetric anticlines plunge
very gently. Adjacent to the Kaladan Fault, the folds are locally faulted box
anticlines with pop-up and en echelon character (Maurin and Rangin 2009a). The
widths of the synclines are generally broad in the north compared to those of the
south. The geometrical analysis of the bedding planes of the anticlinal structures
shows that the axial plane of the anticlines strikes 330°–345°, dips 75°–85° either
towards NE or SW, and having interlimb angle of 75°–95°. Plunge varies 5°–7°,
JFig. 9 Simplified tectonic map of the Geotectonic Province-3 of the Bengal Basin and its
surroundings (modified after Bakhtine 1966). Faults and lineaments are mostly taken from Biswas
and Grasemann (2005a), Kayal (2008), and Wang et al. (2014). A: Anticline; Athar: Atharamura;
Band: Bandarban; Banu: Banuachari; Barj: Barjala; Bat: Batchia; Bela: Belasari; CCF: Chittagong
Coastal Fault; Chango: Changotaung; Char: Chargola; Dakhin: Dakhin Nhila; Dho: Dholai; F:
Fault; Fench: Fenchuganj; Gajal: Gajalia; Gila: Gilasari; Gobam: Gobamura; Ha: Habiganj; Hach:
Hach Har; Harar: Harargaj; Jumpa: Jumpai/Botiang; Kasa: Kasalong/Kasarang; Kho: Khowai;
Lamba: Lambaghona/Sarta; Langt: Langtari; Machh: Machhlithum; Magn: Magnama; Mahe:
Maheskhali; Mata: Matamuhuri; Moul: Moulvibazar; Mow: Mowdak; Mual: Mualuawm; Olat:
Olathang/Waylataung; Path: Patharia; Pin: Pincha; Ra: Rashidpur; Rajn: Rajnagar; Ram: Ramjtia;
S: Syncline; Sakh: Sakhan; Saku: Sakudaung; Salda: Saldanadi; Sarden: Sardeng/Sabtaung; Semu:
Semutang; Shish: Shishuk/Sisbak; Sita: Sitapahar; St: St. Martin’s; Tich: Tichna; Tulam: Tulamura
and Utan: Uttan Chatra
either to the north or to the south. Some of the prominent anticlines in this zone are
Mowdak, Sakudaung, Uttan Chatra, Barkal, Shishuk/Sisbak, Banuachari, Jumpai/
Botiang.
Middle Asymmetric Thrust Faulted Zone: This zone is situated west of the
highly compressed zone, where overall structural trend is *NNW-SSE. Generally, in
this zone axial plane is steeply inclined to the west, and structures plunge very gentle
towards N. As in the eastern highly compressed zone, the widths of the synclines are
commonly broad in the north than those to the south. Steep limbs of anticlines are
generally faulted. The geometrical analysis of the bedding planes of the anticlinal
structures shows that the axial plane of the anticlines strikes 338°–350°, dips 70°–78°
towards NE, and have interlimb angle of 75°–95°. Plunge varies 5°–10°, either to the
north or to the south (Chowdhury 1970; Hossain et al. 2018). Some of the prominent
anticlines in this zone are Matamuhuri, Bandarban, Gilasari, Belasari, Sitapahar
(Fig. 10a), Gobamura, Changotaung, Kasalong/Kasarang, Sardeng/Sabtaung.
Fig. 10 Lower hemisphere equal area projection of the bedding attitude data shows the
orientation of the fold geometric elements of the a Sitapahar and b Sitakund Anticlines of the
Chittagong Tripura Fold Belt (CTFB), Bengal Basin. Both the anticlines are west verging and
asymmetrical, and show similar structural trend, but the Sitakund anticline is overturned in nature
(Hossain et al. 2018)
Western Quiet Zone: This is the westernmost zone of the CTFB with similar
structural trends as in the other two zones. Most of the structures are doubly
plunging with axial planes steeply inclined to the east, i.e. those are asymmetric
overturned structures. The structures have very gentle dips in the crest and steep
dips in the flank. In general, the western flanks of the structures are underthrust,
e.g., Sitakund Structure (Abdullah et al. 2015; Hossain and Akhter 1983). The
geometrical analysis of the bedding planes of the anticlinal structures shows that the
axial plane of the anticlines strikes 335°–350°, dips 55°–65° in the NE direction,
having interlimb angle of 60°–70°. Plunge amount varies 3°–10°, either to the north
or to the south (Hossain et al. 2018). Some of the prominent anticlines in this zone
are St Martin’s Island, Dakhin Nhila, Inani, Olathang/Waylataung, Maheskhali,
Jaldi, Patia, Sarta/Lambaghona, Sitakund (Fig. 10b), and Semutaung. A major fault
is present in this zone running NNW-SSE along the western edge of the Dakhin
Nhila-Inani-Maheskhali-Sitakund structures. Among the three zones of the CTFB,
the western quiet zone is the most important and prospective tectonic sub-element
for oil and gas in Bangladesh, where more than 15 gas fields have been discovered.
Towards north some of these are Feni, Bakhrabad, Titas, Habiganj, Bibiyana,
Rashidpur, Moulvibazar, Fenchuganj, and Beanibazar.
However, recent studies (Wang et al. 2014; Steckler et al. 2016) suggest that
another fold belt exist in between western quiet zone and deformation front, and
stretches from offshore to the south and onshore to the north. This very low
intensity fold belt is characterized by long-wavelength de’collement folds, locally
west verging, and subparallel to the western quiet zone. The amplitude of these
folds decreases westward in accordance to the westward propagation of the
accretionary wedge and die out near deformation front to the west (Maurin and
Rangin 2009a).
6 Neotectonics and Active Tectonics of the Bengal Basin
Neotectonics and active tectonics of the Bengal Basin are directly related to the
oblique collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate to the north and the
Burmese Plate to the east. The collision developed the Himalayan arc to the north,
and the Burmese–Andaman arc to the east. Based on recent seismic studies, it is
presumed that subduction has clogged below the Himalayan arc and is only actively
continuing below the Burmese–Andaman arc (Biswas and Das Gupta 1989; Biswas
et al. 1992; Biswas and Majumdar 1997). Due to the resistance to subduction below
the Eurasian Plate and plate convergence, tectonic deformation and seismic activity
occur in the Indian intra-plate region, including the stable shelf in the western part
of the Bengal Basin, and result in folding and brittle deformation (Mukherjee
2013c, 2014b) in conjunction with high-angle basement faults of variable trends
(NE-SW, E-W, NW-SE) (Khan and Rahman 1992; Khan and Agarwal 1993;
Biswas and Majumdar 1997; Mukherjee et al. 2009). To the north, tectonic loading
is accommodated along the Dauki Fault zone (Bilham and England 2001; Biswas
et al. 2007), which consists of a set of high angle, deepseated reverse faults. To the
east, the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the eastern parts of the Bengal Basin is
related mostly to the NE oblique subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the
Burmese Plate. The collision also results westward migration of accretionary prism
complexes as well as the deformation front (Gani and Alam 1999; Alam et al. 2003;
Wang et al. 2014; Steckler et al. 2016). The CDMP II (2013) reported that the rate
of convergence gradually decreases towards west. These multifaceted neotectonic
evolutions of the Bengal Basin result in several active faults in and around the
Bengal Basin, especially along its northern and eastern margins. Some of these
faults are regional, and capable of generating moderate to great earthquakes. The
rate of motion and the time since the last rupture indicate that the probability of
earthquakes from the existing active faults is high (CDMP II 2013). Overall, the
geotectonic setting of the Bengal Basin at the juncture of three converging litho-
spheric plates with the presence of regional scale seismogenic faults is conducive
for the frequent and recurrent earthquakes.
A general trend of increasing seismic/earthquake activity has been observed in
the Bengal Basin (Khan and Chouhan 1996; CDMP II 2013). Although the
apparent increase of tectonic activity may be attributed to modern and increased
recording facilities, the historical records and the present-day census suggest a
relative increase in tectonic activity (Khan and Chouhan 1996). This seeming
increase of seismicity in the Bengal Basin indicates new fractures/faults propaga-
tion from the preceding seismically undisturbed zones or the reactivation of some
earlier fractures/faults in pre-existing seismically active zones. Catalogues of seis-
micity of high intensity earthquakes (Table 7) in and around the Bengal Basin
(Bilham 2004; Akhter 2010; Martin and Szeliga 2010; Szeliga et al. 2010; Kundu
and Gahalaut 2012; Olympa and Abhishek 2015; Berthet et al. 2014; Kayal 2014;
Wang et al. 2014) show a number of earthquakes that caused not only catastrophic
damages of the property and life but also shifting of the large river courses as well
as dynamic change in landscape. Among such incidents, the Chittagong earthquake
of 1762 (R 8.5+), Sirajganj earthquake of 1787 (MM X), Cachar earthquake of
1869 (R 7.5), Bengal earthquake of 1885 (Mw 6.8), Great Indian/Assam earthquake
of 1897 (Mw 8.1), Srimangal earthquake of 1918 (Mw 7.6), Meghalaya earthquake
of 1923 (Ms 7.1), Dubri earthquake of 1930 (Mw 7.1), Bihar-Nepal earthquake of
1934 (Mw 8.1), Assam earthquake of 1950 (R 8.5), and Nepal earthquake of 2015
(Mw 7.8) are well known. The maximum felt intensity of these earthquakes is
localised in tectonically uplifted region, especially in the Bengal Basin (Martin and
Szeliga 2010). Majority of the earthquakes in the Bengal Basin generally occur at
shallow depth (<30 km). To the east, below the IBR, focal depths gradually
increase in the depth range of 30–70 km and define an eastward gently dipping
subducting plate (Kundu and Gahalaut 2012). Focal depths to the north also show
an increasing depth trend. In general, most of the seismic activities in the Bengal
Basin commonly occur along the regional active faults. The following discussion
on neotectonics and active tectonic of the Bengal Basin are in terms of the neo-
tectonic activities along these faults.
Table 7 Seismicity catalogues of high intensity (Mw > 5) earthquakes in the Bengal Basin and
its surroundings
Name of the Earthquake Year of Magnitude (Mw)
occurrence
Seismicity to the East (CTFB)
Compiled from Fergusson (1863, Ansary et al. (2000), Cummins (2007), Akhter (2010), Martin
and Szeliga (2010), Szeliga et al. (2010), Kundu and Gahalaut (2012) and Wang et al. (2014)
Chauk Earthquake (Myanmar) 2016 *6.8
Thabeikkyin Earthquake (Myanmar) 2012 *6.8
Thabeikkyin Earthquake (Myanmar) 2012 *6.8
Bandarban Earthquake (Bangladesh) 2003 *6.1
Moheskhali Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1999 *5.2
Kaladan Earthquake (Bangladesh-Myanmar border) 1955 *6.2
Chittagong/Arakan Earthquake (Bangladesh-Myanmar 1762 R 8.5+
border)
Seismicity to the North (Surma basin and adjacent region)
Compiled from Wesnousky et al. (1999), Bilham and England (2001), Morino et al. (2011),
Chopra et al. (2013), Olympa and Abhishek (2015), Berthet et al. (2014), Morino et al. (2014),
Baruah et al. (2016), Bilham et al. (2017) and Rajendran et al. (2017)
Sikkim Earthquake (India) 2011 *6.9
Assam Earthquake (India) 1950 *8.4
Bihar–Nepal Earthquake (India-Nepal border) 1934 *8.1
Dhubri Earthquake (India) 1930 *7.1
Kangra Earthquake (India) 1905 *7.8
Cachar Earthquake (India) 1869 *7.5
Dauki Earthquake (Bangladesh-India border) 1548 ?
Nepal Earthquake (Nepal) 1505 *8.7
Seismicity to the West (Foreland Shelf)
Compiled from Bilham (2004), Akhter (2010), Martin and Szeliga (2010), Nath et al. (2014),
Olympa and Abhishek (2015)
Pabna Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1935 *6.2
Hinge Zone Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1935 *6.2
Rajshahi Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1842 *7.3
Hinge Zone Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1842 *7.3
Sirajganj Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1787 MM X
Kolkata Earthquake (India) 1737 ?
Seismicity at the Centre of the Bengal Basin
Compiled from Akhter (2010), Martin and Szeliga (2010) and Nath et al. (2014)
Mymensingh Earthquake (Bangladesh) 2008 *5.1
Bengal (Manikganj) Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1885 *7
Mymensingh Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1846 *6.2
Sirajganj Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1845 *7.1
Dhaka Earthquake (Bangladesh) 1812 MM VIII
6.1 Active Tectonics to the East (CTFB)
The CTFB and the IBR fold belt regions are poorly explored due to the complex
geology, dense vegetation and mountainous terrains thus making it challenging for
field observation as well as geological and geophysical data acquisition. The CTFB
or Geotectonic Province 3 is an active tectonic element in the eastern part of the
Bengal Basin (Cummins 2007; Steckler et al. 2016). In the CTFB and the IBR fold
belt regions, five regional faults with *N-S to NNE-SSW orientation are recorded
(Nandy 2001; Acharyya 2007; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Kundu and Gahalaut
2012; Hossain et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2014), which mostly accommodate this
convergence. Towards west, these are Sagaing Fault—west of Shan Plateau and
east of Central Burma Basin (CBM) as well as Chindwin Basin, Kabaw Fault—
west of CBM and east of IBR, Churachandpur Mao Fault (CMF)—at the core/
centre of the IBR, Kaladan Fault—west of the IBR and east of the CTFB, and the
Chittagong Coastal Fault (CCF)—at the western margin of the CTFB and east of
the Hatiya Trough (Figs. 1 and 8). CMF and CCF are also known as the Lelon Fault
(Maurin and Rangin 2009a), and the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar Fault, respectively.
Geotectonic evolution and neotectonic activities in the eastern Bengal Basin,
Central Burmese Basin, Chindwin Basin and Rakhine Basin of Myanmar are
directly related to these four major faults which are parallel to the CTFB-IBR fold
belts. A shallow dipping megathrust structurally connects with the CCF, Kaladan
and CMF faults (Wang et al. 2014; Steckler et al. 2016). Although variable con-
vergence rate is reported (CDMP II 2013; Barman et al. 2016; Steckler et al. 2016),
the rate gradually decreases from east (IBR) to west (CTFB). Among the total
convergence of *46 mm/year, 13–17 mm/year is taken by the CTFB-IBR fold belt
and the shallow dipping megathrust, and rest being accommodated by the
dextral-slip motion of the Sagaing fault (*20 mm/year) and CMF (*10 mm/year).
The rate of convergence to the east of the Kaladan Fault is *13 mm/year, in
between the Kaladan Fault and CCF is *5 mm/year, and between CCF and
deformation front (Figs. 1 and 9) is *2 mm/year (CDMP II 2013). This rate of
convergence results *200 km advancement of the outer part of the accretionary
prism (represented by the CTFB) over the last 2 Ma (Maurin and Rangin 2009a).
The orientation of maximum compressive stress rotates from NE–SW across the
inner and northern IBR to E–W near the western CTFB of the Bengal Basin
(Angelier and Baruah 2009). The rotation of maximum stress orientation is con-
sistent with the deformation partitioning related to oblique collision and is reflected
in the rotation of relative displacement vectors across the region (CTFB and IBR).
This deformation partitioning results a variety of movements across the fold belt.
Towards west, right-lateral slip is observed in the east of the IBR (Sagaing Fault) to
oblique reverse-dextral slip in the middle and western edge of the IBR (Kabaw
Fault) and pure thrusting in the CTFB (CCF) (Fig. 8). Regardless of the highly
oblique plate motion and thick Tertiary sediments, the GPS measurements suggest
that subduction in this region to be active (Steckler et al. 2016). GPS studies also
suggest a locked megathrust signifies an underappreciated large seismic hazard in
the CTFB and IBR regions.
The *N-S oriented and *1400 km long Sagaing Fault is the major locus of
dextral-slip motion related to the northward translation of the Indian Plate against
the Burmese Plate (Wang et al. 2014). The northern end of this transform fault
develops horse-tail appearance and terminates into the eastern Himalayan syntaxis
(Fig. 1). This fault accommodates about 20 mm/year of the north component of the
relative motion of the oblique convergence between the Indian and the Burmese
Plates (Barman et al. 2016). The fault is well expressed geomorphically along most
of its length due to such high slip rate. Earthquake catalogues (Table 7) show that
about half of the Sagaing Fault has ruptured during many large earthquakes over the
decades. Based on bends, splays, terminations of historical ruptures, and distinct
secondary features, Wang et al. (2014) divide the Sagaing Fault into six distinct
segments. From south to north, these segments are Bago, Pyu, Nay Pyi Taw,
Meiktila, Sagaing, and Northern Sagaing. The Northern Sagaing segment is again
divided into three sub-segments, and these are Tawma-Ban Mauk, In Daw-Mawlu
and Shaduzup-Kamaing-Mogang. Most of these segments of the Sagaing Fault are
seismically active and produce major earthquakes except the Meiktila segments
(Wang et al. 2014). About 13 major earthquakes (Mw 6.8–7.7) have been recorded
since 1929 along this mega fault and most of them occurred at shallow depth
(<25 km). The most recent Thabeikkyin earthquake with 6.8 Mw occurred in
November 2012 in the Sagaing segment, which caused damage and panic as far as
in the Chittagong City of Bangladesh, approximately 400 km west of the epicentre.
A notable seismic gap along the Sagaing Fault is observed in the Meiktila segment,
between the new capital of Myanmar (Nay Pyi Taw) and the large city of
Mandalay. If this 220 km long Meiktila segment ruptures at once, it is capable of
producing an earthquake as large as Mw 7.8–7.9 (Blaser et al. 2010).
The oblique reverse-dextral slip and the east-dipping Kabaw Fault (Fig. 1) tra-
verses the eastern side of the Kabaw valley for *800 km. The shortening rate to
the locked Kabaw Fault is *13 mm/year (Steckler et al. 2016). Based on the
youthful appearance (fresh/unweathered exposure) on SRTM and ASTER images, a
segment of this fault between 22 and 24.8°N is considered as (seismically) active
(Wang et al. 2014). If this *280 km segment of the Kabaw Fault ruptures at once,
it could generate an Mw 8.4 earthquake. The most recent earthquake with 6.8 Mw
occurred in August 2016 along this fault near Chauk City of Myanmar. The tremors
were felt as far as in Bangladesh, Bihar (India), and Thailand and damaged
infrastructures and life.
The N-S to NNE-SSW oriented and *300 km long right-lateral Churachandpur-
Mao Fault (Fig. 1) is the most prominent at the core/centre of the IBR (Fig. 1). This
steeply east dipping fault accommodates dextral velocities of *10–18 mm/year
between the Indian and Burmese Plates through dextral strike-slip motion, predom-
inantly through aseismic slip (Gahalaut et al. 2013; Steckler et al. 2016). However,
both aseismic and seismic slips have been observed along this fault. The aseismic slip
part of this fault could be related to minor to moderate earthquakes. Wang et al. (2014)
suggest that this fault creeps only at sub-surface, and that its northern part is seismic. If
this fault segment ruptures, it could produce an Mw 7.6 earthquake. Although
earthquake catalogue does not show any historical seismic events that could be
attributed to rupture of the Churachandpur-Mao Fault (Szeliga et al. 2010), the Imphal
earthquake with 6.8 Mw occurred in January 2016 in the northern segment of this
fault is a proof of seismic slip. This earthquake was strongly felt in Bangladesh and
caused significant damage.
The *450 km long west verging Kaladan Fault (Figs. 1 and 9), which mostly
follows the course of the Kaladan River is basically the contact between the Barail
and Surma range and is named after the Kaladan River (Nandy 2001; Maurin and
Rangin 2009a; Barman et al. 2016). Kaladan Fault marks the eastern boundary of
the CTFB and extends from the Arakan coast in the south to the northern-most part
of the CTFB and the IBR contact (Sikder and Alam 2003; Maurin and Rangin
2009a; Kundu and Gahalaut 2012; Wang et al. 2014). Along 20° 30′N, the dip of
the fault plane is 70°E with an 8°–10°S pitch, and shows a clear right-lateral offset.
In this area, the orientation of the maximum compression is *N80–N60°E (Maurin
and Rangin 2009a). Although, the Kaladan Fault shows both dextral strike-slip and
west verging thrust components, it is generally considered as thrust fault, and
seismically the fault is sparsely active. The right-lateral slip dominates its northern
termination whereas in the middle portion pure E-W or WSW-ENE thrusting focal
mechanisms are observed, suggesting that active motion is partitioned within a very
short distances along this fault. To the south, Ramree thrust is most likely the
southward continuation of the Kaladan Fault (Maurin and Rangin 2009a). While
Mw 6.2 earthquake in December 1955 along the Kaladan Fault near
Bangladesh-Myanmar border region at a depth of 35 km is a proof of seismic slip,
mainly shallow focus and low intensity earthquakes are observed along this fault
(Kundu and Gahalaut 2012).
Based on the geomorphic signatures on 30 m resolution SRTM image and
geological field reconnaissance, a *300 km long major fault can be inferred along
the western boundary of the CTFB in between *19° 40′N and 23° 30′N is known
as the Chittagong Coastal Fault (CCF). Multichannel seismic survey in the offshore
area also suggests the existence of the CCF as a crustal dextral strike-slip fault with
an appreciable thrust component, and is resultant product of thin-skinned and
thick-skinned tectonics (Maurin and Rangin 2009a). The fault is seismically less
active. To the north, the fault splays before disappearing near the Tichna anticline in
Tripura, just south of the Surma basin. The fault is probably younger than the
Kaladan Fault as the accretionary wedge is progressing westward during the last
2 Ma, and it is not affected by sufficient erosion yet. Maurin and Rangin (2009a)
suggest that both the CCF and the Kaladan Faults can be interpreted as deep-seated
basement reverse fault with dextral strike-slip component. The restoration of the
compressive fold belt and megathrust yields *11 km of shortening of the CTFB
including the CCF and the Kaladan Faults. Although published earthquake cata-
logues do not show any historical seismic events that can be attributed to rupture of
the CCF, Moheskhali earthquake with 5.2 Mw occurred along the CCF in
Moheskhali Island in July 1999 is a proof of seismic slip. This earthquake was
strongly felt around Bangladesh and caused significant damage locally (Ansary
et al. 2000). Moreover, occurrence of any large earthquake in the offshore area
along the east coast of the northern Bay of Bengal is likely to produce great tsunami
(Cummins 2007). One of such large earthquakes (R 8.5+) occurred in 1762 along
the Arakan coast (i.e. Arakan subduction zone) known as Chittagong/Arakan
earthquake (Fergusson 1863; Cummins 2007; Martin and Szeliga 2010; Kundu and
Gahalaut 2012; Wang et al. 2014). It is believed that rupture of the megathrust of
the Ramree domain through the southern portion of the Dhaka domain caused this
earthquake. The fault model to reproduce the observed subsidence and uplift
associated with this earthquake along the eastern coast of the northern Bay of
Bengal suggests that the fault’s upper edge coincides with the deformation front.
Cummins (2007) concluded that the evidence of oblique convergence and associ-
ated active subduction in conjunction with thrust earthquake activity along the
coastal region suggest the risk of a major tsunami in the northern Bay of Bengal.
The CTFB and IBR are also segmented by two major conjugate oblique/
transverse faults. The NW–SE oblique Mat Fault is sinistral, whereas the NE–SW
oblique Gumti Fault is dextral (Fig. 9) (Nandy 2001; Barman et al. 2016).
However, seismicity along these faults is not reported. In addition, medium to small
scale dip-slip, strike-slip and thrusts are also present in the CTFB area that have
played important role not only in shaping the present topography of the folded flank
of the Bengal Basin, but also controlling the stream courses. The dip-slip faults are
mainly oblique to the strike of the anticlines, whereas strike-slip and thrust faults
are mostly parallel to the strike. The latter faults mostly affected the folds of the
CTFB regions (Sikder and Alam 2003; Mandal et al. 2004; Kabir and Hossain
2009; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Najman et al. 2012; Abdullah et al. 2015; Hossain
et al. 2018). A single large and few moderate magnitude earthquakes are recorded
in the CTFB region, which may be connected with these faults. Among such events,
the Srimangal earthquake in 1918 (Mw 7.5), the Bandarban earthquake in 1997
(Mw 6.1), and Barkal earthquake in 2003 (Mw 5.7) are well known (Akhter 2010).
On the other hand, based on the presence of fault scarp on the young fluvial/
alluvial surface at the flanks of the anticlines, some of the anticlinal structures in the
CTFB region are considered as tectonically active (CDMP II 2013). Among such
structures NNW trending Harargaj, Sitakund, Jaldi, Sandwip, Maheshkhali, and
Dakhin Nhila anticlines are well recognized. The seismic reflection profiles across
few of these anticlinal structures reveal growth strata that constrain the initiation of
folding (Mandal et al. 2004; Steckler et al. 2008; Najman et al. 2016). The age of
the growth strata of the Habiganj, Jaldi, and Kutubdia structures constrains the
initiation of anticlinal growth during Pliocene or younger (Johnson and Alam 1991;
Steckler et al. 2008; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Wang et al. 2014). According to
Khan et al. (2015), the Dakhin Nhila structure is tectonically active and show
different uplift rates spatially and temporally due to faulting for the last
55,000 years. More recent activity recorded from young- aged soils from the crestal
portion of the Maheshkhali and Jaldi anticlines suggest uplifts of 18,000 and
35,000 years respectively (Khan et al. 2005). Farther north, the upper surface of the
Sandwip structure is estimated to be about 7000 years old as indicated by radio-
carbon date (Goodbred and Kuehl 1999). Similar young neotectonic activities are
also reported by Ansary et al. (2000), Steckler et al. (2008), Khan et al. (2017,
2018) in this region.
6.2 Active Tectonics to the North (Surma Basin

and Adjacent Region)
The geodynamics and the neotectonics of the northern part of the Bengal Basin
(northern part of the Geotectonic Province 1 and 2) are directly related to the
tectonic evolution of the 2500 km long Himalayan frontal belt as well as to the
Main Frontal Thrust. The Himalayan frontal belt is the youngest portion of the
Himalayan Orogeny (Thakur 2004). The northward convergence of the Indian Plate
resulted in crustal shortening of the northern margin of the Indian continent,
accommodated by south-verging Main Central Thrust (MCT), Main Boundary
Thrust (MBT) and Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) (Fig. 7) (Thakur 2004). From MCT
to MFT, these thrusts are progressively younger in age and shallowing at depth in a
southward direction, suggesting southward migration of the Himalayan deformation
front. Exceptions to this are the Himalayan active/out-of-sequence structures, most
notably faults (Mukherjee 2015), some of which are even backthrust-faults (Bose
and Mukherjee, submitted-a, b). The Himalayan frontal belt is limited to the south
by the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT). Most of the collisional force in the Himalayan
frontal belt is accommodated by the uplift and convergence along the MFT
(Wesnousky et al. 1999). Although variable convergence rates (11–21 mm/year)
are observed across the Himalayan frontal belt, a general increasing trend is
observed towards the centre which is known as Nepal Himalaya (Wesnousky et al.
1999; Berthet et al. 2014; Bilham et al. 2017). Towards east, the Himalaya, except
in Pakistan, can be divided into Dehra Dun Himalaya (western Himalaya), Nepal
Himalaya (central Himalaya) and Bhutan-Arunachal Himalaya (Eastern Himalaya)
(Thakur 2004). Here after Sikkim, Bhutan and western Arunachal are collectively
referred as the Bhutan Himalaya. The rate of convergence along the Nepal
Himalaya is *20 mm/year and along the Bhutan Himalaya (directly north of the
Bengal Basin) is *16–18 mm/year. The Himalayan frontal belt is one of the few
collisional orogenic belts on-land, where earthquakes with great magnitudes anal-
ogous to those of oceanic subduction zones generally occur (Berthet et al. 2014).
The northern part of the Bengal Basin mainly comprises of the Surma basin to
the east, and northern edge of the Stable Shelf to the northwest. Assam Basin and
Shillong Plateau are situated in between Himalayan frontal belt to the north and
Surma basin to the south. Broadly, E-W oriented Brahmaputra fault is situated at
the southern margin of the Assam Basin. Oldham, Brahmaputra and few other faults
separate the Assam Basin from the Shillong Plateau, whereas the Dauki Fault
separates the Shillong Plateau from the Surma basin. Southern portion of the Surma
basin is transacted by two major faults, the Sylhet Fault to the southeast and the Old
Brahmaputra Fault to the southwest (Fig. 6). In the west, the Shillong Plateau is
separated from the Bengal Basin by the Jamuna Fault (Dhubri Fault). In the east, the
Shillong Plateau and the Assam Basin separate from the Naga domain/Naga Hills
by the Naga and Disang thrusts. In addition, a few other faults and lineaments also
play important role in neotectonic activities as well as geomorphic evolution of this
part of the Bengal Basin, and these are Dapsi (NW-SE), Haflong (*E-W), Dhudnoi
(N-S) and Kopili Faults (NW-SE), and Tista and Gangtok Lineaments (NW-SE)
(Fig. 1).
Approximately E-W oriented MFT separates the Assam Basin from the
Himalayan frontal belt. The MFT is associated with active low-angle thrusting and
associated uplift (Berthet et al. 2014). It represents a zone of active deformation
between the Sub-Himalaya and the Indo-Gangetic Alluvial Plain (IGAP) of the
Peninsular India, thereby thrusting sediments of the Siwalik Group southward over
the IGAP (Wesnousky et al. 1999). The MFT comprises of mainly homoclinal
strata with northerly dips generally ranging 20°–30°. In the Bhutan Himalaya, the
dip of the MFT is *25°–30° (Wesnousky et al. 1999; Long et al. 2011; Berthet
et al. 2014) and the Holocene slip rate along the fault is *20–28 mm/year (Burgess
et al. 2012; Berthet et al. 2014). The observed uplift rate across the MFT is *10–
13 mm/year (Wesnousky et al. 1999; Berthet et al. 2014). The MFT is tectonically
active in the Bhutan-Arunachal, Nepal, and Dehra Dun Himalaya (Wesnousky et al.
1999; Berthet et al. 2014). Although some of the N-S plate convergence motion is
accommodated by the upliftment of the Shillong Plateau, however they do not have
any significant effect on the high activity of the MFT in the Bhutan Himalaya. The
rupture zones of 1905 Kangra earthquake (Mw *7.8), 1505 western Nepal
earthquake (Mw *8.7), 1934 Bihar–Nepal earthquake (Mw *8.1), and 1950
Assam earthquake (Mw *8.4) extend N–S right across the MFT zone to the MBT
zone (Fig. 11) (Wesnousky et al. 1999; Berthet et al. 2014; Bilham et al. 2017;
Rajendran et al. 2017). In this context, the *350 km long Bhutan Himalaya zone
Fig. 11 Active tectonic map of the Central and Eastern Himalaya (to the north of the Bengal
Basin). Pink and orange rectangles show the historical events and the ages of major
surface-rupturing events, respectively. Blue and green rectangles give the Holocene shortening
rates and the geodetic slip rates, respectively. Distributions of the earthquake epicentres from 1973
to 2013 recorded by the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) are shown in yellow
circles (modified after Berthet et al. 2014)
of the MFT, which is located between the epicentres of the 1934 Bihar–Nepal
earthquake and 1950 Assam earthquake, appears to be an area where no similar
great earthquakes has ever been documented. These observations and the lack of
primary surface rupture suggest a potential for great earthquakes along the
Himalayan Frontal Thrust in the Bhutan Himalaya zone (Wesnousky et al. 1999;
Berthet et al. 2014). An active zone of deformation, upliftment and slip observed
along the MFT, especially along the Bhutan Himalaya suggests increased seismic
hazard to the adjoining northern part of the Bengal Basin.
The WNW and ESE oriented Oldham Fault separates the Assam Basin from the
Shillong Plateau. The Oldham Fault is a *120 km long north-verging and south
dipping reverse fault, and generates co-seismic displacement. Although the 1897
devastating Assam earthquake (Mw *8.1) occurred due to co-seismic displace-
ment along this fault (Bilham and England 2001), the source is also attributed to
multiple faults around the Shillong Plateau including the Dauki, Dapsi and Oldham
Faults (Bilham and England 2001; Morino et al. 2014; Barman et al. 2016; Singh
et al. 2016). The Oldham Fault together with the Dauki Fault to the south of the
Shillong Plateau constitutes a high-angle conjugate crustal-scale shear zone,
uplifting the plateau as a pop-up structure (Biswas and Grasemann 2005a). Both the
hanging wall (i.e. Shillong Plateau) and the foot wall (i.e. southern margin of the
Assam Basin/Himalayan Foreland Basin) of the Oldham Fault are associated with
uplift of the Shillong Plateau. However the rate of uplift of the footwall block is
found to be less than that of the hanging wall block. The rate of vertical dis-
placement along the Oldham Fault is 0–0.68 mm/year (Biswas et al. 2007). By
considering *45°–50° dipping for the fault plane, average fault slip rate is esti-
mated to be *2–4 mm/year and the horizontal shortening rate accommodated by
the plateau is *2–5 mm/year (Bilham and England 2001). However, Biswas et al.
(2007) suggest much lower shortening rate (0.65–2.3 mm/year) that accounts for
10–15% contraction rate of the Himalaya. The GPS measurements indicate the
southward movement of the central Shillong Plateau at a rate of *6.5–7 mm/year
with respect to the reference points in southern and central India (Barman et al.
2016). From these rates, Bilham and England (2001) conclude that the recurrence
interval for earthquakes resembling the 1897 Assam earthquake to be 3000–
8000 years. However, examination of the past four high-intensity seismic events
along the northern edge of the plateau indicates a 500 years recurrence interval but
these may record shaking from moderate local earthquakes and large seismic events
in the adjoining Bhutan Himalaya. Geological and geophysical data suggest the
presence of another large fault at the north of the Oldham Fault with E-W orien-
tation known as Brahmaputra Thrust (Ghosh et al. 2015) that marks the northern
most edge of the Shillong Plateau, and may have played an important role in the
plateau uplifting. This fault is an active thrust and important for the crustal reset-
tlement in this part of the Indian Plate.
The *320 km-long E-W trending south-verging and north dipping Dauki Fault,
a major plate boundary-influenced fault marks the boundary between the Surma
basin to the south and the Shillong Plateau to the north (Hossain et al. 2016). The
strike of this fault is parallel to the MFT, which forms a plate boundary fault
whereas the Dauki Fault is an intra-plate active reverse fault. The continuous
subsidence of the southern footwall of the Dauki Fault has resulted in the Surma
basin, where structural relief between highest point of the plateau and lowest point
of the basin is estimated to be around 20 km (Mirkhamidov and Mannan 1981;
Hiller and Elahi 1984; Shamsuddin and Abdullah 1997; Biswas et al. 2007). Across
the Dauki Fault, a striking negative Bouguer gravity anomaly exceeding −70 mGal
has been recorded for the Surma basin, whereas the Shillong Plateau shows a
positive Bouguer gravity anomaly >+20 mGal (Rahman et al. 1990b; Rajendran
et al. 2004). Hence, the Dauki Fault might have been formed at the onset of the
exhumation of the Shillong Plateau, and the total vertical displacement of the
basement top along this fault is *10 km (Biswas et al. 2007). During the Late
Tertiary, the rate of upliftment of the hanging wall rock (i.e. the Shillong Plateau)
ranged 0.32–0.80 mm/year, whereas the rate of subsidence of the footwall rock (i.e.
the Surma basin) is *0.45 mm/year. Consequently, the resultant mean vertical
displacement rate along the Dauki Fault ranges 0.77–1.25 mm/year (Biswas et al.
2007). Higher vertical displacement rate along the Dauki Fault than the Oldham
fault is partially responsible for the *2°–3° northward tilt of the Shillong Plateau
surface. The Dauki Fault is segmented to at least 4 parts along its entire length
(Biswas and Grasemann 2005a). Geomorphic indices like mountain front sinuosity,
stream length gradient index, valley floor width to height, drainage basin asym-
metry, and transverse topographic symmetry factor suggest that the tectonic activity
of the fault is much higher in the eastern part than the western portion (Biswas and
Grasemann 2005a; Sharma and Sarma 2017).
Rapid movement along the Dauki Fault started in the Pliocene, resulting in
significant topographic rise and basin loading in the north and south, respectively
(Najman et al. 2016). The flexure related to seismic event has been identified along
the Dauki Fault near Jaflong (Sylhet) and is inferred to be AD 840–920 (Morino
et al. 2014). Another rupturing in the Dauki Fault estimated to be AD 1548 has
been identified in a trench at Gabrakhari village, Haluaghat, Mymensingh (Morino
et al. 2011, 2014). It is also believed that the 1897 Assam earthquake that occurred
along the Oldham Fault also caused slip along the Dauki Fault. Although it was
previously thought that the interval between these giant plateau-building earth-
quakes exceeds 3000 years (Bilham and England 2001), the signature of the above
seismic events indicates recurrence interval of 350–700 years (Morino et al. 2014).
Moreover, the active fan development along the southern foothills of the Shillong
Plateau is controlled by the neotectonic activities along the Dauki Fault (Alam and
Islam 2017).
In the southeastern margin of the Shillong Plateau, a branched extension of the
Dauki Fault with approximately E-W strike is known as the Haflong thrust fault.
The Haflong Fault marks the edge of the Shillong Plateau before it links up with the
Naga thrust to the east (Biswas and Grasemann 2005a). The WNW–ESE trending
*90–100 km long Dapsi thrust fault (Fig. 1) is located within the southwestern
edge of the Shillong Plateau. This fault is the north-western extension of the Dauki
Fault that separates the Cretaceous–Tertiary sediments to the south and the
Precambrian Gneissic complex to the north (Barman et al. 2016). The N-S trending
Dudhnoi Fault lying towards the northwest of the Shillong Plateau was activated
during the 1897 Assam earthquake (Barman et al. 2016). A significant difference in
the rate of motions has been observed on the opposite side of the Dudhnoi Fault.
The central Shillong Plateau to the east shows 7 mm/year southward motion,
whereas the western Shillong Plateau shows 2.1–2.7 mm/year southward motion,
suggesting different tectonic settings of the plateau and dextral motion along the
Dudhnoi Fault (Barman et al. 2016). In addition, the development of the Shillong
Plateau as a pop-up structure is also facilitated to the west by the N-S trending
Dhubri and Jamuna Faults. The epicenter of the 1930 Dhubri earthquake (Mw
*7.1) was along the Dhubri Fault near Dhubri, Assam. To the south, the earth-
quake also caused slip in the Jamuna Fault, and west of the Garo Hills, fissures and
sand vents were reported (Olympa and Abhishek 2015).
The NW-SE trending strike-slip Kopili Fault located between the Shillong
Plateau and the Mikir Hills records a dextral slip of 4.7 ± 1.3 mm/year indicating
the fragmentation of Assam Basin/Brahmaputra valley across this fault (Barman
et al. 2016). The eastern edge of the Mikir Hills marks by the Bomdila Lineament
(Baruah and Hazarika 2008; Angelier and Baruah 2009). The transverse Kopili
fault may be a surface expression of the deep-seated seismogenic structure
(Bhattacharya et al. 2008). The western edge of the Mikir Hills appears to be locked
currently at 10.2 ± 1.4 km depth with the Assam Basin indicating strain accu-
mulation. This strain accumulation may cause seismic event in near future along
this seismically highly active 300 km long fault that reaches into the MFT system to
the north and Naga thrust to the south (Bhattacharya et al. 2008; Barman et al.
2016). The rupture area of the 1869 Cachar earthquake (Mw *7.5) and 1943
Assam earthquake (Mw *7.2) are located within the Kopili fault. The earthquakes
damaged over hundreds of kilometres across the region (Olympa and Abhishek
2015).
At eastern Arunachal Himalaya over the Assam Basin and the Naga Hills, three
major plates interact along two convergent boundaries: the Himalayan frontal belt
and the IBR, which meet at the 430 km-long Assam Syntaxis (Angelier and Baruah
2009; Wang et al. 2014). The northern end of the IBR (i.e. Naga Hills) and its
underlying lithosphere experience nearly arc perpendicular extension with ESE–
WNW trends, whereas easternmost Himalayan frontal belt (i.e. Arunachal
Himalaya) experiences WNW-ESE compression related to convergence between
the outer IBR and the Indian Plate. Together, the convergence and the extension
structures forms a complicated geotectonic system (Nandy 2001) that causes the
northeastern portion of the Indian Plate to be deformed and also results in the
development of the Naga and Disang Thrusts (Evans 1964; Bilham and England
2001; Angelier and Baruah 2009). The NE-SW oriented Naga Thrust with several
arcuate lobes separates the Assam Basin from the northern outermost edge of the
Naga Hills (Fig. 1). The fault with clear linear scrap extends from the Haflong
Thrust to the southwest and terminates at *96°E where it appears to cut by a
*NW-striking Mishmi Thrust and associated anticlines (Vaccari et al. 2011;
Mohanty et al. 2013, 2014). The fault shows variable dips (moderate to steep) and
breaks the surface at some positions (Wang et al. 2014). The lower Miocene rocks
constituting the Naga Hills are thrusted and folded over undeformed upper Pliocene
to Quaternary beds and alluvium of the Assam Basin at the mountain front along
the Naga Thrust (Aier et al. 2011). The clear geomorphological expression of some
anticlines and younger terrace with 20–50 m upliftment imply that it is still active
and the dip of the thrust fault decreases at depth. Additionally the slip on the Naga
Thrust dies out over *100 km from the crest of the Naga Hills (Wang et al. 2014).
In the immediate south, another linear thrust fault running parallel to the Naga
Thrust is known as the Disang Thrust. The narrow linear belt of imbricate thrust
slices of 8–25 km wide in between the Naga and Disang Thrusts is known as the
Schuppen Belt. Morphotectonic analysis reveals that the overall tectonic activity of
the Schuppen Belt (i.e. along the Naga and Disang Thrusts) is higher than the Dauki
Fault area (Sharma and Sarma 2017).
The NNW–SSE trending Tista and Gangtok Lineaments are the two prominent
tectonic features, extending from the Sikkim Himalaya to the north and Rangpur
Saddle to the south. The southern ends of these lineaments terminate against the
Jamuna Fault. The focal mechanisms in this area indicate right-lateral strike-slip
along the Tista and Gangtok Lineaments. The 2011 Sikkim earthquake (Mw *6.9)
may have been caused by the seismic slip along the Tista Lineament (Chopra et al.
2013; Baruah et al. 2016). Several smaller earthquakes are recorded along these
lineaments, especially along the Tista Lineament suggesting that the both linea-
ments are tectonically active (Baruah et al. 2016).
The Surma basin is an active tectonic element forming in response to the
Shillong Plateau upliftment to the north, and subduction of the Indian Plate beneath
the Burmese Plate to the east. Tectonic evolution and neotectonic activities of this
basin are controlled by the Dauki Fault to the north, gradual westward encroach-
ment of the CTFB and IBR through Haflong, Naga-Disang thrust to the east, the
Sylhet Fault and the CTFB to the south, and the Old Brahmaputra and Jamuna
Faults to the west. Except to the west, the rest of the structural features framing the
Surma basin are the results of mostly compressional tectonic movements in
Pliocene to Recent times (Reimann 1993). The 150-km long Sylhet Fault with
NE-SW orientation, passes through the southern edge of the basin, is a major fault
(Kayal 1998; Bhattacharya et al. 2008; Kayal 2008; Angelier and Baruah 2009;
Vaccari et al. 2011; Mohanty et al. 2013, 2014). This fault also known as Hail
Hayalua Lineament is probably the southwest extension of the Naga-Disang Thrust
(Ghosh et al. 2015) which is offset by the Dauki Fault through its dextral slip
component. In November 2017, a shallow focus (30.3 km depth) earthquake with
Mw 4.9 occurred at distance of 27 km SSW of Habiganj, Bangladesh is probably
related to the Sylhet Fault. Moreover, based on the presence of fault scarp on the
young fluvial/alluvial surface at the flank of the anticline, the Fenchunganj, Sylhet,
Habiganj and Rashidpur anticlines are considered as active structures within the
Surma basin region. In addition, neotectonic activities are also observed in the south
of the Dauki Fault in the Jaintiapur area. In the eastern part, to the immediate south
of the Dauki Fault, some small hillocks present in the Jaintiapur area (Chowdhury
et al. 1996), Sylhet which are capped by Dihing Formation. The Optically
Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of this formation indicates young
depositional age (73–24 ka), and variable uplift rate (Khan et al. 2006). This
suggests that the area is tectonically active and gone through a differential uplift-
ments in the recent past (Khan et al. 2018).
6.3 Active Tectonics to the West (Foreland Shelf)
The western part of the Bengal Basin (Geotectonic Province 1) mainly comprises
the Stable Shelf, and contains two major tectonic elements: the Foreland Shelf to
the west, and the Eocene Hinge Zone or shelf break or shelf slope to the east
(Reimann 1993). Geographically, the area comprises the western part of
Bangladesh and the West Bengal state of India. Along its longitudinal direction, the
Stable Shelf can be divided structurally into four tectonic elements from northwest
to southeast: (i) the North Bengal Foreland, (ii) the Basin Margin Fault Zone/
western scarp zone, (iii) the Central Stable Shelf, and (iv) the Eocene Hinge Zone
(Nath et al. 2014). Except the Eocene Hinge Zone, alternating gravity highs and
lows indicate the presence of numerous graben and half-graben structures in most
of the Stable Shelf (Khan and Rahman 1992; Khan and Chouhan 1996). This part
of the Bengal Basin is intersected by several faults and lineaments. These are
Katihar-Nilphamari Fault, Jangipur–Gaibandha Fault, Debagram–Bogra Fault,
Rajmahal Fault, Ganga-Padma Fault, Malda–Kishanganj Fault, Medinipur-Farakka
Fault, Chhotanagpur Foot Hill Fault, Damodar Fault, Saithia–Bahmani Fault,
Purulia Shear Zone, Kardaha lineament, and Devikut lineament (Fig. 4) (Nandy
2001; Vaccari et al. 2011; Mohanty et al. 2013; Nath et al. 2014; Roy and
Chatterjee 2015; Prasad and Pundir 2017). The Medinipur-Farakka Fault is also
known as the Basin Margin Fault Zone (Raman et al. 1986; Roy and Chatterjee
2015). This fault zone broadly includes the Medinipur-Farakka Fault to the east,
and Chhotanagpur Foothill Fault to the west. The Rajmahal and Saithia-Brahmani
Faults are situated to the east and west of the Rajmahal Hills, respectively (Ghose
et al. 2017). The approximately N-S running Malda-Kishanganj Fault (Nandy 2001;
Vaccari et al. 2011; Mohanty et al. 2013, 2014; Prasad and Pundir 2017) reaches up
to the east and northeastern margin of the Rajmahal Hills. Rajmahal Fault to the east
of the Rajmahal Hills (Fig. 4) is considered as the northwestern margin of the
Bengal Basin (Mohanty et al. 2013; Roy and Chatterjee 2015).
Nath et al. (2014) have identified several tectonic features including faults and
lineaments that have the potential to generate earthquakes of Mw 3.5 and above in
this part of the Bengal Basin. Major active structures are the Jangipur–Gaibanda
Fault, the Katihar-Nilphamari Fault, and the Devikut Lineament. The Eocene Hinge
Zone is also identified as a seismically active tectonic element. This hinge is
reportedly triggered two earthquakes of magnitude Mw 7.3 and Mw 6.2 in 1842,
and 1935, respectively (Akhter 2010; Martin and Szeliga 2010; Nath et al. 2014).
Although this part of the Bengal Basin is not subjected to any direct seismic event
with high magnitude, the younger unconsolidated fluvial sediments are prone to
liquefaction under favourable ground shaking from distal seismic sources. The 1737
Kolkata earthquake, the 1787 Sirajganj earthquake (MM X), the 1842 Rajshahi
earthquake (Mw 7.3), the 1897 Assam earthquake (Mw 8.1), the 1934 Bihar-Nepal
earthquake (Mw 8.1), and the 1935 Pabna earthquake (Mw 6.2) had widely affected
the western part of the Bengal Basin (Bilham 2004; Akhter 2010; Martin and
Szeliga 2010; Olympa and Abhishek 2015; Nath et al. 2014). However, none of
these destructive earthquakes are reported to have caused any co-seismic surface
ruptures in this part of the Bengal Basin (Nath et al. 2014). Comparatively, this part
of the Bengal Basin is seismically less active, except in the southernmost part where
few low to moderate intensity seismic events are recorded.
6.4 Active Tectonics at the Centre of the Bengal Basin
The centre of the Bengal Basin comprises the deeper Foredeep Basin or
Geotectonic Province 2 excluding the northern Surma basin. This central part of the
basin is narrow at the northern end near the Madhupur-Tripura High, and then
gradually widens to *500 km to the south. A NE-SW Barisal-Chandpur High
separates the southern part of the basin into two sub-basins, the Faridpur Trough in
the west and the Hatia Trough in the east (Alam 1972; Das Gupta 1977; Guha 1978;
Reimann 1993). Topographically, this part of the basin is mainly composed of
low-lying flat land with the exception of slightly elevated Pleistocene uplands in the
northern and southeastern parts. The northern Pleistocene upland is known as the
Madhupur High/Madhupur Tract, whereas the southeastern Pleistocene upland is
known as the Lalmai Terrace (Bakr 1977; Khan et al. 2018). The Madhupur High is
forming the surface expression of a fault controlled buried anticline surrounded by
the Jamuna Fault to the west and the Old Brahmaputra Fault to the east. The High is
tilted toward the east and is faulted in the west (Morgan and McIntire 1959;
Steckler et al. 2008). The capital city Dhaka is situated at the southern edge of the
Madhupur High. GPS derived geodetic data suggest an overall very low subsidence
rate (<1 mm/year) for the Madhupur High (Reitz et al. 2015) compared to the other
part of the deeper Foredeep Basin. In and around the Dhaka City, variable but rapid
rates of subsidence are observed which probably related to usual sedimentary
compaction and extensive groundwater extraction. The coastal belt of this
Geotectonic Province 2 also shows moderate but variable rates of subsidence within
3–8 mm/year.
Except a few faults, tectonic deformation in this part of the basin is mainly
accommodated by the young and gently folded buried anticlines. Some of the
buried anticlines are Begumganj, Shahbazpur, Kachua, Daudkandi, Kamta, and
Narshingdi. All these folds are actively developing within the area bordered by the
CTFB to the east and the deformation front to the west (Fig. 9). The major active
faults in this part of the Bengal Basin are Madhupur, Dhaleswari, Padma, and
Meghna. Some other active faults and lineaments are also present in and around the
Dhaka City (Khan et al. 2011). These tectonic structures include the Bangshi and
Turag Faults to the west, Tongi Khal Fault to the north, Balu, Sitalaykha, Banar,
and Arial Khan Faults to the east, and Buriganga Fault to the south. The 1812
Dhaka earthquake (MM VIII), the 1845 Sirajganj earthquake (Mw 7.1), the 1846
Mymensingh earthquake (Mw 6.2), the 1885 Bengal (Manikganj) earthquake (Mw
7), the 2001 Dhaka earthquake (Mw 4.5), the 2006 Narail earthquake (Mw 4.2), the
2008 Manikganj earthquake (Mw 3.8), the 2008 Mymensingh earthquake (Mw
5.1), and the 2008 Chandpur earthquake (Mw 4.5) caused damage, especially in
Dhaka City (Akhter 2010; Martin and Szeliga 2010; Nath et al. 2014). Among
these, the 1846 and 2008 Mymensingh earthquakes probably occurred along the
Old Brahmaputra Fault, the 1885 and 2008 Manikganj earthquakes probably
occurred along the Madhupur Fault, and the 2001 Dhaka earthquake probably
occurred along the Buriganga Fault.
The blind Madhupur Fault is constituted of a series of en-echelon faults, and
flanks the western side of the uplifted Madhupur High. It is believed that this fault
resulted either from torsion of the region or from the effect of shear along an
assumed buried fault or possibly a combination of both (Morgan and McIntire
1959). This thrust fault is east- dipping and is considered as an important structure
for the seismic hazard assessment of the central part of the Bengal Basin (CDMP II
2013). The uplift of the Madhupur High may have exerted a significant control on
the avulsion history of the Brahmaputra/Jamuna River. The cyclic avulsion history
of the Brahmaputra River with a periodicity of about 1800 years (Pickering et al.
2014) is most likely related to the uplift of the Madhupur High due to slip along the
Madhupur Fault.
In order to have a better understanding of seismicity and seismotectonics of the
Bengal Basin, especially in Bangladesh region it is necessary to focus on multi-
disciplinary and integrated studies. For an improved probabilistic and deterministic
seismic hazard mapping, it is indispensable to install and run short-period seismic
stations under a single seismological network covering the whole of Bengal Basin
and to elucidate sub-surface structures across the region.
7 Present Day Deformation Front
The deformation front may exhibit distinctive oceanic subduction features such as
accretionary prism, forearc wedge, forearc basins and volcanic arc. In general,
deformation front line indicates a hypothetical approximate vertical surficial pro-
jection of the subsurface de’collement level or basal detachment where slip
diminishes to zero. In accordance, the Indo-Burmese deformation front also rep-
resents a near-vertical surficial projection of the western front of the subsurface
de’collement level where slip gradually diminishes to zero towards west. The
overall curvature of the Indo-Burmese deformation front might be related to the
differences in sediment thickness as well as the fabric of the subducting oceanic
crust of the eastern margin of the Indian Plate (Fig. 1) (Maurin and Rangin 2009a).
Although, Steckler et al. (2016) consider the deformation front (updip limit of the
large downdip extent locked detachment zone) potential for a very large earthquake,
it is more likely that the rupture deformation would be terminated updip more to
the east as an imbricate fault in the wedge rather than propagating up to the
Indo-Burmese deformation front. Although, Reitz et al. (2015) suggest that
the Indo-Burmese deformation front is blind and buried by active delta sedimen-
tation, however, deformation front is exposed on land as huge thickness of sedi-
ments entering the Indo-Burmese subduction zone (Steckler et al. 2008).
Wang et al. (2014) suggest the southern limit of the deformation front from
*14°N. However, the present authors would like to propose it’s southern limit at
*18°N in the offshore where the Sunda Arc trench appears to die out. From
offshore, deformation front coming ashore near the Mehgna estuary at 23°N
(Cummins 2007). In the north, the deformation front is terminated by the Dauki
Fault at the northern edge (middle) of the Surma basin (Steckler et al. 2016).
Nevertheless, some authors also suggest the northern end of the active deformation
front reaches as far as to the western end of the Dauki Fault (Steckler et al. 2008;
Maurin and Rangin 2009a). In the context of the east-west placement of the
deformation front, Acharyya (1998) placed the present subduction zone on the
western side of the CTFB, in the middle of the deeper foredeep basin (Geotectonic
Province 2). However, this is certainly the deformation front of the subduction zone
(Mukhopadhyay and Dasgupta 1988; Khan 1991a, b), but not the actual subduction
zone which lies further east beneath the CTFB-IBR. Wang et al. (2014) suggest that
the active deformation front has propagated as far west as the active GBM delta.
Deep seismic reflection survey is indicative of the blind deformation front more
west around the mouth of Padma River near Dhaka (Maurin and Rangin 2009a;
CDMP II 2013; Steckler et al. 2016). It is necessary to clarify here that the
deformation front does not represent the plate boundary, rather active faults on the
eastern margin of the CTFB represent the approximate plate boundary. The whole
length of the deformation front is characterized by the presence of Wadati-Benioff
zone extending about 300–450 km down dip to the east beneath the Burmese Plate.
High resolution SRTM images and seismic data display clear evidence of tectonic
shortening at and adjacent to the deformation front. Faults and folds along these
deformation front show right-stepping en-echelon character, i.e. dextral-reverse slip
(Wang et al. 2014). Accretion of sediment is particularly clear at the southern end in
the offshore part of the deformation front. To the east of this region, along the coast,
abundant evidence for youthful folding, and uplifted coastal terraces indicate the
tectonic activity along this front. In the Dhaka domain area (Wang et al. 2014), i.e.
in the middle part, most of the active faults and anticlines lie within 120 km east of
the deformation front. In this domain, structural and stratigraphic studies show
progressive westward growth of the fold belt, toward the deformation front
(Johnson and Alam 1991; Steckler et al. 2008; Maurin and Rangin 2009a; Wang
et al. 2014). It is worthwhile to mention here that the deformation front line both in
the offshore and onshore, marks the boundary where evidence of only youthful and
buried very gentle folds are present, but no surficial expression of the folding is
visible. This is an indication that the slip required for the structural deformation
above the de’collemen surface diminished to zero at the deformation front (Maurin
and Rangin 2009a).
As Maurin and Rangin (2009a) claim, deformation front propagated at

*100 mm/year through the past 2 Ma, which is significantly greater than the
current convergence rate 9 mm/year across the CTFB (Nielsen et al. 2004). In
general, the deformation front of the eastern Himalayas advanced more rapidly
southward, whereas the deformation front of the CTFB-IBR probably advances
more gradually westward to the Bengal Basin (Uddin and Lundberg 2004). This
fast propagation of the deformation front is the key to explain the broad curvature of
the northern end of the CTFB in the Surma basin immediate south of the Shillong
Plateau. Over the past 2 Ma, the fold belt has propagated only into the basin, but
not over the Shillong Plateau. The plateau has been rising as continental basement
pop-up structure since the Pliocene (Biswas and Grasemann 2005a, b; Najman et al.
2016). The curvature of the fold belt thus reflects the impediment to west and
northward propagation imposed by the Shillong Plateau (Wang et al. 2014).
In the Ramree domain, gradual increase of seismic activity has been observed
along the subducting Indian Plate towards north. The deepest hypocenters in the
Wadati-Benioff zone are *70 km deep and 140 km east of the deformation front in
the south, whereas, hypocenters reach depths of *120 km and extend to *300 km
east from the deformation front in the north. The Indian Plate and the Burmese Plate
are subjected to dextral-oblique convergence across the subduction zone with rates
between 14 and 26 mm/year, and the ratio of convergence to dextral slip is *3:2
(Wang et al. 2014). In the eastern part of the Dhaka domain (i.e. beneath the IBR), a
well-expressed Wadati-Benioff zone illuminates the subducting Indian oceanic
lithosphere beneath the Burmese Plate (Ni et al. 1989; Guzmán-Speziale and Ni
2000). In this domain, hypocentres occur as deep as 200 km and up to 450 km east
from the deformation front. Recent relative motions between the Indian Plate and
the Burmese Plate suggest oblique convergence across the subduction zone beneath
the CTFB and IBR. Moreover, to the northern end of Dhaka domain, convergence
rate ranges 11–20 mm/year, which implies significant active right-lateral strike-slip
faulting or clockwise rotations. Although the northern end of the deformation front
is truncated by the Dauki Fault at the northeastern corner of the Surma basin,
geomorphology shows stark contrast between Dhaka and Naga domains, whereas
the nature of the higher IBR does not change markedly across the domain
boundary. The Wadati-Benioff zone beneath the Naga Hills reaches *160 km
depth, and extends *150 km southeast from the Naga mountain front. The fault
trace appears from the geomorphological expression of the Naga Thrust as several
arcuate lobes along the range front (Mathur and Evans 1964).
8 Summary and Conclusions
The Bengal Basin is located at the eastern part of the Indogangetic Plain and
extends up to the Bengal Deep Sea Fan in the Bay of Bengal. The development of
the Bengal Basin is controlled and limited by the interplay between the Eurasian,
the Indian and the Burmese Plates. The E-W oriented Himalayan Mobile Belt and
the N-S oriented Indo-Burman Ranges developed as the Indian Plate subducted
below the Eurasian Plate in the north and below the Burmese Plate in the east,
respectively with a syntexial bend conjugating the two belts in between. The
geometry, structural features and sediments of the Bengal Basin furnished an
archive of the past history of the area.
At the initial stage (Precambrian) only the Geotectonic Province 1 (Stable Shelf
of the Bengal Basin) was part of Indian Plate when the Indian Plate was a part of the
Gondwana Supercontinent. Subsequently, the Indian Plate occupied a central
position in the Gondwana Supercontinent until the beginning of Middle Jurassic
(*170–175 Ma) when the break-up of the Gondwana Supercontinent started. From
the Middle Jurassic onward up to the end of the Palaeocene (55.9 Ma) the Indian
Plate have drifted and isolated from its neighbouring cratonic blocks. During the
Late Paleozoic–Mid Mesozoic time the basin developed as an intra-cratonic rift
basin as evidenced by the continental Gondwana sediments deposition in the gra-
ben, half-graben structures in the Geotectonic Province 1. This episode of basin
development was followed by the Kerguelen igneous activity spreaded the SE
Indian Ocean. The Geotectonic Province 1 experienced widespread volcanism as
continental flood basalts known as the Rajmahal Trap covered the Gondwana
sediments. At that time, the peri-cratonic part on the eastern margin (the present
position of the Geotectonic Province 2) might have been influenced by marine
environment and also affected by this volcanic activity. Within the Geotectonic
Province 2 the Barisal–Chandpur Gravity High may have been formed as a rift
valley during the initial break-up of the Gondwana and formation of the Indian
Plate along which transitional zone between continent-ocean crust of the Indian
Plate has been marked by several phases of basalt flow. Subsequently, the
Geotectonic Province 2 continuously subsided and received a massive volume of
sediments from the Late Mesozoic through Tertiary to Recent times.
During the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene (between 120 and 157 Ma) the Indian
Plate migrated rapidly northwards until the oceanic part of the Indian Plate collided
with a Neotethyan intra-oceanic arc. With further migration, the continental crust of
the Indian Plate collided with the Tibetan part of the Eurasian Plate around the
Eocene-Oligocene boundary (*35 Ma) causing the northern part of Indian plate to
subduct beneath the southern Tibet (initiation of continent–continent collision).
This continental convergence resulted in folding and thrusting in the Himalayan
region.
The Bengal Basin was an integral part of the major basin that extended from the
Burmese Plate in the east to the Indian Shield in the west during the Paleocene.
During this Period, the Indian Plate moved northwards and the Tethys and the
young Indian Ocean were interconnected across the Upper Assam Shelf.
Subsequently, northern migration of the Indian plate was replaced by
north-eastward movement and resulted in the collision of north-eastern end of the
Indian Plate with the Burmese Plate uplifting the Indo–Burman Ranges (IBR) by
the Late Oligocene. The uplift of the IBR as an accretionary wedge produced a twin
gulf that separated the Burmese Tertiary Basins on the eastern and the Bengal–
Assam Basins on the western and northern flanks, respectively. These basins were
fully separated with the rise of the Himalayas and IBR in the Miocene and the
Geotectonic Province 2 or the central Foredeep Basin came into existence by
*23 Ma considered as the ‘remnant ocean basin’.
The structural development of the Geotectonic Province 3 (CTFB) is related with
the development of IBR whereas the stratigraphy exposed in the region are broadly
similar to those exposed along the southern sub-Himalayan Belt. As collision and
further subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the Burmese Plate in an arc-trench
setting continued, it resulted in the development of accretionary prism and major
east dipping thrusts (Kaladan Fault to the east, and Chittagong Coastal Fault to the
west) that largely control the structural evolution of the Geotectonic Province 3.
The age and intensity of folding and elevation of the structures increase in the
easterly direction towards the IBR and the thrust component increases westward.
The CTFB comprises NNW-SSE trending low amplitude anticlinal and synclinal
folds. The western boundary of this belt is the Chittagong Coastal Fault (CCF) and
eastern boundary is Kaladan Thrust Fault. The Kaladan Thrust zone, sub-parallel to
anticlines mark the tectonic boundary between CTFB of the Bengal Basin and the
Indo-Burman Range. The CTFB comprises of Miocene-Recent sedimentary rock
successions. During the Miocene, the depositional environments changed from
marine to transitional marine. Deltaic and fluviatile conditions prevailed in the
Plio-Pleistocene. Structural (folding, faulting) development in the CTFB may have
started during Pliocene and is still going on.
A detail tectonic update of the Indian western part (Dasgupta and Mukherjee
2017), Himalaya (Mukherjee and Koyi 2010a, b; Mukherjee et al. 2012; Mukherjee
and Mulchrone 2012; Banerjee et al. 2019; Mahato et al. 2019) coupled with such
works/reviews from the eastern sector can provide a more detail tectonic evolution
of India.
Acknowledgements Thanks are due to Prof. Dr. S. M. Mahbubul Ameen for discussion and
suggestion during the writing of this manuscript. Dr. Soumyajit Mukherjee and an anonymous
reviewer are greatly appreciated for their insightful comments and thoughtful suggestions on the
initial version of this manuscript. The Springer proof-reading team and Annett Buettner are
thanked for their cooperation. Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this work.
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Fold-Thrust Belt Architecture
and Structural Evolution
of the Northern Part of the Nallamalai
Fold Belt, Cuddapah Basin, Andhra
Pradesh, India
Vikash Tripathy, Satyapal, S. K. Mitra and V. V. Sesha Sai
1 Introduction
Fold and thrust belts play an important role in the understanding of fragmentation
and amalgamation of continental fragments such as those of Columbia and Rodinia
supercontinents. Temporal changes in structural patterns of fold belts may indicate
major tectonics, which is relatable to the global tectonic episodes. The 400 km long
poly-deformed Mesoproterozoic Nallamalai Fold Belt (NFB) is an arcuate orogeny,
also called as orocline, whose eastern and western boundaries are bounded by thrust
zones. NFB is thrust to the western part of the Cuddapah basin along Nallamalai
thrust/Rudravaram line and in the east by the Nellore Schist Belt (NSB) along
Vellikonda thrust (Fig. 1). The two thrusts restrict the NFB in the eastern part of the
Cuddapah basin displaying structural features, which are incomparable to the
structures recorded from rest of the basin. The structural history of NFB in con-
jugation with their relation to various regional tectonic events has widely been
discussed earlier (Nagaraja Rao et al. 1987; Meijerink et al. 1984; Venkatakrishna
and Dotiwala 1987; Matin and Guha 1996; Mukherjee 2001; Saha 1994, 2002;
Saha et al. 2010; Tripathy and Saha 2013, 2015; Matin 2014). However, the
importance of the thrust zones in the northern part of the NFB has not yet been fully
realized because of limited data. We present new detailed field data to highlight the
changes in structural fabric and their significance in the evolution of the northern
part of the NFB.
V. Tripathy (&)
Geological Survey of India, Training Institute, Hyderabad, India
e-mail: vikashtripathy@gmail.com
Satyapal
Geological Survey of India, Western Region, Jaipur, India
S. K. Mitra V. V. Sesha Sai
Geological Survey of India, Southern Region, Hyderabad, India

220 V. Tripathy et al.
Fig. 1 Regional geology and abridged stratigraphic successions of the Cuddapah basin, modified
after Nagaraja Rao et al. (1987) and Geological Survey of India (1990). AF: Atmakuru fault;
EGMB: Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt; GK: Gani-Kalva fault; KF: Kona fault; NFB: Nallamalai Fold
Belt; NSB: Nellore Schist Belt; NK: Nekarikallu; PG: Pranhita-Godavari Basin; SGT: Southern
Granulite Terrain
Attention is also given towards the nature and style of deformation, partitioned
in space and time as observed in the rock units of the Nallamalai and the Kurnool
Groups in the northern extent of the NFB, and hitherto unreported klippe and
window structures. Overall, the area displays structures which are of pre-Kurnool
and post-Kurnool affinity. The pre-Kurnool deformations are restricted within the
Nallamalai Group while the post-Kurnool deformations are either pre-thrust or post
thrust, later of which are imprinted both on the Nallamalai and the Kurnool Groups.
This paper puts together the structural and stratigraphic data recorded from the
northern part of NFB i.e., around Vamikonda thrust (Venkatakrishnan and
Dotiwalla 1987) to establish thrusting of NFB over the Palnad sub-basin that
display thin-skinned tectonics. These observations are important in the context of
constraining the temporal evolution of the NFB and in regional correlation with
adjoining basins and mobile belt. In this contribution, we discuss structural fabrics
in the northern part of the NFB and correlate them with tectonics related to possible
amalgamation of SE India and East Antarctica fragments.
Fold-Thrust Belt Architecture and Structural Evolution … 221
2 Geological Setting
The eastern Dharwar craton is a collage of a number of tectonic blocks juxtaposed

during various Archaean-Proterozoic tectonic events. It is bounded in the east by
the Eastern Ghat Mobile Belt (EGMB) which is an exhumed remnant of a
Proterozoic collisional zone resulted due to East Antarctica collision (Bhattacharya
1996; Dasgupta and Sengupta 2003; Dobmeier and Raith 2003; Vijaya Kumar and
Leelanandam 2008; Mukhopadhyay and Basak 2009). West of this mobile belt,
Nellore Schist Belt (NSB), Nallamalai Fold Belt (NFB) and less deformed sedi-
mentary deposits of Papaghni, Srisailam, Palnad and Kurnool sub-basins are pre-
sent overlying the basement granitic complex and Archaean schist belts such as
Gadwal, Tsundupalle, Veligallu and Kadiri. The lower Cuddapah sequence is
usually undeformed with sub-horizontal dips towards E except around fault zones
such as the Gani-Kalva and the Kona faults where beds show steep dips (Tripathy
2011; Tripathy and Saha 2013, 2015). In the western part of the Cuddapah basin the
Paleoproterozoic lithounits (e.g., *1900 Ma, French et al. 2008) are overlain
unconformably by the younger Neoproterozoic Kurnool Group (check Tripathy and
Saha 2015 and references therein), both of which deformed subsequently (Tripathy
and Saha 2013, 2015). The structural variation between the NFB and the western
part of Cuddapah basin is marked by a thrust zone variously been known as the
Rudravaram Line (Meijerink et al. 1984) or the Nallamalai Thrust Front
(Venkatakrishnan and Dotiwalla 1987) or the Maidukuru thrust (Chakraborti and
Saha 2009). The eastern boundary of NFB is considered as a thrust zone named as
the Vellikonda Thrust Front (Venkatakrishnan and Dotiwalla 1987) where the
Nellore Schist Belt (NSB) is thrust over the NFB (Fig. 1). Similarly, Landsat image
interpretation in the northern part of the NFB reveals a thrust zone along the
NFB-Palnad sub-basin contact named as the Vamikonda Thrust Front
(Venkatakrishnan and Dotiwalla 1987).
Stratigraphically, the oldest lithounits i.e., the Papaghni and the Chitravati
Groups of the Cuddapah Supergroup are restricted in the southwestern and western
part of the basin (Fig. 1). Radiometric ages derived from mafic sills of the Tadpatri
Formation suggest the lower Cuddapah sedimentation to be older than *1900 Ma
(Bhaskar Rao et al. 1995; Anand et al. 2003; French et al. 2008; reviewed by Sesha
Sai et al. 2017). Based on the occurrences of red bed sequence, Sesha Sai et al.
(2016) considered Gulcheru to be deposited at around *2.1 Ga. The
Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic sedimentation of the Nallamalai Group is
restricted within the NFB and consists of lower arenaceous unit known as the
Bairenkonda Quartzite (Nagari Quartzite of southern NFB) and the upper argilla-
ceous dominant Cumbum Formation (Pullampet Shale of southern NFB). The fold
belt records two phases of folding which has been cut through by Chelima lam-
proite (1354 Ma, Chalapathi Rao et al. 1999), Zangamarajupalle lamproite and
syenite plugs (e.g. Giddalur and 1326 Ma Racherla syenite; Chalapathi Rao et al.
2012) in its western part. Existence of granitic intrusions (e.g. Vellaturu, Ipuru,
Vinukonda) along the eastern margin of the NFB with radiometric ages
of *1575 Ma for Vellaturu Granite (Crawford and Compston 1973); *1615 Ma

WR isochron age and *1589 Ma U-Pb zircon age for Vinukonda Granite (Gupta
et al. 1984; Dobmeier et al. 2006) provide an upper age limit for the deposition and
deformation for the Nallamalai Group. U-Pb detrital zircon age from the sediments
of the Nallamalai Group constrain the sediments to have deposited between 1659
and 1590 Ma (Collins et al. 2015).
In the northern part of the NFB, along the Vamikonda range, the Cumbum
Formation is exposed consisting chiefly of phyllite, slate, quartz phyllite, siltstone,
argillaceous carbonate i.e., intercalated phyllite and carbonate, metamarl, quartzite
and carbonate bands along with occasional chert (Rajurkar 1972; Ramlinga Swamy
1972). The phyllite is steel grey, pink to purple and variegated colours. The
quartzite is thin to thickly bedded, ripple marked, trough to planar cross bedded
with unidirectional to bidirectional flow pattern and rare occurrence of desiccation
cracks suggesting sediment deposition in subtidal to peritidal set up (Saha and
Tripathy 2012; Dasgupta and Biswas 2006).
The Kurnool Group represents the youngest lithounits of the Cuddapah basin
with a maximum stratigraphic thickness of about 450 m and is exposed in the
Kurnool and Palnad sub-basins (Fig. 1; Nagaraja Rao et al. 1987). The Group is
represented by two cycles of sandstone, limestone and shale sequence. In the
southern part of the Palnad sub-basin in the Durgi-Karampudi tract, the Narji
Limestone forms the lower most exposed unit of the group which are steel grey to
buff grey coloured pyritiferrous limestone. The limestone unit is conformably
overlain by non-calcareous plane laminated variegated white, purple to
yellow-ochre Owk Shale. The shale further grades to Paniam Quartzite, which is
coarse to medium-grained with occasional gritty layers.
3 Structural Heterogeneity in the Northern Part of NFB
Intracontinental compression deformation within the NFB broadly occurred twice.

The first phase is related to *N-S trending doubly plunging F1 fold and thrust as
recorded throughout the fold belt (Nagaraja Rao et al. 1987; Matin and Guha 1996;
Mukherjee 2001; Saha 1994, 2002; Chakraborti and Saha 2009; Tripathy and Saha
2010; Chetty 2011; Matin 2014). The F1 folds vary geometrically due to
thrust-related modifications. Progressive development of F1 fold and fault along the
Vellikonda thrust evolved in a general shear deformation suggesting an inclined
transpressional tectonics (Tripathy and Saha 2010; Saha et al. 2010). The second
phase in the central part of the NFB is marked by moderately to steeply
dipping *N-S trending crenulation cleavage (Sn2) that overprints the Sn1 cleavage
(Tripathy and Saha 2010; Tripathy 2010).
In the western part of the NFB along the Nallamalai thrust front (the Rudravaram
line), the fold belt acts as hanging wall and are thrust over the Papaghni, Kurnool,
Srisailam and Palnad sub-basins. In the northern part, the Palnad nappe is exposed
that represents part of the thrust NFB over the Kurnool Group of Palnad sub-basin
(Natarajan and Rajagopalan Nair 1977; Saha and Chakraborty 2003; Chakraborti
2006; Chakraborti and Saha 2009; Saha et al. 2010). The overall arcuate pattern of
the fold belt is an outcome of all the major deformation events, which are evaluated
in the present work.
An aerial view of the area shows NE trending lineaments (Fig. 2), which has
marred the folding pattern within the NFB. The folds at such locations shows
juxtaposition of simultaneous antiforms along thrust plane, so that the downthrown
synform lies below the antiform. Here the fold belt shows changes in the orientation
of the fabric from NE-SW to E-W and juxtaposition of the two thrust fronts i.e., the
Nallamalai and the Vellikonda thrust near Nekarikallu (Fig. 3). Matin (2014)
suggests the NFB to be a syncline with eastern limb being overturned and an eroded
anticline. In such a model the synclinal closure is envisaged in the northern end of
the NFB near Nekarikallu. Matin (2014) viewed the deformations within the NFB
related to contemporaneous faulting and folding in front of Vellikonda thrust and
modeled the Nallamalai thrust as its imbricate. The deformation is understood to
have resulted due to fault propagation folding. In the present discourse we bring
forth the structural geometry and architecture of NFB to provide a plausible
structural model which explains the oroclinal nature of NFB. The details of the
structural fabric in northern part of NFB is discussed in detail (cf. Matin 2014)
where it changes from NE-SW to *E-W trending near to the thrust boundary with
Palnad sub-basin. The data presented here from northern part of NFB is in detail as
compared to Matin 2014 and gives better understanding of tectonic set up of the
area.
The northern part of the NFB falling in the Survey of India toposheet no. 56P/11
and 56P/15 south of Durgi and Nekarikallu is mapped (Fig. 3). The paper provides
Fig. 2 Google Earth image of the northern part of the Nallamalai Fold Belt showing prominent
NE to E trending lineaments. Dotted line is the boundary of the NFB with Palnad sub-basin and
granitic gneiss on east. Imagery Date: 31/12/2005
224
Fig. 3 Geological map of the northern part of the Nallamalai Fold Belt, Cuddapah basin showing boundaries of various sectors
V. Tripathy et al.
an account of various structural features from the area which is divided in six
sectors towards east (Fig. 3) as described below.
The studied area can be divided into two major domains i.e., the footwall and
hanging wall of the major thrust plane (Satyapal and Tripathy 2014). The
Nallamalai Group of NFB acts as hanging wall while the Kurnool Group of Palnad
sub-basin is footwall. Of these sectors, the Ayyanapalem and Chejarla sectors are
represented by NE-SW trending Cumbum phyllite and minor Cumbum quartzite
and dolomite bands of Nallamalai Group. This sector is part of the hanging wall of
the major thrust. viz., Vamikonda thrust. The Chejarla sector is intruded by younger
granitoids (Sesha Sai 2004, 2013).
3.1 Ayyanapalem Sector
The Ayyanapalem sector in Gandiganamala-Ayyanapalem-Jayantiramapuram

south of Papayapalem sector (Fig. 4a). The sector is dominated by phyllite, car-
bonate and phyllite-carbonate intercalations with NE trending major foliations. The
bedding and Sn1 cleavage transpose with tight to isoclinal to overturned Fn1 folding
as also evident from stereoplots (Fig. 4a, b). The Dn1 deformations are overprinted
by gently southeast dipping ductile shear zones with thrust movement (Fig. 4b, c).
Southeast and southwest of Ayyanapalem, a number of such shear zones (Sc)
overprint the earlier Sn0/Sn1 foliation (Fig. 4c). Later thrust-related Dn2 deformation
tightened and reoriented the folds within the phyllite e.g., north of Domalagudem
and around Mekaladinne. The folds are dragged with a top-to-NW movement to
produce overturned tight to isoclinals folds (Mukherjee et al. 2015 for mechanism)
where the Sn0 and Sn1 transpose (Fig. 4a, b, e). Juxtaposition of Fn1 antiforms due
to the development of break thrust characterizes the structural makeup of the
Cumbum Quartzite. The quartzite is locally intercalated with phyllite showing close
to tight folds.
3.2 Chejarla Sector
In the Chejarla sector, Cumbum phyllite, quartzite and dolomite are exposed
(Fig. 5a). Here, Chejarla granite expose with intrusive contact with the Cumbum
quartzite and phyllite. The sedimentary rock units in this sector are overturned to
recumbent (Fn1 fold) with northwest vergence (Fig. 5b–f). The Sn0 and Sn1 trans-
pose locally (Fig. 5e, f) with fold axis plunging gently in variable directions
(Fig. 5c, d, and f). These Fn1 folds developed in earlier deformation phase and
reoriented to recumbent by later deformation. The recumbent Fn1 folds are over-
printed by inclined asymmetric Fn2 folds which are the last folding event recorded
from the area (Fig. 5g). The superposition of F1 and F2 folds form hook shaped
Type 3 interference pattern (Ramsay 1967).
226
Fig. 4 a Geological map of Ayyanapalem sector. b Field photograph of Sn2 fabric cutting through the transposed Sn0–Sn1 in Cumbum Phyllite, western flank
of Kuchuchula Bodu. c Field photograph of sheared dolomite intercalated with phyllite, Kuchuchula Bodu. S- and C-shear planes prominent (see Mukherjee
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014b, 2015 for kinematics). d Field photograph of SE dipping overturned isoclinal folds in phyllite intercalated with dolomite, N of
V. Tripathy et al.
Mekaladinne. Outcrop facing SW

Fig. 5 a Geological map of Chejerla sector. b Field photograph of inclined folds in Cumbum
Dolomite SE of Venkatareddipuram. Inset: Field photograph of recumbent folds in Cumbum
Dolomite SE of Venkatareddipuram. c–f Stereographic projection of Sn0, Sn1, axial plane and fold
axis of Fn1 respectively. g Field photograph of hook shaped pattern formed by superposition of Fn1
and Fn2 folds giving rise to Type-3 interference pattern (Ramsay 1967). Inset: sketch of the field
photograph
Southeast of Venkatareddipuram, NNE trending dolomite band show recumbent

to inclined folds along with flat and ramp structures suggesting thrust related
movement. Thrust related structures on minor scale are shear band, tightening and
rotation of folds.
Fig. 5 (continued)
The Kakirala, Papayapalem, Belum and Nekarikallu sectors hosts part of

*E-W trending south dipping Vamikonda thrust, south of which of the hanging
wall is exposed and northward footwall is outcropped. The changes in structural
disposition is well marked and these variations are discussed.
3.3 Kakirala Sector
This sector in the western most part of the studied area (Fig. 6a) and hosts the Narji
Limestone, Owk Shale and Paniam Quartzite in the footwall part while the hanging
wall is represented by phyllite and quartzite of Cumbum Formation of Nallamalai
Group. The multiple deformed Nallamalai Group has thrust over the Kurnool
Group along the *E-W trending south dipping Vamikonda thrust. The thrusting of
NFB over the Palnad sub-basin is marked by deformations both in footwall and
hanging wall. Evidence of thrust related deformation is manifested by its
overprinting on earlier events of deformations of NFB and deformation of generally
undeformed Kurnool Group.
3.3.1 Hanging Wall Deformation
In the area around Kakirala, the major outcrop trends NE-SW due to the defor-
mation of the Cumbum Formation which differentiates itself from the structural
disposition recorded from the rock units of the Kurnool Group. The Dn1
deformation is represented by large-scale NE trending, doubly plunging, inclined

Fn1 folds deforming the phyllite and quartzite of the Cumbum Formation
(Fig. 6a, c). These folds define the primary outcrop pattern of the area, which is
associated with SE dipping slaty to disjunctive axial planar cleavage (Fig. 6f), well
pronounced in the Cumbum phyllite as opposed to the Cumbum quartzite which
displays large amplitude folds.
Southwest of Kakirala, the Cumbum phyllite is thrust over the sub-horizontal
Kurnool Group whose deformational impressions are recorded on both side of the
thrust sheet. The hanging wall deformation is characterized by NNW vergent tight
to isoclinal overturned folds overlying the sub-horizontal Owk Shale. Slickenside,
oblique stylolites and tension gashes are other evidences which overprint earlier Dn1
deformation (Fig. 6b, c). Near the thrust, the Owk shale shows overturned folds
(Sk2; Fig. 6b) similar to those of the Cumbum Quartzite (Fig. 6c). These are called
shear-induced drag folds (Mukherjee 2014a). Thrusting has also caused inversion
(Fig. 6d) of the antiformal limb and its juxtaposition to another antiform. Such
map-scale deformational feature as exposed SW of Kakirala and NW of Inuparti
Konda are due to the drag within the limb caused by thrusting (Fig. 6e). Imbricate
thrusting of the Cumbum Formation associated with sole thrust over the Kurnool
Group is also evident from this part of the fold belt.
3.3.2 Footwall Deformation
The footwall deformation in the Kurnool Group is characterized by NE-SW

trending gentle Fk1 folds which are close to open along with associated moderately
to steeply southeast dipping Sk1 slaty to disjunctive cleavage (Fig. 6a). The Sk1 is
also present, at places, as crenulation cleavage within the Narji Limestone (Fig. 6b).
The first generation Fk1 folding within the Kurnool Group is also evident from
aerial photographs, satellite images (Figs. 2 and 3, triangular outcrop of the Paniam
Quartzite south of Durgi) and contour pattern, around the southern part of the
Gundala Vagu. The Paniam Quartzite overlying the Owk Shale shows NE-SW
trending doubly plunging folds which changes its orientation along later faults.
Later N-S trending steeply dipping normal faults has exposed the Owk Shale
above the Paniam Quartzite, 2 km south of Kakirala (Fig. 6a). Here, the brecciated
Paniam Quartzite defines a faulted contact with the Owk Shale. The horizontal Owk
Shale is overlain by overturned and cleaved Cumbum phyllite thus, defining a thrust
contact between the two lithounits coinciding with Vamikonda thrust.
3.3.3 Late Structures
Faults such as the NNE trending Chakralamallayya fault (Ramalinga Swamy 1972)
in particular southeast of Gajapuram, deformed both the Nallamalai and Kurnool
Groups. This steep NNE trending fault dragged the NE trending doubly plunging
folds and axial planar cleavage with a left-lateral sense, within the NFB and
Fig. 6 (continued)
JFig. 6 a Geological map of Kakirala sector along with bedding plane poles of the Cumbum
Formation (Sn0) and Kurnool Group (Sk0) plotted in equal area stereo-net. b Overturned folds in
Owk Shale with axial plane Sk1, underlying the folded Cumbum Quartzite (Sn1), 500 m SW of
Kakirala. c Overturned and thrust sheet with NW vergence in Cumbum Quartzite near the thrust
zone, part of klippe, SW of Kakirala. d Overturned limb in Cumbum Quartzite as evident by the
younging direction of the cross beds, S of Kakirala. e Geological cross section along A-B, west of
Kakirala. A-B marked in Fig. 6a. f Varigated laminations and near orthogonal SE dipping slaty to
disjunctive axial planar cleavage in Cumbum phyllite
Kurnool Group, in NNE trend (Fig. 6a). As the fault is sub-vertical with beds
dipping both in eastern and western side its hanging wall and footwall is difficult to
establish. However, the stratigraphic positioning suggests that the upthrown west-
ern block has brought the Kurnool Group in juxtaposition to the Cumbum
Formation. Along this zone the Owk Shale shows vertical to sub-vertical dips on
both east and west directions along which ferruginous enrichment has taken place.
Another later fault with NE trend cutting through the NE trending folded Paniam
Quartzite east of Kakirala overprint earlier deformations. This fault is recognized on
the basis of slickensides, brecciation, steepening of beds, tension gashes etc.
3.4 Papayapalem Sector
This sector is bounded between east of Chakralamallayya fault and west of

Mantralamma has exposures of folded and thrust Cumbum phyllite, quartzite and
carbonate bands (Fig. 7a). Some of the dolomite bands has lead-zinc mineralisation
in form of galena and sphalerite. The NE to ENE trending Cumbum Formation is
thrust part of the hanging wall of the major south dipping thrust over the Palnad
sub-basin. The Narji Limestone is outcropped in the northern part of this sector and
is part of the footwall.
The Cumbum Formation rocks show doubly plunging folds that are NE to ENE
trend with beds dipping either towards NW or SE (Fig. 7a). Outcrop pattern at
many places indicate thrust between alternate antiforms (e.g. in Kakirala Reserved
forest Fig. 7a). Such structures are well documented in the west and northwest of
Karempudi Tanda where alternate antiforms are stacked due to the formation of
break thrust along the forelimb of the folds forming an imbricate thrust system.
However, the areas south of Karempudi Tanda and around Mantralamma has open
folds with one limb dipping vertical to sub-vertical towards NNW/N while other
limb dip gently to moderately towards south and southeast. Variations in pattern
and style of folds in strike extension i.e., west of Karempudi Tanda and around
Mantralamma is possibly because of basement configuration and topography at the
Fig. 7 a Geological map of Papayapalem sector showing Sn0 and Sn1 foliations. b Geological
cross section along C-D, east of Gajapuram (Fig. 7a). c Sub-horizontal Narji Limestone as
window, surrounded by deformed Cumbum phyllite, east of Gajapuram
time of thrusting. The quartzite exposed west of Karempudi Tanda represents a

possible décollement associated with imbricate thrusts. However, due to possible
topographic height of competent basement (granite and sedimentary cover of
Kurnool Group) the NFB were restricted around Mantralamma with development
of inclined to overturned folds.
3.4.2 Window and Klippe
Satellite image study (Fig. 2) revealed NE-SW trending doubly plunging folds
(Fig. 2) in the southeast of Durgi. The SE limb of the fold has a thrust contact with
southern lithounits. Extensive erosion in this part exposes of older Cumbum
phyllite as an klippe and Narji Limestone and Owk Shale as window lying below
the Nallamalai Group (Fig. 7a–c). The thrust stacks represent imbricate thrust
system while the presence of klippe and window structures are understood to be sole
thrust along which the NFB is thrust over the Palnad sub-basin (Fig. 7b).
3.5 Belum Sector
This sector stretches between Mantralamma to Narsingpadu in northeastern part of

the mapped area (Fig. 8a) where the quartzite and phyllite of Cumbum Formation is
thrust over the Narji Limestone of Kurnool Group.
JFig. 8 a Geological map of the Belum sector. b–e Stereographic projection of Sn0, Sn1, axial plane
and fold axis from Cumbum Formation exposed in the Belum sector. f Field photograph of the
overturned north vergent folds in Cumbum phyllite east of Sanigandla Tanda. g Field photograph
of the overturned isoclinal folds in transverse section of Cumbum Quartzite at the contact with
granite (not seen in this photograph). Inset shows ridge and groove on XY plane. h Panaromic
view of the E hill range east of Sanigandla Tanda. Notice the variations in the vegetation density
and the lithological changes as viewed from the cross section. Lower part of figure shows sectional
view of the hill range with earlier formed horst and graben structures in the Kurnool Group
overthrust by the Cumbum Formation of NFB. (i) Stereographic projection showing relation
between Sn0 and fold axis from the thrust Cumbum Formation. Data collected from east of
Sanigandla Tanda (h). j Stereographic projection of bedding plane, Sk0 from Narji Limestone
showing gentle dip and gently plunging stretching lineation. k Sectional view of the sub-horizontal
Narji Limestone showing bedding parallel shear, SE of Sanigandla Tanda. Note the plan view in
inset showing bedding parallel stretching lineation in Narji Limestone
Fig. 8 (continued)
The doubly plunging asymmetrical E trending folded lithounits of the Cumbum

Formation has north vergent axial planar cleavage (Fig. 8b–f). The Sn1 cleavage is
slaty to disjunctive with south to southeast dip near to the thrust zone (Fig. 8c).
However, further southward the bedding and cleavage show near to orthogonal
relationship. The change in axial plane of folds from S to N in this sector indicates
drag of hanging wall near to the thrust zone as a result of top-to-north shear
component.
In the northern part of this sector the granitic basement for the Kurnool Group in
the Palnad sub-basin is exposed west of Gopalapuram. The granite is phaneritic
with porphyry of K-feldspar, quartz and schlieren of biotite and minor hornblende.
About 3.5 km south of Mahbubnagar, within the Guttikonda reserved forest
phaneritic granite is exposed which has thrust contact with the Cumbum Formation
(Fig. 8g). The quartzite is isoclinally folded and overturned with west vergent
gently dipping axial plane (Fig. 8g). Slickenside on fold limb is represented with
the development of ridge and groove (similar to the ridge and groove of Power and
Tullis 1989; Means 1987 and Steps—Sheltering trails of Doblas 1998) suggesting
faulted contact between the Cumbum quartzite and the granite (Fig. 8g inset).
3.5.2 Footwall Deformation
Close to the northernmost exposed Cumbum quartzite and *1.5 km east of

Sannigandla Tanda, NW of the Belum sector, the Kurnool Group shows pre-thrust
and syn-thrust deformations. The Narji Limestone, Owk Shale and Paniam
Quartzite of the Kurnool Group are sub-horizontally exposed here with develop-
ment of horst and graben structures (Dk1), which is later thrust by northwest vergent
overturned Cumbum phyllite plunging both towards east and west (Fig. 8h).
Deformations related to this thrusting has generated stretching lineation parallel to
bedding plane of the Narji Limestone (Fig. 8i–k) along with development of sig-
moids as evident from transverse sections (Fig. 8k).
3.6 Nekarikallu Sector
This sector is the easternmost part of the study area and is important because of the
presence of the junction of the Vamikonda (a.k.a Nallamalai) and Vellikonda
thrusts (Fig. 9a). The later imprints of deformations recorded in this sector is
dependent up on the orientation of the structural fabric.
The ESE trending ridge of Cumbum Formation S of Nekarikallu is represented
by NW trending folds (Fn1, Fig. 9b–d) and south to southeast dipping axial planar
cleavage (Sn1, Fig. 9e) with SE plunging fold axis (Fig. 9f). The ridge is cut
through by a number of imbricate thrust (D2, Fig. 9b, c) whose movement direction
parallels stretching lineation and fold axis trend (Fig. 9g). Due to this thrusting, the
isoclinal recumbent folds (Fn1) is overprinted by later NW vergent crenulations
(Fn2) and mylonite related to the Dn3 deformation. Near the thrust zones the ESE
trending Sn1 (||Sn0) cleavage is folded/crenulated to generate reclined folds (Fig. 9d,
f–h). These imbricate thrusts are linked to a sole thrust as envisaged from gently
southeast dipping thrust zone (Fig. 9a, i) and cross section (Fig. 9b). The sole thrust
is evident by the presence of thrust contact between the overturned folded phyllite
over the asymmetrical folds (Fig. 9i). The formation of recumbent folds is possibly
due to the drag of Fn1 folds along the thrust zone. These late thrusts overprint earlier
structural fabrics and generate Fn2 folds and thrust slices.
However, the NE trending ridge NW of Adda road show transposition of Sn0 and
Sn1 (Fig. 9j, k). The folds are west vergent overturned to recumbent (Fig. 9m, n)
and vary in style as observed from the ESE-WNW ridge. These structures are
overprinted by shear band with top-to-west thrust movement (Fig. 9o). The late
thrust related structures include development of gently east plunging stretching
lineation (Fig. 9l).
Fig. 9 (continued)
Fig. 9 (continued)
JFig. 9 a Geological Map of the Nekarikallu sector. b Cross section along A-B, along the ridge
axis of ESE ridge, south of Nekarikallu. c Cross section along C-D, across the ridge axis of ESE
ridge, south of Nekarikallu. d–f Stereographic projection of Sn0, Sn1 and Fn1 fold axis;
g Stereographic projection showing relation between stretching lineation, Fn1 fold axis and shear
plane. h Field photograph of Cumbum phyllite along the NE-SW imbricate thrust zone south of
Nekarikallu with development of reclined folds (Fn2) due to the folding of transposed Sn0/Sn1.
i Field photograph of Sole thrust SW of Nekarikallu marked by the thrust recumbent folds over the
asymmetrical folds of Cumbum phyllite. Note variations in orientation of Fn1 folds in hanging wall
and footwall. j–k Stereographic projection of Sn0 and Sn1 showing transposition of the both the
fabrics, along the NE trending ridge, NW of Adda Road. l Stereographic projection of the
stretching lineation along the shear zone (n) showing consistent ESE plunge. m Field photograph
of recumbent folds in Cumbum phyllite close to the NE-SW trending thrust zone SW of
Nekarikallu. n Field photograph of west vergent overturned tight folds (Fn1) in heterolithic
Cumbum quartz-phyllite, along the NE trending ridge NW of Adda Road. o Field photograph of
shear zone cutting through the overturned Fn1 folds (m) with a top-to-west tectonic movement in
Cumbum dolomite, developed along the NE trending ridge NW of Adda Road
4 Discussions
4.1 Geometry, Kinematic and Relative Chronology

of Deformation in NFB
The Nallamalai Group is folded and cut through by a number of thrust sheets,
which are convex towards the Palnad sub-basin resembling the direction in which
the thrust verge. The events of folding and faulting are categorized in time and
space that generated changes in the fold pattern and geometry. The fold belt
(NFB) acted as footwall with respect to the Nellore schist belt (NSB) along the
Vellikonda thrust during Dn2 stage of deformation (Mesoproterozoic, Saha 2002;
Table 1) which is unrelated to the Nallamalai/Vamikonda thrust, against which the
fold belt is acting as hanging wall (Dn3 Dk2). As the Vamikonda thrust is jux-
taposing Mesoproterozoic NFB and Neoproterozoic Kurnool Group, it is envisaged
that the thrust must at least be of Late Neoproterozoic age. The geometry of fold
thus formed and modified during different deformations indicates multiple com-
pressions in the Eastern part of the East Dharwar craton. The prime cause of this
variation can be because of the vorticity within the shear zone related to thrusting,
rheological differences and geometry of early formed folds (Carreras et al. 2005).
To understand the structural evolution, the geometry of this belt is to be considered
which is characterized by a number of W and NW vergent thrusts, prominent
detached folds and oroclinal nature of the fold belt. An orthogonal change in the
amount of curvature of the belt from N to E (Figs. 1 and 2) represent an oroclinal
bend as theoretically suggested by Johnston et al. (2013). The presence of window,
klippe and imbricate thrust system along the Vamikonda thrust are evidences for
allochonous nature of NFB. Further, the presence of Palnad Nappe (Natarajan and
Rajagopalan Nair 1977; Saha and Chakraborty 2003; Chakraborti 2006;
Chakraborti and Saha 2009; Saha et al. 2010) suggests an exotic nature of NFB
Table 1 Summarised chronological sequence of deformations as recorded from northern

Nallamalai Fold Belt (NFB)
Cambrian (iii) Late faults such as in Kakirala sector displaces both the Post-thrust
Kurnool and Nallamalai Group of rocks
Neoproterozoic (ii) Thrusting (Dn3) of NFB over Palnad sub-basin (Kurnool Syn-thrust
Group)
• Hanging wall (NFB):
(a) Development of imbricate thrust in Cumbum Formation
linked to sole and imbricate thrust
(b) Reorientation of and overprinting over Fn1 folds. Tight
to isoclinal, overturned to recumbant/reclined fold
(c) Presence of Klippe and window structures within NFB,
suggesting thin-skinned tectonics
• Footwall (Palnad sub-basin):
Localised folding (Fk1) and development of cleavage (Sk1)
due to compression (Dk2 Dn3) related to thrusting of NFB
(i) Localised extensional events Pre-thrust
• e.g., presence of horst and graben structures (Dk1) within
Kurnool Group in Belum sector
Deposition of Kurnool Group in Kurnool and Palnad
sub-basins
Mesoproterozoic and (ii) Thrusting of Nellore Schist Belt (NSB) along Velikonda
Paleoproterozoic Thrust
• Development of asymmetrical folds and associated thrusts
within NFB
• Reorientation of Fn1 folds and refolding at places (Dn2
deformation)
• Development of break thrust within Nallamalai quartzite
(i) Folding of Nallamalai Group (Fn1 folds Dn1 deformation)
• Doubly plunging open to close folds
The term “thrust” used in last column viz., “pre-thrust; syn-thrust and post-thrust” are in relation to the
formation of the Vamikonda thrust due to the thrusting of NFB over Palnad sub-basin
with respect to rest of Cuddapah basin (Saha 1994, 2002; Saha and Chakraborty
2003; Tripathy and Saha 2010).
Variations in fold styles in different lithounits are well documented in the
northern part of NFB. The NE-SW trending open folds in Cumbum Formation,
south of Minchalapadu in Kakirala sector, define earlier Fn1 folds related to Dn1
deformation (Fig. 6a). The forelimb of these folds are cut through by later thrusts
resulting in the juxtaposition of two antiforms with synform being downthrown
below the former during the Dn2 deformation (Fig. 10a). These thrusts are con-
nected to a sole thrust along which the NFB is thrust over the Kurnool Group of
Palnad sub-basin as evidenced by the klippe SW of Kakirala (Fig. 6e). The NW
vergent Fn1 tight to isoclinal and overturned folds in Cumbum phyllite suggests
overall top-to-NW shear component. The competency contrast between quartzite
and phyllite is the principle cause for such modifications in fold style, which
deformed predominantly by simple/general shear (Mukherjee 2012, 2013) during
Fig. 10 a Cartoon showing variations in fold style related to rheological variations as observed
from the field. Note that the phyllite being mechanically incompetent are tighly folded to
transposed fabrics, glide along a detachment plane while quartzite has development of imbricate
thrust. b (i) Model showing first phase of folding in NFB (ii) which been modified and reoriented
by later phase of folding and thrusting. (iii) The first phase of folding and later reorientation is
show in plan map. (iv) During syn-thrust phase, the fold belt developed oroclinal bending with
development of right-lateral movement in northern part of NFB
thrusting. The existence of such mechanical instability in a simple to general shear

environment modified the pre-existing folds (Fn1) and developed discrete shear
zones (Dn2) within phyllite and carbonate e.g., NE trending gentle shear zones with
top-to-NW thrusting SE of Ayyanapalem and Kuchchula Bodu in the Ayyanapalem
sector. Similar thrust stacking are present in the Papayapalem sector where
imbricate thrust system is envisaged based on window and klippe, east of
Gajapuram along with juxtaposed antiforms. The phyllite and intercalated car-
bonates in the Ayyanapalem sector are isoclinal overturned to recumbent folds
trending in NE as opposed to the Papayapalem sector where the structures trend E.
The bulk geometry suggests maximum compression along NW-SE. Under such
scenario, NE plunging asymmetrical folds, which are perpendicular to the shear and
compressional components, development of Type- 3 (Ramsay 1967) interference
pattern are evident (Fig. 5g). However, such structural interferences are not the
same at each location as for example in Belum sector such overprinting caused
northward vergence of fold and cleavage.
However, the structural geometry present in the eastern part of the area i.e.,
Chejarla sector, the fold geometry and architecture differ significantly. The folds
bounded within the thrust sheet SE of Venkatareddipuram are recumbent to inclined
(Fig. 5b; Ramsay et al. 1983). Changes in shape and orientation of folded layer and
their axial surfaces are due to the superposition of simple shear deformation on
earlier existing folds (Ramsay et al. 1983). Under conditions of intense shear, the
folds rotated towards the plane of primary shear (or the C-plane) to develop
overturned, asymmetrical to recumbent folds overriding the thrust, between south of
Mahbubnagar and south of Venkatareddipuram.
Due to the oroclinal bent, the two thrust fronts i.e., the Nallamalai thrust
(Vamikonda thrust in northern part of NFB) and the Vellikonda thrust, which
activated at different time, juxtapose in the northeastern end of the NFB near
Nekarikallu. The latest deformational imprints over the ESE and NW trending
ridges in Nekarikallu sector are important in understanding the overall structure of
the northern part of the NFB. The Dn1 deformation in the ESE trending ridge (S of
Nekarikallu, Fig. 1) is characterized by S to SE dipping axial planar cleavage in
phyllite and associate with doubly plunging open folds in quartzite. However, the
NE ridge (NW of Addaroad, Fig. 1) has SE dipping Sn0 overturned isoclinal to tight
folds, which are parallel to the axial planar cleavage (Sn1). Such structures are akin
to those reported from Porumamilla situated in the east-central part of the NFB
(Tripathy and Saha 2010; Saha et al. 2010). Imprints of later compression are
documented from both the ridges. The presence of NE trending sole thrust and
associated imbricate thrusts in the ESE ridge (Fig. 9a–c, i) and N-S trending shear
zones (Fig. 9o), modified the NE-SW trending Fn1 folds. The asymmetry of these
NW vergence folds, supports a top-to-NW thrust component related to late hori-
zontal compression. The evidences of structural discordance suggest a thrust con-
tact between the NE and ESE ridges.
The sedimentary lithounits have rheological differences, and the mechanically
weak layers are surfaces along which thrusts are localized. Many thrust dominated
belts have similarities in them as major décollements are located in shale or salt unit
overlain by competent units (Mitra 2003; Nemčock et al. 2005; Mukherjee et al.
2010). The deformations within the NFB imbricated thrust stacks and sole thrust
along which rock units such as shale, phyllite and carbonate frequently associate
with such weak horizons. Where thrust planes passes through competent lithounits
e.g., quartzite, they steepens and form flat-ramp geometry. The Fn1 folds are
modified to overturned to recumbent in phyllite rich layers (e.g., Fig. 5b, 9 m)
while in resistant quartzite layers the strain is accommodated by development of
thrust surfaces.
The Dn1 deformation is predominantly associated with axial planar slaty
cleavage in phyllite and disjunctive cleavage in quartzite showing variations in
orientations in different sectors due to later deformations such as thrusting and
related folding. The thrust has reoriented the fold and cleavage and provided them
the asymmetric geometry that defines the overall NW/N vergence interpreted in
terms of a non-coaxial Dn2 deformation. There are marked variation in the modi-
fications and overprinting of Dn2 deformation over the first generation structures.
Depending upon the position of the fold relative to the thrust zone the axial plane of
the Fn1 fold are close to the plane of simple shear (e.g. in the dolomite bands east of
Venkatareddipuram and heterolithic quartz-phyllite south west of Nekarikallu,
Fig. 5b). Vergence of overturned to inclined nature of fold is common throughout
the area with similar slip sense. The overthrusting of NFB over the Palnad
sub-basin must had happened after the development of thrust restricted within the
fold belt as thrust surfaces has also changed their trend from NE to E similar to the
variations in the fold trends. Oroclines (Carey 1955; Johnston et al. 2013) are result
of the action of later stress over existing orogen either in a transverse (progressive)
or in a longitudinal (secondary) manner. The progressive orocline involves basal
décollement with compressive stress perpendicular to the strike of the orogen which
are responsible for bending of fold and thrust belt undergoing thin-skinned tectonics
in response to ongoing crustal compression. The thin-skinned tectonic nature of
NFB is envisaged by Chakraborti and Saha (2009) from western part of the NFB.
The presence of window and klippe structures (Figs. 6e and 7b, c) from present
study area supports the thin-skinned nature of the NFB. Thus, the geometry and
architecture of the NFB presented here corroborate the progressive orocline as
(i) the belt shows thin-skinned nature and (ii) the late compressional structures are
result of compressive stress perpendicular to the strike of the orogen. However,
such late compressional structures in central and southern part of NFB where it
trends *N-S, are difficult to establish as it approximate Type 0 interference pattern
(Ramsay 1967). The bending of the NFB fabric along Vamikonda thrust front is
thus in response to the compression directed from SE to ESE. The presence of
granitic basement and Kurnool Group in the Palnad sub-basin must had acted as a
tectonic obstacle (i.e., a backstop) due to which the northern part of the
fold-and-thrust belt dragged right laterally (Fig. 10b). The footwall uplifts as rep-
resented by horst and graben (Fig. 8h) south of Karempudi Tanda represented by
hills of Narji Limestone must also had acted as obstacle due to which the Cumbum
Quartzite in this part is stacked to develop overturned to inclined folds with one
limb being vertical to sub-vertical as opposed to the open doubly plunging folds
west of Karempudi Tanda of Papayapalem sector.
4.2 Deformations in Kurnool Group
The Kurnool Group in the Palnad sub-basin acted as footwall with respect to the
Vamikonda thrust and bears various stages of deformation which are pre-, syn- and
post-thrust (Table 1). The term thrust here is related to the Vamikonda thrust. The
pre-thrust deformations are mostly related to extensional structures such as N-S
trending normal faults. The horst and graben structures present in the Kunool Group
are overthrust by the Cumbum Formation in Belum sector. The former structures
represent such extensional events related to pre-thrust deformations (Fig. 8h).
The development of NE trending folds and SE dipping disjunctive to slaty
cleavage in Narji Limestone, Owk Shale and Paniam Quartzite are well documented
from the Kakirala sector as discussed earlier. Similar development of cleavage,
gently ESE plunging bedding parallel stretching lineation and development of
mylonite in Narji Limestone in Belum sector with north or northwest vergence are
evidences of syn-thrust deformation (Fig. 8i–k).
The N-S trending Chakralamallayya fault cutting through the Cumbum
Formation and Kurnool Group east of Kakirala reoriented the structural fabric of
both the Groups in N-S direction. The steepening of Owk Shale and Paniam
Quartzite along the fault and reorientation of folds and thrusts to N-S direction are
evidences of post-thrust deformation. The post thrust deformation is also reported in
the southern part of Cuddapah basin where NNE-SSW strike-slip faults are
arranged in right stepover pattern (Goswami et al. 2016). The development of dome
and basin structures of Type- 1 interference pattern (Ramsay 1967) in Paniam
Quartzite along the fault zone in the study area are evidences of post-thrust
deformation possibly related to compression that acted on early formed NE trending
folds.
4.3 Tectonic Implications
Evidences of 1.8–1.5 Ga Columbia supercontinent are recorded from most of the

continents (e.g. Rogers and Santosh 2002; Nance et al. 2014). Such evidences are
also recorded from India such as the amalgamation of northern and southern India
along the Central Indian Tectonic Zone (CITZ) at 1.8 Ga (Jain et al. 1991;
Acharyya and Roy 2000; Bhowmik et al. 1999; Bhowmik and Roy 2003). Based on
palaeomagnetic data for the North China Block during the time interval ca. 1780–
1440 Ma, Zhang et al. (2012) placed the western India adjacent to the North China
Block. Such Columbia reconstruction contains the southern part of Eastern Ghats
Belt and Napier Complex to have juxtaposed at 1.6 Ga (Henderson et al. 2014).
In EGB, the Western Charnockite Zone (WCZ) (cf. Domain 1A of Dasgupta and
Sengupta 2003; Ongole domain, Krishna Province of Dobmeier and Raith 2003)
has suffered *1.6 Ga granulite metamorphism without signs of Grenvillian over-
print (Rickers et al. 2001; Dasgupta and Sengupta 2003; Dobmeier and Raith 2003;
Bhattacharya et al. 2010) as opposed to its central and eastern parts. Such meta-
morphic imprints of Columbia affinity in Eastern Dharwar craton possibly affected
the deformations further westward in NSB and NFB (Tripathy 2010; Tripathy and
Saha 2013, 2015). The Nallamalai Group has undergone two major folding events
as evident from different parts of the fold belt (Matin and Guha 1996; Mukherjee
2001; Saha 2002; Tripathy and Saha 2010; Saha et al. 2010). It is understood to
have developed as a result of compressive stresses active during the Columbia
supercontinent (Saha 2002, 2004; Tripathy and Saha 2013).
The thrust related emplacement of Kandra igneous complex and Kanigiri
ophiolitic melange (Sesha Sai 2009; Saha 2011; Sesha Sai 2013) in southern
Nellore schist belt (NSB) suggests a Paleoproterozoic (1847 + 14 Ma, Vijaya
Kumar et al. 2010) plate convergence along the SE margin of India (Bhadra et al.
2004; Saha 2011; Saha and Patranabis-Deb 2014). The earlier phase of deformation
in metapelites of younger Udaygiri Group of NSB attended presumably before
1933 ± 11 Ma based on retrograde metamorphic xenotime dating (Das et al.
2015). The 1.8–1.9 Ga deformation and metamorphism related to the amalgamation
of these East Gondwana fragments deformed and metamorphosed the NSB and its
thrusting to NFB along Vellikonda Thrust (Tripathy and Saha 2013). Various
radiometric ages of igneous intrusions in NFB (reviewed in geological setting of
this paper) cluster around Late Paleoproterozoic to Early Mesoproterozoic (1.5–
1.6 Ga). The two major folding events in NFB are also understood to be prior to
such igneous intrusions within them (Saha and Chakraborty 2003). It is thus
plausible that the first deformation phase generating the Fn1 folds and thrusts in
NFB and later structures of NSB were related to compression of Late
Paleoproterozoic of Columbia Supercontinental affinity. However, sediments
deposited during *1.9 Ga in Papaghni sub-basin in western part of Cuddapah
basin lack regional deformation and thus suggest its variance from deformed NFB
in terms of deformational chronology, tectonic set up and thus paleogeographic
position.
Steep basement cutting faults such as the Gani-Kalva and the Kona faults in
western part of the Cuddapah basin opened the Kurnool sub-basin (Tripathy and
Saha 2013) possibly coeval to the emplacement of *1090 Ma kimberlite pipes
west of the basin margin (Kumar et al. 1993). Recent discoveries of 1.4–1.3 Ga
lamproite dyke-sill complex in Tadpatri Shale are proposed as diamond provenance
for Banganapalle conglomerate (Joy et al. 2012). The deposition of Kurnool Group
thus has happened during Early to Mid Neoproterozoic. Such crustal-scale exten-
sion during the Late Mesoproterozoic to Early Neoproterozoic is evident
from *1300 Ma Prakasam alkaline province (PAkP), which has a number of
alkaline intrusive bodies in the schist belt and considered to represent rift related
magmatism (Leelanandam 1989; Upadhyay et al. 2006; Leelanandam et al. 2006;
Vijaya Kumar and Leelanandam 2008; Dharma Rao et al. 2010).
The thrusting of NFB over the Palnad sub-basin and development of folds and
cleavage in the Kurnool Group are related to compressional activities possibly
related to Pan-African orogeny (Saha 2004; Tripathy and Saha 2013; Saha and
Patranabis-Deb 2014; Tripathy and Saha 2015). In the eastern part of the belt,
Nekarikallu sector, the N trending imbricate thrust are thus related to the com-
pression of the Late Neoproterozoic, impressions of which are also recorded
through syn-kinematically grown phengitic white mica in mylonite from
Vinukonda granite during 501–474 Ma (Dobmeier et al. 2006). The first report of
window and klippe along the Vamikonda Thrust from northern part of NFB rep-
resent such compression involving the sedimentary packages in a thin-skinned set
up. In addition, an earlier extensional episode is recorded only within the Kurnool
Group of rocks as envisaged by the presence of horst and graben structures in the
Belum sector. These horst and graben affecting the Kurnool Group are overthrust
by the folded Nallamalai Group of rocks (Fig. 8h), suggesting such extensional
event to be of pre-thrust (related to Vamikonda thrust) in nature.
5 Conclusion
The present work suggests thrust stacking in eastern and northern part of NFB
where interaction of the two temporally variant thrusts viz., Vellikonda and
Nallamalai thrusts happened during Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic under the compres-
sional stress regimes active during Gondwana assemblage. The chronological
sequence of deformation is summarised in Table 1 and concluded below.
• Structures within the northern part of NFB are categorised here on their
chronological occurrences in relation to the thrusting of NFB over Palnad
sub-basin. Accordingly, pre-, syn- and post-thrust episodes are clubbed together.
• The pre- and syn-thrust deformation is responsible for the major regional
structural trends presently hosted by the NFB.
• Following major structural changes are recorded in the northern NFB due to the
syn-thrust deformation:
i. Thrusting of NFB over Palnad sub-basin.
ii. Bringing two spatially and temporally distinct thrusts i.e., the Vellikonda
thrust and Vamikonda (Nallamalai) thrust in close vicinity at the NE part of
the NFB near Nekarikallu.
iii. Due to this syn-thrust compressional episode, during Late Neoproterozoic
contemporaneous with Pan-African orogeny, the structural fabric (cleavage,
fold axis, axial plane, thrust internal to NFB etc.) within NFB shows
reorientation of its trend from N-S to NE-SW to E-W. It is understood to
have formed due to the presence of granitic basement and Kurnool Group of
rocks in Palnad sub-basin which must had acted as a tectonic barrier due to
which the NFB in its northern part is dragged with a right lateral component.
iv. Change in the orientation of the major structural fabric on regional scale is
evident all along the strike of the NFB. This change is explained with the
model of progressive orocline which is a result of (i) thin-skinned nature of
the fold belt and (ii) the late compressive stress perpendicular to the strike
of the orogen bend produce the curvature in the fold belt.
Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the Director General, Geological Survey of India
and Additional Director General, GSI, SR, Hyderabad for kindly according permission to publish
the work. This work is part of the GSI project for FS 2012-14 at state unit: Andhra Pradesh. The
authors are grateful to Dr. Soumyajit Mukherjee (IIT, Bombay), Editor for his kind invitation for
contribution to this book. This manuscript benefited greatly from the constructive reviews and
criticisms by editor and an anonymous reviewer. The views expressed in this paper are of authors
and not necessarily of GSI. Vide Mukherjee et al. (in press) for recent tectonic updates from the
southern portion of the Cuddapah basin, and Goswami and Upadhyay (2019) in a similar context.
Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this work.
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Tectonic History of the Granitoids
and Kadiri Schist Belt in the SW
of Cuddapah Basin, Andhra Pradesh,
India
Sukanta Goswami and P. K. Upadhyay
1 Introduction
The Kadiri greenstone terrane in the eastern Dharwar craton has not yet been
studied extensively. The petrotectonic associations in the Kadiri greenstone granite
terrain reflect its tectonic setting and field observations give ideas on evolution of
the belt. Several physical and chemical factors are to be considered to reconstruct
the geologic history of Archean granite-greenstone terranes. The geological and
geochemical features of this terrane provide clues to describe their genesis and
evolution. Since, greenstone belt development cannot be considered in isolation
from models for the origin of Archean highgrade granitic terranes because of close
allience between Earth’s thermal history and crustal evolution, all the rock types
such as granitoids, greenstone belt rocks and dykes are to be considered. Based on
geochemical studies of meta-volcanics of this schist belt, Satyanarayana et al.
(2000) conclude island arc and active continental marginal environment. The
calc-alkaline association of basalt, andesite, dacite and rhyolite (BADR) is the
distinguishing volcanic rock suite of convergent margins. The low-grade green-
schist facies metamorphism and associated structural deformations of rocks is
noteworthy. The Kadiri schist locates below the unconformity plane defined by the
overlying sediments of Cuddapah basin near the village Dorigallu (Fig. 1).
According to Jayananda et al. (2013b), the crystallization age of the felsic
magmas of Kadiri schist belt rocks is 2556 ± 13 Ma, dated by U–Pb SIMS. In fact,
the 2.7 Ga mafic dominated episode of greenstone volcanism is coeval to
emplacement of TTG suites surrounding the greenstone belt. On the other hand, the
2.6–2.54 Ga volcanism was dominated by intermediate and particularly felsic lavas
in the Dharwar craton (Jayananda et al. 2013a, b). The 2.6–2.54 Ga episode is
S. Goswami (&) P. K. Upadhyay

Department of Atomic Energy, Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration
and Research, Bengaluru 560072, India
e-mail: sukantoyahoo@gmail.com

254 S. Goswami and P. K. Upadhyay
Fig. 1 Geological map of the northern extreme of Kadiri greenstone belt near the non-conformity
contact with Cuddapah sediments
linked to juvenile calc-alkaline magmatism and crustal reworking throughout the

EDC (Chadwick et al. 2007; Chardon and Jayananda 2008; Chardon et al. 2011).
The NW (*2.21 Ga) and ENE (*2.36 Ga) trending mafic dyke swarms of the
area were dated by U–Pb (Halls et al. 2007; French and Heaman 2010). The
geological history of the Kadiri greenstone granite terrain is not yet well docu-
mented. The relationship between the schist belt and the surrounding gneisses and
granitoids is also not well understood. Therefore, in this paper we approach all the
rock types to describe the tectonic history of the terrain for a period from
emplacement of TTG to rifting of Cuddapah basin (i.e., 2.7–1.9 Ga). For general
ideas about rifting (from other terrains), consult Misra et al. (2014, 2015, 2018a, b),
Misra and Mukherjee (2015, 2018) and Dasgupta and Mukherjee (2017).
2 Geology
The narrow linear Kadiri Greenstone Belt is located SW of Cuddapah Basin in the
Eastern Dharwar Craton (EDC) covering parts of Anantapur and Chittoor districts
located between 13° 45′ to 14° 7′N Latitude and 78° 2′ to 78° 15′E Longitude.
Survey of India Toposheet Nos. 57J/3, 57J/4, 57K/1 and 57K/2 covers this region.
Tectonic History of the Granitoids and Kadiri Schist Belt in … 255
Fig. 2 Two different granitoids. a Peninsular gneiss equivalent granitoids with feeble N-S
gneissic foliation. b Younger grey to pink closepet equivalent granitoids
The greenstone belt litho-units comprise mainly acid to intermediate meta-volcanics

and associated minor meta-basics and BIFs along with granitic plutons. Large
quartz reefs and porphyry dykes cut across the belt. The granitoids represent two
catagories (Fig. 2): (1) dark grey coarse-grained hornblende-biotite granite with
feeble gneissosity at places occupying relatively flat paneplaned areas; and
(2) medium to coarse-grained granodiorite of pink to grey colour, that intrude the
former, and found in hillocks. The Granitoids were defined as Tonalite-
Trondhjemite-Granodiorite Gneiss, Tonalite-Granodiorite-Monzogranite and
Monzogranite-Syenogranite (Nandy and Dey 2013; Sreenivasulu et al. 2014). In the
schist belt sub-spherical accretionary lapilli made up of aggregated coarser ash,
lapilli or aggregates of variable sized clasts (Fig. 3) occur commonly near the
unconformity usually indicating magma–water interaction (Wohletz and Mcqueen
1984). Other than lapilli with 2–64 mm diameter, the pyroclasts with diameter
Fig. 3 Sub-elliptical accretionary lapilli made up of aggregates of variable sized clasts

Fig. 4 The solid fragments and rounded bomb indicates violent eruption of molten lava, which
cooled into solid fragments before they reach the ground and acquired aerodynamic round shapes
>64 mm are also embedded on the lava (Fig. 4). The broken angular blocks indi-
cate solid fragments and rounded clasts are bomb formed during violent eruption of
molten lava, which cool into solid fragments before they reach the ground and
acquired round shapes. Flow foliation is another characteristic feature of the felsic
volcanics of the schist belt (Fig. 5) where flow beds occur with *N strike, 5–10°
dip towards E. Autoclastic fragmental rocks (Fig. 6) are identified to interpret
in situ fragmentation of coherent magmatic bodies (Fisher and Schmincke 1984;
Mc Phie et al. 1993). These autobreccias commonly form at the base and the top of
lava flows (Fisher and Schmincke 1984; Cas and Wright 1988; McPhie et al. 1993).
Feebly developed gneissosity is observed in the surrounding gneissic rocks.
Granite-gneiss complexes comprise the dominant portion in this granite-greenstone
terrane. The foliation in the gneissic complexes is N-S similar to the greenstone belt
near greenstone-gneiss contacts and becomes exceedingly variable in intervening
Fig. 5 Flow foliation developed in acid volcanics due to high viscosity. The foliation planes show
*N-S strike, 2°–8°=>E dip
Fig. 6 Section of flow layers showing auto breccia with in layer suggest in situ fragmentation of
coherent magmatic bodies
regions. Mechanical rotation and elongation of clast along preferred N-S trend and
the internal deformation and crushing of grains at places by cataclasis during
rotation due to E-W compression are noteworthy. The deformation signature cor-
responds to a shallow low temperature environment of regional metamorphism.
Isoclinal folds with steeply dipping axial planes and moderate to steep plunges are
preserved. The cross-section through rhyolite lava exhibits flow banding of visually
distinct layers of differing crystallinity or vesicularity. The youngest dykes and quartz
reefs cut across both the granite and the greenstone belt. The linear andesite and
dolerite dykes often run along top of granitic hillocks for km with loose angular blocks
arranged apparently like unsorted dump. These younger intrusives are identified as
blocky lava with very rough surface composed of often loose clinkers and rubble
(Fig. 7). The Cuddapah sediments overlie the basement complex along the Eparchaean
unconformity with basal conglomerates (Goswami et al. 2015). Above this noncon-
formity the polymictic conglomerate (Fig. 8) with abundant clasts of chert, jasper and
BIF indicates supracrustal provenance with Archaean volcano-sedimentary rocks.
Fig. 7 Basic emplacement along NE-SW cut across granitoids exhibiting stack of pieces of
andesitic blocks are characterised as blocky lava
Fig. 8 a Eparchaean unconformity between Archaean basement granitoids and Proterozoic

Gulcheru Formation. b The lowermost Gulcheru Formation consists of polymictic conglomerate
unit with abundant clasts of chert, jasper and BIF
3 Structures
E, NE, NW and N are the different fracture trends. The first two trends are more
dominant (Fig. 9). Schistosity and gneissosity show a regional N and the younger
granitic intrusions too are N-S. The granitoids are intruded by basic intrusions along
NW, NE, WNW and ENE trends. Quartz reefs are also remarkable intrusive fea-
tures along NW, NE and WNW. Hematitisation is noted locally near the contact
zones of quartz reef and basement granitoids. The rocks are deformed with a
specific texture and structure that records the deformation by developing the pre-
ferred clast orientation. The fabric appears to be a type of tectonites (Mukherjee
2015). Granitic apophyses in the deformed meta-volcanic matrix of the greenstone
Fig. 9 a b diagram showing all fracture plane attitudes of the study area. b p diagram showing
poles of all fracture planes. c p diagram superimposed with corresponding rose diagram to
visualize the paleostress condition. d Superimposed pie and beta diagram of fracture shows NE
trend to be most abundant followed by E
Fig. 10 a Outcrop view of L-S tectonites. b Zoomed in view of the three dimensional section of
tectonite outcrop. The N-S stretching is compensated by E-W flattening and undisturbed
intermediate stress direction. c Plan view of tectonite outcrop. d Later deformation affected
tectonite
belt stretched to form tectonites at places related to dynamothermal metamorphism

and deviatoric stress. Foliation development in these rock is due to r1 > r2 r3
stress condition. Stretched pebbles in the deformed volcanic matrix gives L-S
tectonite in which r1 is the maximum E-W compressive stress, r3 minimum
compression or extension/stretching along N-S, and r2 vertical intermediate stress
axis (Andersonian condition; Fig. 10a–c). Later deformation also manifest at places
in some tectonite outcrops where the triaxial ellipsoid clasts are further cut by fault
plane (Fig. 10d). The N-S fractures are oldest trend possibly related to surface
manifestation of younger pluton emplacement that reactivated in nature. More
specifically, younger ENE-WSW and WNW-ESE fracture sets are probably con-
jugate sets with 30–60° angle (Fig. 9). The E-W fracture is youngest and affects
both basement as well as the Cuddapah sediments. The granitic apophyses in the
greenstone schist belt is dominantly aligned along N-S fractures and after reacti-
vation and brecciation they sufferred non-coaxial stress which is possibly related to
shear during conjugate fracturing with *E-W acute bisector directions.
4 Petrology
The Kadiri schist belt metavolcanics are very fine-grained and mostly are felsic.
Minerals cannot be identified even under a hand lens. Under optical microscope
quartz, plagioclase, orthoclase and chlorite are seen as the major minerals followed
by sphene, epidote and calcite. Very fine-grained, foliated acid volcanics composed
chiefly of quartz, sericite and chlorite and other flakey clay minerals and titanate
minerals with flow foliation. Epidote, calcite, plagioclase feldspar and zoisite are
the minor/accessory mineral phases. The systematic approach of studying tectonite
fabric elements under microscope (Mukherjee and Chakraborty 2007; Mukherjee
2010a, b, Mukherjee 2011a, b, 2012, 2013, 2014a, b; Mukherjee and Koyi 2009,
2010a, b) is to study both clast and matrix components. The clasts of granitic
apophyses and volcanic matrix are shown in Fig. 11.
The Peninsular gneiss equivalent and younger closepet granite equivalent rocks
are recognised and differentiated as per these field guidelines:
A. Geomorphologically it is clear that the Peninsular gneiss equivalents forms the
peneplane mostly soil covered area where as younger granitoids of Closepet
forms ridges and mounds with circular to elongate masses of high and rugged
relief.
Fig. 11 a Very fine grained foliated preferentially aligned quartz, clayey minerals and titanate.
Minor quartz veins are visible (2X, TL, 2N). b Alignment of chlorite along foliation (10X, TL,
1N). c Phenocryst of plagioclase and sanidine in fine grained matrix (2X, TL, 2N). d Granitic
texture with quartz, plagioclase, orthoclase and minor chlorite (2X, TL, 2N)
B. Presence of feebly developed N-S gneissic foliation in flat-lying older rocks

compared to massive intrusives of younger closepet equivalence.
C. The younger granitoids are of two types, pink and grey coloured, with no
distinct boundary between the two and consists of mostly quartz, plagioclase
and potash feldspars with finer-grains than the older gneisses with coarse
hornblende and biotite crystals.
D. Older rocks are more structurally disturbed affected by intense fracturing,
venation, shear and faulting and associated mylonitization than the younger
granites with relatively less deformation features.
E. Supracrustal enclaves are more numerous in older gneiss equivalent rocks.
F. Closepet equivalents are more uraniferous than the older Peninsular gneiss
equivalents.
The dykes of porphyry andesites (Fig. 12) with euhedral plagioclase laths as
phenocrysts indicate earlier stage slow cooling of magma, which was forced to the
surface along linear fissures due to buoyancy and rapid cooling to form the
remaining fine groundmass. The blocky nature of the lava is also seen due to the
higher viscosity, which favors preservation of the ragged and spinose form of the
clinker fragments (Fig. 7). Higher silica content of the dykes than the basalts
provided higher viscosity that developed blocks schematically defined by Rowland
and Walker (1990). Subsequent breakage of this lava along cooling joints then
contributed planar-surfaced and non-vesicular debris at the flow top. The geo-
morphology of younger dykes and quartz reefs along top of the hills is because of
younger age and relatively higher silica content, which could resist from weathering
to provide linear ridge along top of granitic hills.
5 Geochemistry
The geochemical analyses were performed in the chemistry laboratory, Atomic

Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, Bangalore (India). Major and
selective minor and trace element data (Table 1 and 2) from collected samples are
used to interpret the magma evolution and the Meso Archaean to Palaeo Proterozoic
tectonic history. Harker diagrams (after 1909) of multiple major element oxide plots
against SiO2 display smooth, curvilinear trends for almost all rock data points
indicate genetically related rock types (Figs. 13 and 14). The variations in major
element indicate a common parent source from which diversification caused the
major elements to either increase or decrease progressively with respect to SiO2.
Bowen’s reaction series is reflected in a way in our data where MgO and FeO
decrease with increasing SiO2. Unlike compatible elements like Ni, Cr etc.,
incompatible elements also enrich in successively later differentiated part of
magma. Hence, large ion lithiphile element like uranium is more enriched in later
generated more differentiated younger granites. Most of the uranium anomalies are
located in younger closepet equivalents. Upon fractionation, calc-alkaline magmas
Fig. 12 Andesite porphyry displaying a aphanitic porphyritic texture with subhedral plagioclase
phenocrysts (white crystals) and the fine—grained aphanitic grey groundmass in outcrop scale.
b Porphyritic texture under microscope (2X, TL, 2N). c Quartz, feldspar, biotite and minor chlorite
rich groundmass (10X, TL, 1N). d Zone plagioclase phenocryst (10X, TL, 2N). e Deformed
plagioclase phenocryst (10X, TL, 2N)
264
Table 1 Major element oxide (%) data of selective samples from Kadiri granite-greenstone terrain
S. No. Rock Symbol SiO2 Al2O3 TiO2 Fe2O3 MnO MgO CaO Na2O K2O P2O5
S-1.8/6 Altered Basic 33.03 16.19 3.86 25.85 0.2 16.29 2.01 <0.01 <0.01 0.31
S-1.8/9 Diorite 48 17.12 0.62 10.17 0.11 9.78 10.24 2.15 0.29 0.09
1.8SP1 Basalt porphyry 64.34 14.06 0.88 8.22 0.1 0.63 3.19 3.57 4.01 0.4
1.8SP2 Pink Granite 73.9 13.27 0.23 1.92 0.03 0.34 0.93 3.65 5.45 0.11
1.8SP3 Diorite 57.72 14.8 0.72 7.19 0.1 5.01 5.36 4.01 2.15 0.29
1.8SP6 Granite 73.14 13.25 0.14 1.41 0.03 0.55 0.5 4.74 5.15 0.07
1.8SP7 Gray granite 73.59 13.45 0.13 1.12 0.01 0.15 0.11 4.59 5.44 0.07
1.8SP8 Diorite 56.36 15.69 0.7 8.55 0.1 5.38 6.15 4.37 1.82 0.27
1.8SP10 Granite 72.96 13.58 0.11 13.58 0.03 0.21 0.92 4.6 4.88 0.08
KS1 Schist belt 76.69 13.23 0.22 1.25 0.04 0.89 0.69 3.15 3.29 0.18
KS2 Schist belt 62.56 21.02 0.31 4.41 0.07 0.37 0.62 1.79 7.39 0.14
KS3 Schist belt 73.36 16.03 0.25 1.60 0.05 0.72 0.49 2.40 4.57 0.17
KS4 Schist belt 72.05 13.85 0.31 2.36 0.05 1.13 1.96 4.36 1.20 0.19
KS5 Schist belt 77.54 12.57 0.14 1.10 0.03 0.92 3.41 0.81 1.53 0.18
KS6 Schist belt 58.93 16.26 0.81 6.48 0.07 3.65 7.16 4.00 0.77 0.21
KS7 Schist belt 67.90 15.50 0.31 3.35 0.05 0.68 1.26 6.05 2.92 0.15
S. Goswami and P. K. Upadhyay
record a progressive decrease in iron and magnesium with increasing SiO2 and
alkali concentrations. Available FeO and MgO are progressively removed from the
melt through crystallization of olivine, pyroxenes, amphiboles, biotite and iron
oxide minerals such as magnetite. The removal of ferromagnesian minerals enriches
the melt in Na2O, K2O and SiO2. The SiO2 versus FeOt/MgO plot (Miyashiro
1974) and AFM diagram (after Irvine and Barager 1971) of data-points fall in the
calc-alkaline field (Figs. 15 and 16). The progressive changes in chemical com-
position are plotted on the AFM (A, alkali; F, iron; M, magnesium wt%) diagram
(Fig. 16) to study along with the Harker diagrams (Figs. 13 and 14). This is to
demonstrate that the calc-alkaline rocks generated by diversification of andesitic
parent magma. Thus, with increasing fractionation from magma, the calc—alkaline
series exhibits increase in SiO2, Na2O and K2O and decrease in CaO, MgO and the
total iron (Bowen 1928; Miyashiro 1974; Grove and Kinzler 1986). However, due
to successive metamorphism and alterations the addition or removal of certain
oxides can show some discrepancy (Table 2).
As far as tectonic setting is concerned, the plutonic and hypabyssal rocks were
separately studied and interpreted from volcanics. Felsic volcanic data suggest
convergent plate margin for greenstone belt rocks (Fig. 17a) wherein younger
batholiths and composite volcanoes develop above the subduction zone. It is likely
that the parent melts for the acid volcanics produced by partial melting of a rela-
tively undepleted mantle source. Older dioritic to granidioritic peninsular gneiss
equivalent and younger closepet equivalent granitoids along with intermediate
younger hypabyssal porphyries are plotted in the tectonic discrimination diagrams
after Maniar and Piccoli (1989). The older gneiss equivalences plot in the
post-orogenic granitoids (POG) field on the Al2O3 versus SiO2 plot (Fig. 17b).
Thus we can consider the Dharwar batholith to have formed during the crust
stabilizing post-orogenic environment. Whereas the younger granitoids and dykes
plot in the combined field (Fig. 17c), which must be clarified from other supportive
discrimination diagrams. The geochemical data are also plotted into the Batchelor
and Bowden’s diagram (1985) that support the tectonic environment for older
gniess equivalents as post-orogenic. Additionally it shows younger granitoids and
porphyries to associate with post-plate collision uplift (Fig. 17d).
6 Discussions
The greenstone belt rocks near Dorigallu indicate submarine volcanism along fissures
developed in convergent plate boundary involved the transfer of magma (together
with phenocrysts, dissolved volatiles, and country-rock material entrained from the
conduit walls or ground surface) from some depth. The breccias and agglomerates
indicate fissure vent surrounding environment (Goswami et al. 2018a, b). Fragments
in breccias are chiefly felsic volcanics and range up to 1 m across although generally
averaging 10–30 cm. According to Goodwin et al. (1972) the ratio of pyroclastics to
flows increases both with increasing stratigraphic height and with decreasing distance
Fig. 13 Variation diagram (Harker Harker 1909) showing multiple oxide (%) plots against SiO2
(%)
to eruptive centers. Thus the studied sections in Kadiri schist belt suggest middle
portion of the greenstone succession. The intensive shearing and brecciation of
granitic apophyses, intruded along schistosity plane in the northern part of Kadiri
greenstone belt, causes pseudo appearance of agglomerate. The actual agglomerate
units are not well-sorted sorted and fragments are generally angular although some
units are composed of well-rounded bombs. The medium to fine ash-flow tuff units are
welded and well bedded. Individual beds are 1 cm to few meters thick.
The basalt, andesite, dacite and rhyolite (BADR) is the signature suite of rocks
indicates calc-alkaline volcanic association. This suite can act as a fingerprint of
convergent plate margin. This setting constitutes possibly one of the most voluminous
rock assemblages on the Earth after MORB (Perfit et al. 1980; Grove and Kinzler
1986). Harker diagram plots of major elements indicate a liquid line of descent from a
common magma source. This BADR rock association are derived from a common
parent magma of basaltic to andesitic composition. These calcalkaline volcanic rocks
Fig. 14 Variation diagrams of selective trace elements (ppm) against SiO2 (%)
Fig. 15 SiO2 versus FeOt/

MgO binary diagram (after
Miyashiro 1974)
distinguishing between
tholeiitic and calc-alkaline
rocks
Fig. 16 AFM diagram (after

Irvine and Barager 1971)
serves to discriminate
between calc-alkaline and
tholeiitic subalkaline series. In
this ternary diagram A =
(Na2O+K2O), F = FeOt and
M = MgO
are formed at convergent margins where more silicic rocks represent enhanced
fractionation. The calc-alkaline trend with ocean-continent convergence setting of the
present data supports the observation of Chadwick et al. (2000). The calc-alkaline
suite is also reflected from enrichment in SiO2, alkalis (Na2O and K2O), LILE,
volatiles and is relatively depleted in FeO, MgO, HFS concentrations (Miyashiro
1974; Hawkesworth et al. 1993; Pearce and Peate 1995) like the Phanerozoic con-
vergent margins eg., Sierra Nevada (Fliedner et al. 2000; Ducea 2001) and ring of fire
in present day. The peraluminous to metaluminous nature (Fig. 18a, b) with domi-
nantly acidic composition indicates ocean-continent convergence that took place
during Late Archaean time (*2.6 Ga). Oceanic or thinner continental lithosphere in
the overlying plate generally produces metaluminous, mafic to intermediate rocks
(Miyashiro 1974; Gill 1981). Thicker continental lithosphere overlying the subduc-
tion zones commonly yields peraluminous, potassic, intermediate to silicic rocks. The
high K calc-alkaline and shoshonite i.e., high K andesite magma (Fig. 19a) indicate
melting at the base of the lithospheric stack. In Th versus Co plot (Fig. 19b) as per
Hastie et al. (2007), the high K calc-alkaline and shoshonite series indicate late stage
ocean-continent subduction. The progression from tholeiite to calc-alkaline to
shoshonite (trachyandesite) reflects increasing K2O and K2O/Na2O and decreasing
iron enrichment (Jakes and White 1972; Miyashiro 1974). The hot, buoyant Archean
ocean lithosphere possibly favoured shallow low-angle subduction, which can be
explained by Al2O3, K2O and SiO2 rich rhyolites, rhyodacites and shoshonites and
plutonic rocks of increasingly granitic composition. This points to a relatively
low-angle subduction (*25°) of thick continental lithosphere (>25 km) with higher
degrees of partial melting (Davies 1992; Ernst 2007; Stern 2008).
Table 2 Selective trace element (ppm) data of the samples from Kadiri granite-greenstone terrain
S. No. Rock Symbol Ba Co Cr Cu Nb Ni Pb Rb Sr Th Zn Zr Y Ce
S-1.8/6 Altered Basic 153 72 348 <10 37 175 82 <10 62 <10 71 156 31 40
S-1.8/9 Diorite 155 37 133 59 22 97 <10 <10 323 <10 60 74 14 14
1.8SP1 Basalt porphyry 1058 19 13 <10 32 <10 18 188 226 <10 149 595 50 164
1.8SP2 Pink Granite 449 24 16 <10 29 <10 45 367 65 82 37 225 33 124
1.8SP3 Diorite 784 22 77 48 21 33 16 114 781 <10 118 198 46 85
1.8SP4 Basalt porphyry 568 24 95 <10 <10 42 12 66 562 <10 93 163 <10 34
1.8SP5 Basalt porphyry 555 29 212 59 <10 49 10 65 873 <10 115 138 32 48
1.8SP6 Granite 442 47 19 <10 27 <10 31 351 97 41 34 177 18 83
1.8SP7 Gray granite 456 25 14 <10 22 <10 32 381 81 40 33 148 18 58
1.8SP8 Diorite 723 24 59 97 20 35 22 114 431 <10 125 205 55 55
1.8SP9 Basalt porphyry 566 37 63 26 <10 32 25 115 295 <10 45 141 19 27
1.8SP10 Granite 430 26.8 16.3 <10 22 <10 48 315 64 71 43 209 26 180
KS1 Schist belt 919 15 26 11 21 15 21 125 508 35 31 142 16 148
Tectonic History of the Granitoids and Kadiri Schist Belt in …
KS2 Schist belt 1489 22 68 <10 28 43 <10 250 291 29 39 146 23 160
KS3 Schist belt 632 14 31 16 28 19 10 169 306 35 28 144 16 147
KS4 Schist belt 358 23 31 16 14 24 35 60 662 24 69 153 13 123
KS5 Schist belt 172 27 29 <10 17 <10 14 107 622 25 28 150 14 123
KS6 Schist belt 557 26 88 21 33 59 11 24 572 <10 97 170 35 80
KS7 Schist belt 1086 22 44 95 12 15 11 67 555 18 <10 166 16 102
269
Fig. 17 a The logarithmic Zr versus Ti plot of data points fall in Island arc lava field which
suggest convergent plate margin (after Pearce, Pearce 1982). b Al2O3 versus SiO2 plot (after
Maniar and Piccoli, Maniar and Piccoli 1989). c AFM ternary (after Maniar and Piccoli, Maniar
and Piccoli 1989). Note: IAG = island arc granitoids, CAG = continental arc granitoids, CCG =
continental collision granitoids, POG = post-orogenic granitoids, RRG = rift-related granitoids,
CEUG = continental epirogenic uplift granitoids, OP = oceanic plagiogranites. d R1–R2 binary
diagram (De La Roche et al. 1980) with geotectonic implications (after Batchelor and Bowden
1985)
To relate Archean high-grade gneiss with low grade (granite-greenstone) terrane

we have to determine one of the following three situations (after Shackleton 1976).
1. Both age and tectonic setting differ. 2. Same age but different tectonic setting. 3.
High-grade terranes are the deep crustal equivalents of granite greenstone terranes.
Since, the age of greenstone/schist belt is different from that of granitoids, the
second possibility eliminates. The term Dharwar Batholith after Chadwick et al.
(2000) is introduced to differentiate from Peninsular gneiss as the rocks are more
granitic than gneissic. In most of the areas, the contact between the Dharwar
Batholith and the schist belt is blind. Since, Kadiri is the northern extension of
Kolar schist belt it is logical to accept the same mechanism of rifting associated
with mantle-plume as suggested for Kolar schist belt (Rajamani et al. 1985;
Rajamani 1990). However, the mantle plume related extension and rifting perhaps
Fig. 18 a Molar Na2O–Al2O3–K2O ternary plot to distinguish meta/peraluminous from

peralkaline rocks as well as potassic, sodic and ultrapotassic suites. b Al2O3/(CaO+Na2O+K2O)
versus Al2O3/(Na2O+K2O) (mol%) i.e., A/CNK versus A/NK plot of Shand (1943) discriminating
metaluminous, peraluminous and peralkaline compositions
Fig. 19 a SiO2 versus K2O binary plot (after Peccerillo and Taylor 1976) to distinguish various
series of tholeiitic, calc-alkaline and shoshonitic rocks. b Confirmation of magma series using less
mobile elements, Co versus Th plot (after Hastie et al. 2007)
made back arc basin environment for the deposition of volcano-sedimentary

sequence. According to Jayananda et al. (2013a, b), an ultrahot orogen involving
two-stage accretion (2600–2700 Ma and 2520–2580 Ma) along W-dipping sub-
duction zones in individual greenstone belts, with later development of plumes
could explain extensive granite magmatism. Chadwick et al. (2000) reviewed the
isotopic and geochemical data and reports of earlier workers (viz, Friend 1983;
Friend and Nutman 1991; Oak 1990; Jayananda and Mahabaleshwar 1991) and
indicated predominance of granites derived by partial melting of older gneisses
(>2900 Ma) in the W portion of the batholith in contrast with juvenile granites and
related suites, which predominate at E. Therefore, based on available literature it is

logical to expect that high-grade terranes are the deep crustal equivalents of
granite-greenstone terranes. However, local field observation of the present study
area is insufficient to justify accurately such a broad interpretation.
7 Tectonic Evolution
According to Dey et al. (2014), the East Dharwar craton have Mesoarchaean and
Palaeoarchaean crust in the E. In fact, the typical BADR trend consists of tholeiitic
basalts, high Mg andesites and dacites-rhyolites (Dey et al. 2013) of the Kadiri
schist belt is the signature volcanic rock suite of a convergent margin (Goswami
et al. 2017). Based on the discussion on the different factors it can be said that the
Kadiri greenstone granite terrain rocks indicate convergent margin magmatism
affected by a number of variables, each of which have diversified magma com-
position (Fig. 20a). The eroded volcanic arc materials deposited as volcaniclastics
in the back arc basin. More specifically, in this present context the entire study have
given clue towards back arc basin environment for greenstone belt development,
which is also discussed in case of the Ramagiri schist belt in the W to the Kadiri
terrain (Goswami et al. 2016). The precipitation of chert and BIF atop the
volcano-sedimentary succession can be interpreted from the model. In fact, the
hydrothermal vents released elements in submarine environment and the free
oxygen in the atmosphere started developing during that time by photo dissociation
and some Archaean blue-green algae (*2.6 Ga). Thus the BIF precipitated in the
oxidation-reduction interface (Fig. 20b). The cartoon (Fig. 20c) of the arc and back
arc basin, proposed in this work, shows a two-stage evolution starting with volcanic
eruption followed by erosion. The local extension in the back arc basin also erupted
lava and surrounding areas too experienced characteristic phases of batholithic
intrusions. Small pockets of plumes might have generated later magmatic eruptions
and thus younger granitic intrusions enriched with large ion lithophile elements
(LILE) like uranium. Uranium anomalies in younger granites are located from the
study area (Fig. 1) during this work. The younger granitic apophyses affected the
schist belt volcanics and late shear and tectonics brecciated the rocks. Thus, after
formation and infilling of back arc basin followed by granitic intrusions, the
long-term erosion allowed the upper chert and BIF-rich portion to get transported
by surface agents when the Cuddapah basin started rifting (Fig. 21). This chert,
jasper and BIFs are the representative of significant time of erosion in the form of
basal conglomerate clast indicating the Eparchean nonconformity. Therefore, it can
be concluded that submarine hydrothermal vent activity in the back arc basin is the
source of iron and silica and thus volcanic hot springs released hot waters con-
taining dissolved iron, which probably precipitated after oxydation and interbedded
with volcanic rocks, graywackes etc. Subsequently, emplacement of dykes and
quartz reefs along extension mode cracks possibly during initiation of rifting and
Cuddapah basin development is another episode of tectonic history. The provinance
Fig. 20 Tectonic model showing ocean-continent convergence setting of greenstone belt in which
the back arc basin environment is more specifically the position of succession during first phase
(Episode from *2.8 to 2.1 Ga). a The regional tectonic setting indicates subducting oceanic
lithosphere below lighter continental plate and associated volcanic arc development. The
deposition of eroded arc material in the back arc basin along with dominantly felsic back arc
magmatism must have provided volcano—sedimentary greenstone belt succession. b Cartoon
depicting a detail zoom in back arc basin and BIF, chert precipitation at the final stage. c Cartoon
represents step wise evolution of the convergence setting in which stage 1 shows arc magmatism
followed by erosion and deposition of arc materials in to the back arc basin with simultaneous back
arc basin volcanism
erosion for the newly generated rift supplied initial basin fill and thus conglomerate
with clasts of granite, jasper, chert, quartz veins and BIFs are derived from
basement.
The SIMS U–Pb age (2556 ± 13 Ma) of the felsic volcanics from the Kadiri
greenstone belt (Jayananda et al. 2013b) is corresponding to the Kenoran orogeny
(>2500 Ma). Emplacement of later developed plume-related granitic magmatism of
*2520 Ma (Jayananda et al. 2013a) is reasonably related to the Hudsonian oro-
geny. In fact, the Hudsonian orogeny (*2500–1750 Ma) is an event resulting
extention by granitic plutonism, emplacements of dykes and veins along fractures,
rifting and associated opening of the Cuddapah basin.
Fig. 21 Model shows the second phase of the tectonic evolution in which a switch over from
convergence to divergence after a stable phase in between (episode from *2.0 to 1.9 Ga).
a Initiation of continental rifting and associated extension mode cracks development possibly
related to dyke and quartz reef emplacement. b The erosion from topmost portion of basement
provenance (i.e., granite-greenstone terrain) of the newly developing basin are redeposited as
conglomerate-sandstone beds of Gulcheru Formation
Acknowledgements Authors express sincere gratitude to Shri L. K. Nanda, Director, AMD for
encouragement and infrastructure support to publish the part of the assigned work. The support
and help extended by Dr. Syed Zakaulla (RD/SR, Bangalore), Shri. A. K. Bhatt (Dy. RD/SR,
Bangalore) and Shri. V. Natarajan (SO/H) are thankfully acknowledged. We thank Soumyajit
Mukherjee (IIT Bombay) for reviewing and handling this manuscript. The Springer team is
thanked for proof preparation and other assistance. Vide Vanik et al. (2018) for paleostressanalyses
procedure, and Tripathy et al. (2019) and Mukherjee et al. (in press) for other tectonic updates of
the Cuddapah basin. Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this work.
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Basement Tectonics and Shear Zones
in Cauvery Basin (India): Implications
in Hydrocarbon Exploration
S. Mazumder, Blecy Tep, K. K. S. Pangtey and D. S. Mitra
1 Introduction
Structural and tectonic modelling plays a major role in providing solutions in

different phases and aspects of hydrocarbon exploration. Different tectonic phases
and their associated structures play a significant role right from basin evolution up
to prospect generation and exploitation/development strategies. This influence of
tectonics and structural analysis have more impact in case of basement exploration
where different phases of Pre-Cambrian to Phanerozoic basement tectonics control
various elements of exploration like prospective areas, well placement, reservoir
capacity etc. These elements are governed by the parameters of basement prospects
like formation of basement highs, fracture pattern and densities, generation of
secondary porosities by neotectonic deformations and reactivations of earlier
structures.
In the Indian context, basement exploration is not a rather new concept with the
fractured basement in Borholla field of South Assam Shelf in Assam and Assam
Arakan Basin being under production for almost five decades. However, with
gradual decrease in large and easy-to-find oil pools, there is a shift in the focus of
exploration from conventional sedimentary reservoirs to unconventional hydro-
carbon accumulations. Basement oil pools fit into the latter category with present
efforts for basement exploration being underway in the basins of Cambay, Mumbai
High, Cauvery, Krishna-Godavari and Assam Shelf of India.
The Cauvery Basin forms a Category I sedimentary basin or an oil province with
an established commercial production. Most of its established petroleum systems
are limited to Cretaceous and Paleocene sequences with an estimated hydrocarbon
resource of 700 MMT of oil and oil equivalent gas (DGH India 2015). However, in
S. Mazumder (&) B. Tep K. K. S. Pangtey D. S. Mitra

ONGC, Dehradun, India
e-mail: subhom007@gmail.com

280 S. Mazumder et al.
the recent years (around 2012), hydrocarbon discoveries in the basement at depths
around 1400 m from a few fields have indicated the existence of an additional
basement play which may have a significant role in the overall hydrocarbon
exploration scenario. The present study based on a basement exploration perspec-
tive has been made to decipher different evidences of structural deformation of
basement in outcrops and subcrops in different scales pertaining to the various
episodes of tectonism affecting the basin. These structural signatures derived from
independent G&G studies were subsequently integrated in a GIS platform to build a
conceptual model for basement exploration and thus delineate optimal areas where
the basement can act as a promising hydrocarbon reservoir.
The Cauvery Basin is a peri-cratonic rift basin in the southern part of India
hosting a sedimentary sequence ranging in age from Late Jurassic to Recent
(Mukherjee 2015a, b). The basin is bounded at west by exposures of the
Pre-Cambrian South Indian Shield that rests unconformably below the sedimentary
layers forming the basement to this basin. A number of NE oriented basement highs
divide the basin into alternating ridge and sub basin areas, each of which form
discrete fault-bound blocks (Fig. 1a). In the north of the basin, another basement
high known as the Chingelput High (Mazumder et al. 2013a, b) separates the
Cauvery Basin from the adjacent Palar Basin whereas in the eastern part, the
Cauvery Basin continues underneath the Bay of Bengal as the Cauvery offshore.
Fig. 1 a General tectonic & geographical set up of the Cauvery Basin showing different
sub-basins and their dividing ridges b Generalized stratigraphy encountered in the Cauvery Basin
in outcrops and subcrops depicting the different source rock sequences (After Rangaraju et al.
1993; dghindia.com 2011; Nagendra et al. 2017)
Basement Tectonics and Shear Zones … 281
The basinal area in onshore part is covered by a thick layer of alluvium that
conceals structural and geological information.
1.1 Basement Tectonics
The sedimentary sequence of the Cauvery Basin along with its basement (Fig. 1b)
has suffered multiple episodes of tectonism. These different episodes of tectonism
and their effects in the basement are described below.
1.1.1 Precambrian Basement Tectonics
The Southern Granulite Terrane (SGT) of Late Archean to Neo-Proterozoic age

(Meert et al. 2010) effectively forms the basement of the entire Cauvery Basin and
is exposed in the western part beyond the basin margin. The SGT is effectively
constituted of polydeformed, poly-metamorphosed (Bhutani et al. 2007) and
exhumed granulite facies lower-crustal rocks e.g. charnockites, khondalites and
other high-grade metamorphic rocks with intrusions of granitic rocks (Ravindra
Kumar 2005; Plavsa 2014). Genetically SGT is believed to have been formed by the
accretion of number of high-grade metamorphic blocks (Meert et al. 2010). The
boundaries of each of these juxtaposed crustal provinces are marked by
Neoproterozoic shear zones (Meert et al. 2010) most of which are associated with
deep seated faults (Rao and Prasad 2006; Harinarayana et al. 2006). One of the
most significant tectonic feature in the SGT is the Cauvery Shear Zone (CSZ) that
forms an crustal scale E-W trending zone of intense planar fabrics that are exposed
in outcrop areas beyond basin margin and separate the northern Late Archaean
granulite block from the Proterozoic Madurai granulite block (Chetty 2015). The
Madurai block is itself separated by an isotopic boundary into a southern and
northern Madurai Block (SMB and NMB) (Plavsa 2014). This boundary correlates
with the surface extension of prominent southward dipping reflector in the upper
and the middle crust (Rajendra Prasad et al. 2007) suggesting it to be a major
terrane boundary. Studies by Gupta et al. (2015) conceptualized the extension of
this boundary below Cauvery Basin parallel to the CSZ.
The CSZ comprises a network of anastomosing broadly E-W shear zones
ranging from 1 to 10 km width, which represent belts of high strain separated by
domains of relatively low strain (Santosh et al. 2009). It is bound by the Moyar
Bhawani Shear Zone (MBSZ) in the north and the Palghat Cauvery Shear Zone
(PCSZ) (Janardhan 1999; Rao et al. 2006) to the south (Chetty and Bhaskar Rao
2006) with its eastern extension disappearing in the Bay of Bengal. Overall, it is
considered a product of two deformation phases, D1 during the Archean-
Proterozoic boundary and D2 during Proterozoic-Cambrian boundary (Santosh
et al. 2012). The D1 episode is associated with large-scale north verging thrusts and
N-S shortening, probably a result of subduction between different blocks, one of
them probably the southern margin of the Dharwar craton (Chetty and Santosh
2013). The D2-episode is characterized by transpressional tectonic regime with
extensive dextral shear and migmatisation (Chetty et al. 2003). Here it is to be noted
that in general shear fabrics in shear zones are developed ubiquitously in migma-
tites (Mukherjee and Koyi 2010a; Mukherjee 2013, 2014a, 2015a, b). These E-W
individual shear zones are presumably rooted to a decollement zone in the upper
mantle forming a crustal-scale ‘flower structure’ (Chetty and Bhaskar Rao 2006;
Chetty 2015) implying that individual shear zones branch out of a deeper and
thicker zone: vide fig A5 in the Appendix/Repository of Dasgupta and Mukherjee
(2017) for a meso-scale flower structure from a different terrain. Of these shear
zones, the MBSZ in the northern boundary of CSZ dip steeply southward whereas
the other constituent shear zones dip to north with moderate values.
The shear zones of CSZ have been mapped in the outcrop, but their disposition
below the Cauvery Basin plays a major role controlling the basement morphology and
guiding later development of structures in the northern part of the Cauvery Basin
(Murty et al. 2002). As such, CSZ influences basement exploration in the areas of
Ariyalur-Pondicherry Sub Basin, Kumbakonam-Madanam ridge, Tranquebar-
Tanjore Sub Basin, Karaikal ridge and Nagapattinam Sub Basin (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 Layout of the Cauvery Shear Zone (after Chetty 2015; Chardon et al. 2008; Plavsa 2014;
Gupta et al. 2015) consisting of broadly E-W oriented shear zones with most of it impacting
basement tectonics of Ariyalur-Pondicherry Sub Basin, Kumbakonam-Madanam Ridge,
Tranquebar Sub Basin, Karaikal-Vedaranniyam Ridge and Nagapattinam Sub Basin of Cauvery
Basin. MBSZ Moyar Bhawani Shear Zone, PCSZ Palghat Cauvery Shear Zone, NMB Northern
Madurai Block and SMB Southern Madurai Block
1.1.2 Phanerozoic Basement Tectonics
Other than the formation of shear zones during Precambrian, the basement of
Cauvery Basin has also undergone three major episodes of tectonism that governed
the development of basement structures.
Formation of N-S Faults
One of the probable episodes of tectonism affecting the basement is the formation
of N-S faults during Lower Gondwana (Late Carboniferous—Permian). Evidences
of these tectonic phase exists as a number of N-S morphotectonic faults, major N-S
lineaments (Subrahmanyam et al. 1995; Saravanavel and Ramasamy 2003;
Prabaharan et al. 2013) and magnetic lineaments mapped in the onland Cauvery
Basin and offshore (Subrahmanyam et al. 1995). These structural trends are sym-
pathetic to the southern part of the adjacent Palar rift that hosts Ongur Formation
(Fig. 3a) dated to be Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (Rangaraju et al. 1993;
Vairavan 1993). In the Cauvery Basin, well P-2 drilled in Kumbakonam Ridge
along the N-S trend has also yielded palynofossil assemblage equivalent to Ongur
Formation (Prasad and Phor 2009). This implies the existence of N-S faults/rifts
continuing from Palar Basin in the north and affecting at least the northern part of
basement of Cauvery Basin (Fig. 3a).
Formation of NE-SW Faults
The principal event that initiated and shaped the morphology of Cauvery Basin is
the NE trending rifting associated with the separation of India-Sri Lanka system
from Antarctica and Australia in Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (Veevers and
Tewari 1995; Gaina et al. 2007; Veevers 2009; Lal et al. 2009; Nemcok et al. 2013).
The continental separation associated with rifting began at Late Jurassic (160 ma)
and produced genetically related rift systems of Cauvery, Palar, Pennar and
Krishna-Godavari. In Cauvery and Palar Basins the separation probably occurred
along pre-existing NE-SW oriented weaknesses in the Pre Cambrian basement
(linkages between shear zones) that may have guided later structures (Lal et al.
2009; Dasgupta and Mukherjee 2017). Such reactivation along existing fabric is
called “tectonic inheritance” (Misra and Mukherjee 2015). This led to the formation
of a series of major NE-SW horst and graben features in the basement dividing the
basin into a number of fault-bound ridges and sub-basin areas (Lal et al. 2009).
Formation of NW-SE Faults
In Early Cretaceous, transpression along the junction of Antarctica and Sri

Lanka-India developed a N-S strike slip fault that had been variously interpreted as
Fig. 3 a N-S oriented morphotectonic faults and lineaments (Subrahmanyam et al. 1995;
Saravanavel and Ramasamy 2003; Prabaharan et al. 2013) probably formed during Lower
Gondwana (Lower Carboniferous—Permian) that are sympathetic to the Ongur rift in Palar Basin
and also host well P-2 in Thanjavur Sub Basin that yielded palynoflora equivalent to Ongur
Formation. b Formation of NW-SE cross trends (Saravanavel and Ramasamy 2003; Prabaharan
et al. 2013) that had affected the basement as a result of simultaneous activity of the NE-SW rifting
and N-S strike slip faulting (Mazumder et al. 2013)
a transcurrent fault (Lal et al. 2009) or a dextral strike-slip transform fault (Nemcok
et al. 2013) along which Antarctica moved southward. The combined and simul-
taneous effect of the NE-SW rift trend and NNW trending strike slip fault probably
led to the development of NW-SE cross trends (Mazumder et al. 2013a, b). This
also resulted in a rotation of the earlier rift trends (Mazumder et al. 2013a, b)
causing a wide zone of fracturing along the rotational axis (Fig. 3a, b).
These tectonic phases in their respective times have its individual sympathetic
structural signatures that constitute part of the fabric of the basin, controlling its
evolution, sedimentation pattern to even the distribution of hydrocarbon systems.
Results of these phases of tectonism may also have led to parts of the basement
acting as a hydrocarbon reservoir as observed from the results of a number of wells
drilled by ONGC in the basin with depths varying from 2000 to 3500 m.
1.2 Basement Character as Hydrocarbon Reservoir
Now, in order to act as an effective reservoir rock, the basement should have the
following characteristics:
(a) Most basement hydrocarbons are hosted in structural highs of varying but
generally moderate to large elevation. The highs are formed by fault-controlled
blocks, often in rift settings like upthrown sides of faulted block, horsts within a
graben (Chung 1982) or by palaeo-hills buried unconformably below sedi-
mentary cover (Gutmanis 2009).
(b) Younger sediments, which act as hydrocarbon sources, either flank or directly
overlie the basement (Sircar 2004). Charging mostly takes place laterally or by
up-dip migration from adjacent structural lows, however, downward migration
may also take place from overlying source rocks into underlying basement
(Gutmanis 2009).
(c) Most basement rocks are characterized with low matrix porosity (typically
<0.5%) and permeability. As a result, reservoir quality in basement rocks
depends on the development of secondary porosity and the presence of a
connected open fracture network. A number of such fractured reservoirs in
basement exist worldwide e.g. Aerxia Oil Field in China with well-developed
joints, faults and fractures in phyllite, slate and meta-sandstone (Sircar 2004),
White Tiger field, Vietnam constituted of fractured granite basement (Dang
et al. 2011), Dayung Field in South Sumatra with fractured basement com-
prising Permian carbonates intruded by granites (Darmadi et al. 2013) and
fractured basement reservoir in Zeit Bay oil field, Gulf of Suez, Egypt com-
posed of pegmatic granites (Zahran and Askary 1988). This secondary porosity
consists of results of structural deformation like joints, faults, fractures ranging
in scale from microfractures to seismic scale faults and their damage zones
(Sircar 2004; Satyanaryana et al. 2010). As a result, the porosity and perme-
ability values in a basement reservoir are irregularly distributed laterally as well
as in depth, In case of White Tiger field, the largest field of Vietnam for
basement oil, maximum porosity is found to be 4% with permeability occa-
sionally reaching 0.8D (Huy et al. 2012). However, dense micro-cracks asso-
ciated to major fault structures that may be formed as a result of multiple
episodes of tectonism can develop porosity up to 10% and permeability up to

0.1 D (Walter et al. 2017). Accordingly, areas of basement that suffer and bear
the imprints of multiple episodes of tectonism and reactivation can be con-
sidered as optimal areas that can act as basement reservoir (Trice 2014).
(d) Both up-dip and lateral charging occur in periods of tectonic activity when
active faults act as open conduits for the migration of fluids with overlying
non-breached relatively tight and low permeability sedimentary units acting as
seals (Sircar 2004; Gutmanis 2009). This is aided by the episodic and repeated
mechanisms of seismic pumping, associated with reactivations and earthquake
processes (Gutmanis 2009) depending upon the state of stress acting on the
region. Here seismic pumping refers to the intermittent re-distribution of fluids
including hydrocarbons mainly in and around fault zones during fault activity.
Seismic faulting acts as a pumping mechanism whereby release of seismogenic
stress during earthquakes creates a fluid potential difference between upper and
lower part in a fault and thus acts as an important force resulting in rapid pore
fluid migration (Sibson et al. 1975; Cao et al. 2011; Hua 1995). Basement
prospects that are oriented parallel/sub parallel to the maximum in situ stresses
in the region are considered as more favourable targets compared to those at
high angles to these (Vasudevan et al. 2012).
(e) Analysis of production performance in basement reservoirs indicate high flow
rates concentrated in late faults that are reactivated closely before the oil
migration time (Huy et al. 2012).
The above mentioned salient features that qualify a basement to be a good
reservoir indicates the significance of the different episodes of tectonism and their
corresponding structural deformations in controlling basement exploration param-
eters like optimal reservoir area, areas of maximum fracturing, conduits for
migration etc. In the rest of the manuscript, different studies like remote sensing and
geomorphology, geological fieldworks, seismic data, electrologs, gravity and
magnetics have been used to analyse the basement of Cauvery Basin to detect
different structural signatures of tectonic episodes. Based on the signatures, the
above parameters are integrated to delineate the promising areas of basement
exploration in the basin.
2 Analysis and Methodology
The present study presumes that signatures of structural deformation resulting from
a particular episode of tectonics are similar in pattern but may vary in their scale
depending upon the tools and perspective used to view them. Based on this premise,
pattern of signatures of a particular phase of tectonism observed in outcrops may be
repeated in larger scale in subsurface seismic data or in further regional scale in
remote sensing images. In accordance to the above assumption, structural patterns
Fig. 4 Flowchart of analysis for deriving conceptual model of basement exploration
in the basement below the Cauvery Basin are extracted from different geophysical
and geological data sets. These are subsequently compared with field analogues and
integrated to prepare a conceptual model for basement exploration (Fig. 4).
2.1 Surface Analysis
In this part of the study, the Cauvery Basin and the Precambrian basement outcrops
beyond it are analysed to delineate structures exposed and manifested on the
surface.
In the basinal area, a neotectonic based structural analysis/morphostructural
analysis is carried out on principles discussed in Mazumder et al. (2011, 2013a, b,
2016) to detect surface manifestations of deep-seated/basement-related structures.
These basement related structures include both faults and structural highs. Both of
these elements reactivate repeatedly in the neotectonic regime and are manifested
on the surface as anomalies in geomorphic elements like topography, soil and
especially drainage, which form the most sensitive parameter. Such neotectonic
manifestations like fluvial anomalies, seismogenic lineaments and seismicity are
well distributed and well-studied in the Cauvery Basin (Murty et al. 2002; Kumaran
and Ramasamy 2005; Ganapathy and Rajarathinam 2010; Prabaharan et al. 2013,
JFig. 5 a Drainage features used to interpret probable fault segments that may be manifestations of
basement faults. b Geomorphic highs indicating sub surface structural highs interpreted based on
peripheral drainage geometry. Associations with elements like barbed drainage and rectangular
drainages imply a greater degree of confidence of representing sub surface structural highs
(Trenchard 2007). c Evidences of folding and jointing in the exposed basement near Salem
delineated from LANDSAT ETM+ band combination 7, 4 and 1. d Shear zone exposed in a river
bed in Belur near Salem oriented E-W with earlier NE-SW foliations rotated parallel to sense of
shearing. e Joints developed in Charnockite in the exposed basement. f Fault oriented NW-SE in
the Cuddalore Formation near Neyveli. Geographical positions of the geomorphic, outcrop and
image based features cited above marked in the Fig. 5g
Singh et al. 2016; Resmi et al. 2016 etc.). In this study, features in drainage
geometry (e.g. drainage offsets, rectangular drainages, compressed meanders)
(Fig. 5a), abrupt changes in surface slope and lineaments derived from tonal
variations in images are used to delineate fault segments. Similarly, geomorphic
highs forming surface expression of probable structural highs in basement are
derived from features like radial and peripheral drainages. Associations with fea-
tures like barbed drainages, rectangular drainage patterns and low moisture contents
are used to build up and classify these geomorphic highs as per their degree of
confidence based on their probabilities in representing basement structural highs
(Fig. 5b). These morpho-structural interpretations are subsequently validated by
extensive field checks where the mapped structures are checked for neotectonic
faulting imprints and evidences like unpaired terracing, abnormal incisions and
sudden appearance of braiding.
In areas beyond the basin margin of Cauvery Basin, extensive field work and
image analysis have been carried out to identify structural features in the exposed
basement rocks. LANDSAT ETM+ (EarthExplorer, USGS) band combinations of
band 7, 4 and 1 have been pan-sharpened, contrast enhanced and edge filtered to
identify different regional scale structural features (Fig. 5c). Abrupt termination of
basement outcrops to delineate faults, instances of folding in basement lithology,
prominent lineament patterns have been deciphered from separate image data sets.
As a part of fieldwork in these outcrops, attitude of joint sets and fractures (Fig. 5e)
developed in basement lithology were measured, characterized and used to identify
trends of their causative regional faults. Outcrop scale deformations like folding,
faulting (Fig. 5f) and shearing (Fig. 5d) were also analysed in view of their
geometry and inter-relationships for modelling of subsurface basement features.
These two sets of surface structural data pertaining to the alluvial covered
basinal area and the exposed basement area were correlated and joined in a GIS
platform to understand the disposition of basement structures in the basinal area
(Fig. 6).
Fig. 6 Map depicting the surface disposition of the principal basement trends and geomorphic
highs in the basinal area overlain on geological map (after Desikachar et al. 1960). The
geomorphic highs are arranged as per degree of confidence to represent subsurface structural
highs. The surface trends in the rectangular area has been correlated with faults at basement top in
Fig. 7
2.2 Correlation with Seismic Data
3D Pre-Stack Time Migrated (PSTM) seismic data used for imaging subsurface
datasets exhibiting complex geological structures recorded in the Cauvery Basin
area has been used to validate and establish the continuity of the surface mor-
phostructural interpretations and to identify the structural effects of different phases
of tectonism.
An overlay analysis of faults mapped on basement top from seismic data in
Kali-Kuthalam area (Fig. 6) with surface basement trends and morphostructural
faults shows a positive correlation. This probably implies the basement related
subsurface faults may have cut through Mesozoic and Tertiary sections as a result
of multiple reactivations of them and have been manifested on the surface due to
present day neotectonism affecting Cauvery Basin (Fig. 7). This also suggests the
interpreted surface trends represent the basement faults.
In a further attempt to correlation, seismic time slices acquired at 2000 ms time
equivalent depth (within basement, near basement top) in Madanam and Kuthalam
area (Fig. 8a) had been digitally filtered in an image processing software to highlight
and extract lines of high seismic amplitude. Here it is to be noted that though crys-
talline formations are associated with lack of acoustic contrast, however structures on
or near basement top can be identified (Gutmanis 2009). These extracted lines appear
to define a similar geometry to the E-W oriented folds observed in image data (Fig. 8c)
and in outcrops (Fig. 8d) and also display an analogous association with the E-W
faults as observed in those areas. As such, it is possible that these features are sheath
folds defined as highly non-cylindrical folds (Reber et al. 2013) that may be produced
as a result of pronounced ductile shear (Mukherjee 2014b; Mukherjee et al. 2015).
Similar sheath folds have been mapped by Chetty et al. (2012) in Mahadevi Hills in the
axial zone of Cauvery Shear Zone that are also characterized by E-W axial traces
(Fig. 9). The E-W trends probably act as manifestations of the shear zones in basement
with the sheath folds forming contemporaneously with the dextral shearing along
them. Fold amplifies during shearing with the fold axes rotating towards shear
direction. At the highest strain level, the fold axes becomes sub-parallel to shear
direction (Burg 2017a, b) and existing foliations of the country rock are found to be
deflected parallel to the E-W trends (Fig. 5d).
In addition, seismic sections are correlated with surface interpretations to validate
the morpho-structural manifestations of basement top morphology (Fig. 5b). The
correlation indicates that faults affecting basement top when extrapolated up-dip
match with the surface fault trends re-iterating the fact that they are reactivation related
manifestations of the basement faults (Fig. 9e). Also, most of the geomorphic highs
spatially coincide with the areas of basement highs associated with a high amount of
structural relief. Since most of the interpreted geomorphic highs are found to be
associated with NE trending surface features, probably the NE faults create basement
highs with a higher structural relief (Fig. 9a). Other than these structural highs, the
basement top is also found to depict a series of smaller undulations with much smaller
variation in basement relief compared to the structural highs. These small undulations
Fig. 7 Correlation of faults mapped using seismic data at basement top with surface basement
trends corresponding to the area depicted in Fig. 6
are found to correlate with the sheath folded layers delineated from time slices with
individual separated by the E-W trending faults (Fig. 9b). Since both the sheath folded
layers and the E-W trending faults are associated with shearing, it indicates that the
series of small undulations at the basement top are representative of shear zones in a
sectional view. Analogous signatures are also observed in sectional views of shear
zones exposed beyond the basin margin (Fig. 9c) as well as other shear zones reported
in public domain (Fig. 9d).
Since the shear zones (Mukherjee and Mulchrone 2015) associate with E-W
surface trends, their spatial disposition provides an estimate of the basinal extent
affected by shearing. The results indicate that most of the trends are concentrated in
the area north of the Cauvery Basin (Fig. 10a). Seismic sections near
Ramnathapuram area (Fig. 10b) do not show any effects of the shear zones in
basement like undulations or sheath folds suggesting no such Pre-Cambrian base-
ment deformations in the area. However, basement related structural highs exist and
are manifested as geomorphic highs (Fig. 10b).
Fig. 8 a Seismic time slices in Madanam and Kuthalam area at 2000 ms time equivalent depth
(within basement, near basement top) as shown in the index map. b Lines of high seismic
amplitude extracted from the basement time slices appear to define a folded pattern with an axial
trace that is parallel to the E-W basement trends mapped at the surface. These patterns are similar
to the E-W trending sheath folds defined in image. c (LANDSAT ETM+ band 8) and outcrop scale
(8d) near Salem
Fig. 8 (continued)
2.3 Correlation with Image Log Data
Formation Microimager logs (FMI) recorded in deep wells M-5 and M-6 drilled by
ONGC along the E-W faults were analysed to determine the fracture patterns and
porosity associated with the shear zones. An orientation analysis of fracture azi-
muths derived from FMI logs for every 50 m interval from the basement top
indicates that E-W fractures occur in zones of 200–300 m thickness. These frac-
tures are mostly regularly spaced and found to be oriented along E-W foliations
(Fig. 11a, b and d). The E-W foliated and fractured zones represent the signatures
of shear zones. Observations from FMI data indicate that these zones are separated
by areas of un-sheared rock where other tectonic trends are dominant. Similar
features are observed in cores cut in deep wells drilled by ONGC along the E-W
surface trends. A 3 m cored interval recovered from basement in well MT-9

indicates parallel quartzo-feldspathic and biotite rich layers exhibiting mylonitic
foliation with fracture planes developed sub-parallel to them. These fractures show
a steep structural dip (60°) towards north (from FMI log). The fracturing or brittle
plane generation parallel to mylonitic foliation is commonly observed in some other
shear zones as well (Mukherjee and Koyi 2010b; Mukherjee 2012). Dipole Shear
Sonic Imager logs (DSI log) carried out for fracture characterization of another well
P-6 also associated with E-W surface trends indicate that the E-W trending fractures
associated with the foliations are open and deep (Fig. 11c). Field analogs from
outcrops of basement across basin margin also indicate foliation parallel fracturing
or jointing with open fracture sets (Fig. 11d).
2.4 Gravity and Magnetic Data
Both gravity and magnetic data helps to build a regional representation of basement
configuration. Deep-seated regional scale structural elements affecting basement are
manifested as gravity or magnetic signatures. Based on this premise, E-W signa-
tures were derived from gravity derivative (Kumar et al. 2009) and reconnaissance
scale aeromagnetic data over Cauvery Basin (Rajaram and Anand 2014). Also since
these E-W shear zones are believed to extend offshore (Murty et al. 2002), the E-W
trending faults mapped by Subrahmanyam et al. 1995 had also been extracted from
the magnetic map in offshore areas.
An analysis of the different independent surface and subsurface data sets thus
provided a number of E-W basement related trends that can be regarded as com-
ponents of shear zone. These are (a) E-W surface trends derived from geomorphic
and image data (b) Shear zones and faults mapped in field (Chardon et al. 2008;
Desikachar et al. 1960) (c) E-W trending faults from seismic maps at top of
basement level in both onshore and offshore Cauvery Basin d) E-W trends extracted
from gravity derivative maps (Kumar et al. 2009) and (e) E-W trends derived from
aero-magnetic data (Rajaram and Anand 2014) and offshore magnetic data
(Subrahmanyam et al. 1995). All these components signifying parts of a shear zone
are joined in a GIS platform to define a probable shear zone network in Cauvery
Basin (Fig. 12) maintaining protocols like thickness and spacing constraints, rela-
tionship with sheath folded layers derived from basement time slices and available
well control in terms of both FMI logs and well data.
JFig. 9 a Seismic sections along AB, CDE, FG and XY (as in inset map) correlated with surface
faults and geomorphic highs. Most of the geomorphic highs in the surface are found to overlie
areas of basement high that are associated with a high amount of structural relief. b Basement top
in seismic section also depicts a series of smaller undulations characterized with a much smaller
variation in relief. These small undulations (encircled) correlate with the sheath folded layers
extracted from time slice and are found to be separated by the E-W trending faults (in red). c Shear
zone exposed in sectional view in Manmedu near Tiruchurapalli displays similar such undulation.
d Undulations also observed in the cross section of Homestake Shear Zone, Hornsilver Ridge,
Colorado similar to those interpreted in seismic data (Shaw et al. 2002). e Faults affecting
basement top when extrapolated up-dip are found to correlate with interpreted surface fault trends
(especially oriented E-W) implying that these surface trends are reactivation related manifestations
of the basement faults
Fig. 9 (continued)
3 Discussions
3.1 Fracturing and Layout of Shear Zones
The Precambrian shear zones are considered products of deep and ductile defor-
mation with the concentration of large strain. However, with decrease in depth and
associated decrease in temperature and pressure, wider zones of ductile displace-
ment are transformed into discrete planes and narrow zones of brittle displacement
(Burg 2017a, b). The areas affected by the shearing show higher fracture density
than the host rock, with the highest fracture densities restricted to fine-grained and
strongly foliated sections (Laws et al. 2003).
In the present case, dextral shearing (D2) leads to the formation of a shear
foliation and sheath folding aligned along the E-W shear zones. Most of these shear
zones are continuous from the basement exposures to the basinal part and show
Fig. 10 a E-W trends appear to be concentrated in the northern part of the Cauvery Basin
indicating that the effect of shear zone on basement is restricted to solely that area. b Seismic
sections along lines AB and CD in southern part of Cauvery Basin showing no indications of
shearing (GH stands for Geomorphic Highs)
similar type of sheath folding and foliation properties both in outcrops and subcrops
(Fig. 13c). However, upon reaching a critical length, the shear zones link obliquely
along step over areas (Schrank et al. 2008) forming NE-SW oriented linkages
between the adjacent shear belts. The shear foliations along the E-W shear belts
exposed at the basement top level changes to a weakly bonded planar fabric.
Deformations occurring subsequent to the formation of the shear zones reactivated
these planes of weakness, both along the shear zones and their linkages eventually
forming fractures oriented along the foliations. These areas of fracturing due to the
formation of shear zones are about 250–300 m in orthogonal thickness and are
associated with a moderate to steep dip. As such, these shear zones could have
branched out of a thicker, gentler and a more ductile layer in the deeper part of
basement (Fig. 13a, b). Hence it is possible that more than one shear zone could be
encountered in a particular drilled well that are separated by an interval of
un-sheared and less fractured rock thus increasing the probability of encountering a
zone of high porosity (secondary).
The isotopic boundary probably forms the limit of the area where the basement
is affected by shearing.
3.2 Areas of Maximum Fracture Porosity
Other than the Precambrian tectonism creating E-W shear zones, the basement is
deformed by to the three episodes of Phanerozoic tectonism as discussed earlier.
Each of these phases probably inherited and reactivated older fracture patterns
within basement depending upon the state of stress prevalent at the time. Of these
episodes, the NE-SW trending main rifting phase in Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous
had the most dominant effect on basement. Additionally, each deformation phase is
instrumental in reactivation of faults/fractures that were created in an earlier phase.
The areas of intersection of Phanerozoic basement trends demarcated from their
surface manifestations with the shear zones will form the areas of maximum
fracture porosity in Cauvery Basin (Figs. 11a, d and 14). These are also the areas of
maximum reactivation resulting in extensive fracturing along the shear zones with
deep, open and connected fracture networks increasing secondary porosity in the
area. The areas of intersections of the different sets of fractures form an intercon-
nected fracture mesh increasing the areas of permeability in the region.
3.3 Reactivation and Migration from Source
The Cauvery Basin forms a neotectonically active area with number of earthquake
epicentres and seismic prone lineaments mapped in its geographical extent
(Saravanavel and Ramasamy 2003; Ganapathy and Rajarathinam 2010).
Accordingly, most of its structural and tectonic elements can be considered to be
neotectonically reactivated. The in situ tectonic stress acting on the northern part of
the basin as deduced from different sources like Drilling Induced Fractures in
different wells (Fig. 15a), Focal Plane Solutions (Murty et al. 2002), World Stress
Maps (Heidbach et al. 2016) and works of Chatterjee and Mukhopadhyay (2008),
Subrahmanyam (2014) indicate SHmax direction oriented ENE-WSW to NW-SE.
In the present analyses, a trend based correlation of morphostructural faults at the
surface with faults mapped at the top of basement from seismic data in the
Madanam area indicates that the E-W trends are more reflected in the surface
manifestations (Fig. 15b). This specifies that under the present stress regime the
E-W faults are the most reactivated. Consequently, the E-W shear zones turn out to
be the most neotectonically reactivated structures in the basement. This implies that
the shear zones are associated with a greater damage zone constituted of a cluster of
incipient fractures with the damage zone width increasing with each phase of
reactivation associated displacement. This further enhances the reservoir character
of the shear zone area.
Although the shear zone affected areas of basement can effectively act as
reservoir with secondary porosity, it needs to be associated with a younger sedi-
mentary source for charging. These areas of basement either need to directly overlie
the hydrocarbon source horizon or needs to be connected to them by faults acting as
JFig. 11 a Trend analysis of fractures of wells M-5 and M-6 at every 50 m interval from basement
top indicates 200–250 m thick zones with dominance of E-W fracture sets. b FMI of well M-6
shows regularly spaced E-W fractures oriented along a zone of E-W foliations. c DSI logs of well
P-6 correlated with FMI indicate that the E-W oriented fractures are open and deep. d Field analog
showing E-W oriented open fractures associated with shear foliations in Attur (Fig. 9). Imprints of
fracture sets oriented NE-SW (along linkages) and E-W lead to an increase of fracture porosity in
the area
Fig. 12 Probable shear zone network derived from different components in the Cauvery Basin
(pink indicates ridges and blue indicates sub-basins)
conduits. For Cauvery Basin, shales within Andimadam Formation and Sattapadi
Shales of Early Cretaceous are considered the main source kitchen for the area. The
critical moment or the time of maximum hydrocarbon generation prior to migration
is observed to be around 65.5 Ma (Phaye et al. 2011). Since after Early Cretaceous,
no major tectonic event occurred in the basin other than subsidence and tilting
(Nagendra et al. 2017; DGH India), the in situ stress direction is considered similar
to that prevailing at the time of hydrocarbon migration. With this assumption, based
on principles in Zhang et al. (2011), E-W faults being parallel to the in situ stress
direction tend to remain open and act as conduits of migration in
Eocene-Oligocene. As a result they play a significant role in charging basement
reservoirs by updip/lateral migration from adjacent kitchen areas into structural
highs (Chandrasekhar et al. 2015). This is corroborated by adsorbed gas anomalies
in onland areas and natural hydrocarbon seepages in offshore (Dave et al. 2012)
both of which are considered as manifestations of migration/remigration conduits
that show a positive correlation with E-W shear zones (Fig. 15c). This suggests that
the E-W shear zones and associated faults are most instrumental in migration/
Fig. 13 a Probable model of arrangement of the shear zones branching off from a thicker and
deeper shear zone b Field analog from Manmedu showing shear zones in a cliff section branching
from each other enveloping unsheared rock in between c E-W oriented shear zones found to be
continuous from the basement exposures to the basinal part, showing similar type of fracturing
properties in outcrop in Manamedu and in FMI of subcrop in well M-5 (pink indicates ridges and
blue indicates sub-basins)
Fig. 13 (continued)
remigration of hydrocarbon in northern part of Cauvery basin thus forming an

essential element in formation of a basement prospect.
3.4 Delineation of Promising Areas of Basement

Exploration
The target areas for hydrocarbon exploration in the Cauvery Basin are the areas of
overlap of (1) structural highs (2) areas of maximum fracture porosity overlying
shear zones and (3) source pods of hydrocarbon generation that either overlie these
regions or are connected with them by E-W faults formed by reactivations of shear
zones. The areas of structural highs are manifested on the surface as geomorphic
highs and are classified as per their degree of confidence. Geomorphic highs of high
and medium confidence in the ridge areas are used to represent structural highs.
Areas of positive correlation between all the elements in a GIS platform indicate the
promising areas of basement exploration in Cauvery Basin (Fig. 16a, b).
The structural highs are mostly products of the main rift tectonics of Late
Jurassic-Early Cretaceous that uplifted the basement with high structural relief.
Areas of basement, affected by shear zones are also uplifted in these basement highs
and form zones of high fracture porosity as described earlier. The post rift
Cretaceous shales in Portonovo, Kudavasal, Sattapadi and Synrift Andimadam
Formation form the potential source rocks (Singh et al. 2007) that are mapped as the
Fig. 14 Areas of maximum fracture porosity delineated from Phanerozoic basement trends
associated with shear zones in the Cauvery Basin. Wells P-6, MT-9, M-5 and M-6 are hydrocarbon
bearing wells producing from basement in these areas
source pods. These are deposited in the lows adjacent to the basement highs or
directly overlie the basement highs. Shales within Kudavasal and Kamlapuram
Formation act as seals. On attaining critical moment, the hydrocarbon expulsed
migrate updip or migrate laterally along E-W reactivated faults and charge the areas
of fractured basement in the highs. In case of these source rocks directly overlying
the basement highs, downward migration resulting from hydrocarbon expelled
during compaction of the source sediments may also charge the reservoir areas
(Sircar 2004). The fractures serve as essential porosity for the hydrocarbon that may
move downdip along them and form accumulations (Fig. 16b).
Fig. 15 a Drilling Induced Fractures (DIFs) interpreted from well M-5 indicating SHmax oriented
E-W to NW-SE. b Comparison of rose diagrams of surface morphostructural trends and faults
mapped at the basement top in Madanam field (Fig. 7) indicate that the E-W trends are the most
reactivated. c Adsorbed gas anomalies in onshore Cauvery Basin and natural hydrocarbon
seepages in offshore areas (Dave et al. 2012) associated with E-W oriented shear zones indicating
that the E-W trending faults act as conduits of migration/remigration under present stress regime
Fig. 16 a Promising areas of basement exploration extracted from the spatial correlation of the
areas of maximum porosity in shear zones, geomorphic highs and source pods that spatially
overlap each other. Wells P-6, MT-9, M-5, M-6 and P-9 are hydrocarbon bearing wells producing
from basement in these areas. b Schematic model (not to scale) of (i) Initial basement rock with
probable NE-SW trending foliations (ii) Formation of E-W trending shear zones (in red lines)
associated with dextral shearing resulting in re-orientation of earlier foliations, formation of E-W
fractures at basement top and NE-SW oriented linkages connecting the shear zones (iii) Probable
formation of N-S trending faults resulting in reactivations of earlier fractures (iv) Main phase of
rifting due to NE-SW trending faults forming a number of basement highs and lows. Basement
highs associated with shear fractures and fault intersections act as promising areas c Block diagram
of conceptual model for basement exploration
4 Conclusions
The study emphasizes on the use of tectonics and structures in basement exploration
in Cauvery Basin. A GIS based correlation of different surface and subsurface
geological & geophysical datasets using outcrop structural analogues model the
disposition of shear zones in the northern part of Cauvery Basin. The mapped shear
zones occur as individual bands of 250–400 m thick spaced apart by 500 m to a
few km and dipping moderately to steeply near the basement top thereby fracturing
extensively basement top areas. These shear zone fractures develop in an E-W
orientation parallel to the shear foliations that opened due to repeated reactivations.
Imprints of subsequent basement tectonism on these zones increases fracture
porosity and creates connectivity with different fracture sets thus enhancing the
reservoir character of the basement. Structural highs created during the main phase
of rifting and associated with fractured basement forms promising areas of base-
ment exploration. Neotectonic reactivations due to changes in in-situ stress regime
results in hydrocarbon charging into the basement reservoirs thus creating hydro-
carbon prospects. A similar procedure may be effective delineating basement
hydrocarbon in other similar basins that have undergone multiple episodes of
tectonism.
Acknowledgements The authors express their gratitude to Soumyajit Mukherjee (IIT Bombay)
for handing and reviewing this manuscript. The other anonymous reviewer is also thanked.
Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this work.
The views expressed by the authors in this manuscript are not necessarily similar to the views of
the organization they represent.
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Implication of Transfer Zones in Rift
Fault Propagation: Example
from Cauvery Basin, Indian East Coast
Swagato Dasgupta
1 Introduction
The Cauvery basin, a rift zone located in the southern part of the eastern India,
records a poly-phase rift-drift transition (Veevers and Tewari 1995; Veevers 2009;
Lal et al. 2009; Sinha et al. 2010; Nemčok et al. 2013; Mukherjee 2018). The basin
evolved by Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous rifting of the Indian plate from the
Antarctic plate (Sastri et al. 1981; Veevers 2009; Sinha et al. 2010). It was a part of
the rift system that included Palar–Pennar, Krishna–Godavari and Mahanadi rift
zones, and dextral Coromondal, North Vizag and Konark transform faults (Veevers
2009; Sinha et al. 2010). The Cauvery rift zone evolved as a system of rift units
controlled by NE striking normal faults, having a trend similar to that of Krishna–
Godavari and Mahanadi rift zones. The Cauvery basin, in the southern part, initi-
ated as India separated from Sri Lanka due to India–Africa break–up (Katz 1978;
Chari Narasimha et al. 1995; Gaina et al. 2007; Veevers 2009). Thus the basin
experienced a poly phase rifting episode which ended by dextral strike-slip and
oblique-slip separation of Antarctic plate along the Coromondal transform margin
(Veevers 2009; Sinha et al. 2010; Nemčok et al. 2013). This *NNW trending
transform fault (*200–300 km length) comprise of horse-tail structure, which
overprints the previously developed normal fault pattern of the Cauvery offshore
basin in the southern part of India (Nemčok et al. 2013). The northern horse-tail
structure (*NNE-NE trend, *150–200 km length) of the NNW striking
Coromondal transform margin got linked with the Krishna–Godavari rift zone
(Sinha et al. 2010; Nemčok et al. 2013). Some small-scale pull-apart basins exist
along the Coromondal transfer zone, immediately N of the Cauvery basin
(Dasgupta 2018b).
S. Dasgupta (&)
301-Platinum Aura, Sector-20, Roadpali, Navi Mumbai 410218, India
e-mail: swagato.dg@gmail.com

314 S. Dasgupta
Some authors document that the Cauvery basin is a failed arm rift between the
Peninsular India in NW and the Sri Lankan landmass towards SE with structural
trend sub-parallel to the adjacent Precambrian Eastern Ghat lineaments (Katz 1978;
Chari Narasimha et al. 1995; Lal et al. 2009; see Misra and Mukherjee 2015 on
inheritance issue). Precisely this basin, having different rift-drift transition history,
can be termed as a pericratonic rift basin considering its setting within the Indian
carton (Biswas et al. 1993).
Like other extensional rift settings, relay structures and transfer zones play
important roles in rift fault propagation in the Cauvery basin (Dasgupta and Maitra
2018; Dasgupta 2018a). In a rifted setting the strain transfer occurs along adjacent
faults. This transfer of displacement along a set of faults is normally gradual, a
typical characteristic of a relay structure or accommodation zone (Rosendahl 1987;
Morley et al. 1990; Morley 1999a). Pre-existing basement lineations further govern
the formation of transfer zones and segment the rift basin into different sub-basins
(Morley 1999b; Morley et al. 2004; Fossen and Rotevatn 2016; Misra and
Mukherjee 2015; Dasgupta and Mukherjee 2017).
2 Tectonics and Geology
The Cauvery basin is subdivided into a number of fault-controlled horst and graben
structures with sediment thickness ranging from 1 to >6 km (Chari Narasimha et al.
1995). The basement rock of the Cauvery basin comprise of Archean–Proterozoic
granite gneiss complex, a part of the Southern Granulite Terrain (Janardhan 1999;
Rajaram and Anand 2003; Rao et al. 2006; Mazumder et al. 2019). The major rift
faults orient NE. The *NW trending extension initiated the rifting between the
southern part of the Indian peninsular and Sri Lanka along pre-existing Precambrian
*E trending weak zones (Rao et al. 2006; Chetty 2015; Mazumder et al. 2019).
Further, extension along NW sub-divided the Cauvery basin into five sub–basins
corroborated by a number of NW trending transverse faults, which played a key
role in the basin evolution. Rift extension and subsequent anticlockwise rotation of
the peninsular India and Sri Lanka (Katz 1978; Chari Narasimha et al. 1995; Lal
et al. 2009) developed the Gulf of Mannar basin towards south of the Cauvery
basin.
In the onland portion and towards south, the major depressions are the Ariyalur–
Pondicherry sub-basin, the Tranquebar sub-basin, the Tanjavur/Tanjore sub-basin,
the Nagapattinam sub-basin and the Ramnad-Palk bay sub-basin (Fig. 1; Sastri
et al. 1979; Chari Narasimha et al. 1995; Murthy et al. 2008; Chaudhuri et al. 2010).
The Mandapam-Delft Ridge separates it in the south from the Gulf of Mannar
Basin. The onshore and offshore portions of the Cauvery basin are separated by
three major horsts, which include the Madanam/Portonovo Ridge in north, Karaikal
Ridge and the Vedaranniyam Terrace towards south (Fig. 1; Chari Narasimha et al.
1995; Murthy et al. 2008). These basement highs and sub-basins, shear zones
correlate well with the gravity anomaly map derived from the Bouguer gravity
Implication of Transfer Zones in Rift Fault Propagation … 315
Fig. 1 Tectonic map of the Cauvery basin. Basement highs and sub-basins associated with
various rift fault geometries shown that are overlaid on the present day physiographic map of
southern India. Modified from Ram Babu and Lakshmi (2004), Murthy et al. (2008), Radhakrishna
et al. (2012), Bastia and Radhakrishna (2012), Nemčok et al. (2013), Dasgupta and Maitra (2018)
anomaly and the free-air anomaly data (Verma et al. 1993; Ram Babu and Lakshmi
2004; Bastia and Radhakrishna 2012; Twinkle et al. 2016). The aeromagnetic map
derived from aeromagnetic survey (by Geological Survey of India), also depicts
similar type of basement morphology (Rajaram and Anand 2003). Interpretation of
subsurface seismic data from offshore area also reveal the *NE trending of rift
grabens and fault pattern of the Cauvery basin (Sinha et al. 2010; Nemčok et al.
2013; Dasgupta and Maitra. 2018; Misra and Dasgupta 2018).
The Ramnad and the Mannar sub-basin appear to have come into being in the
earliest stage of basin development (Katz 1978; Chari Narasimha et al. 1995).
During the early-mid rift stage, the northern grabens of the Cauvery basin e.g., the
Tranquebar, the Tanjavur, the Nagapattinam and the Ariyalur–Pondicherry
remained nascent due to shear and rifting that deepened the basin. These sub-basins
316 S. Dasgupta
probably started with the deposition of ill-sorted Early Cretaceous sediments at the
base. The oldest sediments of the Upper Gondwana expose in the western margin of
the Cauvery basin known as the Sivaganga bed/Therani Formation comprising of
coarse gritty conglomerates with occasionally argillaceous sandstones and shales
(Roy Moulik and Prasad 2007; Watkinson et al. 2007; Kale 2010). The oldest
unit of the sub-crop stratigraphy is of Jurassic age drilled in few sub-basins
(Chaudhuri et al. 2010).
This tectonic phase was followed by continued deepening of the grabens mainly
in response to the tensional forces and partly to thermal subsidence (Sag Phase: Roy
Moulik and Prasad 2007; Nagendra et al. 2011). A cumulative thickness of *3 km
of Lower Cretaceous sediments in the northern part of the block suggests a long
period of basin deepening followed by a differentiated sedimentation history (Raju
et al. 2005; Nagendra et al. 2011). During the Cenomanian–Turonian (*100–
89 Ma) as Madagascar was getting separated from the Indian west-coast, it tilted
the Cauvery basin towards SE (Chari Narasimha et al. 1995; Storey et al. 1995; Roy
Moulik and Prasad 2007; Reeves 2013). This generated a set of prograding chan-
nelized system in the deep-waters. Widespread marine sedimentation happened in
the Late Cretaceous (Rangaraju et al. 1993; Roy Moulik and Prasad 2007; Bastia
and Radhakrishna 2012). It essentially marks the development of the shelf-slope
system with the outer shelf sinking or tilting relatively faster (Nagendra et al. 2011).
Differential compaction (Mukherjee and Kumar submitted for mechanism) and fast
rate of sedimentation in the Late Cretaceous formed a polygonal fault system that
are mainly fluid escape features (Dasgupta and Misra 2018; also see Dasgupta and
Mukherjee submitted for general concepts).
3 Transfer Zone Nomenclature
Transfer zone terminologies were initially applied to explain the structures formed
in between the overlapping tips of the thrusts (Dahlstrom 1970). These terms were
used subsequently in extensional settings as well to define the zone of accommo-
dation between the two overlapping normal fault tips (Rosendahl 1987).
Accommodation zones are areas enclosed by terminating segments of overlapping
faults that dip in same or opposite direction (Rosendahl 1987; Faulds and Varga
1998). The amount of overlap between the normal faults controls the geometry of
the accommodation zone (Rosendahl 1987). The term ‘transfer zone’ or ‘relay
structure’ is preferred by many authors over accommodation zone in extensional
regimes (Morley et al. 1990; Gawthorpe and Hurst 1993; Morley 1999a; Fossen
2016; Fossen and Rotevatn 2016). These transfer zones preserve both the strain
amount as well as the elevation difference between the adjacent footwalls
(Morley et al. 1990).
Transfer faults have been defined as transverse to oblique faults with a strong
strike-slip component (Gibbs 1984). Strain transfer facilitates in extensional
regimes from one normal fault to another along these transfer faults (Gibbs 1984;
Fig. 2 Transfer zone nomenclature. Modified from Morley et al. (1990), Morley (1999a)
Morley et al. 1990). The dip of the normal faults on either side of a transfer fault are
generally in same direction, although opposite dips are also common (e.g., Morley
et al. 1990; Morley 1999a).
The classification of transfer zones by Morley et al. (1990; Fig. 2) is relatively
robust than that of other authors. It encompasses both extents of overlap as well as
changes in dip direction of the adjoining set of normal faults. The primary subdi-
vision is based on the direction of throw of the two overlapping normal faults;
(a) conjugate—boundary faults having opposite dips and (b) synthetic—boundary
faults with similar dip directions. Conjugate transfer zones can be sub-divided: (a1)
convergent—boundary faults dipping towards each other; and (a2) divergent—
boundary faults dipping oppositely. Transfer zone comprising of approaching
normal fault tips usually associate with transfer faults or transverse faults across
which the slip transfers. This nomenclature of transfer zone as proposed by Morley
et al. (1990) has been incorporated in the present work.
4 Discussions
In a typical rift system, the rate of occurrence and dip direction of secondary faults
might change on successive dip lines leading formation of different type of transfer
zones (Morley et al. 1990; Morley 1999a). This is well observed in the Cauvery
offshore basin (as in Dasgupta and Maitra 2018). Switch of polarity of the
rift-related faults separated the syn-rift grabens by basement highs (Morley et al.
1990; Withjack et al. 2002; Fossen 2016; Fossen and Rotevatn 2016). Variation in
dip of the secondary faults is complemented by change in polarity of the major
318 S. Dasgupta
faults. The polarity switch over zones of the secondary faults is normally associated
with convergent overlapping transfer zones (Morley et al. 1990). The transfer faults
generally originate at much later stage of rifting, even after the overlapping transfer
zones formed.
In onland and offshore areas of Cauvery basin, transfer faults segregate different
sub- basins (Chari Narasimha et al. 1995; Twinkle et al. 2016). The overall rift fault
trend is *NE from the onland to the offshore areas. However, the rose diagram plot
of the fault strike depicts that the rift fault trends has certain variations across the
different sub-basins (Fig. 3). Also, there is a major variation of the transfer or
transverse fault trend (Fig. 3). The WNW trend of the transfer faults is prevalent in
the Ramnad-Palk Bay, the Ariyalur–Pondicherry and the NE offshore (Tranquebar
offshore) sub-basins. While the NW trend is the dominant one in the Tanjavur, the
Nagapattinum and the Tranquebar sub-basins (Figs. 1 and 3). There is also some
good proportion of NW trending transfer faults in the Ariyalur–Pondicherry
sub-basin. Such variation of rift fault geometry is mainly due to transfer zones
guided by pre-existing Precambrian basement shear fabrics and basement rheology
(Withjack and Jamison 1986; Morley 1999b; Withjack et al. 2002; Morley et al.
2004; Robertson et al. 2016; Dasgupta and Mukherjee 2017; Dasgupta and
Mukherjee, in press). Few of the *E trending faults (Fig. 3) were probably affected
by the pre-existing basement lineations (Mazumder et al. 2019). These transfer
faults also alter the basin depo-centers in the onland and the offshore parts.
The Ariyalur–Pondicherry, the Tranquebar and the Nagapattinam sub-basins
extend into the deep-water areas towards NE. The Nagapattinam sub-basin termi-
nates against the Karaikal high in NE (Fig. 1). The Portonovo high dies out towards
NE through a set of relay faults associated with some *NW trending transfer faults.
This provides the sediment entry points to the deeper basins. These transfer faults
probably associate with strike slip or oblique slip motion (e.g. Morley 1999a, b;
Morley et al. 2004). The basin opening as well as deepening is influenced by the
transfer zones guided rift faults. In each of the sub-basins, the *NW trending
extension separates the basement highs. Such separation commonly associate with a
set of secondary fault systems across which slip transfers through different transfer
zones (Figs. 4 and 5). Figure 4 explains this as a cartoon, which depicts that the
basin opens towards NE as explained by the dip lines 1–3 (Fig. 5). Transfer zones
can be easily identified and named in Fig. 4 (highlighted by yellow; also see Fig. 2).
The major Mesozoic discoveries and producing fields of the basin are in vicinity
to the basement highs where the transfer zones are present to a great extent (Fig. 1;
Chakraborty et al. 2011; www.dghindia.org). This indicates that the transfer zones
act as good fluid migration pathway as well as create hydrocarbon entrapments.
Near the basin margin area the rock physical parameters indicate a mixed type
lithology with considerable variation of porosity and elastic properties (Chatterjee
et al. 2013). This is obvious as the sediments undergo short distance of transport,
dominated by transverse drainage, thereby having poor textural and mineralogical
maturity (Ravnås and Steel 1998). Reservoir quality is a key concern in such areas.
Thus in order to get a better reservoir quality (of Early Cretaceous units) and
considerable hydrocarbon pool, the relatively basin interior areas over/adjacent to
Fig. 3 Rose diagram plot of rift fault trends of different sub basins in Cauvery basin. Note the
variation among the trends of the rift faults as well as the transfer faults across different sub basins.
Data gathered from Murthy et al. (2008), Nemčok et al. (2013), Dasgupta and Maitra (2018)
320 S. Dasgupta
Fig. 4 Tectonic map (cartoon) of a rift system, depicting a typical basin opening process due to
extension guided by a set of transfer zones
the transfer zones are potential targets. Such areas possess good structural entrap-
ment guided by the transfer zones. Also, prominent sediment fairway leads to better
reservoir quality.
The crustal architecture varies from the proximal to the distal margin of the
basin. At the proximal margin, the sediment accommodation space in the
half-grabens is controlled by high-angle faults having steeply inclined shear
(Fig. 6). Thus, the syn-rift sediments can be quite thick (e.g., sedimentary fills of
the Ariyalur-Pondicherry and the Ramnad sub-basins). In these areas, especially the
Nagapattinum, the Tranquebar and the Ramnad–Palk Bay sub basins, rift faults
interacted with the transfer faults producing stress locking geometries leading to
inverted structures (Fig. 6; Murthy et al. 2008; Chakraborty et al. 2011). At the
distal margin, the rifting geometries are relatively younger and are governed by the
low-angle detachments (Nemčok et al. 2013; Misra and Dasgupta 2018). The dip of
the normal rift faults becomes more listric towards the deep water offshore areas
(Fig. 7; Mukherjee and Agarwal, in press, for listric fault kinematics). Differential
stretching of the continental crust from the proximal to the distal margin may thin
the crust and exhume partially the the continental lithosphere (Sinha et al. 2010;
Nemčok et al. 2013).
Fig. 5 Schematic dip sections of three lines from SW to NE (shown in Fig. 4) in the direction of
basin opening
322 S. Dasgupta
Fig. 6 Around 14 km long seismo-geological cross-section from the Nagapattinum sub-basin

showing high-angle rift faults associated with syn-rift sedimentary growth features (line drawing in
early and late syn-rift section). Note that the rift-induced and transfer fault-related inverted
structures. Modified from Murthy et al. (2008)
Fig. 7 Around 30 km long seismo-geological cross-section from offshore deep-water area of the
Cauvery basin adjacent to the outboard part of the Karaikal high. Note the low-angle listric faults
with typical syn-sedimentary growth features. Modified from Dasgupta and Maitra (2018)
The vertical movements of rifted fault blocks and isostatic uplifts (Mukherjee
2017 for mechanisms) in consequence to continental break-up (Nemčok et al. 2013;
Dasgupta and Mukherjee 2017) control the distribution of trap, reservoir and source
rock elements. Thus, understanding the driving dynamics plays an important role in
petroleum system evaluation at rifted and sheared continental margin segments like
those of the Cauvery basin.
5 Conclusions
It is observed that the basin expands towards NE associated with change in dip of
basin bounding faults. Rift fault propagation is guided by the transfer zones.
Switching of polarity of the basin-bounding rift faults link with the transfer zone
geometry. The transfer faults present in the basin are possibly influenced by the
older basement lineaments. This is well observed in the Cauvery rift basin where
the Southern Granulite Terrain is the basement rock. The transfer faults occur at
late-stage of rifting. In a typical rift system, transfer zone and transfer faults
associate with changes in slip form one rift fault to another. These act as major
sediment entry as well as barrier zones. Thus a variation in the transfer zone
geometry can affect the sediment depositional system and the fluid migration
pathway. The transfer zone also plays a key role in forming structural- and strati-
graphic traps.
Ackowledgements SDG thanks Soumyajit Mukherjee for handling this article and provide two
rounds of review comments. SDG thanks Abhimanyu Maitra for helping in preparation of Fig. 5 in
this article. The work is solely based on published literature survey. No data has been taken from
any companies/organizations. Mukherjee (2019) summarized this work.
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Remote Sensing, Structural and Rock
Magnetic Analyses of the Ramgarh
Structure of SE Rajasthan, Central
India-Further Clues to Its Impact Origin
and Time of Genesis
Saumitra Misra, Pankaj Kumar Srivastava and Md. Arif
1 Introduction
The Ramgarh structure (centered at 25° 20′N, 76° 38′E) of SE Rajasthan, central
India (Figs. 1 and 2a), is a ring-shaped structure of an outer diameter of 4 km,
and is situated within the Vindhyan Supergroup of sedimentary rocks of Meso- to
Neoproterozoic age (Sharma 1973; Prasad 1984; Ramasamy 1987). Although, it is
a potential candidate of asteroid impact crater for last many decades (e.g., Crawford
1972; Grieve et al. 1988; Sisodia et al. 2006a, b), the supporting evidences in favour
of this idea are slowly accumulating. A re-investigation of its origin is thus
important since it is the only known potential candidate for asteroid impact crater in
India excavated in the sedimentary target rocks. The other comparable terrestrial
asteroid impact craters on sedimentary target-rocks of equivalent diameter are:
B. P. structure, Libya (25° 19′N, 24° 20′E); Goyder Crater, northern Australia
(13° 9′S, 135° 2′E), and Gusev Crater, Russia (48° 26′N, 40° 32′E) (Earth Impact
database, http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase).
The Ramgarh structure has many of the physical attributes of an impact crater
with a raised rim (Fig. 2a), as described below, but its origin has been debated and
more than one hypotheses have been proposed. Sharma (1973) first suggested that
S. Misra (&)
Discipline of Geological Sciences, SAEES, University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Durban 4000, South Africa
e-mail: misras@ukzn.ac.za
P. K. Srivastava
Department of Petroleum Engineering and Earth Sciences,
University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun 248007, India
Md. Arif
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226007, India

328 S. Misra et al.
Fig. 1 Sketch map of a India, and b Vindhyan basin (in light grey shade), central India, showing
the position of the Ramgarh structure
Remote Sensing, Structural and Rock Magnetic Analyses … 329
Fig. 2 a Grey-scale ASTER image at 15 m resolution of Ramgarh structure, note: roughly

rectangular shape of the structure’s rim (1), numerous gullies cross-cutting structure’s rim (2), a
narrow deep-seated gully to SW making only avenue to enter into the structure (3), the structure’s
rim is discontinuous towards SW (4) and its counter-part to W displaced towards N (5) due to a
major dextral NE-SW slip (6), the southern half of Ramgarh structure moved marginally towards E
perhaps due to sinistral faulting (7), the Kul river channel displaced towards NE (8), and
palaeo-channel of Kul river (9). b Topographic map of Ramgarh structure prepared from
SRTM-DEM with a contour interval of 10 m. c False-coloured SRTM-DEM image (special
resolution 90 m) of Ramgarh structure, note: steeply standing structure’s rim on the ground (1),
present channel of Parvati River to W (2) and Kul River to E (3), a tributary of Kul River (4),
palaeo-channel of Parvati River (5), and the box showing where tributary (4) merging with Kul
River at present leaving behind its palaeo-channel flowing towards NW (6)
330 S. Misra et al.
this structure could have been resulted due to magmatic activity. However, this
hypothesis can safely be discarded because no igneous plug/activity has been
described within this structure, including in borehole studies reaching to *450 m
depth and in surrounding areas (Ramasamy 1987). Furthermore, the regional
aeromagnetic anomaly map does not support the presence of any magnetic high
below the structure (Kumar et al. 2011) suggestive of any magmatism.
Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Ramgarh structure formed due to
tectonic activity by ‘rheid’ flow of shales and associated horizontal compression in
subordinate scale (Ramasamy 1987). But there is no evidence of structures dictated
by compressive forces in the bed rocks surrounding the Ramgarh structure. This
model, therefore, fails to explain the origin of this unique structure within the
undeformed, flat-lying sedimentary country rocks.
The third upcoming hypothesis is that this structure could have been formed by
asteroid impact. Some of the important observations favouring the impact
hypothesis are (a) presence of a prominent conical central peak (Grieve et al. 1988;
Master and Pandit 1999), (b) shatter-cone like structure in colluvium near its center
(Crawford 1972); (c) presence of closed spaced Planar Fractures (PF) and granu-
lation in quartz grains in shocked sandstones from this structure (Balasundaram and
Dube 1973; Das et al. 2011), and (d) occurrences of impact spherule-looking
materials, diaplectic glasses, and possible Planer Deformation Fracture (PDF) in
quartz grains from this structure (Sisodia et al. 2006a, b; Purohot and Sisodia 2013;
Rana and Agrawal 2016), although the true nature of these PDFs remain ques-
tionable (Reimold et al. 2006; also cf. Vernooij and Langenhorst 2005; French and
Koeberl 2010).
The iron-silica rich mm-sized particles/spherules from within the alluvium inside
the Ramgarh structure have been primarily investigated in Misra et al. (2008b). The
Back Scattered Electron (BSE) images of these magnetic particles are similar to
impact-induced accretionary lapilli reported from other established impact struc-
tures (cf. Graup 1981; Koeberl et al. 2007; Newsom et al. 2016). These particles/
spherules have cores consisting of coarse grained quartz fragments surrounded by
multiple concentric layers of fine-grained materials with smaller quartz fragments
(Misra et al. 2008b; Das et al. 2011). Our studies further suggest that these
iron-silica rich particles have very high Natural Remnant Magnetization
(NRM) (*2–19 Am−1) and high REM (after Yu 2006 and references therein)
(*7–145%) that could indicate the presence of a high magnetic field during their
formation, much higher than the ambient Earth magnetic field (*40 Am−1) (Das
et al. 2009). The exact reason of this local high magnetic field in and around the
Ramgarh structure is not clearly known, but it could be resulted by asteroid impact
(cf. Crawford and Schultz 1988, 1999). More recently, a few fragments of iron-rich
Ca–Al silicate glassy pieces, recovered from the soil inside the Ramgarh structure
and nearby outside the western rim of the structure, contain dendritic magnetite
with occasional inclusions of relict native iron containing high proportions of Co
(*350–3000 ppm), Ni (*200–4000 ppm) and Cu (*2200–7000 ppm) (with
similar Co/Ni ratios), and these iron globules are thought to be extra-terrestrial in
origin (Misra et al. 2013).
Hence, the emerging geological evidences favour more towards the asteroid
impact origin of the Ramgarh structure. The only lacuna is that the bedrock
sandstones from the rim of this structure do not show any confirming PDF under the
transmitted light polarizing microscope satisfying the definition described in French
and Koeberl (2010). However, the general absence of PDF in quartz grains within
the Ramgarh structure sandstones does not preclude the asteroid impact origin of
this structure. This is because this microstructure could also be formed by terrestrial
lightning strikes (Chen et al. 2017; Melosh 2017), and hence cannot be considered
as a confirming criterion for identification of an impact crater. On the other hand,
although some geochemical clues on possible impact origin of the Ramgarh
structure have been documented (Ahmed et al. 1974; Sisodia and Lashkari 2003;
Sisodia et al. 2006a; Misra et al. 2008b, 2013), no detail information on the
structural geology and/or rock magnetic properties on this structure in favour or
against of its asteroid impact origin presently exist. In the present study, we thus
examine the available remote sensing images, and structural data of the Ramgarh
structure in more detail (cf. Misra et al. 2008a). The rock magnetic properties of a
few glassy samples from this structure (cf. Das et al. 2009) have also been
examined to re-evaluate the asteroid impact origin of the Ramgarh structure.
2 Geology of Ramgarh Structure
The Vindhyan Supergroup, into which the Ramgarh structure is situated, exposes as a
sickle-shaped, east-west elongated outcrop in the central India (Oldham 1856; Mallet
1869; Auden 1933), and occupies *178,000 km2 (Tandon et al. 1991) with a
thickness up to *4.5 km (Ahmad 1958) (Fig. 1). This Supergroup of rocks are
unmetamorphosed and only mildly deformed. Geophysical investigations revealed
that the rifting across E-W faults initiated the formation of the Vindhyan basin (Bose
et al. 2001). The N-S rifting was accompanied by a dextral shear and as a result the
basin segmented into several NW-SE elongated sub-basins. Between the two major
sectors of the Vindhyan Supergroup, the Ramgarh structure occurs in the western
(Rajasthan) sector of this huge sedimentary outcrop (Ramasamy 1987). This structure
is excavated in the flat-lying sandstone, shale, and minor limestone horizons of the
Lower Bhander Group of the Vindhyan Supergroup (Prasad 1984; Ramasamy 1987).
The oldest to youngest stratigraphic sequences of the Lower Bhander Group that are
exposed within the Ramgarh structure include the Ganurgarh Shale (thickness
*630 m), Lower Bhander Limestone (*26 m), Samaria Shale (*52 m) and Lower
Bhander sandstone (*400 m) (cf. Fig. 3 in Ramasamy 1987).
The ring-like, prominently rectangular shaped Ramgarh structure has a
rim-to-rim diameter of *2.37 and 2.48 km along E-W and N-S respectively
(measured from Google Earth Imagery 2017), and a more or less continuous raised
rim along its periphery except to the southwest, which rises *200 m above the
surrounding undisturbed, flat-lying plain (cf. Sisodia et al. 2006a; Misra et al.
2008b) (Fig. 2a). Earlier reports indicate the presence of a central conical peak
332 S. Misra et al.
within this structure (Grieve et al. 1988; Master and Pandit 1999; Sisodia et al.
2006a). The Upper Bhander sandstone, constituting the youngest Formation of the
Vindhyan Supergroup, has been dated as 1000–1070 Ma (U-Pb zircon age, Malone
et al 2008), which could be the upper age limit of formation of the Ramgarh
structure.
The sandstone exposures on the rim of the Ramgarh structure have dips between
*45° and 78°, which gradually reduce to *20°–30° at the lower outer slope, and
to *5°–15° at the foot of the outer rim (Prasad 1984). The rim of the structure is
only discontinuous at the SW corner and displaced by a set of NE-SW dextral strike
slip faults (Prasad 1984; Ramasamy 1987; Sisodia et al. 2006a; Misra et al. 2008a).
Additional joint/fault systems that cross-cut the Ramgarh structure trend E-W, N-S
and NW-SE (Ramasamy 1987; Misra et al. 2008a). Geomorphologically, the
Ramgarh structure appears to have more degraded state (i.e. modified by erosion) as
compared to those of the Arizona Crater, USA, and Lonar Crater, India (Grant
1999). This conclusion is well supported by the presence of reworked materials (i.e.
materials derived during weathering of the rim crest rocks of the structure) within a
very limited zone (*770 m) in the outer flank of the structure rim (Misra et al.
2008a). Although the Ramgarh structure is eroded, the sandstone exposed on its rim
shows quaquaversal dips (Sharma 1973; Ramasamy 1987) like other impact craters
(e.g., Lonar Crater, Misra et al. 2010).
3 Analytical Techniques
The rock magnetic characterization experiments were carried out on a dark reddish
coloured, glassy silicate sample (RJ-26) of a maximum size of 3 cm (Fig. 9 in
Appendix), which was recovered from within the rocky debris derived from the rim
crest rocks and deposited on the outer slope of the western rim of the Ramgarh
structure (Fig. 3). The glassy piece was magnetic, and under transmitted light,
polarizing, optical microscope it was looking similar to the glassy sample R-82
reported in Misra et al. (2013).
Our experimental studies include measurements of Natural Remanent
Magnetization (NRM), REM (=NRM/SIRM expressed in %, where SIRM—
Saturation Isothermal Remanent Magnetization) (after Yu 2006 and references
therein), Isothermal Remanent Magnetization (IRM) acquisition and backfield
SIRM dc demagnetization, and Lowrie-Fuller test (methods and techniques of our
experiments after McElhinny and McFadden 2000). All these measurements were
carried out at the Palaeomagnetism Laboratory, Birbal Sahni Institute of
Palaeosciences (Lucknow, India). Four mm-sized sub-samples were cut from the
original glassy silicate piece for our present measurements. The NRM was mea-
sured by an Agico JR-6 spinner magnetometer. The IRM was imparted in pro-
gressively increasing magnetic fields up to 1 T and their back field application to
the saturation IRM for evaluating remanence coercive force (Hcr) by an ASC
scientific IM-10–30 impulse magnetizer; magnetic remanence after each IRM step
Fig. 3 The panchromatic band Landsat-7 grey shed image of Ramgarh structure (source GLCF
2007) showing three prominent sets of lineament transecting the structure’s rim, abbreviations:
S.R.-structure’s rim, Kul- Kul River, 1, 2, 3-lineaments cross-cutting rim of Ramgarh structure,
NE-SW dextral slip and E-W sinistral slip shown by arrows. The rim and adjoining area of
Ramgarh structure are segmented into twelve geographic sectors, average orientations of
sedimentary country rocks (sandstones) on structure’s rim in each sector shown for reference (read
as follows: strike in degree/dip amount in degree, right-hand rule should be followed to interpret
dip direction), location of sample RJ 26 also shown. Black arrows at north eastern part of the map
indicating displacement of Kul River channel along NE-SW lineament
was measured by an Agico JR-6 spinner magnetometer. The domain structure of

magnetic minerals and origin of the magnetization of representative samples were
investigated using the Lowrie-Fuller test (Lowrie and Fuller 1971). This test is
based on a comparison of the AF demagnetization spectra of NRM and SIRM.
First, the NRM was stepwise AF demagnetized up to 100 mT using ASC scientific
D2000 AF demagnetizer; magnetic remanence after each AF demagnetization step
was measured by an Agico JR-6 spinner magnetometer. After that, an isothermal
remanent magnetization (IRM) was induced in a 1 T field along the z-direction and
progressively AF demagnetized with the same scheme.
4 Analyses
4.1 Shape and Structural Analyses of Ramgarh Structure

from Remote Sensing Images
A multispectral Advanced Spaceborn Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

(ASTER) image (for technical details see Misra et al. 2010) (Fig. 2a), and a high
334 S. Misra et al.
spatial resolution (*15 m) panchromatic band of Landsat 7 imagery [acquired on

October 22, 1999 (GLCF 2007)] (Fig. 3) were used to evaluate the morphology of
the Ramgarh structure and its surroundings in the present study. A contour map of
the Ramgarh structure with maximum and minimum contours of 260 and 450 m
respectively was also produced using Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM)
data of 90 m special resolution with a contour interval of *10 m (after Misra et al.
2010) (Fig. 2b). The SRTM-DEM (DEM-Digital Elevation Model) was also draped
over the panchromatic image to reconstruct 3D view of the Ramgarh structure
(Fig. 2c).
The ASTER and Landsat 7 images, and the contour map reconfirm that the
Ramgarh structure is a rectangular-shaped morphologic feature with a steeply raised
rim along its periphery except to the southwest (Figs. 2a, b and 3). The analysis of
the SRTM-DEM image further confirms that the rim of the structure is steeply
standing on the ground (Fig. 2c). The highest elevation of the rim is *450 m,
observed in the ENE sector of the structure (Fig. 2b). There are several furrow-like
features on the rim (Fig. 2a), and many of them appear to be continuous and
cross-cut the Ramgarh structure rim especially in NE-SW direction (Fig. 3, linea-
ment 1). The displacement of the NNW-SSE trending Kul River channel (situated
to E of the Ramgarh structure) towards NE is evident at least at two places along the
NE-SW lineament (Figs. 2a, and 3). The SW rim crest appears to have been
detached from its continuation towards the east and have moved dextrally along
NE-SW lineament. There are two more sets of lineament trending E-W and N-S
those cross-cut the Ramgarh structure rim (Fig. 3, lineaments 2 and 3 respectively).
The southern half of the structure appears to have been displaced marginally
towards the east along the E-W lineament (Fig. 2a).
4.2 Field Geology and Field Structural Analyses

of Ramgarh Structure
The sedimentary country rocks surrounding the Ramgarh structure are essentially
flat (Fig. 4a). Our observations in the Parvati and Kul River sections to the W and
NNE respectively of the Ramgarh structure (Fig. 2), and around *19.4 km south
of this structure show wide-spaced (*2 m) cross-cutting fractures trending NE-SW
and NW-SE (Figs. 4b and 6a). The cross-cutting field relationship at the Parvati
River section suggests that the NE-SW fracture could have developed early in
sequence, followed by the formation of NW-SE fracture.
The bedding plane (So) in sandstone on the rim crest of the Ramgarh structure
show quaquaversal dips at moderate angle (Fig. 4c) (cf. Sharma 1973; Ramasamy
1987). In places, the rim sandstones also dip *vertical (Fig. 4d). The sandstones
examined on the rim crest (Fig. 4e, f), the structure wall (Fig. 4g), and the shale
exposed at the base inside the structure (Fig. 4h) are extremely fractured. The
sequence of fracture development within the Ramgarh structure appears to be
extremely complicated. Besides the NE-SW and NW-SE cross-cutting orthogonal

fracture sets, the sandstones on the Ramgarh structure rim also show two additional
fracture sets trending N-S and E-W (Fig. 4f). Although our observation on the
flat-lying sandstone in the Parvati River section suggests an early NE-SW fracture
(Fig. 4b), the same fracture set presents in the SW and SE Ramgarh structure rim,
however, show reverse time relationship (Fig. 4i). It appears from our present study
in field and on satellite imageries (Figs. 2a and 3) that the E-W fracture was the
youngest in the sequence, preceded by the slip along NE-SW brittle plane. The
dextral slip along the NE-SW plane displaced the Kul River section towards NE
leaving its palaeo-channel close to the Ramgarh structure (Figs. 2a and 3, also see
Google Earth imagery 2017), and the transformation of the sandstone in the river
section into gneissic rocks (Fig. 4j). Intense activity of Mn-rich solution (as con-
firmed by our microprobe analyses) is observed within the Ramgarh structure,
which injected into the bedding planes and some fracture planes cross-cutting the
sandstones (Fig. 4k–m).
On the inner wall of the Ramgarh structure towards NW, we observed in one
case, a surficial feature on the sandstone looking similar to shatter cone observed in
many asteroid impact craters (Fig. 4n, an orthogonal cross-sectional view could not
be photographed due to steepness of valley section) (cf. French 1998; French and
Koeberl 2010). At the central part of the structure, a small conical peak is noticed
that has a height of around 6 m at present (Fig. 4o) (cf. Grieve et al. 1988). This
peak consists of sandstone having >1 sets of fracture, among which the NE-SW
fracture, dipping moderately towards the southeast, is the most common (Fig. 4p).
The quaquaversal dips of the bedding planes (So) in sandstones exposed on the
rim of the Ramgarh structure were described in literature (Sharma 1973; Ramasamy
1987). However, no detail study exists to document any possible variations in the
dips of the rim crest sandstones in different geographic sectors. Hence, for a sys-
tematic structural analyses on the variation in dips of the rim sandstones, the
Ramgarh structure rim and adjoining area were segmented into twelve arbitrary
sectors based on the geographic directions (Fig. 3) (after Misra et al. 2010). The
detail of our structural analyses show that the rim sandstones in the northern sector
have average dip of 273°/41°N (i.e., strike/dip amount, the right hand rule is
followed to express dip direction) (Fig. 5a). The rim sandstones on the NNE and
ENE sectors gradually vary in dip directions from N to E (Fig. 5b, c). In the
E-sector, the rim crest sandstones dip at moderate angle either towards N or E
(Fig. 5d). In the ESE sector, the rim sandstones show dips towards E with an
average of 359°/36°E (Fig. 5e). In the SSE sector, the general dip of the crater rim
sandstone is towards SE with an average of 63°/39°E (Fig. 5f). In the S and SSW
sectors, the rim sandstones show dip towards S or SW with averages of 106°/37°S
and 112°/40°S respectively (Fig. 5g, h). In the WSW and W sectors, the dips of the
rim sandstones are towards W with averages of 176°/35°W and 164°/43°W
respectively (Fig. 5i, j). In the WNW sector, the dip directions of the rim sandstones
are extremely variable between SW and W with an average of 192°/50°W (Fig. 5k).
In the NNW-sector, both the components of westerly and northerly dipping sand-
stones are present with an average of 238°/33°NW (Fig. 5l).
336 S. Misra et al.
JFig. 4 a Cross sectional view of flat-lying Vindhyan Supergroup of sedimentary rocks including
limestone (lst), sandstone (sst) and shale at Parvati River section at *4 km W of Ramgarh
structure [width of photograph is *30 m, Ramgarh structure (RS) to E in background], b plan
view of flat-lying Vindhyan Supergroup of sedimentary rocks at Parvati River section showing
development of well-spaced (*2 m) orthogonal fractures where NW-SE fracture cross-cuts
NE-SW fracture (length of hammer *27.9 cm), c quaquaversal dip of bedding plane (So) in
sandstone on the western rim crest of Ramgarh structure, white arrow indicates towards the center
of structure to E. d sub-vertical orientation of So in sandstone on NNE rim crest [hammer
(*27.9 cm length) placed parallel to So]. e plan view of N-S subvertical fracture (shown by arrow)
and cross fracture on sandstones exposed at SSW sector of rim crest (hammer’s head points to N).
f plan view of sandstone exposed on SSW rim crest showing development of N-S, E-W and
NE-SW trending fractures intersecting each other (hammer’s head pointed towards E).
g cross-sectional view of inner wall of Ramgarh structure at the southern sector of rim crest
showing highly fractured sandstone with flowage of Mn-rich solution along few selected fractures
(shown by arrow). h plan view of Ganurgarh Shale exposed at the base inside the Ramgarh
structure towards SW close to the entrance showing development of extensive cross-cutting
fractures. i plan view of sandstone on SSW structure rim showing NE-SW fracture crosscuts
NW-SE fracture, both fractures are cross-cut by E-W fracture. j a view of rock sample at Kul River
section towards NE of Ramgarh structure showing gneissic foliation (diameter of coin shown as
scale is 25 mm). k cross-sectional view of inner wall of Ramgarh structure at southern sector
showing flowage of Mn-rich solution along few fracture planes (shown by arrow) (diameter of
coin shown as scale is 23 mm). l plan view on northern rim crest showing injection of Mn-solution
along So plane of tilted sandstone (shown by arrow). m plan view on SE rim crest showing
injection of Mn-solution along So plane of sandstone and fracture planes (shown by arrow, width
of photograph *50 cm). n a shatter cone-like structure on the inner wall of Ramgarh structure at
NW rim crest. o view of *6 m high central uplift with an ancient temple at top (shown by arrow),
and. p cross sectional view of extremely fractured sandstone in central uplift (width of photograph
*20 cm)
Unlike the surrounding undeformed sedimentary country rocks (Fig. 6a), the
rocks inside the Ramgarh structure show extreme development of fractures
(Fig. 6b). These fractures, including both the joints and faults, could primarily be
classified into two types: vertical and moderately dipping fractures. The former
fractures trend in all directions, while the dipping fractures trend *NE-SW and
NW-SE. In the N-NNE-ENE sectors of the Ramgarh structure (Fig. 3), the dipping
fractures trend *NE-SW and dip at moderate angle both towards NW and SE
(Fig. 6c, d). Two subordinate sets of fractures are also identified having (1) trend of
NW-SE and dipping moderately towards SW, and (2) trend E-W and dipping
moderately towards S. The second important sector, where sufficient data were
available, is the S-SSW-WSW sectors (Fig. 3). Here, two sets of fractures are
noticed, e.g. the NE-SW trending fracture dipping towards NW, and the NW-SE
trending fracture dipping towards NE (Fig. 6g, h). In the W-WNW-NNW sectors,
we have the NE-SW trending fracture dipping both towards NW and SE, and the
NW-SE trending fracture dips towards NE. There is also an E-W trending fracture
dips towards the south.
338 S. Misra et al.
Fig. 4 (continued)
4.3 Remote Sensing Images in and Around Ramgarh

Structure
An examination of the ASTER image of the greater areal extent suggests that the
Ramgarh structure is most likely situated on the palaeo-channel of the Parvati
River, which is indicated by the presence of a NNW-SSE trending abundant
channel of this river to the south and west of this structure (Fig. 7). The present
course of Parvati River to the west of the Ramgarh structure is extremely irregular
compared to the rest of the course of this river. The SRTM-DEM image further
shows that the river marked ‘4’ was previously a tributary of Parvati River
(Fig. 2c). Presently this river changes its course leaving its palaeo-channel to the
south of Ramgarh structure (channel marked 6) and merges with the Kul River.
4.4 Rock Magnetic Properties of Glassy Samples

from Ramgarh Structure
The NRM of all four sub-samples from sample RJ26 (Fig. 3) ranges between 9 and
19 Am−1, and their REM (i.e., NRM/SIRM ratio in %) varies between 40 and 78%.
In all sub-samples, the NRM decay curves are above the SIRM decay curves for the
lower range of AF demagnetization fields, whereas there are always overlap
between these two curves in the higher AF fields (Fig. 8a–d) indicating a mixture of
Single Domain (SD), Pseudo-SD and Multi Domain (MD) grains in them. The IRM
acquisition curves of all our sub-samples seem to saturate at higher fields of
500 mT indicating high coercivity magnetic mineral as the remanence carrier
(Fig. 8e). Their IRM backfield curves indicated a range of coercivity of remanence
(Hcr) between 30 and 45 mT (Fig. 8f).
5 Discussion
The Vindhyan Supergroup of sedimentary rocks studied in the Chittorgarh area,

*208 km WSW of Ramgarh structure (Fig. 1b), contain four sets of fractures
(joints), e.g., E-W/vertical (or 80°N); N-S/vertical (or 45–65°W); NE-SW/vertical
and NNW-SSE/vertical (Prasad 1984). The area surrounding the Ramgarh structure,
however, shows only a set of orthogonal, widely spaced (*2 m), vertical fractures
trending NE-SW and NW-SE (Figs. 4b and 6a).
On the other hand, the sedimentary country rocks within the Ramgarh structure
show evidences of extensive brittle deformations. For examples, the vertical radial
fractures present within the Ramgarh structure have trend in numerous orientations
(Fig. 6b). The NE-SW and NW-SE fractures dip moderately within the Ramgarh
structure (Fig. 6c–j) in contrast to their vertical dip as observed in Chittorgarh
340 S. Misra et al.
Fig. 5 Stereographic projections of bedding planes (So) in sandstones exposed along the rim crest
of the Ramgarh structure, the sectors selected along the rim (Fig. 3) is purely geographical after the
convention described in Misra et al. (2010), for detail see text
Fig. 5 (continued)
342 S. Misra et al.
Fig. 6 Stereographic projections of a fracture planes in flat-lying sedimentary country rock(s)

around Ramgarh structure, and b, c, e, g, i fracture planes developed in the rim crest sandstones of
Ramgarh structure, and d, f, h, j projections of their respective poles, which are grouped according
to their strike directions, e.g., northeast (ne), northwest (nw) and east-west (ew), note Ramgarh
structure is associated with numerous fractures, which are both vertical and dipping, different
geographic sectors of Ramgarh structure rim after Fig. 3
Fig. 7 False colour ASTER

image (resolution *15 m)
showing modification of
drainage pattern adjacent to
Ramgarh structure at present,
abbreviations: 1—Ramgarh
structure, 2—present course
of Parvati River, 3—
palaeo-channel of Parvati
River, 4—present course of
Kul River, note shift of
Parvati River from a relatively
smooth palaeo-channel
adjacent to Ramgarh structure
to an irregular channel to W at
present, the points where
palaeo-channel of Parvati
River meets with its present
course are shown in box
(Prasad 1984), and in area surrounding the Ramgarh structure (Figs. 4b and 6a).
The evidence of extensive dextral shear along the NE-SW fracture plane
cross-cutting the Ramgarh structure, and following minor sinistral shear along the
E-W fracture planes are only seen within the Ramgarh structure (Figs. 2a and 3).
All these brittle deformation features suggest that the sedimentary country rocks
within the Ramgarh structure could have experienced a sudden shock that generated
new fractures and reactivated the pre-existing fractures promoting limited slip.
The quaquaversal dips of the country rock sandstone along the rim of the
Ramgarh structure (Fig. 5), along with its extreme brittle deformations resemble in
several aspects to those observed in the Lonar impact Crater, India (Kumar 2005;
Misra et al. 2010). The Ramgarh structure is * rectangular (Figs. 2a and 3), which
is similar in shape to the Arizona Crater, USA (Grieve et al. 1988). The present
diameter/depth ratio of the Ramgarh structure is *12 (measured from Google Earth
Imagery 2017), which is within the range (10–20) of the terrestrial complex asteroid
344 S. Misra et al.
Fig. 8 a–d Alternating field demagnetization of NRM and SIRM of sub-samples from RJ26
glassy sample recovered from Ramgarh structure (Fig. 3), note position of NRM decay curves
above SIRM decay curve for lower range of AF demagnetization field. e IRM acquisition curves of
all four glassy samples showing saturation at higher field of *500 mT. f IRM backfield curves of
glassy sub-samples
impact craters (cf. Smith 1971; Koeberl and Sharpton 2017). Like other terrestrial
complex impact crater, the Ramgarh structure has a prominent conical central peak
(Fig. 4o) (also Grieve et al. 1988; Master and Pandit 1999), which consists of
sandstone and has a present height of *6 m (Misra et al. 2008a). The subsurface
presence of this central peak below the present alluvium is also modelled based on
borehole data (Ramasamy 1987). Hence it can be modelled that the extreme brittle
deformation of the country rocks observed within the Ramgarh structure, the
development of shatter cone like structure on the wall of the Ramgarh structure
(Fig. 4n) and central uplift within the structure (Fig. 4o) were resulted due to a
sudden shock effect caused by asteroid impact (cf. French 1998).
Our previous study on magnetic particles recovered from the Ramgarh structure
(Das et al. 2009) and our present study on four small (mm-size) sub-samples from a
cm-size magnetic glassy rock, recovered from the rocky debris lying on the outer
slope of western rim of this crater (Figs. 3 and 8), confirm that the glassy sample/
particles from this structure have very high NRM (*2–19 Am−1) and high REM
(*7–145%) indicating a high magnetic field during their formation. The REM
values provide an estimation of the paleomagnetic field (Kletetschka et al. 2003)
and a ratio close to 1.5% indicates an Earth-magnetic field (Gattacceca and
Rochette 2004; Kletetschka et al. 2004; Yu 2006). The low-field processes other
than thermal remanent magnetization, e.g., viscous or chemical remanent magne-
tization, yield lower REM values for the same paleofield (Fuller et al. 1988),
whereas the high-field processes, e.g., lightning-induced or plasma-induced mag-
netization, yield REM values above 10% (Wasilewski and Dickinson 2000). As the
lightening alone cannot produce the observed ring-like shape of the Ramgarh
structure and its brittle deformations, the increase of initial NRM intensity of the
Ramgarh magnetic particles (Das et al. 2009, and Fig. 8a–d) could only be acquired
by any secondary magnetization process such as shock metamorphism by asteroid
impact (cf. Gold and Soter 1976; Schultz and Srnka 1980). This impact also led to
brittle deformations of sedimentary country rocks. The role of the impact was to
create a high magnetic field during the formation of the Ramgarh structure, which
perhaps covers an area >*20 km2 during its formation (cf. Crawford and Schultz
1988, 1999). Hence, our present observations on structural geology and rock
magnetics, and previous observations on petrography (Misra et al. 2008b; Das et al.
2011; Purohit and Sisodia, 2013) and geochemistry (Misra et al. 2008b; 2013) have
enhanced the possibility of an asteroid impact origin for the Ramgarh structure.
One of the against-hypothesis on the asteroid impact origin for the Ramgarh
structure could be the general absence of PDF in the sandstones in this structure (cf.
Reimold et al. 2006). However, a detailed observation under the optical microscope
shows that the sandstones from this structure is extremely fine grained (grain size
200 lm) (Fig. 10 in Appendix), and such fine-grained rocks would inhibit the
formation of PDF than their coarse-grained counterparts (cf. French and Koeberl
2010 and references therein). The absence of any PDF under the microscope,
therefore, does not negate the asteroid impact origin of the Ramgarh structure (cf.
Chen et al. 2017; Melosh 2017). In fact, a few of quartz grains within the bed rock
sandstone from the rim of the Ramgarh structure show one set very closed-spaced
( 20 lm) fractures (PFs) (Das et al. 2011), which could favour the asteroid impact
origin of this structure (cf. French 1998). Further, more recent observation of Purohot
and Sisodia (2013) on the universal stage measurements probably identified a few
relict PDFs within the bed rock sandstone from this structure.
346 S. Misra et al.
The quaquaversal dips of the rim crest sandstones are extremely disturbed in the
NNE, ENE and E sectors, and in the WNW and NNW sectors (Fig. 5). In the
former three sectors, the dips of So planes in sandstones vary from N to E, while in
the latter two sectors it varies in wide range from SW to NNE. The deviation of dips
of the rim crest sandstones from its typical quaquaversal dips in the NNE, ENE and
E sectors is definitely due to the effect of the dextral NE-SW faulting that transected
and partly displaced the structure rim (Figs. 2a and 3) (cf. Sharma 1973). However,
the reason behind the same type of deviation of dips for the rim sandstone in the
WNW and NNW sectors is not clearly understood in the present study. It could be
due to another NW-SE dextral faulting that was early in sequence to that of the
major NE-SW fault and cross-cut the Ramgarh structure (Ramasamy 1987). Hence
the rectangular shape of the Ramgarh structure (Figs. 2a and 3) is a combined result
of slip along dextral NW-SE, dextral NE-SW and sinistral E-W faults in sequence.
It appears that the NE-SW and NW-SE fracture sets within the surrounding
Vindhyan Supergroup were reactivated within the Ramgarh structure due to the
shock waves generated by the impact (cf. French 1998). A similar example could be
the Arizona Crater, USA. The rectangular shape of this crater was resulted due to
impact on sedimentary target rocks with pre-existing joint sets and faults (Poelchau
et al. 2009).
The ‘rheid flow of shale’ model of Ramasamy (1987) to explain the origin of the
Ramgarh structure was mainly based on the morphology of the folds observed in
shale-siltstone sequence in central borehole between 20 and 210 m depth.
According to his description, these shale and siltstone layers show intricate
disharmonic folds. The limbs and axial surfaces of the folds are parallel and vertical
with either sharp or rounded hinges. These folds are refolded with sub-horizontal
axial surfaces. To explain this folded sequence, Ramasamy (1987) introduced the
concept of vertical injection of rheid shales in the axial portion of the Ramgarh
structure. However, no mechanism is suggested to explain why this vertical
injection of solid rocks took place at the central part of this structure. It is under-
stood from the impact cratering process that during the end part of excavation stage
and the following modification stage of evolution of complex impact crater, the
solid materials flow vertically upward close to the central uplift of the impact crater
(French 1998). This type of material flow could thus explain the vertical folding
developed in the shale and siltstone in the central borehole within the Ramgarh
structure.
The Ramgarh structure is situated on the palaeo-channel of Parvati River
(Figs. 2c and 7) and hence its formation must has post-dated the formation of this
river. It appears that the impact has resulted the shift of river courses of Parvati and
its tributary adjacent to Ramgarh structure. Impact on river channel, hence,
enhances the possibility of involvement of surface water during the evolution of this
structure. Our previous microprobe analyses on spherules recovered from this
structure consistently show total major oxide around 80 wt% supporting possible
involvement of volatiles during the formation of Ramgarh structure (Misra et al.

2008b). Therefore, based on this observation along with our present observation on
intense activity of Mn-rich hydrothermal solution along the bedding planes of
sandstones and some fracture planes cross-cutting these sandstones within the
Ramgarh structure (Fig. 4k–m), it can be modelled that the Ramgarh impact cra-
tering took place essentially under hydrous environment.
6 Conclusions
(a) The flat-lying, nearly undeformed Vindhyan Supergroup of sedimentary rocks

surrounding to the Ramgarh structure show only two sets of vertical fracture
trending NE-SW and NW-SE. In contrast, the sedimentary country rocks within
and adjacent to the Ramgarh structure show extreme brittle deformation
including vertical radial fracture in numerous directions, and moderately dip-
ping fractures trending NE-SW and NW-SE.
(b) The ring-like shape of the Ramgarh structure with a central conical peak, the
quaquaversal dips of its rim crest sandstones, along with its present diameter/
depth ratio (*12) suggest that this structure could have formed by asteroid
impact. The impact-induced shock was responsible for the extreme brittle
deformation of the sedimentary country rocks within and adjacent to this
structure and reactivation of some pre-impact fracture plane in the country
rocks.
(c) The present rock magnetic studies on sub-samples from a glassy silicate piece,
along with our previous observation on magnetic particles recovered from the
alluvium of the Ramgarh structure (Das et al. 2009) suggest that these magnetic
substances have very high NRM (*2–19 Am−1) and REM (*7–145%)
indicating the presence of a high magnetic field during their formation, much
higher than the ambient Earth’s magnetic field.
(d) A natural phenomenon that could generate a unique ring-shaped deformation
structure on a monotonously flat-lying, undeformed sedimentary country rock
as well as a high magnetic field in and around this structure is a hypervelocity
asteroid impact. Many previous observations on petrography (Das et al. 2011;
Purohot and Sisodia 2013) and geochemistry (Misra et al. 2008b; 2013) pub-
lished in the form of extended abstracts also support this conclusion.
(e) The rectangular shape of the Ramgarh structure, which is similar to that of the
Arizona Crater, USA, was resulted due to post-impact dextral movement along
NW-SE fault, followed by dextral movement along NE-SW fracture, and
sinistral movement along E-W fracture in minor scale.
348 S. Misra et al.
(f) Observation on remote sensing images confirms that the asteroid impact
took place on the palaeo-channel of Parvati River, which is now displaced
towards W.
Acknowledgements The first author (S. M.) is grateful to PLANEX, Indian Space Research
Organization, and NRF, South Africa (grant no. 91089) for supporting this research work. Special
thanks to Anand Dube of India, for helpful guidance to the first author during the field work, to
Horton Newsom of USA for his continuous encouragement during the progress of this research,
and to Tesfaye Kidane for helping in stereoplot software. We are indebted to Dr. Soumyajit
Mukherjee and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on the early version of the
manuscript.
Appendix
See Figs. 9 and 10.
Fig. 9 Hand specimen

photograph of cm-sized
silicate glassy piece recovered
from within the rocky debris
deposited on the outer wall of
western rim of Ramgarh
structure (diameter of coin
shown as scale is 22 mm)
Fig. 10 a, b Sandstone sample from Kul River section N of Ramgarh structure (location R 38),
the dark matters among the grains (shown by arrow in b) are manganese encrustation. c, d impure
limestone from Ramgarh structure (R 18) containing numerous fine grain quartz sand particles. e,
f percolation of manganese solution within the sandstone (shown in box) sample from the rim of
Ramgarh structure (R 11). g, h manganese encrustation containing numerous sub-angular to
sub-rounded quartz grains (R 15). GPS locations of samples: R 11: 25° 19.378′N, 76° 37.933′E; R
15: 25° 19.582′N, 76° 37.570′E; R 18: 25° 19.406′N, 76° 37.071′E; R 38: 25° 22.929′N,
76° 36.961′E. Note fineness of grain size of sandstones occurring on rim crest of Ramgarh
structure
350 S. Misra et al.
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Geology, Structural Architecture
and Tectonic Framework of the Rocks
of Southern Lalitpur District Uttar
Pradesh, India: An Epitome
of the Indian Peninsular Shield
G. K. Dinkar, A. R. Bhattacharya, A. K. Verma and Pankaj Sharma
1 Introduction
The southern part of Uttar Pradesh is geologically known for exposing a part of the
Indian peninsular shield. Both basement and cover rocks are exposed at several
areas. The Lalitpur district of this region typically exposes several geological ele-
ments of the peninsular shield. The southern part of Lalitpur district (Fig. 1) epit-
omizes the peninsular shield to a larger extent. This area has been studied by various
workers mainly from the viewpoints of geology, rock types, and mineral resources.
The early studies were confined to identifying the major rock groups. Later studies
focused on identifying various rock types together with the associated metasedi-
mentary sequences. Recent studies focus amongst others, on mineralogical, geo-
chemical and geochronological studies to understand the evolution of the ancient
crust and crustal growth in the context of the peninsular shield. Despite geological
studies on several aspects, detailed lithostratigraphic and structural-tectonic studies
of south Lalitpur district are scanty. This paper fills up this gap.
2 Geological Set up
The geological setup of southern Lalitpur district is intimately related to that of

southern U.P. The area has been studied by various workers mainly from the
viewpoints of geology, rock types, and mineral resources. Our knowledge on the
geology of south Lalitpur developed in several phases during the last 5 or 6
decades.
G. K. Dinkar A. R. Bhattacharya (&) A. K. Verma P. Sharma

Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow 226007, India
e-mail: arb65k@gmail.com

354 G. K. Dinkar et al.
Fig. 1 Map showing the location of the study area. The inset shows the state Uttar Pradesh
On a regional basis, the area has been referred to, directly or indirectly, by
several workers. Medlicott (1859) was possibly the first to make a geological study
of the rocks of the Bundelkhand region. He made a detailed study of the Banded
Iron Formation (Baraitha) and various schistose rocks from the southwestern part of
the Bundelkhand region and grouped them as crystallines of Bundelkhand. The
metasedimentary belt around Gwalior was studied by Hacket (1870). Much later,
Heron (1935) studied the crystalline rocks from several areas of the Bundelkhand
region and he referred these rocks as “Bundelkhand Granite”.
During the above period, study remained confined only to some general aspects
of the Bundelkhand region. Thereafter, the trend of study gradually shifted to some
specific aspects of the region. Srivastava (1951–1952) was one of the earlier
workers who carried out detailed geological and mineralogical investigations in
several areas of the Bundelkhand region and published his new findings on geo-
logical and petrological characters of the Bundelkhand granites. He also reported
pyrophyllite deposits in some parts of the Bundelkhand massif. By that time, the
granitic rocks of the Bundelkhand massif became the major subject matter of study
mainly because a variety of granitic rocks were reported till then. Jhingran (1958)
Geology, Structural Architecture and Tectonic Framework … 355
identified two major types of granites: pink granite and grey granite and he sug-
gested that the former (pink granite) is younger than the latter. He also identified ten
types of granites within the great batholithic massif on the basis of grain size, colour
of feldspar and presence or absence of ferromagnesian minerals. In addition to
these, he also reported gneisses, quartz–reefs, basic dikesand tuffaceous serpentinite
rocks within the massif. Saxena (1961) suggested a lithostratigraphic correlation of
the metasediments of the Bundelkhand massif with the middle Dharwarian rocks of
South India and the Bundelkhand granitic activity as equivalent of the Closepet
granite.
During the nineteen hundred seventies, the different rock types of the
Bundelkhand region including lithostratigraphic sequences of some areas came to
limelight. Prakash et al. (1975) carried out a detailed lithostratigraphic study of the
southwestern part of Bundelkhand massif and distinguished three tectonic blocks in
this massif: a northern block (Jhansi–Lalitpur) consisting of various types of
granitoids with enclaves of metasedimentary rocks, a southern block (south of
Lalitpur) comprising of Bundelkhand granitoids including the low grade
metasediments (Mehroni Group) together with the overlying Vindhyan sediments,
and a central block mainly exposing the pink, massive granites. Misra and Sharma
(1975) identified metasedimentary rocks within the Bundelkhand complex and
suggested that the Bundelkhand rocks can be divided into four formations; from
lower to upper these are Kuraicha Formation of high grade metamorphic rocks,
Palar Formation with low grade metamorphic rocks, Bundelkhand Granite, and
Bundelkhand basic intrusives.
The nineteen hundred eighties witnessed a multifarious progress on several yet
untouched aspects on the geology of the region. In this connection, the contribu-
tions of Basu (1986, 2001, 2007, 2010) deserve special mention. He carried out
extensive field investigations and mapped almost the entire area of the Bundelkhand
Craton. He proposed an evolutionary model for the Precambrian crust on the basis
of petrological, structural and chemical characteristics of various types of granitoids
and basic rocks. He suggested that the metallogenic and tectonometamorphic events
of the massif were regionally dominated by plutonic and hypabyssal rocks.
Despite the available information on several aspects of the geology of the region,
studies from structural angles were almost lacking. Bhattacharya (1985) estimated
tectonic strain for the rocks of the Bundelkhand massif and has shown that the
mineralogical behaviour of the rocks has controlled the deformation patterns of the
massif. He (Bhattacharya 1986) developed a semi-quantitative method for identi-
fying different fold episodes of deformed terrains and on applying this method to
the rocks of the Bundelkhand massif, he identified five different folding episodes
for the massif.
On a much larger perspective, Radhakrishna (1989) identified a “Central Indian
Tectonic Zone” encompassing the SONATA Belt that marks the junction between
the Bundelkhand block in the north and the Peninsular block in the south. Sarkar
et al. (1989, 1995, 1997) on the basis of the geochronology and petrology of
various rock types of the Bundelkhand complex suggested that the granitic rocks
belong to three distinct intrusive phases. They also suggested that the trondhjemitic
gneiss containing Rb-Sr isotopes may be considered as 3.5 Ga old (Baghora TTG
suite). The older crust of the region (Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic) is comprised
of amphibolites, quartzites, BIF, schists, marbles and calc–silicate rocks and that
these rocks are intruded by 3.3 Ga old syn-to-late tectonic Na-rich
Tonalite-Trondjhemite-Granodiorite (TTG) rocks. The oldest metamorphic events
of the Bundelkhand region have been dated at 3.3 Ga, while the oldest relics of
younger geneisses may be 2.7–2.5 Ga old (Mondal et al. 2002). Attempts have
been made to work out the crustal evolutionary pattern of the Bundelkhand region
(Singh et al. 2007; Singh and Dwivedi 2009; Singh 2012).
Our knowledge on the hitherto unknown crustal shear systems of the
Bundelkhand massif is definitely a new addition as came into light by the joint work
of A. R. Bhattacharya and S. P. Singh (Singh and Bhattacharya 2010, 2017;
Bhattacharya and Singh 2013). They have identified the following four different
crustal shear systems in the Bundelkhand massif. (1) The E-W shear system: It is
mainly confined to the central parts of the massif and is represented by mylonites
showing vertical foliation together with a greenstone belt developed at several
places with dimensions ranging from about 10 30 m to 30 50 m. This is an
example of crustal scale vertical ductile shear zone and is possibly the first report of
vertical crustal shear zone in the Indian subcontinent. (2) The NE-SW shear system:
It is represented by the quartz reefs that constitute the most spectacular structure in
the Bundelkhand terrain. The quartz reefs constitute strike-slip dominated vertical
to subvertical shear zones with dominant sinistral sense of shear and they represent
Proterozoic crustal scale extensional events in the Bundelkhand massif. (3) The
NW-SE shear system: These are in the form of a number of minor basic igneous
dikes emplaced in the fractures developed due to extensional processes followed by
strike-slip shearing. (4) N-S shear system: This is a major tectono–magmatic event
of the Bundelkhand craton and is represented by N-S trending quartz and
quarto-feldspathic veins. This is the youngest shear system that cross-cuts all the
earlier (E-W, NE-SW and NW-SE) shear systems.
In the context of vertical shear zones of the Bundelkhand massif, it may be
mentioned here that elsewhere in the Indian subcontinent, shear zones with
sub-vertical foliations are reported from Karakoram Shear Zone (Mukherjee 2011)
and vertical brittle shear zones from trap rocks near Mumbai (Misra et a. 2014).
Recently, Dinkar (2016) carried out a detailed study on the structure and
deformation patterns of the rocks of the area around Sonrai. He presented a geo-
logical and a structural map of the area both on the 1:50,000 scale and worked out
the structure and structural evolution of the rocks of the area
In a nutshell, south Lalitpur district is characterized by three different geological
subdivisions. The northern part is represented by the Bundelkhand Gneissic
Complex, the central part by the rocks of the Bijawar Group and the southern part
by the Vindhyan Supergroup. In addition, there are a few minor rock units also that
fall in any of these three major subdivisions. The geological information brought to
light through this paper, and the results arrived at, should thus advance our
knowledge on the Indian peninsular shield.
3 The Present Work
About 460 km2 has been mapped on 1:50,000 scale covering the area around
Digwar in the northwest, Balla in the northeast, Madanpur in the southwest and
Kurrat in the southeast. The study area (Fig. 1) encompasses the river valley areas
of the Rohini River in the west, Bandai River in the central part and Dhasan River
in the east.
4 Physiography
The physiography of the southern Lalitpur district is rather typical from the
remaining parts of the southern Uttar Pradesh. The main reason is that in this part
the physiography appears to be related to the geology of the area. The general
surface level of flat lying regions is 400 m above the mean sea level with hillocks
rising up to about 566 m from the surrounding areas. The southern part (Fig. 2) of
the area represents plateaus and ridges while the vast expanse of the central (Fig. 2)
and northern parts is mostly alluvial exposing scattered hillocks. In general, we
identify three physiographic subdivisions (Fig. 2). The northern subdivision is
mostly alluvial exposing scattered hillocks. The central subdivision mainly includes
E-W trending arcuate to elongated hills. The southern part of the area is occupied
by plateau with E-W trending ridges rising up to about 566 m.
Fig. 2 Photographs showing the physiographic features of the southern Lalitpur district. Our
studies suggest that the area shows three different geological subdivisions: the northern subdivision
exposing the Bundelkhand Gneissic Complex, the central subdivision exposing a sedimentary/
metasedimentary belt consisting of the Bijawar Group of rocks while the southern one exposes the
rocks of the Vindhyan Supergroup. Each of these geological subdivisions has been observed to
show its typical physiography. The northern subdivision is mostly alluvial exposing scattered
hillocks. The central subdivision mainly includes E-W trending arcuate to elongated, discontin-
uous hills. The southern one shows plateau with long, E-W trending ridges. The photographs
shown here are representative of the latter two types of physiography, i.e. those shown by the rocks
of the Bijawar Group (a) and those of the Vindhyan Supergroup (b)
The above mentioned three physiographic features seem to be related to the

geology of the area. Thus the northern part exposes Bundelkhand Gneissic
Complex, the central part exposes a sedimentary/metasedimentary belt consisting
mainly of the Bijawar Group of rocks and the southern part exposes the rocks of the
Vindhyan Supergroup.
5 Lithostratigraphy
From the above discussion, we identify three distinct belts in southern Lalitpur
district as described above. The basement rocks are represented by the BGC, the
metasedimentary sequence by the Bijawar Group while the cover sediments by the
Vindhyan Supergroup. In addition, a few outcrops of Deccan Trap also expose at
the southern parts of the area. A generalized lithostratigraphic succession has been
presented in Table 1. Detailed lithostratigraphic description and the various rock
types of the study area are given below. The lithological characteristics and
lithostratigraphic details of the rocks of the area are described here:
(A) Bundelkhand Gneissic Complex (BGC), (B) Bijawar Group, and (C) Vindhyan
Supergroup (Fig. 3).
Table 1 Generalized lithostratigraphic succession of southern Lalitpur district

Fig. 3 Photographs showing the physiographic features of the study area. a Central part with
east-west trending ridges, b southern part dominated by plateau. These physiographic subdivisions
are characterized by their typical geological attributes (see text)
(A) Bundelkhand Gneissic Complex

The rocks of the Bundelkhand massif comprise of a variety of granitoids including
pink coloured and fine to coarse grained porphyritic granite along with a variety of
metamorphic rocks including gneisses, mylonitised granite gneisses, migmatites
and amphibolite schists. The rocks of the BGC commonly show well developed
dominantly planar banding represented by melanosomes and leucosomes of vari-
able thicknesses. In the study area, the Bundelkhand massif represents the type area
of ‘Mehroni Schist Belt’ of Pascoe (1950) and the Archaean Mehroni Formation. In
addition, basic and ultrabasic rocks together with metavolcanic rocks are also
present. Doleritic dykes trending NW-SE are noticed at a few places. Quartz reefs
constitute one of the most spectacular features of the Bundelkhand terrain. These
reefs occur as linear ridges and typically show NE-SW to ENE-WSW alignments.
The Bundelkhand granitic and mafic rocks are broadly considered as intrusives into
the basement of the overlying metasediments. In the study area the Bundelkhand
massif is cut by a series of younger intrusive rocks, some of which are
post-Bijawars (Prakash et al. 1975; Jha et al. 2012). The rocks of the BGC are
generally metamorphosed twice. A prograde metamorphism was high grade with
the the presence of garnet, silliminite, perthite, diopside, hornblende and antho-
phyllite and with the absence of muscovite, chlorite, kyanite, actinolite, tremolite,
talc and epidote minerals. This was followed by a retrograde metamorphism and is
mainly characterized by tonalite-trondhjemit—granodiorite suite of rocks (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4 Geological map of the southern Lalitpur a district, Uttar Pradesh. Modified after Prakash
et al. (1975) and Sharma (1982)
In the course of our field study, we have identified a few lithologic associations
within this complex as described below.
(i) Bundelkhand Gneisses
The Bundelkhand Gneisses (Fig. 5) are exposed in the northern parts of the study area.
These rocks are dominantly constituted of moderate to high grade metamorphic rocks.
The major rock types include granite-gneiss, migmatite, biotite-gneiss, tonlite-
trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG), hornblende-biotite-gneiss, garnet-sillimanite-gneiss,
garnet-sileimanite–cordierite-gneiss and amphibolites. The foliation of the gneissic rocks
generally trend ENE-WSW to E-W with dips of 30°–50° southwards.
Fig. 5 Field photograph showing outcrop of gneissic rock. Loc. North of Balla
(ii) Bundelkhand Granites

Bundelkhand granites are exposed to the north of the Sonrai-Girar thrust zone.
These rocks mainly include fine-grained granite, coarse-grained porphyritic granite,
biotite granite and hornblende granite.
(a) Coarse Grained Pink Granite
Pinkish red coloured coarse-grained granite (Fig. 6) is commonly exposed as a few
small patches to the north of Girar and Manpura.
(b) Medium Grained Pink Granite
A few small exposures of medium grained pink granite (Fig. 7) are commonly
noticed to the NE of Imalia Khurd, east of Girar. This rock appears to be intrusive
into the greygranite (Fig. 7). This rock is a medium grained and is pink to pinkish
white in colour. The rock is characterized by small phenocrysts of feldspar.
(c) Grey Granite
A small outcrop of grey quartz (Fig. 8) has been observed north of Sonrai. It is
coarse grained and is grey to pinkish grey in colour. The rock is mainly constituted
of K-feldspar and biotite.
(d) Leucogranite
Exposures of massive, medium to coarse grained, leucogranite (Fig. 9) are noticed
near Girar, Imliya Khurd and at a few places in the western flanks of the Dhasan
River.
Fig. 6 Field photograph of the coarse grained pink granite. The diameter of the coin is 2.5 cm.
Loc. Near Manpura
Fig. 7 Field photograph of the medium grained pink granite. The diameter of the coin is 2.5 cm.
Loc. 200 m east of Imaliya Khurd
Fig. 8 Field photograph of the grey granite. The diameter of the coin is 2.5 cm. Loc. Near Balla
Fig. 9 Field photograph of the leucogranite Loc. Imliya Khurd
(e) Pegmatites
5–12 cm wide and 1–10 m long pegmatite veins have been noticed at several
places. Most of them trend N-S, though variations are also there at many places.
The pegmatite commonly shows large crystal of orthoclase and quartz, e.g. north of
Sonrai (Fig. 10). Occasionally, the veins show large crystals of biotite and
Fig. 10 Field photograph of pegmatite showing large crystals of orthoclase and quartz. The
diameter of the coin is 2.5 cm. Loc. North of Sonrai
muscovite, e.g. near Nathikhera. It appears that the pegmatites have intruded into
the preexisting rocks in phases as based on cross-cutting relations. Basu (1986) has
reported three generations of pegmatite veins in the Bundelkhand massif.
(iii) Mafic and Ultramafic Suite (Metavolcanic Suite)
A variety of mafic and ultramafic (Fig. 11a, b) rocks are exposed in various parts of
the BGC. We assign these rocks to constitute a metavolcanic suite that is mainly
represented by metaperidotite, metapyroxinite and coarse to medium grained gab-
bro. This suite of rocks is intrusive into different types of granites as well as
gabbroic rocks. Earlier Prakash et al. (1975) and Sharma (1982) have reported a
suite of ultrabasic and basic rocks around madaura and Sonrai. Basu (1986)
reported medium grained and dark grey gabbro associated with these ultrabasics to
the east of Madaura.
Fig. 11 Field photographs of metavolcanic suite of rocks. The dashed lines show the boundaries
of a metavolcanic rock (in each photo) intruded into the host granitic rocks. Loc. NW of Balla
(iv) Quartz Reef

In the Bundelkhand massif, the quartz reefs constitute a spectacular physiographic
feature. These reefs constitute the NE-SW trending ridges of quartz. In the study
area, the approximate length of these ridges vary from 50 to 200 m. Approximately
400 quartz reefs (individual exposures) are exposed in BGC covering the part of
southern Uttar Pradesh. Quartz reefs are sharply exposed as linear ridges/hills with
varying thickness from a few meters to the maximum height of 175 m above
ground level and thus form prominent physiographic features. The ridges have been
observed near Girar, Hansra-Hansri, north of Manpura, Balla and adjoining areas.
Commonly the quartz reefs are pinched and swelled. The rocks exposures occa-
sionally show brecciation and shattering such as near Girar and north of Manpura.
The quartz reefs have been interpreted in several ways. Pascoe (1950) described
these as quartz veins. Jhingran (1958) describes these as cherty small offshoots
having cataclastic and granulated nature. Misra (1969) considers these reefs as
product of recrystallisation of quartzites. Saxena (1961) opines the quartz reefs
constitute a part of the older rocks of the Bundelkhand massif. Prakash et al. (1975)
considered these as dense sheared veins of quartz. The reefs exhibit sharp contacts
with the enclosing granites. These reefs are variedly described as a monomineralic
rock (Sharma 1982), as mega-veins of quartz occasionally mildly sheared by (Basu
2004) and as giant quartz veins by Pati et al. (2007) and Mondal (2010). Roday
et al. (1995) presented a kinemetic model of emplacement of the quartz reefs and
subsequent deformation pattern of these reefs in Central Indian Bundelkhand
batholiths. Pati et al. (2007) described the geology and geochemisty of these reefs.
Bhattacharya and Singh (2013) described these quartz reefs as shear indicators of
the Proterozoic crust in the Bundelkhand massif, and suggested that these are
associated with the NE-SW strike-slip dominated vertical to sub-vertical shear
zones.
(v) Mafic Dike Swarms
Occurrence of mafic dikes is another important physiographic feature of the
Bundelkhand massif. These rocks occur as NW-SE trending dike swarms. Some of
them also show ENE-WSW trends. In the study area, mafic dikes are noticed
around Girar (Fig. 12).
(B) Mahrauni Group
Within the Bundelkhand Gneissic Complex some relics of higher grade meta-
morphism are occasionally noticed that have been assigned as the Mehroni Group
(Prakash et al. 1975; Jha et al. 2012). Prakash et al. (1975) subdivided the Mehroni
Group into a Lower Rajaula Formation, followed up by Barwar Formation and
Madaura Formation. The Rajaula Formation is mainly constituted of quartz–feld-
spar biotite gneiss, chlorite schists, and meta-basalts. The Barwar Formation is
constituted of banded hematite quartzite, conglomerate, fuchsite quartzite and grey
to green chlorite schists. The Madaura Formation mainly includes ultrabasic rocks,
gabbro, granites and pegmeatites. However, in the study area only the rocks of the
Fig. 12 Field photograph of a mafic dike. The yellow line demarcates the upper and lower
boundaries of the dike. Loc. Near Girar
Barwar Formation represent the Mahrauni Group. In this work we name the
Mehroni Group as Mahrauni Group following the recent toposheets. Occurrence of
banded hematite quartzite seems to be a characteristic feature of the Barwar
Formation in the study area and so also for the Mahrauni Group at least in the
present area.
The Barwar Formation is exposed in the eastern part of the study area. Major
rock types of the Barwar Formation include banded hematite quartzite (BHQ),
conglomerate, fuchsite quartzite, grey to green chloritic schists. These rocks are
typically exposed in the Girar and Barwar areas (Fig. 13). The banded ferruginous
rocks with their parallel layering appear to be product of marine deposition. During
sedimentation, the basin also witnessed sedimentation of clastic constituents in the
form of arenaceous and politic sediments. Occurrence of chloritic schists and
quartzites indicate that the rocks were subsequently subjected to low grade meta-
morphism. Folding in the BHQ layers represents deformation of the rocks of this
Formation.
The earlier workers have considered the Mahrauni Group as part of the base-
ment. In the present area, only a small part of the Barwar Formation (Mahrauni
Group) is exposed to northeast. Both to the north (against BGC) and to the south
(against Bijawars), the Barwar Formation bears thrust contact. As such, we consider
the Barwar Formation to constitute a thrust slice.
Fig. 13 Field photograph showing outcrop of folded banded hematite quartzite of Barwar
Formation. Loc. East of Barwar
(C) Bijawar Group

The Bijawar Group is exposed to the south of the Bundelkhand Gneissic Complex.
The contact of this group with the BGC as well as with the Mahrauni Group has
been suggested to be unconformable (Prakash et al. 1975; Swaroop and Saxena
1969; Jha et al. 2012). The Bijawar Group consists of a sequence of ferruginous
rocks, various types of shale, sandstone and carbonate. This group is uncon-
formably overlain by the rocks of the Vindhyan Supergroup.
On a regional basis, the Bijawar Group generally occurs with an E-W trend in
the central part of the study area. The rocks of this group have been interpreted to
suggest conditions of shallow carbonate platform with a clastic influx from the
nearby landmass, typical for very shallow marine environment with several periods
of an intensive tropical weathering (Chaudhuri et al. 1999; Bose et al. 2001;
Chakraborty 2006; Banerjee 1982).
The Bijawars exposed in the area are variously classified as (i) the basal rocks of
the Sonrai Formation named after the Sonrai village, (ii) the sandstone and pebble
conglomerate overlain by carbonates rocks, shale and sandstone named as the
Jamuni Carbonate Formation named after the Jamuni river section and (iii) an
overlying sequence of shale, quartzite and ferruginous beds named as Solda
Formation after the village Solda (Prakash et al. 1975; Swaroop and Saxena 1969;
Jha et al. 2012). However in the study area, the Sonrai Formation and the Solda
Formation are well represented.
Deposition of different parts of the sedimentary sequence of the Bijawar Group
may have taken place directly over the crystalline basement. The unconformable
contacts of some of the litho-units of this group suggest repeated periods of vertical
movement, which eroded the uplifted areas on which overlying sequence was
deposited (Kumar et al. 1990). The end of the evolution of the Bijawar Basin is
marked by regional uplift and erosion. Subsequently, Lower Neoproterozoic sedi-
mentary sequences of the Vindhyan Supergroup unconformably deposited over the
Bijawar Group (Prakash et al. 1975; Swaroop and Saxena 1969).
On the basis of lithological characteristics, this Group has been subdivided in the
present work into two formations; a lower Sonrai Formation and an upper Solda
Formation.
(i) Sonrai Formation
The Sonrai Formation is mostly a carbonate sequence without tuffaceous material.
The various rock types include carbonates (Fig. 14a), shales (Fig. 14b) and sand-
stones (Fig. 14c) with some basaltic and gabbroic intrusive. The rocks occasionally
show abundant bedding-controlled sulphides. Prakash et al. (1972) have subdivided
the Sonrai Formation into five members; from base to top, these members are
Jamuni Carbonate Member, Gora Kalan Shale Member, Rohini Carbonate Member,
Bandaui Sandstone Member, and Kurrat Member. However, in the study area, these
members are not fully developed. As such, it is not possible to subdivide this
formation into different members.
(ii) Solda Formation
The rocks of the Solda Formation are exposed with NW-SE to E-W trends and
occasionally show steep dips. This formation is mainly constituted of ferruginous
shale with quartz arenite interbands together with tuffaceous material and some
sandstone (Fig. 14d). The various rock types of this formation include ferruginous
shale, ferruginous quartzite, iron stone, calcareous sandstone and chloritic shale.
Prasad et al. (1999) considered this formation to represent a volcano-sedimentary
sequence.
Fig. 14 Field photographs showing outcrops of Bijawar Group of rocks. a Carbonate rocks of the
Sonrai Formation. Loc. South of Tori. b Shales of Sonrai Formation. Loc. North of Dhori Sagar.
c Sandstone of Sonrai Formation. Loc. Near Gora Kalan. d Ferruginous sandstone of Solda
Formation. Loc. Near Solda
Fig. 15 Field photographs of the rocks of the Vindhyan Supergroup (Lower Vindhyan). a Kaimur
sandstone. Loc. South of Uldana Khurd. b Fragile sandstone of Semri Group. Loc. Near
Madanpur. c Bedded sandstone of Semri Group. Loc. South of Kurrat. d Contact of Semri and
Kaimur Groups. Loc. Near Madanpur
(D) Vindhyan Supergroup

A part of the Vindhyan Supergroup is exposed in the southern part of the study
area. The rocks of this unit occur as E-W and NE-SW trending continuous ridges
and smaller hills. In the study area, this supergroup is represented by two groups: a
Lower Semri Group and an Upper Kaimur Group. In the study area, the Semri
Group (Fig. 15a, b) includes thin-bedded sandstones and shales together with
locally developed conglomerate horizons. The Kaimur Group (Fig. 15c, d) is
dominantly represented by massive sandstone, though thin-bedded sandstones are
also locally noticed.
(E) Deccan Traps
A few outcrops of Deccan Trap occur in the southern part of the area. Of these only
one outcrop is relatively large in size; it trend almost N-S with a length of about
8 km and a width of *4 km. The other outcrops are smaller and extend for a few
tens of meters only. The basalt is usually light to dark grey, fine to medium grained
rock. The Deccan Trap occurs as flat cap rocks in the area. In the study area, the
Deccan Trap is mainly constituted of basaltic rocks. Most of the basaltic rocks show
highly weathered and irregular surfaces as well as lateritic soil and black alluvium
soil cover. Recently, a number of papers have been published on the structural
geology and tectonics of the Deccan Trap (Misra et al. 2014, 2015; Misra and
Mukherjee 2015; Mukherjee et al. 2017).
6 Structural Architecture
(A) Structures
The large-scale structure of the rocks of the area has been observed to vary with
different lithostratigraahic units as well as, to a larger extent, on the overall phys-
iographic set-up. As mentioned above, the area can be subdivided into three
physiographic–lithostratigraphic subdivisions, we can describe the structure under
three domains as described below.
Structure of Domain-I
The Domain-I is considered here including the BGC. Structurally, the rocks of this
domain do not show any visible large-scale structure excepting the dominantly
south-dipping foliation. The rocks however occasionally show complications in
their internal domain as reflected in the mesoscopic structures described below.
Structure of Domain-II
Structurally, the central part of the study area has been identified as Domain-II. This
domain is mainly represented by the rocks of the Bijawar Group. In the study area,
the rocks of the Bijawar Group are folded into an anticline to the south and a
corresponding syncline to the north. The axes of these folds trend approximately
E-W to ENE-WSW and are slightly curved in nature with gentle plunges towards
east. These folds are traversed by a number of roughly N-S trending steep to
vertical faults of varying dimensions.
Structure of Domain-III
Domain-III is constituted of the rocks of the Vindhyan Supergroup. This lithounit
includes a massive succession of sandstones shales. Structurally, the Vindhyan
rocks show a simple dipping structure with southward dipping strata. The Vindhyan
rocks are believed to rest unconformably over the Bijawar rocks. At some places,
the Vindhyan and Bijawar strata show some effects of deformation along their
contacts in the form of some small scale folds and faults.
A prominent outcrop of Deccan Trap also occurs in the southwestern part of the
area. This outcrop trends almost N-S and is about 8 km N-S and about 4 km E-W.
In addition to this, four scattered outcrops of Deccan Trap also occur at the southern
fringe of the study area. These outcrops extend for a few tens meters only. The
Deccan Trap occurs as flat cap rocks and thus adds a special feature to the phys-
iography of the area. The Deccan Trap rocks are constituted of basaltic rocks. As
such, we consider these rocks as discordant igneous bodies and possibly represent
the last igneous (volcanic) event in the study area. The Deccan Trap rocks appar-
ently do not show any structure in their internal domain.
(B) Mesoscopic Structures
The rocks of the area show a variety of mesoscopic structures that are distributed in
the area rather sporadically. Most of these structures occur in the BGC followed by
the Bijawar Group. In the rocks of the Vindhyan Supergroup, occurrence of
mesocopic structures is very rare excepting near the Vindhyan-Bijawar contact

zone. The mesoscopic structures of the area are in the form of minor folds, planar
structures and linear structures.
Minor Folds
Minor folds developed in the area range in size from a few centimeters to a few
meters. The study of fold geometry and their attitudes indicate that the rocks of the
area have undergone at least three phases of deformation. Each phase is represented
by a set of minor folds showing their typical fold geometry and attitudes as
described below (Fig. 16).
Fig. 16 Geological cross-sections of the rocks of the study area in three traverses (marked in
Fig. 4) across the strike of the rock formations: T1: upper diagram, T2: middle diagram, T3: lower
diagram
(i) F1 Folds
The first phase of deformation structures are represented by the F1 folds (Fig. 17a,
b). These folds are well developed in the quartzite (banded hematite quartzite) of
Mahrauni Group. In the BGC, these folds are commonly traced by silica bands of
the gneissic rocks. The F1 folds are generally tight recumbent isoclinal with
interlimb angle of about 20°–30°. They commonly show thickened hinge zones and
thin limbs. The F1 folds vary in size from a few centimeters to a few meters and are
characterized by high amplitude/wavelength ratio which is up to about 4 at some
places. The axes commonly trend between NW-SE and E-W but occasionally show
minor variations due to the effect of later deformations. In general, the higher
degree of flattening at the hinge zone is associated with higher thinning of the limbs.
The F1 folds are occasionally associated with an axial plane foliation designated as
S1 which is parallel to F1 fold axes. However, S1 transects bedding at the closures of
the F1 folds.
(ii) F2 Folds
The second generation folds (F2) are commonly developed in the banded hematite
quartzite (Fig. 17c) and in the banded hematite jasper of Barwar Formation. The F2
folds are generally coaxial to F1. In comparison with the F1 folds, the F2 folds are
more open, asymmetrical, and show low amplitude/wavelength ratio and higher
interlimb angle up to 60°. These folds generally show almost constant orthogonal
thickness in the competent folded layers.
Fig. 17 Photograph showing minor folds of the study area. a, b F1 folds in the banded hematite
quartzite affected by ductile shearing showing thinning of limb. Loc.1.8 km west of Girar. c F2
folds in banded hematite jasper, 1.8 km southwest of Girar. d F3 folds in carbonate rocks together
with ferruginous layering. Loc. 0.5 km south of Gorakalan
(iii) F3 Folds
The third generation (F3) folds (Fig. 17d) are relatively much less common in the
area. These are open folds with rounded hinges. Generally these are parallel folds
thus showing class 1B of Ramsay (1967). The amplitude/wavelength ratios are low
as compared with the F1 and F2 folds. In the schistose rocks, these folds commonly
occur as crenulation folds. The F3 folds commonly show vertical axial planes
striking NNE-SSW to NNW-SSE direction. These folds are noticed in the basic
dikes as well as in some rocks of the Bijawar Group. The F3 folds possibly rep-
resent signatures of some large scale open folds in the form of warps that developed
a curvilinear pattern to the some of the ridges of the area.
7 Tectonic Framework
Our knowledge on the tectonic framework of the rocks of the area is as yet meager.
The main reason is that the nature of contact of a few lithostratigraphic units (e.g.
Sonrai-Solda, Bijawar-Vindhyan) is either not known properly or is debatable (e.g.
Jha et al. 2012; Kumar et al. 1990; Prakash et al. 1972). In the course of our present
work, we have made efforts to study the nature of contact of important lithos-
tratigraphic units and the related structural features, if any.
(i) BGC-Bijawar contact
The contact of crystalline rocks with sedimentary/metasedimentary (cover) rocks in
any area is always of fundamental significance. The main reason, amongst others, is
that the study of the contact zone helps us to unravel the geological and palaeo-
geograhical conditions of the past. In this context, the presence of the contact of the
BGC and the Bijawars is also of great significance not only to the present area but
also to the peninsular shield in general. When we talk of the contact of basement
rocks with cover rocks, there appears to be two possibilities: the contact is either
unconformable or tectonic. In the first case, i.e. unconformable contact, commonly
the occurrence of conglomerates is expected in which the conglomerate horizon
should contain pebbles, cobbles, etc. derived from the basement rocks. In the
second case, i.e. tectonic contact, development of structural features indicating the
presence of a fault or thrust is expected.
In the study area (Fig. 4), the BGC-Bijawar contact is exposed in the northern
parts of the area with almost an E-W trend. It passes from the south of Sonrai in the
west through the south of Pisnari in the central part, and south of Girar in the
eastern part of the area. Unfortunately the direct contact of these two rock units is
exposed only at a few localities. Also, in most cases the contact zone is rather
vaguely exposed. We have carried out detailed study of the contact zone at Sonrai,
Pisnari, Tori, Barwar, Girar and their adjoining areas. So far, we have not observed
any conglomerate horizon at the contact. We thus rule out any unconformable
contact between the BGC and the Bijawars. We have instead observed the
occurrence of tectonic structures practically in all the localities where the

BGC-Bijawar contact is exposed.
Along the BGC-Bijawar contact we have observed structures indicating ductile
deformation of rocks, e.g. thick-hinge folds showing asymmetry of their axial
planes with respect to the surrounding foliation. In the light of these features, we
suggest a thrust contact between the BGC and the Bijawar Group. It may be
mentioned here that earlier Prakash et al. (1975) had also suggested a thrust contact
between the BGC and the Bijawars though no distinct structures or structural
features to support this view had been described. Following Prakash et al. (1975)
we have retained the name of this contact as Sonrai-Girar thrust. Several mafic and
ultra-mafic bodies are intruded along the BGC-Bijawar contact.
(ii) Bijawar-Vindhyan Contact
The contact of the Bijawar Group with the overlying Vindhyan Supergroup is
believed to be unconformable. However in the study area (Fig. 4), this is not so.
Our field studies and mapping indicates that there are several evidences that lead to
the otherwise. In the area, the Vindhyan Supergroup is exposed in the southern
parts and is represented by the Semri Group and the Kaimur Group. Both these
groups are exposed as almost E-W trending continuous outcrops. The outcrops of
the Semri Group however do not maintain uniform width in different parts of the
area and show variations from about 2 km to about 200 m. At the same time, the
dip of the strata maintains almost uniform values, i.e. from 15° to 25° roughly
towards S. We assign this variation in width of the outcrops to the existence of a
fault due to which a part of the Semri Group has been concealed. Occurrence of
breccia is noticed at a few places. Further, at some places, e.g. about 3 km north of
Madanpur, the Semri Group is missing and, as a result, the Bijawar Group is
directly juxtaposed against the Kaimur Group. We therefore consider a faulted
contact between the Bijawar Group and the overlying Vindhyan Supergroup at least
in the study area. We name this contact as Patna–Kurrat fault.
(iii) Tectonic status of the Mahrauni Group
The Mahrauni Group is exposed in the northeastern parts of the study area. This
rock unit thins in the west. In this work, we have mapped the Mahrauni Group as a
single lithostratigraphic unit (Fig. 4) because the Rajaula and the Barwar
Formations are not mappable on the scale of our map. Along the BGC-Mahrauni
contact we have not observed any evidence of unconformity. Rather, development
of minor shear zones has been observed at one or two localities. It therefore seems
possible that the BGC-Mahrauni contact is tectonic, possibly thrusted, in the study
area. As a matter of fact, the entire contact zone is not well exposed. Therefore on
the basis of our interpretation of a thrust contact, we can extend this generalization
for the entire BGC-Mahraunu contact. Since this contact is in direct continuity of
the Sonrai-Girar thrust, we therefore extend the Sonrai-Girar thrust for the
BGC-Mahrauni contact also.
(iv) The Overall Tectonic Framework

All the major rock units of south Lalitpur district bear tectonic contacts. The
BGC-Bijawar contact is a thrust named as the Sonrai-Girar thrust while the
Birawar-Vindhyan contact is a fault named as the Patna-Kurrat fault. If we go back
to the existing concepts, the Bijawars are believed to have deposited unconformably
over the crystalline basement (the BGC in this case). Likewise, the Vindhyans are
also believed to have deposited unconformably over the Bijawars. But in the south
lalitpur district, the situation differs Here the contacts of practically all the major
lithostratigraphic units are tectonic. This suggests that initially the BGC-Bijawar
and Bijawar-Vindhyan contacts may have been unconformable. Later, the contacts
were disturbed tectonically. We suggest that the differences in the overall lithologic,
and so rheologic, characters of the individual lithostratigraphic units were the major
factors due to which the individual lithostratigraphic units behaved differently to the
deforming stresses. This possibly explains why is the overall tectonic framework of
the lithostratigraphic units of the study area not exactly what is elsewhere in the
peninsular shield. Another possibility could be that this part of the shield may have
experienced tectonic activities in due course of time due to some crustal distur-
bances that did not affect other parts of the shield. And, further, even if other parts
of the shield were affected by tectonic disturbances, the effects may have been
feeble so that the degree of tectonization did not leave well developed and rec-
ognizable signatures today, as we see them in the present study area.
8 Discussion and Conclusions
• South Lalitpur district exposes some typical rock units of the Indian peninsular
shield.The area shows three distinct physiographic features: scattered hillocks to
the northern parts, nearly continuous hills in the central parts and plateau in the
southern parts. This physiographic set-up is closely related to the geological
setup of the area. The northern part exposes crystalline-metamorphic rocks of
the Bundelkhand Gneissic Complex (BGC), the central part exposes Bijawar
Group and the southern part exposes rocks of the Vindhyan Supergroup.
• The BGC consists of a variety of granitoids, gneisses and schists together with
mylonitised granite gneisses, migmatites and amphibolite schists. Of the gran-
itoids, pink and grey granites are the dominating types. In the study area, we
have identified the following lithologic associations: gneisses designated here as
Bundelkhand Gneisses, Bundelkhand Granites that include coarse grained pink
porphyritic granite, medium grained pink porphyritic granite, grey granite,
leucogranite, aplites and pegmatites. A few NE-SW trending quartz reefs and
NW-SE trending mafic dikes are also present.
• South of the BGC, a group of schistose rocks is exposed. This group was earlier
referred to as Mehroni Group, which we rename as Mahrauni Group following
recent toposheets. The Mehroni Group was divided into four Formations.
However our work reveals that in the study area only one formation, i.e. Barwar
Formation, is exposed. This Formation is constituted of banded hematite
quartzite, conglomerate, fuchsite quartzite and grey to green chlorite schists.
• South of the BGC occurs the Bijawar Group that extends almost E-W in the
central parts of the area. This group includes a sequence of sedimentary rocks
that are affected by very low metamorphism. In the study area, this group is
represented by two Formations: a Lower Sonrai Formation and an Upper Solda
Formation. The Sonrai Formation includes carbonates, shales and sandstones
with some basaltic and gabbroic intrusive while the Solda Formation is mainly
constituted of ferruginous shales with quartz arenite interbands together with
tuffaceous material and some sandstone.
• The southern part of the area is mostly occupied by the rocks of the Vindhyan
Supergroup and is represented by only two formations, viz. Semri and Kaimur
Formations.
• In addition to the above rock units, a few outcrops of Deccan Trap also occur in
the southern parts of the area. The Trap is constituted of fine to medium grained
basaltic rocks that are light to dark grey in colour.
• The structure of the area seems to be related to the individual lithostratigraphic
units. Thus we can identify three different structural domains towards south. The
Domain-I is assigned to the BGC, which apparently does not show any visible
large-scale structure excepting a dominantly south-dipping foliation. Domain-II
is represented mainly by the Bijawar Group folded into an anticline to the south
and a corresponding syncline to the north. The axes of these folds trend
approximately E-W to ENE-WSW. Domain-III mainly includes the Vindhyan
Supergroup. The rocks of this rock units show a simple dipping structure with
southward dipping strata.
• The rocks of the area show a variety of mesoscopic structures rather irregularly
distributed in different parts. We have identified a variety of minor folds, planar
structures and linear structures. Study of minor folds indicates that the rocks of
the area have undergone at least three generations of folds. The first generation
(F1) folds are commonly traced by quartz bands of the associated rocks and are
generally tight recumbent isoclinal with interlimb angle of about 20°–30°. The
second generation (F2) folds are generally co-axial to F1 but they differ in
geometry from F1 folds in being more open, asymmetrical and occasionally
greater interlimb angle up to 60°. The third generation (F3) folds are relatively
less common in the area and occur as open folds with high
wavelength-amplitude ratios.
• The tectonic framework of the rocks of the area is as yet not clearly known
mainly because the nature of contact of the lithostratigraphic units is either not
known properly or is debatable. One practical problem is that the contact of
most of the major rock units is not clearly exposed. In the light of our obser-
vations, it appears that the BGC and the Bijawars bear a thrust contact while the
Bijawars and the Vindhyans bear a faulted contact. The Mahrauni Group
appears to bear a thrust contact with the BGC to the north as well as with the
Bijawars to the south. We thus consider this group to occur as a thrust slice.
• It seems possible that the contacts of the major lithotectonic units were tec-
tonized due to tectonic disturbances in different parts of the peninsular shield
possibly due to the differences in the overall lithologic, and so rheologic,
characters of the individual lithostratigraphic units. As a result, the individual
lithostratigraphic units behaved differently to the deforming stresses. Possibly
because of this the overall tectonic framework of the lithostratigraphic units of
the study area does not fully reflect the general framework elsewhere in the
peninsular shield.
Acknowledgements We express our sincere thanks to the Head, Centre of Advanced Study in
Geology, University of Lucknow, for providing working facilities. GKD extends his thanks to the
Director, Directorate of Geology and Mining, U.P., for granting him permission to carry out this
work as part of his doctorate thesis. We thank Prof. Soumyajit Mukherjee (IIT Bombay) for his
editorial and reviewing works that significantly improved the quality of the manuscript. Mukherjee
(2019) summarizes this work.
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Deformation in the Kangra Reentrant,
Himachal Pradesh of NW-Sub Himalaya
of India: A Paradox
Tejpal Singh and A. K. Awasthi
1 Introduction
The Himalayan orogeny is geologically very complex and heterogeneous along its
entire length even though it consists of longitudinal curvilinear stripes of similar
lithologies (Mukherjee 2013a). For the ease of correlation and understanding, broad
sub-divisions have been made based on comparable litho-tectonic units (Fig. 1).
These sub-divisions have been further verified through detailed lab (geochemical)
and field studies (Valdiya 1984). Accordingly, the southern (outer)most
litho-tectonic sub-division of the Himalaya is called the Sub-Himalayan belt. The
Sub-Himalayan belt in the NW Himalaya has been studied in detail and classified
based on energy sequences, which are equivalent to various rock types (Raiverman
2002). This belt is the youngest and most actively deforming tectonic sub-division
of the Himalayan orogen that accommodates about 20% (*4–11 mm/yr) of the
total India-Asia convergence (Larson et al. 1999; Lave and Avouac 2000; Bilham
et al. 2001). Note that the Sub-Himalayan belt is assumed to be tectonically col-
located with the external locked zone of the Himalayas (Bilham et al. 2001; Stevens
and Avouac 2015). This locked zone has an approximate width of 100 km and
tends to accumulate the potential tectonic slip almost entirely as elastic (>90%)
rather than inelastic (<10%) strain, which would permanently deform the rock
T. Singh (&)
CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh 160030, India
e-mail: tejpal@csio.res.in; geotejpal@yahoo.co.in
A. K. Awasthi
Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Dehradun 248002, India
A. K. Awasthi
Formerly at Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India

382 T. Singh and A. K. Awasthi
(Bilham et al. 2001). The cover sequences in this locked zone are variably coupled
with the basement and the coupling tends to maximum near the deformation front
i.e. Himalayan Frontal Thrust: HFT (Stevens and Avouac 2015).
The Sub-Himalayan belt is a typical example of a “cover sequence”, which is
faulted and folded over a rigid basement. The structures characterize the thin skin
deformation of Fold-Thrust belts (FTBs). There has been a considerable progress in
our understanding of thin-skin deformation of FTBs over the last few decades (Ruh
et al. 2012) and as more and more data and new tools become available, refined
interpretations are coming up (e.g., Rajendra Prasad et al. 2011; Carrillo et al.
2017). The initial models are commonly based on surface geology and structure.
However, the current understanding largely draws from the theoretical and exper-
imental models (Suppe 1983; Suppe and Medwedeff 1990; Stokmal et al. 2007).
Most of these models are based on (i) different material properties of the detach-
ment e.g., frictional vs. viscous detachments (Cotton and Koyi 2000; Bahroudi and
Koyi 2003), (ii) inherent properties of the cover sequences such as cohesion and
pore pressure, and (iii) interaction between the detachment and cover sequences
such as their coupling (Withjack and Callaway 2000; Paul and Mitra 2015;
Borderie et al. 2018). The results are commonly interpreted in terms of evolution of
(i) structural geometries such as imbricate thrusts, back thrusts, open folds etc.,
(ii) topographic slope (a), and (iii) detachment dip (b) (Singh et al. 2012). In most
cases, the models are tuned compatible with the available seismic sections, well
logs, structural- and topographic maps.
The width of the Sub-Himalayan belt varies along the length of the orogen. It
reaches to a maximum of over 300 km in the western sections of Pakistan whereas
Fig. 1 Broad litho-tectonic subdivisions of the ‘Himalaya’ (after Valdiya 1984, 1998)
Deformation in the Kangra Reentrant, Himachal Pradesh … 383
it thins to <10 km in the eastern sections, especially east of Nepal. The variable
width to a large extent is attributed to the original basin geometry and rheology of
the basement. The basins of deposition towards the west have been extremely wide
and sediments have been deformed over rheologically weak basement in salt (Davis
and Lillie 1994). This has not been the case eastwards where, the rheologically
weak salt is not found in the basement and the belts are narrower. However, there is
an interesting paradox in the Kanrga Reentrant of Western India where the width of
the Sub-Himalayan belt is *80 km: much wider than that at east. The topographic
slope (a) of the Kangra Reenetrant is *1° and together with the basement dip (b)
of 3°, it forms a wedge taper of around 4°. This wedge taper is comparable to those
of Salt Range-Potwar Plateau in Pakistan (Davis and Lillie 1994) and Fars and
Lorestan segments of the Zagros FTB in Iran (McQuarrie 2004). Notably the FTBs
in Pakistan and Iran are extremely wide and have also evolved over a weak
detachment in salt which justifies a low wedge taper. However, there have been no
reports on the presence of salt at the surface or sub-surface in the Kangra Reentrant
which could justify a relatively low wedge taper spread over a width of 80 km. This
article focuses on this paradoxical reentrant to elaborate on the geological structure
and to understand the reasons for its relatively larger width.
2 Litho-Tectonic Setting
The Sub-Himalayan belt, in general comprises the Tertiary rock units, which are
classified into the Lower and the Upper Tertiaries. In western India, it consists of
parautochthonous and the autochthonous units (Table 1). The former units include
the Subathu and the Dagshai (=Lower Dharamshala) and the Kasauli (=Upper
Dharamshala) Formation of Lower Tertiary age. The autochthonous unit includes
the Siwalik Supergroup of Upper Tertiary to Quaternary age (Raiverman 2002).
The Siwalik Supergroup is conventionally sub-divided into the Lower, Middle and
Upper Siwalik Groups (Table 1). Both parautochthonous and autochthonous units
are unconformably overlain by Quaternary terraces along the stream network
(Singh et al. 2011). The Sub-Himalayan rock units thrust over the sediments of the
Indo-Gangetic plains along the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT). The HFT defines
the present-day tectonic boundary of active tectonic convergence (Yeats et al. 1992;
Powers et al. 1998; Delcaillau et al. 2006; Kumar et al. 2006; Singh and Jain 2009).
3 Surface Topography and Taper of the Wedge
Deformation style and kinematics vary considerably across the fold-thrust belts in
orogenic systems (e.g., Mukherjee 2013b). These differences may be present at
much finer scales but their first order manifestation is readily visible in the surface
topography as seen in various modeling approaches (Koyi 1988; Cotton and
384
Table 1 Generalized stratigraphy of the Kangra Reentrant

Formation/group Description Thickness (m) Age
Post-Siwalik Alluvium/piedmont Sand and silt Recent
deposits
Siwalik Upper Siwalik Predominantly conglomerate with sand 600–1500 Middle Miocene to Pleistocene
Supergroup and clay matrix
Middle Siwalik Predominantly sandstone and 1400–2000
interbedded clays
Lower Siwalik Alterations of sandstone, claystone and 1200–1600
minor siltstone
Dharamshala Upper Sandstone with subordinate claystone 1100–1600 Lower–Upper Eocene to
Dharamshala Middle Miocene
Lower Predominantly claystone with minor 1900–2300
Dharamshala sandstone
Subathu Shales, limestone and orthoquatzite 400–800 Late paleocene-middle Eocene
Haitus
Bilaspur/Bandla limestone Limestone 450+ Base not Neo-Meso Proterozoic
exposed
Metamorphic/granitic basement Granitic – Archean
Modified after Raiverman (2002) and Rajendra Prasad et al. (2011)
T. Singh and A. K. Awasthi
Fig. 2 Generalized surface topography of the Kangra Reentrant showing NW-SE elongated
ridges separated by synclinal valleys. The main structures viz. HFT: Himalayan Frontal Thrust,
JbT: Januari back Thrust, ST: Soan Thrust, BbT: Barsar back Thrust, JMT: Jwalamukhi Thrust,
MBT: Main Boundary Thrust and MCT: Main Central Thrust are shown. The representative
anticlinal and synclinal topography are marked. The star in the top middle panel represents the last
major earthquake of 1905 around Kangra. The line of structural cross-section A–B shows location
of Fig. 3
Koyi 2000; Costa and Vendeville 2002; Nilforoushan et al. 2008; Nilfouroushan
et al. 2012; Ruh et al. 2012). In all these models, structural evolution readily
compare with the large scale topographic features. Of course, surface processes and
erosion play an equally important role in shaping the topography. Their role is to
enhance the surface manifestations of geological structure, often modulated by
lithology and climate (Singh 2008a, b; Singh and Jain 2009). Therefore surface
topography forms a primary guide to the mechanical characters leading to the
observed structural geometries and surface manifestations.
The present day surface topography of the Kangra Reentrant is characterized by
a series of NW trending (sub)parallel ridges separated by wide and relatively flat
valleys trending parallel to the ridges in between them (Fig. 2). This topographic
arrangement is more apparent towards the southern part of the Fold-Thrust Belt
(FTB) between the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) and the Jwalamukhi Thrust
(JMT; Fig. 2). Here the ridges are more simply NW-SE elongated almost parallel to
the HFT. North of JMT, although the same arrangement of ridges exists there is a
curvature which most likely replicates the strike of the MBT. These form a different
surface expression between the JMT and MBT that is more subdued by the cover of
Quaternary alluvial fills and fans descending from the adjoining mountain ranges.
Also, the surface expression in this part is complicated by the interaction of tectonic
and surface processes strongly modulated by the climatic signal (Dey et al. 2016).
The JMT forms an important tectonic boundary which internally constrains the
Sub-Himalayan wedge, although its activity has been identified only through
neotectonic studies and terrace dating (Singh et al. 2012; Mukherjee 2015; Dey
et al. 2016).
The most important surface topographic parameter that contributes to the taper
of the Sub-Himalayan wedge is the forelandward slope of the modern day topo-
graphic envelope (a). For the Kangra reentrant, the present day topographic slope a
has been estimated to be 0.9° ± 0.2° based on analysis of topographic maps and
Digital Elevation Models (Singh et al. 2012). This too small alpha is comparable to
many other wedges developed in the paleo-forelands of collisional settings over
weak detachments in the Salt Range of Pakistan (Davis and Lillie 1994) and the
Zagros FTB of Iran (McQuarrie 2004).
4 Detachment Geometry
Although uncertainties exist about the geometry and rheology of the detachment
(Main Himalaya Thrust: MHT) in the NW Himalaya, it is generally considered to
be a gently dipping single continuous sliding plane over which the cover sequences
deform (Fig. 3). The dip of the detachment has been estimated *3°in the external
sector using well logs and seismic profiling carried out by the ONGC (Powers
et al. 1998). The dip is more or less uniform under the entire Sub-Himalayan belt
of Kangra reentrant. This is particularly true because any undulations in the
geometry of the detachment would locally induce stress concentrations causing
clustering of seismicity, which contradicts the seismic findings (Arora et al. 2009).
However, in the down dip direction further north of the MBT, the dip of the
detachment increases to about 10°–15°. This corresponds with the zone of intense
microseismicity that defines the Himalayan mid-crustal ramp just north of the Main
Central Thrust (MCT) (Figs. 1 and 2). Mechanically the basement is a rigid mass
made-up of the Vindhayan rocks equivalent and followed by the metamorphic/
granitic basement at deeper levels (Powers et al. 1998; Rajendra Prasad et al.
2011). The internal thrusts formed within the Sub-Himalayan belt are the result of
continued contraction tectonics of the Himalaya (Singh et al. 2014). They emerge
from the basement and deform the cover sequences into broad open folds (Powers
et al. 1998). The anticlinal folds manifest in the surface topography as ridges
followed by trailing synclines manifested as wide flat intermontane depressions
(Fig. 2).
5 Cover Sequences
The overall cross-sectional taper of the wedge is intricately related to the compe-
tency contrast of the rocks in the wedge and its basal detachment (Davis et al.
1983). In the Kangra reentrant the basal detachment is resolved to be a rigid surface
made of competent rocks. However, there are outstanding issues regarding the
extent of the resolution and role of the cover rocks involved in deformation. The
frictional strengths of a wide variety of rocks in the upper crust are similar (Davis
and Engelder 1985). However, there are special considerations for clay and shales,
which are relatively weak and their presence can significantly modify the defor-
mation style if they are predominant in the cover sequence (Davis and Lillie 1994).
They tend to behave similar to weak horizons as in the case of eastern Potwar
plateau (Pakistan), which exhibits increased sedimentation rates of 0.46–0.53 m/kyr
during the Middle Siwalik sedimentation towards the top of the sequence. The
sequence is predominantly sandy with interbedded clays of the Middle Siwaliks
(Pennock et al. 1989).
The cover sequences of the Sub-Himalayan FTB deform over a rigid basement
forming foreland verging thrusts, fault-related folds and back-thrusts. The structural
geometries are constrained through data from surface geology, 2D-seismic profiles,
well logs and other ancillary data from geophysical techniques (Figs. 2 and 3;
Powers et al. 1998; Mukhopadhyay and Mishra 1999; Jayangondaperumal et al.
2017). It is important to note the major thrusts towards from S to N are Himalayan
Fig. 3 Top panel shows a generalized structural section across the Sub-Himalaya of Kangra
Reentrant (modified from Powers et al. 1998). For section line, refer to Fig. 2. Vertical and
horizontal scales are the same. The bold line forming the base of the section represents the
basement. The internal thrusts shown in the section emerge from the basement and deform the
cover sequences into broad open folds (bottom panel). The bottom panel details the triangle zone
structure formed between the Soan Thrust (ST) and the Barsar back Thrust (BbT). Regional drag
folds (Mukherjee 2014) are also exemplified in this cross-section
Frontal Thrust (HFT), Soan Thrust (ST), Jwalamukhi Thrust (JWT), Palampur
Thrust (PT) and the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT). The geometry of the folds i.e.
Janauri Anticline (JA), Dera-Gopipur Anticline (DGA), Bahl Anticline (BA) and
Paror Anticline (PA), is clearly attributed to the movement on associated thrust
faults (Fig. 3). The spacing between the thrusts has controlled the development and
preservation of fault-related folds in their hanging walls. The main back thrusts are
Janauri back Thrust (JbT) and Barsar back Thrust (BbT).
In the tectonic wedge of the Kangra reentrant, the sedimentary cover rocks have
been thrust southward over a series of thrust faults (Powers et al. 1998;
Mukhopadhayay and Mishra 1999; Singh et al. 2012). There is almost no evidence
of basement rocks involved in thrusting (Dubey 2004). The vergence of main
structural elements i.e. HFT, ST, JT, PT and MBT is southward, towards the
foreland. However, structures with opposite vergence are also common towards the
frontal region e.g. JbT, BbT. The thrusts and back thrusts show active deformation
consistent with the model of distributed deformation (Singh et al. 2012; Thakur
et al. 2014; Dey et al. 2016; Jayangondaperumal et al. 2017; also Bose and
Mukherjee, submitted-1, 2). The Tertiary formations thicken towards the northeast
and the structural style becomes increasingly more complex towards the hinterland,
as compared over the *80 km length of the Sub-Himalayan wedge from SW
towards NE (Powers et al. 1998; Mukhopadhyay and Mishra 1999).
6 Coupling Between the Cover Sequences

and the Basement
There are a series of research contributions on the active tectonic deformation along
thrust faults in the Kangra reentrant (Malik and Mohanty 2007; Singh et al. 2012;
Thakur et al. 2014; Dey et al. 2016). The last major earthquake in this area occurred
in 1905 (M = 7.8) near Kangra (Fig. 2). As this happened before the beginning of
instrumental monitoring, there are no good records on the precise location, nature
and extent of the rupture zone. However, there have been outstanding debates with
few equivocal surface manifestations found (Szeliga and Bilham 2017). The 1905
Kangra earthquake is generally attributed to the recent slip along the Main
Boundary Thrust (MBT). In the instrumental era since late 1950s when seismic
monitoring through instruments began, there have been no major earthquakes in
this area and most of the recorded smaller events are shallow (<10 km) with 3–5
magnitudes. Such seismic behaviour would also not suggest any involvement of the
basement (Mukhopadhyay and Dasgupta 2015). Geologically this would mean that
the cover rocks are poorly coupled with the basement which has a low estimated
range of basal friction (µb) i.e. 0.26–0.36 in the Kangra Reentrant (Singh et al.
2012). Also range-normal convergence velocities across the Sub-Himalayan belt
demonstrate reduced intensities connoting poor tectonic coupling between the cover
and the basement (Schiffman et al. 2013). However, in the Kangra Reentrant it can
be noted that the smoothed contours of range-normal convergence velocities follow

the surface topography (Fig. 2). The spatial distribution of these topographic
contours in the Kangra Reentrant suggests that complete coupling is only observed
in the areas beyond the active deformation front (HFT).
7 Discussions
The Kangra Reenetrant exhibits a topographic slope (a) of *1° towards SW and a
relatively high basement dip (b) of 3° towards NE (Fig. 4; in comparison to FTBs
in Pakistan and Iran). The two parameters (a and b) contribute to the taper of the
wedge, which is *4°. This wedge taper is slightly higher than the Salt
Range-Potwar Plateau (Pakistan) where it ranges 1°–3° (Davis and Lillie 1994) and
Fars and Lorestan segments of the Zagros FTB (Iran) where it is 1.5° (McQuarrie
2004). The FTB’s in Pakistan and Iran are comparable in age to the Sub-Himalayan
belt but it is notable that both the FTBs in Pakistan and Iran have evolved over a
weak detachment in salt. In fact, the wedge taper in the Kangra Reentrant is
comparable to the Dezful embayment of the Zagros FTB of Iran which is around 4°
(McQuarrie 2004). The most likely reason for the increased wedge taper of the
Dezful embayment is its limited width of the FTB, which is controlled by the spatial
distribution of the Hormuz salt (Mukherjee et al. 2010). Overall, for the Kangra
Reentrant the high basement dip b is supporting a gentler topographic slope a
(Davis et al. 1983; Dahlen 1990; Fig. 4). What is intriguing is that the topographic
slope is similar to that observed over the weak basement in Pakistan and elsewhere
(Fig. 4), whereas there is no report of such a basement rheology in the Kangra
Reentrant. The topographic slope is extremely low (*1°, almost similar to the
FTBs in Pakistan and Iran) and forms a relatively narrow wedge taper over a width
of about 80 km (largest in the Indian part). Such characters of a wedge which slides
over a rigid basement give rise to a paradoxical situation that has been dealt in detail
based on a synthesis of data presented in the earlier Sects. 3, 4, 5 and 6.
In general, assuming a particular rheology of the basement, the other important
factors controlling the growth of the FTB and surface topographic slope (a) could
be the mechanical stratigraphy, pore-fluid pressure of the cover rocks and climatic
effects. Also in a particular area, under similar climatic conditions competent rocks
would be able to retain a higher surface topography whereas incompetent rocks
would not. Therefore in the Kangra Reentrant the basement is assumed to be a rigid
competent mass over which the total thickness of incompetent clay-rich Paleogene–
Neogene section is 4–8 km. This thickness is higher than similar sediments in the
Potwar plateau (Davis and Lillie 1994). So, if a similar but thinner sediment layer
could contribute to the weak coupling between the basement and cover sequence
(Davis and Lillie 1994), it would be reasonable to believe that these horizons would
definitely provide a reduced resistance to slippage along faults. Also these sedi-
ments would effectively couple weakly between the basement and cover rocks in
the Kangra reentrant as well (Davis and Engelder 1985). In principle, this situation
Fig. 4 Surface slope a versus dip of detachment b for natural FTBs and Delta-Deepwater FTBs
(modified from Ford 2004; Tuitt et al. 2012)
is also analogous to many deep water FTBs, which contain detachments in shale
(e.g. Niger delta; Fig. 4). In addition, the cover strata of the Kangra Reentrant are
relatively overpressured (up to 1.5–2 times more than the hydrostatic pressure cf.
Powers et al. 1998). This is also supported by high sedimentation rates in this
oversized basin (Rajendra Prasad et al. 2011). Therefore the high pore-fluid pres-
sures would efficiently act to reduce the effective normal stress in turn reducing the
shear traction and contribute to the reduction in coupling between the cover strata
and the basement. This is especially true and important because the presence of
high pore-fluid pressure shales would act as an efficient detachment, although not as
efficient as halite (Kreuger and Gilbert, 2009; also see Dasgupta and Mukherjee
submitted). This would facilitate in generating a wider FTB such as in the Kangra
Reentrant, similar to those that are formed also see over weak detachments in salt
and over pressured shales elsewhere (Fig. 4).
The most interesting observation is that the strength of the wedge (its frictional
character), which could be either due to the rheology or other characters such as
pore pressure would strongly control the orientation of the principal stress axes.
Accordingly, an increased pore-fluid pressure would reduce the internal friction of
the wedge (µ). This in-turn would decrease Wb as demonstrated by the
Mohr-Coulomb criterion (Fig. 5). Wb strongly controls the orientation of the
principal stress axes and the style of deformation as illustrated in Fig. 6.
Fig. 5 Mohr-Coulomb
failure criterion showing how
different values of Wb are
related to the internal friction
(µ) of the wedge. With the
reduction of internal friction,
the Wb angle also reduces. In
particular for wedges with
basement in salt Wb would be
approximately 1° (modified
after Davis and Engelder,
1985). The s and r represent
shear and normal stress
respectively
Fig. 6 The illustration shows

the relationship between the
angle Wb (from Fig. 5) and
the orientation of r1. a In a
stronger wedge where the
forethrust with a gentler dip is
a preferred slip plane in
comparison to the steeply
dipping back thrust. b In a
weaker wedge where the
forethrust and back thrust are
both preferred slip planes.
The section is oriented NE–
SW in accordance with the
Kangra section of Fig. 3
The normal (r) and shear stresses (s) acting on a plane are evaluated using the
Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion (Fig. 5). The normal to the plane is oriented at an
angle Ɵ with the maximum principal stress, r1 direction. Accordingly, there are two
planes oriented at an angle inclined on either side of the r1 axis. For frictional wedges
the angle Wb offsets the orientation of r1 in such a way that the r1 axis is highly
inclined with respect to the detachment (Fig. 6a). In this case, the two slip planes
formed have different orientations (vergence) with reference to the slope of the
topographic wedge. The foreland verging plane, the fore-thrust, usually dips gently
towards the hinterland whereas the hinterland verging plane, the back-thrust, dips
steeply towards the foreland (Fig. 6a). Geometrically, the fore-thrust would be the
preferred slip plane. Thus, these FTBs should have a preferred structural vergence.
On the contrary, for weaker wedges, Wb tends to be quite small (Fig. 5) leading to a
near horizontal r1. In such a situation there could be two slip planes on either side of the
r1, similar to the frictional wedges. But these planes orient in such a way that they make
almost equal angle with the surface topography. The two planes in this case also are
foreland-verging fore-thrust and hinterland verging back-thrust but unlike the fric-
tional wedges they have comparable dips. Therefore, both these planes i.e. the
fore-thrust and the back-thrust would be equally preferred slip planes but with opposite
vergence (Fig. 6b). The FTBs on such wedges have no preferred structural vergence as
is the case with the Kangra Reentrant (Figs. 2 and 3). This is very well illustrated along
the Una–Talmehra section exhibiting a triangle zone between the ST (fore-thrust) and
the BbT (back-thrust) where the ST and BbT are separated by *10 km on the surface
(Fig. 3). Therefore, wedges with incompetent rocks in the cover strata and poor cou-
pling between the basement and cover strata would allow the wedge to translate over a
wide belt usually project outward (Figs. 2 and 3). Similar inferences have been drawn
from the comparisons between the detachment strength to wedge strength (Stockmal
1983; Davis and Engelder 1985). As the wedge in the Kangra Reentrant would rapidly
propagate forward it would incorporate the undeformed foreland into the wedge,
towards the frontal part and spatially widen the wedge over the basement. This should
significantly lead to the decrease in topographic slope (a) over time and reduce the taper
of the wedge (Singh et al. 2012), as seen in the case of Kangra Reentrant.
In summary, the surface morphology of the Kangra Reentrant resembles
deformation that is distributed in nature and exhibits poor coupling between the
basement and cover units. Other attributes include: (i) presence of wide-spaced
folds, (ii) abrupt changes in deformation style across the basin that usually corre-
spond spatially to the weak layer distribution, (iii) narrow cross-sectional taper, and
(iv) bimodal vergence of structures within the FTB. The structural evolution of the
Kangra Reentrant is mainly by development of fault-related folds in the cover strata
over a rigid basement. It is well understood that the basement structure and asso-
ciated variations in stratigraphic thickness of cover rocks are potential controls for
the localization and growth of frontal anticlines (McQuarrie 2004).
8 Conclusions
The structure of the Kangra reentrant is controlled by the geometry of the sedi-
mentary basin (depocentre) that was present in front of the MBT, which largely
follows the distribution of the thin Vindhyan basement as limited by the recognition
of an older fabric beneath by Rajendra Prasad et al. (2011). This provides a larger
accommodation space occupied by thick (4–8 km) incompetent clay rich
Paleogene-Neogene section. Therefore the distribution of the excess pore fluid
pressures at the depth appears to be stratigraphy-controlled.
The poor coupling between the cover strata together with high pore pressure and
presence of thick incompetent rocks will not allow potential accumulation of shear
stresses within the rocks of the Kangra area, which is characterized by the shallow
and low seismicity (3–5 M) in the region since the last major event of 1905. In most
cases there in no involvement of the basement in the India-Eurasia collision induced
deformation process of the Sub-Himalayas in the Kangra Reentrant. This indicates
that most of these earthquakes would occur by a dynamic weakening mechanism
due to overpressured shales. However, further north of the JMT there are potential
seismogenic zones, which are actively accumulating shear stresses over narrow
localized zones. This may lead to a high magnitude seismicity, similar to the 1905
event. However, the chances of the rupture propagating towards the HFT seem to
be limited.
Acknowledgements TPS thanks the Director CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation

Chandigarh for providing infrastructural facilities. Mr. Sarabjeet Singh helped in meticulously
drafting Figs. 2 and 4. Soumyajit Mukherjee reviewed this article. The work is summarized in
Mukherjee (2019).
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Impact of Structural Damage Zones
on Slope Stability: A Case Study
from Mandakini Valley, Uttarakhand
State (India)
Mohit Kumar, Ramesh Chander Joshi and Pitamber Dutt Pant
1 Introduction
A damage zone represents the volume of deformation confined in a zone around a

fault surface (Cowie and Scholz 1992; McGrath and Davison 1995; Caine et al. 1996;
Kim et al. 2004a; Childs et al. 2009; Mukherjee 2014; Choi et al. 2016 and Peacock
et al. 2017). Several factors control slope stability viz., rainfall, earthquakes, joints
and their geometries, geological material, slope angles, anthropogenic activities
(Hoek and Bray 1981; Panikar and Subramanyam 1997; Paul and Mahajan 1999;
Pant and Luirei 1999; Gupta and Bist 2004; Stead and Eberhardt 2013a; Puniya et al.
2013; Kumar et al. 2017; Sah et al. 2018). In this study, we are showing the role of
structural damage zone on slope stability between Sonparyag and Kund.
2 Study Area and Geology
The Mandakini River originates from the Chorabari glaciers at an altitude of

3840 m altitude and is joined by Son Ganga, Kali Ganga and Madhyamaheshwar
Ganga before it meets the Alaknanda River at Rudraprayag at 600 m altitude.
The study area is bound by the Main Central Thrust (MCT) from the south and
Vaikrita Thrust (VT) from the north (Fig. 1), this it comes under the Greater
M. Kumar (&)
National Geotechnical Facility, Survey of India, Dehradun, India
e-mail: puniyamohit@gmail.com
R. C. Joshi
Department of Geography, Kumaun University, DSB Campus, Nainital, India
P. D. Pant
Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, India

398 M. Kumar et al.
Fig. 1 Regional geological map of the area (Valdiya 1980)
Himalaya (see Mukherjee 2013a, 2015a; Mukherjee et al. 2012 etc.). MCT con-
stitutes a wide zone near Kund (approximately 12 km downstream from
Guptakashi), and marks the boundary between Munsiari Formation at north and
Bhatwari Formation at south (Figs. 1 and 3). Tilwara Thrust (TT) separates the
Ramgarh Group and Lesser Himalayan Metasedimentary Rocks (Fig. 1). Different
shear zones rocks viz. mylonitic augen-gneiss, calc-silicates, biotite-gneiss and
fine-grained gneiss (Fig. 2) are identified in the field during traverse mapping. The
Bhatwari Formation consists of flaggy quartzite and basic intrusion in the form of
amphibolites (Fig. 3).
3 Methodology
Detailed structural mapping has been done with the help of handheld GPS and
available data have been collected such as foliation, different joint sets, folds, faults,
shear sense indicators, slope angle and height. 1:10,000 scale map has been
Impact of Structural Damage Zones on Slope Stability: A Case … 399
Fig. 2 a mylonitic augen gneiss with symmetric clasts (Mukherjee 2017) at location-24 (30° 32′
17.05′N, 79° 04′ 49.15″E); b a contact between clac-silicate and biotite gneiss dipping towards
NNW (322°) with 48° dip amount (dash line represents the contact) at location-13 (30° 35′ 46.38′
N, 79° 01′ 20.14″E); c a xenoliths in fine grained gneiss at location-19 (30°34′41.99′N, 79° 02′
38.18″E)
prepared along the National highway-109 parallel to Mandakini river valley from
Sonparyag to Kund. Study area falls in the Survey of India toposheet numbers
53 N/3 and 53 N/4.
This study focuses on the structural damage zones and their relationship to the
different rock mass classification methods, viz., rock mass rating (RMR), kine-
matics analysis of the slopes, slope mass rating (SMR). RMR has application for
tunnels, slopes (for SMR calculation) and foundations (dam, bridges and other civil
structures; Bieniawski 1989). Field data collection such as, the orientations of
different discontinuities (joints, shear zones, faults etc.) and uniaxial compressive
strength (UCS) were calculated using Schmidt hammer method as per the
International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) recommended methods (ISRM
1978, 1981, 2007; Bieniawski 1989; Brencich et al. 2013). Spacing of disconti-
nuities, conditions of discontinuities (aperture, roughness, type of filling and
weathering conditions), rock quality designation (RQD), groundwater condition,
and orientations of slopes with dip angles have been collected (Appendix-I). All
aforesaid parameters were used to calculate the RMR in this study. Kinematics
analysis has been performed for the slopes to delineate the kind of failure. Internal
400 M. Kumar et al.
Fig. 3 Traverse map of the study area from Sonparyag to Kund
friction angle has been taken as 25°–35° for the slope according to Hoek and Bray
(1981). The RMR is calculated as per Bieniawski (1989).
The slope mass rating (SMR) proposed by Romana (1985) and is obtained from
RMR by:
SMR ¼ RMR þ ðF1.F2.F3Þ þ F4 ð1Þ
Here
F1 depends on parallelism between joints and slope face. Its range is from 1.00
to 0.15.
F1 ¼ ð1 SinAÞ2 ð2Þ
A is angle between the dip directions of slope face and the joint for the planar
and toppling failure. In wedge failure, A is the angle between trend and slope dip
direction.
F2 refers to joint dip angle in the planar mode of failure.
F2 ¼ tan2 B ð3Þ
B is dip angle of joint for planer failure and for wedge failure, B is plunge
amount.
F3 represents the angle between the slope and joint dip in the planar failure. In
wedge failure, F3 indicates the relationship between the slope face and plunge
amount two joints.
F4 factor represents the excavation method and the rating depends on the method
as:
Natural slopes : F4 ¼ þ 15 ð4Þ
Presplitting : F4 ¼ þ 10; ð5Þ
Smooth blasting : F4 ¼ þ 8; ð6Þ
Normal blasting : F4 ¼ 0; ð7Þ
Deficient blasting : F4 ¼ 8; ð8Þ
and
Mechanical excavation : F4 ¼ 0: ð9Þ
4 Results and Discussions
The study area is mapped along the Mandakini River for *31 km length. The main
lithology is mylonite, chloritic-schist, calc-silicates, schistose-gneiss, mylonitic
augen gneiss, gneiss of the Munsiari Formation, and flaggy quartzite and
402 M. Kumar et al.
Fig. 4 Field photographs show: a contact between mylonite and protomylonite at location-5; b a
ductile damage zone show shearing and folding at location-10; c sulphur leaching on the surface of
sheared mylonitic gneiss at location-20; d ductile-brittle shearing show top to SW movement at
location-22
amphibolites of the Bhatwari Formation (Fig. 3). The shear zone classification is
performed in the field based on the proportion of matrix and grains. Based on the
shear zone rocks and structure present at the field, we have identified ductile-shear
zone, ductile-brittle shear zone and brittle shear zones (Ghosh 1993). Damage zones
are deformed wall rock spatially associated with faults that form during the initi-
ation and propagation of a fault, during the interaction of slip in fault linkages or
jogs, or during the flexure of beds around a fault (Jamison and Stearns 1982;
Chester and Logan 1986; Shipton and Cowie 2001, 2003; Flodin and Aydin 2004;
Kim et al. 2004b). To delineate these damage zones in the field, we have collected
several structures like rocks with mylonitic foliations (Figs. 3 and 4a) and asym-
metric folding (Figs. 4b and 5b),
S-C structures (Fig. 4b; Mukherjee 2010a, b, 2011), phyllonites and mylonites
(Figs. 4c and 5a; Bose et al. 2018), brittle-ductile S-C structures (Fig. 4d), fault
stariations (Fig. 5c; Dasgupta and Mukherjee 2017; Vanik et al. 2018) and asym-
metric boudinage (Fig. 5d; few examples in Mukherjee and Koyi 2010a, b;
Mukherjee 2013b, 2015b).
Fig. 5 Field photographs: a a contact between phyllonite and mylonitic gneiss at Main Central
Thrust near Kund; b asymmetric folding, typically intrafolial: Mukherjee et al. (2015) shows top to
NE shearing at location-34; c fault stariation show up dip movement at location-32; d a
ductile-brittle shearing show top to SW movement at location-32
Based on aforesaid observations, we have marked 23 structural damage zones

between Sonparyag to Kund (Fig. 3) in the form of landslide zones and potential
full zone for landslide. The relationship of structural damage zones and slope
stability is described by many workers around the world e.g. (Badger 2002;
Ambrosi and Ceosta 2011; Brideau and Couture 2006; Stead and Eberhardt 2013b;
Stead and Wolter 2015). Landslide zones are marked as active damage zones and
potential full zones marked probable damage zones. Structural mapping identified
regional synclinal folding in the area, with fold axis passing through Byung, foli-
ation data of the northern limb dipping at 13°–66° towards NNE-NNW (003°–
314°) while southern limb dip at 19°–59° towards NE (007–062°) (Fig. 3). Based
on the orientation of the discontinuities, 5 sets of joints are identified (Fig. 3) viz.,
J1 dips at 88°–52° towards 084°–115°, J2 dipping 49°–22° dipping towards 023°–
083°; J3 dips 17°–56° towards NNW-NNE (335°–014°); J4 with 45°–72° dip
towards 145°–194° (SSE-SSW), and J5 at 15°–63° towards SW-NW (242°–316°).
Kinematics analysis has been performed for 23 damage zones (Fig. 5) and
further divided into potential full landslide zone and landslide zone according to the
Markland’s test (Fig. 6). Kinematics analysis of the slope showed that 12 slopes in
which locations L-7, L-9, L-11, L-13, L-15, L-16, L-19, L-20, L-25, L-26, L-27 and
L-36 come under planar failure (Fig. 6; Table 1). Locations L-3, L-4A, L-5, L-10,
404 M. Kumar et al.
Fig. 6 Traverse map of the study area from Sonparyag to Kund
L-10, L-21, L-22, L-32 and L-33 show wedge failure. Two locations L-1 and L-12
are identified as anthropogenic induced landslides (Fig. 6; Table 1). Damage zones
weaken the rocks so the slopes become more prone for failure (Fig. 7). Location-19
near the town Phata show planar failure. Here ductile shear zones are present along
the foliation with 35° dip amount and dipping towards NE (055°). Rocks tend to fail
due to these shear zones (Fig. 7; Table 1). At this location, the SMR values range
31.9–39.9 (Table 1). SMR values vary from 0 to 55.25 at L-3 and L-33, respec-
tively (Table-1). SMR values also confirm the potential damage zone for landslides.
Similarly we have investigated all the locations and find that damage zone
assessment and SMR confirms our observations.
Table 1 Data of geological investigation at different locations
Sr. Location Rock type RMR F1 F2 F3 F4 SMR Structural condition
No. (basic)
Latitude Longitude Min Max Min Max
1 1 30° 37′ 79° 00′ Mylonitic augen 54 55 0.15 1 −60 0 45 46 Due to anthropogenic
05.08″ 35.48″ gneiss activity
2 3 30° 37′ 79° 00′ Mylonitic augen 53 55 0.85 1 −60 0 2 4 Wedge Failure/
15.49″ 32.12″ gneiss ductile-brittle shear
3 4 30° 37′ 79° 00′ Mylonitic augen 54 55 0.15 1 −50 0 46.5 47.5 Wedge failure/
25.28″ 28.63″ gneiss ductile-brittle shear
4 4 (A) 30° 37′ 79° 00′ Mylonitic gneiss 54 55 0.4 1 −25 0 44 45 Wedge failure/
25.28″ 25.28″ ductile-brittle shear
5 5 30° 37′ 79° 00′ Mylonitic augen 49 53 0.85 1 −50 0 6.5 10.5 Wedge Failure/
31.49″ 19.91″ gneiss Ductile-brittle shear
6 7 30° 37′ 78° 59′ Mylonitic gneiss 53 57 1 1 −50 0 3 7 Planar failure/mica bands
33.90″ 54.69″
7 9 30° 36′ 79° 00′ Mylonitic gneiss 47 56 1 1 −25 0 22 31 Planar failure/brittle shear
55.11″ 55.52″
8 10 30° 36′ 79° 00′ Biotite gneiss 52 57 0.85 1 −60 0 1 6 Wedge failure/
Impact of Structural Damage Zones on Slope Stability: A Case …
9 11 30° 36′ 79° 01′ Biotite gneiss 51 51 0.85 1 −60 0 0 0 Planar failure/ductile shear
45.23″ 05.63″
10 12 30° 36′ 79° 01′ Augen gneiss 45 48 0.7 1 0 0 45 48 Lithological contact/Joint
32.11″ 05.98″ control
11 13 30° 36′ 79° 01′ Biotite gneiss 54 55 0.4 1 −60 0 30 31 Planar failure/joint control
14.22″ 18.34″
12 15 30° 35′ 79° 01′ Granitic gneiss 30 35 0.15 1 0 0 30 35 Planar failure/
34.07″ 35.81″ buctile-brittle shear
(continued)
405
Table 1 (continued)
406
Sr. Location Rock type RMR F1 F2 F3 F4 SMR Structural condition

No. (basic)
Latitude Longitude Min Max Min Max
13 16 30° 35′ 79° 01′ Biotite gneiss 46 47 0.85 1 0 0 46 47 Planar failure/joint control
21.07″ 44.92″
14 19 30° 34′ 79° 02′ Biotite gneiss 48 49 0.4 1 −60 0 24 25 Planar failure/ductile shear
41.99″ 38.18″
15 20 30° 34′ 79° 05′ Fine grained gneiss 42 43 0.15 1 −50 0 34.5 35.5 Planar failure/joint control
29.19″ 20.05″
16 21 30° 31′ 79° 05′ Fine grained schistose 46 47 0.4 1 −60 0 22 23 Wedge failure/joint control
43.85″ 05.84″ gneiss
17 22 30° 31′ 79° 04′ Augen gneiss 53 57 0.85 1 −60 0 2 6 Wedge failure/ductile
49.06″ 59.61″ shear
18 25 30° 32′ 79° 04′ Schistose gneiss 35 38 0.85 1 −6 0 29.9 32.9 Planar failure/
56.08″ 26.05″ buctile-brittle shear
19 26 30° 33′ 79° 02′ Gneiss 37 45 0.85 1 −6 0 31.9 39.9 Planar failure/joint control
13.60″ 57.91″
20 27 30° 33′ 79° 03′ Fine grained gneiss 37 48 0.4 1 −50 0 17 28 Planar failure/joint control
33.23″ 19.77″
21 32 30° 31′ 79° 04′ Mylonitic gneiss 52 53 0.4 1 −60 0 28 29 Wedge failure/
22 33 30° 31′ 79° 04′ Biotite gneiss 58 59 0.15 1 −25 0 54.25 55.25 Wedge failure/lithological
03.80″ 58.30″ contact
23 36 30° 31′ 79° 05′ Biotite gneiss/greenish 44 50 0.7 1 −60 0 2 8 Planar failure/lithological
19.6″ 20.7″ gneiss contact
M. Kumar et al.
Fig. 7 Location-19 near Phata town show planar failure along the foliation plane (J0), along J0
ductile shear zone inducing the landslide
5 Conclusions
23 structural damage zones are identified in the study area. 6 joint sets are identified
that reduce the rock strength. Kinematics analyses confirm that 12 slopes show
planar failure and 9 are wedge failure. SMR for different modes of failure ranges 0–
55.25. This study confirms that structural damage zones are also responsible for the
slope failure and are important to consider for the road construction in the hilly area.
Structural damage zone assessment mapping also show relation with the slope
kinematics analyses and the SMR.
Acknowledgements Authors are very thankful to the Department of Geography, DSB Campus
Kumaun University Nainital to provide the necessary facility for the research. Authors are also very
thanking to the NRDMS, Department of Science and Technology to the financial assistance in the
project no. NRDMS/06/11/015 (G) Dt. 11.08.2015 “Large Scale Geological-Geomorphological
Mapping of Rudraprayag-Sonprayag Area, Mandakini valley National highway No.109. Reviewing
and editorial handling by Soumyajit Mukherjee. This work is summarized in Mukherjee (2019).
The Springer team is thanked for assistance in proofreading.
408 M. Kumar et al.
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Documentation of Brittle Structures
(Back Shear and Arc-Parallel Shear)
from Sategal and Dhanaulti Regions
of the Garhwal Lesser Himalaya
(Uttarakhand, India)
Souradeep Mahato, Soumyajit Mukherjee and Narayan Bose
1 Introduction
We study the brittle shear tectonics from the Lesser Himalayan terrain in the
Mussoorie, Dhanaulti and Satengal regions, Uttarakhand, India. The Lesser
Himalaya is bound by the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) in the south and the Main
Central Thrust Zone (MCTZ) in the north. The Lesser Himalayan sequence is
divided in this region as the Inner Lesser Himalaya and the Outer Lesser Himalaya
(Célérier et al. 2009a, b). The Mussoorie- and the Garhwal synclines are the two
major structures of the Outer Lesser Himalaya. The area around Dhanaulti (Fig. 1)
constitutes a part of the northern limb of the Mussoorie syncline. The Satengal
region (Fig. 1) lies at the core of the Mussoorie syncline. Several workers (e.g.,
Srivastava et al. 2011; Bose et al. submitted-1, 2; Bose et al. 2018) discuss major
structural features and the deformation phases from the Garhwal Himalaya.
However, a detail study remained due on its brittle deformations. This work
describes brittle shear sense indicators from the terrain.
2 Previous Works
The first-hand rock description and regional mapping in this area have been done by
Middlemiss (1887), Auden (1937), Jain (1972), Shankar and Ganesan (1973),
Valdiya (1975), Saklani (1978). The Mussoorie Syncline mainly consists of sedi-
mentary rocks and low-grade metamorphic rocks of Tal-, Krol-, Blaini-, Nagthat-,
Chandpur-, and Mandhali Formation. Out of all these, the Mandhani, the Chandpur
S. Mahato S. Mukherjee (&) N. Bose

Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Mumbai, India

412 S. Mahato et al.
Fig. 1 Structural map of the central portion of Mussoorie syncline is showing different structural
data. Structural data in red colour are taken from previous works, and those in black colour
indicates those collected in the present study. The map is reproduced from Dubey and
Jayangondaperumal (2005)
and the Nagthat Formation belong to the Jaunsar Group and the remainder to the
Mussoorie Group (Fig. 1).
Raman Spectroscopic study of carbonaceous material of samples collected
across the axis of Mussoorie Syncline yields a deformation temperature <300 °C
(Célérier et al. 2009a, b). This is overlain by less metamorphosed rocks of the
Simur Group and constitutes partly the Garhwal nappe. The southern limb of the
Mussoorie Syncline overrides the Siwalik zone along the MBT (Fuchs and Sinha
1978). Intense-sheared black Proterozoic Chandpur phyllites along the MBT near
the Sahenshahi temple has been studied in detail by Bose and Mukherjee
(submitted-a). The authors use Raman Spectroscopy on carbonaceous materials and
obtain a deformation temperature <550 °C (Bose and Mukherjee, submitted-a).
Further, *6–49 MPa of flow stress and *10−15–10−16 s−1 of strain rate has been
obtained from the MBT zone rocks from this region that reveals a top-to-S/SW
fore-shear in field and under an optical microscope (Bose et al. submitted-a).
According to Srivastava et al. (2011), the Sategal area deformed four times. The
first three deformation phases are attributed to ductile deformations and the last one
a brittle deformation. The Mussoorie Syncline, a structural part of the Krol Nappe,
consists of Tal-, Krol-, Blaini-, Nagthat-, Chandpur-, and Subathu Formation. In
Dhanaulti and nearby areas, mainly Blaini-, Tal-, and Krol Formation crop out. The
main meso-scale structures in this area are primary bedding planes, slaty cleavages,
Documentation of Brittle Structures … 413
axial planes of different generations of folds (Srivastava et al. 2011), and thrusts/
faults (Dubey 2005). The pop-up klippen structure is indicated by the rocks of
Chandpur, Mandhali and Subathu Formation at the Satengal area (Dubey and
Jayangondaperumal 2005).
The Baliana Formation (/Chandpur Formation) and the Mandhani Formation (/
Saklana Formation) are separated by the Ringalgarh Thrust. The pop-up klippen
developed since the MBT bifurcates at south into an oblique ramp and into a blind
thrust that generated two low-angle backthrusts (Dubey and Jayangondaperumal
2005).
At Satengal and in the adjoining areas, folding happened thrice. The main
schistosity trends NW and NE. The NW trending earlier tight to isoclinal F1 folds
are characterized by deformed quartz veins and quartzo-feldspathic layers. The
usually NE trending F2 folds developed on the limbs of the F1 folds with open to
isoclinal geometries. F3 chevron folds occur in phyllites of Chandpur Formation
near Satengal and trends E-W (Srivastava et al. 2011).
3 Present Work
This section addresses details of S0 and S1 planes. Brittle shear detail is also presented
from the following three traverses: (i) Mussoorie up to Kathu Khal (Surkunda
Devi temple) along the Mussourie-Chamba road; (ii) Kathu-Khal to Satengal; and
(iii) *NE-SW traverse was taken from Raipur to Silla.
3.1 S0-Plane (Fig. 2)
Primary sedimentary bedding planes (S0) are commonly observed in the study area.
These S0 planes can be identified based on lithology change and color variation.
From L-1 to L-6, dip of S0 ranges 40°–42° with *SW dip direction. The dip
direction changes from SW to NW in and around L-7. Dip ranges 25°–65° with
a *SW dip direction between L-8 and L-11. S0 dips oppositely towards NE and N
with 30° dip at L-12 and L-13, south of Dhanaulti.
The S0-planes near the Satengal region between L-15 to 18 show 40°–45° dip,
and dip direction towards SW. At L-24 grey coloured quartzites dip N, from L-28 to
31 the dip of the S0 varies 35°–60° with dip direction NW to E, in between L-32
and 33 dip direction varies from SE to S. S0 dips toward SW direction in locations
33–37.
Slaty Cleavage (S1) (Fig. 2):
The exposed rocks in and around Dhanaulti are slaty. Phyllites are observed in the
Satengal region. A pervasive, parallel foliation (S1) of fine-grained platy minerals
occurs in these rocks, which generally develop perpendicular to the direction of
Fig. 2 Stereo-plots of planer features S0 and S1 on equal area net. L-21 to L-24 shows S1-plots,
and the rest represents S0-plots
maximum stress. Usually this S1 plane parallels the S0 planes if not folded or
sheared. In Dhanaulti region, the S1 planes dip 30°–40° towards SW. In Satengal
region, S1 dips 25°–50° and the dip direction varies widely from SW to S to SE to
N.
3.2 Shear Fractures
Shear fractures (Fig. 3) are very common structural features observed in the study
area. The P-planes at L-28 and 36 generally dip in opposite direction and with the
M/Y shear fracture this makes a low-angle. Kinematically, such shear planes can
usually be correlated with low-angle thrusts. Within the same setting, the Riedel
fractures can be represented as low-angle normal faults. The R/-planes/antithetic
faults make a high-angle with the Y plane. The angles between the P, R and R/with
the Y-plane can depend on the rock’s physical properties and the stress regime.
Fig. 3 Nomenclatures for shear fractures developed in a top-to-right shear zone. M/Y, Main shear
plane; P: shear fractures; R: Riedel shears; R/: fracture. From Petit (1987)
3.3 Traverse-Wise Description
The first *E-W traverse was taken along the Mussoorie-Chamba road from
Mussoorie up to Kathu Khal (Surkunda Devi temple). A vertical shear zone (Fig. 4)
exists at L-2 on a N140°S striking road cut section. Around 13 km east of L-3,
top-to-SE brittle shear (Fig. 5a) was observed at L-7. Top-to-NW down shear
(Fig. 6a) was observed *650 m SE from L-6. At L-7, top-to-NE up brittle shear
(Fig. 6c), i.e., back deformation, occurs in slates. About 600 m east from L-7, the
same top-to-NE up brittle shear (Fig. 6d) occurs in slates at L-8. A top-to-NE
sub-horizontal brittle shear (Fig. 6b) exists in slate close to L-9. Around 300 m south
of L-9, a top-to-SW up shear, also can be called a fore shear that is common in
Himalayan orogen in its various units (e.g., Mukherjee 2010a, b, 2012, 2013, 2014;
Mukherjee and Koyi 2010a, b) exists in slate. Top-to-NW shear (Fig. 5b) also exists.
Fig. 4 Brittle vertical fault

zone. Y- and P-planes well
developed
Fig. 5 a Field photograph of vertical exposure of quartzite showing top-to-SE shear. Y- and
P-planes are stereo-plotted in inset. b Top-to-SW up brittle shear. Pole of P-plane (25° dip towards
10°) is plotted in inset
Fig. 6 Brittle shear Y- and P-planes observed in a vertical rock section. Poles of brittle planes are
plotted inside insets. a Note a sharp contact between slate at top and quartzite at bottom.
Top-to-NW brittle shear localized in slate due to high accumulation of shear strain. P-plane
attitude: 10° dip towards 140°. b Shear fractures developed on slate. Top-to-NE brittle shear sense.
The P-plane dips 14° and towards 225°. c Y- (dip 34° towards 200°) and P-planes (dip 65° towards
240°) developed on slate. Top-to-NE up shear. d Top-to-NE up shear. Y-plane: dip 35° towards
190°, P-plane: dip 70° towards 230°
Fig. 7 a, b Sub-vertical sections at L-12 showing S- and C-fabrics developed in slates. top-to-NE
up ductile shear. Stereo-plot of S planes in inset. Fractures developed along the S-planes in slates.
In particular, in c the C-planes are occupied by secondary quartz mineralization. Here the pen
length is 13 cm
Slate is the dominant rock type at L-12 which is *2 km SW to Dhanaulti. Here

the rocks deformed in a ductile-brittle regime. In response to ductile deformation,
S- and C-fabric developed prominently in slates. Secondary mineralization of
quartz is noted at few places along the shear planes that connote back-shear
(Fig. 7a–c). The dip and dip-direction of S-fabric indicates a top-to-NE up shear
(back-structure). Brittle shear fractures (Fig. 8c, d) also develop at L-13 showing
both top-to-NE up and horizontal shear senses.
Fig. 8 Brittle shear planes in vertical sections close to L-12. a P-plane dips 30° towards 248°,
top-to-NNE shear. b P-plane dips 40° towards 238°, top-to-NE shear. c P-plane dips 70° towards
190°, top-to-NNE shear. d P plane dips 65° towards 255°, at L-13. Top-to-NNW horizontal shear
Fig. 9 a Clear-cut top-to-NE brittle shear observed in vertical section of slates. P-plane dips 46°
towards 230°. b Top-to-NEE shear developed in white Ringalgarh quartzite. P-plane dips 58°
towards 252°. c Top-to-NE up shear prominent in white quartzite. P-plane dips 65° towards 232°.
d Sharp contact between quartzite and phyllite noted at L-19
Fig. 10 a Top-to-NE down shear in quartzite. Y-plane dips 70° towards 78°, P-planes dips 15°
towards 80°. b Top-to-SE down shear in shale. Y-plane dips 22° towards 38°, P-plane dips 28°
towards 320°. c Field photograph showing vertical sensed of shear Y-, P-, R-, and R/-planes are
marked. d Top-to-SE down shear in bedded quartzite. Y-plane dips 22° towards 180°; P-plane dips
36° towards 286°. a, b: sub-vertical sections; c, d: inclined sections
The second traverse was taken from Kathu-Khal to Satengal. At L-14, top-to-NE
horizontal shear (Fig. 9a) was observed in slates. Near Satengal, at L-17 top-to-NE
shear exists in quartzites. Top-to-NE up shear (Fig. 9b, c) occur at L-17 and 18 in
white quartzites.
The third *NE-SW traverse was taken from Raipur to Silla. At L-28 shear frac-
tures are quite prominent in the quartzites showing top-to-NE down slip (Fig. 10a).
About 1.5 km NE of L-28, top-to-SE down shear (Fig. 10b) occurs in black shale.
Vertical slip (Fig. 10c) exists at L-31. Top-to-SE down shear sense (Fig. 10d) was
observed at L-32. At L-33, top-to-SW down shear sense (Fig. 11a) was observed on
quartzite. At L-34, top-to-NW up shear (Fig. 11b) was observed in quartzites, Near
L-34, a top-to-NE up shear (Fig. 11c) was observed in white quartzite. Top-to-SW
down shear (Fig. 11d) was observed at L-36 in black shale. All the observed shear
senses are shown along the field traverses presented in Fig. 12.
Cross-sections (Figs. 13 and 14) were prepared along lines a–b close to
Dhanaulti and along the line X–Y. The lines a–b and X–Y can be found in Fig. 12.
The conventional method is used to draw the cross section. As we do not know the
actual curvature at the limbs therefore straight lines are drawn to construct the fold.
As sharp hinge bearing chevron folds were noted in the smaller scale (Figure with
authors), a large fold of such geometry looks plausible (Fig. 14).
Fig. 11 a Shear fractures developed on quartzite showing top-to-SW down brittle shear sense.
Y plane attitude dips 22° towards 223°; b top-to-NW up shear. P-plane dips 23° towards 218°. The
rock type is quartzite. c Top-to-NE up shear. Y-plane dips 33° towards 226°, P-plane dips 62°
towards 226°. Shear fractures developed quartzite. d Shear fractures developed on shale showing
top- to-SW down shear sense. Y-plane dips 31° towards 222°, P-plane dips 15° towards 18°
Fig. 12 Distributions of different brittle shear senses are shown in the map. The map is
reproduced from Dubey and Jayangondaperumal (2005)
Fig. 13 Cross-section of the Mussoorie syncline is drawn along the X–Y line of Fig. 12. The X–
Y line trends N36°E. B: Chandpur Fm, C: Nagthat Fm, D: Blaini Fm, E: Krol Fm, F: Tal Fm
Fig. 14 A NW-SE profile along the line a–b of Fig. 13
This preliminary study reports Himalayan back-shear (top-to-NE) and

arc-parallel shear (top-to-NW) for the first time in terms of meso-scale structures.
We have been presently working on these issues in detail.
Acknowledgements This work was a part of the M.Sc. thesis of S. Mahato. S. Mukherjee thanks
IIT Bombay for providing a sabbatical in 2017. N. Bose acknowledges Junior Research
Fellowship of UGC, grant number: F.2-2/98(SA-1). The Springer proofreading team is thanked for
assistance. Consult Banerjee et al. (2019) for tectonic updates on arc-parallel deformation from
Sikkim Lesser Himalaya, and Dutta et al. (submitted) from that in Mohand region, Siwalik. This
will establish link between chapters in the book. Mukherjee (2019) summarizes this work.
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India 71, 407–433
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya, India. In: Mukherjee S (ed) Tectonics and structural geology:
Indian context. Springer International Publishing AG, Cham, pp 425–440. ISBN
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Bell TH, Rubenach MJ, Fleming PD (1986) Porphyroblast nucleation, growth and dissolution in
regional metamorphic rocks as a function of deformation partitioning during foliation
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Bose N, Dutta D, Mukherjee S (2018) Role of grain-size in phyllonitisation: insights from
mineralogy, microstructures, strain analyses and numerical modeling. Journal of Structural
Geology 112, 39–52
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rate from the Main Boundary Thrust rocks, Garhwal Lesser Himalaya, India. Journal of Earth
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a part of the Garhwal Lesser Himalaya. Uttarakhand, India. Tectonic implications. In: Sharma,
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Field Structural Geological Studies
Around Kurseong, Darjeeling-Sikkim
Himalaya, India
Saikat Banerjee, Narayan Bose and Soumyajit Mukherjee
1 Introduction
Mallet (1874) divided the metamorphic rocks of the Darjeeling-Kurseong region

(see Table 1) into two Formations: Darjeeling Formation of high grade garnetiferous
schist, mica gneiss and the phyllitic Daling Group of rock. The pioneering geological
inputs provide a detailed account of the lithology and deformation of this region
(e.g., Sinha Roy 1973; Acharyya and Ray 1977; Acharyya 1989). Ray (1947) has
described the Senchal Series of rocks, which includes both the Darjeeling and the
Daling rocks. In the study area, the Gondwana rocks are overlaid by metamorphic
rocks of the Daling- and the Darjeeling Group/Formation (Fig. 1; Lahiri 1973).
Mukhopadhyay and Gangopadhyay (1971) worked in the both side of Teesta valley
and found more or less the same lithology. According to Jangpangi (1972), each of
the rock units are separated by thrust faults. On the other hand, Mallet (1874)
suggested that the contact between the Daling and the Darjeeng is gradational. As
per Ray (1947), there is no distinct separation between Daling and Gonwana at
Tindharia. But Singh (1972) suggests near Tindharia the Daling rocks overlie the
Gondwana rocks and they are separated by the NE trending Tindharia Thrust. The
Daling Group consists of mainly slates and phyllites. The metamorphic-grade of
phyllite elevates near the Tindharia Thrust (Singh 1972). This could be the effect of
shear heating of the fault (Mukherjee and Mulchrone 2013; Mulchrone and
Mukherjee 2015, 2016; Mukherjee 2017a, b; Mukherjee and Khonsari 2017, 2018;
Mukherjee and Agarwal, submitted). The Daling Group can be recognized as
quartz-chlorite schist. The Darjeeling Group can be identified as garnetiferous mica
schist and mica gneiss. Especially, in the Darjeeling–Bijonbari area, such rock types
are exposed (Sen 1971). The main composition of the gneiss in the Darjeeling Group
S. Banerjee N. Bose S. Mukherjee (&)

Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, Maharashtra, India

426
Table 1 The stratigraphic succession of Darjeeling-Kurseong

Mallet Ray (1947) Wager (1939) Gansser
(1874) (1964)
Auden
(1935)
Darjeeling Senchal Pelitic group Typical coarse mica-gneiss Daling Injected gneiss (Darjeeling) Darjeeling
gneiss series (Darjeeling gneiss) Flaggy garnetiferous mica- schist and series Dalings, belongs to Mt. gneiss
quartzite Everset Pelitic series
Carbonaceous mica-schist garnet rich Garnetiferous
mica-schist andcalc-schist mica-schist
Transition Slate-greywacke Golden and silvery mica-schist Daling schist
zone Group (daling)
Daling Greywacke-schist
series Slate phyllite with occasional quartzite,
and greywacke-schist
Reproduced from Lahiri (1973)
S. Banerjee et al.
Field Structural Geological Studies Around Kurseong … 427
Fig. 1 Lithological map reproduced from Lahiri and Gangopadhway (1974). The garnet isograd
is shown
is feldspar, biotite and occasional muscovite (Sen 1971). The Lesser Himalayan
phyllites connote the sediments of the northern boundary of the Indian plate
(Acharyya et al. 2017). However, different authors provided different names for the
similar litho-/structural-units. For example, Bhattacharyya and Mitra (2009), and
their subsequent works report that the following lithounits are present in the current
study area (from S to N): Siwalik Formation, Gondwana/Buxa Formation, Daling
Group with Lingtse Gneiss intrusions, Paro Gneiss, Darjeeling/Kanchenjunga
Gneiss. This has been followed in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.
2 Structures
Most of the previous workers document two deformation phases. Mukhopadhyay

and Gangopadhyay (1971) describe three phases of deformations. The F1 tight folds
are characterized by long limbs, axial plane schistosity and mineral lineation (Sen
1973). The inter-limb angles are <35° and these folds are mostly rootless and with
smooth round hinge (Mukhopadhyay and Gangopadhyay (1971)). The D1 is
commonly confined within the banded semi-pelitic rocks (Lahiri 1973). The L1
mineral lineations at the eastern part of the Teesta river plunge NE, but that at the
428 S. Banerjee et al.
Fig. 2 Location map of the study area
western part plunges NW (Mukhopadhyay and Gangopadhyay (1971)). Minor open

folds on the axial plane schistosity of the F1 folds define the F2 folding (Sen 1971).
In Daling rocks, D2 displays polyclinal open minor folds and pucker cleavages. The
S2 schistosity is at high-angle to the S1 (Lahiri 1973). According to Mukhopadhyay
and Gangopadhyay (1973), the second generation structures are SE plunging fold
axes. Mukhopadhyay and Gangopadhyay (1973) has described the third generation
structures in terms of disharmonic- and often symmetric folds. Rarely chlorite
occurs along the schistosity. These fold axes plunge towards N or S. Bose et al.
(2014) report a fourth phase of folding (F4) from this region.
Fig. 3 The map shows lithology encountered at different locations
3 Metamorphism
Ray (1947) observes chlorite grade systematically altering to sillimanite grade

towards north. While in the western part of the Teesta valley, one can observe
chlorite to sillimanite transition, in eastern part staurolite and sillimanite do not appear
as the index minerals (Mukhopadhyay and Gangopadhyay 1973). The term reverse
metamorphism was used by Jangpangi (1972) to describe the inverted metamorphism
in this region. Lahiri (1973) documents recrystallized quartz and biotite. Garnet
took the longest time span to grow. Thin-section study of garnet has reveal its syn- to
post-kinematic nature with respect to the F1 and the F2 folding. Recrystallized chlorite
along the axes of the F3-folds connotes local retrogression (Mukhopadhyay and
Gangopadhyay 1973). Ray (1947) observes the metamorphic grade change
towards north following a Barrovian sequence. Singh (1972) confirms from chemical
Fig. 4 Structural data plotted on the study area map
analyses that both the Daling and Darjeeling rocks are of same origin but due to
heterogeneity in bulk composition the metamorphic products are different.
4 Lithologies
In the field area (Fig. 2), the lithology varies along the N-S transect. A change in
metamorphic grade was also observed. Starting with phyllites near Tindharia in the
southern part of the field area, up to gneissic grade of rock was encountered near
Kurseong (Fig. 3). According to the classification of Mallet (1874), phyllites belong
to the Daling Group of the (Inner-) Lesser Himalaya. The other rock-types,
quartz-mica-schist, garnet bearing mica-schist, mica-gneiss and quartzite, belong to
the Darjeeling Formation.
Phyllite (Daling Group):

Phylliteis the type lithology around the Tindharia Railway Station, in between L-1
and 5 (Fig. 4). Overall dip direction of the phylliteis towards north. The same
lithology was also encountered between L-25 and 31 in the Kurseong Pankhabari
road-cut section. Grain size of phyllite increases for 3 km along the road-cut section
towards north. A gradual change in grade from phyllite to quartz-biotite schist
happens after L-5 proceeding towards north.
Quartz-mica-schist (Daling Group):
Mica schists occur at places between Gayabari and Mahanadi railway stations (L-7,
L-8 in Fig. 4). The grey coloured quartz-mica schists were defined by the spaced
cleavage domain of biotite and coarse microlithon of quartz grains. Concordant
quartz vein within the quartz mica schist occur near a landslide zone (L-9)
at *2.5 km from the Gayabari Railway station towards Mahanadi. The same
quartz-mica schist also occur in L-16 (*2.3 km from the Kurseong railway station
in Kurseong–Rohini road), and in L-21 (*2.1 km from the Kurseong railway
station in the Kurseong–Pankhabari road). L-24, 25 and is characterized by
low-grade mica schists.
Garnet bearing mica schist (Darjeeling Formation):
Garnet appears in the cleavage domain of mica schists after L-9 towards Mahanadi.
In the Tindharia-Kurseong section, garnet-bearing mica schists are black and are
crenulated. Garnet also occurs within the mica schists along the
Kurseong-Pankhabari road section. In L-25 and L-26 greyish brown coloured
garnet bearing mica-schists are found.
Mica gneiss (Darjeeling Formation):
In the Tindharia-Kurseong section, 2 km before the Mahanadi railway station,
light-coloured gneissic rocks crop out along with garnetiferous mica schist. The
light-coloured units also consist of garnets. In the Kurseong–Rohini section, gneiss
and mica schist occur in bands.
Quartzite (Daling Group):
The quartzite unit is overlaid by shinning greenish phyllite. Prominent foliation
planes dip towards N. In L-25 and 26, more than one lithology was encountered.
5 Structures
Foliation planes in the Tindharia–Kurseong section dip towards N, NE, and SW. In
Kurseong–Rohini section, they dip towards E and NW, and in the Kurseong–
Pankhabari section towards NW, N and NNE (Figs. 4 and 5).
Fig. 5 Location-wise stereo-plots of planar features (joints, schistosity and other foliation planes).
Poles of planar data shown
5.1 Folds
Tight, isoclinal and open folds are noted in the field area. Tight isoclinal asym-
metric folds are found in light-coloured quartz rich gneissic bands in L-11 to -14 in
Darjeeling Formation (Figs. 6 and 7). Open folds are observed in quartz mica schist
(L-9) before reaching Mahanadi. Fold axes plunge in variable amount: 8°–38°
broadly in three directions: NE, SW and SE.
5.2 Shear Senses
Three shear senses are noted in mica schist and garnet bearing quartz mica schist of
Darjeeling Formation: top-to-S, top-to-E and top-to-W. The inclination of the
P-planes with respect to the Y-planes are used to deduce the slip sense conclusively,
even in absence of any slipped marker layer (e.g., Passchier and Trouw 2005;
Mukherjee 2014a, b, 2015). Out of these, only the former shear sense has been
reported by the previous authors from this and other Himalayan segments, which is
rather common in the collisional mountains as the “fore-shear” (Mukherjee 2007,
Fig. 6 Folds in gneiss in sub-vertical sections. a Folded light quartz rich garnetiferous mica-
gneissic and dark micaceous layer in L-13. b Tight fold in lighter coloured gneissic layer.
A rootless fold is noted at L-15
Fig. 7 Tight folds in sub vertical sections of light colouredgarnetiferous quartz mica gneiss.
a Isoclinal fold in L-10, b secondary Z-fold in L-10
Fig. 8 Top-to-west ductile sheared quartz body within non-foliated micaceous rock in
sub-vertical sections. a Two shear senses observed in quartz vein within the non-foliated rock
at L-10. b Sheared quartz vein within the gneissic rock at L-18. Intrafolial folding in garnet-rich
light colored band within a non-foliated micaceous rock
Fig. 9 Top-to-E sheared quartz vein in garnet-bearing mica schist in a sub-vertical section.
a Lens-shaped quartz vein (L-14). b Rootless fold (L-14). c Quartz lens (L-10)
Fig. 10 Top-to-S shear sense observed in sub-vertical sections. a Quartz fish at L-6. b Brittle Y-
and P-planes in low grade schist in L-6
Fig. 11 a Small scale normal fault observed in L-6 marked by displacement of quartz vein seen in
a sub vertical section, b fault plane containing slicken slide within it, c sketch of the slicken slide
lineation on the fault plane. plunge 34° towards 62°E, d stereo-plot of the fault plane and the
lineation on it
2012, 2013a, b, c; Mukherjee and Koyi 2010a, b). The rest of the shear senses are the
new findings through this work. Intrafolially folded quartz veins show a top-to-W
shear around L-10 (Mukherjee et al. 2015; Fig. 8). Top-to-E shear in L-14 is marked
by rootless intrafolial folds, lens-shape mineral fish of quartz (e.g., Mukherjee 2011),
fracture planes in quartz vein (L-19), around Rohiniroad (Fig. 9). Asymmetric eye/
augen-shaped clasts (Fig. 3 and 11a) and brittle Y- and P-planes in L-6 (Fig. 10)
characterize the top-to-S shear. Orogen-parallel shear (top-to-E and -W) are also new
findings in this work. Mahato et al. (2019) also report the same from the Lesser
Himalaya from Garhwal region, Uttarakhand. Orogen parallel deformation is also
recently further reported from Mohand area, Siwalik (Dutta et al. submitted).
5.3 Small Scale Normal Faults
In L-6 (*950 m before the Gayabari railway station), a single small-scale NNE
dipping normal fault (Fig. 11) was observed within the high-grade phyllitic rock
unit marked by the slip of a narrow quartz vein. The vein also shows a small-scale
pinch-and-swell geometry.
Fig. 12 Joint planes in phyllitic rock cross-cutting quartz vein in L-5, observed in a sub-vertical
section
5.4 Foliations and Joints (Fig. 12)
Foliation planes in the Tindharia–Kurseong section dip towards N, NE, SW. In

Kurseong–Rohini section, they dip towards E and NW, and in the Kurseong–
Pankhabari section towards NW, N and NNE. Two sets of joint planes were seen in
phyllite at L-27 (*2.8 km before the location Pankhabari in the Kurseong–
Pankhabari road). One set of joint planes dip towards NW.
Acknowledgements This work was a part of SB’s M.Sc. thesis. SM acknowledges the research
sabbatical for the year 2017 and the CPDA support from IIT Bombay. Annett Buettener, Helen
Ranchner and the Springer proof-reading team are thanked for assistance. Mukherjee (2019)
summarizes this work.
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Pb—Isotopic Characterization of Major
Indian Gondwana Coalfields:
Implications for Environmental
Fingerprinting and Gondwana
Reconstruction
Rajeev Kumar, Joy Gopal Ghosh, S. S. Patel, Avijit Das, S. Sengupta,

K. V. S. S. Krishna and D. Guha
1 Introduction
Lead (Pb) isotopic ratios (IR) can be exploited as a mighty tracer for the global
atmospheric Pb dispersal derived from natural as well as anthropogenic sources.
Geological origin controls the characteristic isotopic composition of Pb, which is a
unique property. This property is used to trace Pb sources in the environment
(Kylander et al. 2010). Since the phasing out of leaded gasoline from India in the
year 2000, coal—combustion remains the principal source of Pb and mercury
pollution in the environment, which in turn is responsible for severe health prob-
lems in the Indian scenario.
Pb as a trace element can be present in coal in the form of its own minerals such
as galena (PbS) or clausthalite (PbSe) or as an admixture of Ba minerals, in the
pyrite crystalline structure substituting for Fe, or can be bonded to organic matter in
low rank coals (Swaine 1990; Finkelman 1994). The geological changes and the
atmospheric inputs during coalification also control the origin of trace elements in
the coal. The interactions in the milieu of geological, biochemical and physio—
chemical factors are controlling factors for concentration and distribution of trace
elements in coals. Hence, it is evident that the trace elements in coal may have
diverse origins (Swaine 1990). Knowledge of the mode of occurrence of a haz-
ardous element, such as lead, is of great interest because it may help us to
understand its behaviour during coal conversion processes and its potentially
hazardous activity. Moreover, interest in lead is enhanced by the fact that by
R. Kumar (&) S. S. Patel A. Das K. V. S. S. Krishna D. Guha

G & IG Division, CHQ, GSI, 15 Kyd Street, Kolkata 700016, India
e-mail: rajkrdes@gmail.com
J. G. Ghosh S. Sengupta
Geological survey of India, N.I.T, N.H. 5P, Faridabad 121001, India

442 R. Kumar et al.
comparing LIRs in ores, contaminant sources and contaminated sites, it can be used
as a tracer for environmental management (Díaz-Somoano et al. 2007, 2009).
Apart from environmental application, Pb isotopes have the potential for
stratigraphic correlation also. The high precision radiometric dates constrain the
absolute age of Formation. Likewise, Sr—isotopes, d13C and d18O measurements
provide meticulous correlation constrains (Veizer et al. 1999; Melchin and
Holmden 2006; Jones et al. 2010). It is well established that geological origin
controls the characteristic isotopic composition of Pb, which is a unique property.
In the ambit of this, the LIRs can be used for stratigraphic correlation and recon-
struction also. The occurrence of coal globally dates during the Gondwana period.
The coal deposits from India and the deposits from Antarctica can be similarly
correlated in global context of Gondwana reconstruction on the basis of LIRs.
The present work aims at the measurement of high precision LIRs of Indian
Gondwana coals by Multi-Collector ICPMS housed at the Geological survey of
India, Kolkata. This dataset will help in establishing a background for identifying
relative contribution of coal, especially those used in coal-based thermal plants for
the lead pollution in India. Not only this, these data set can be extended to have
wider geological implications such as Gondwana reconstruction.
2 Regional Geology
The sedimentary strata that accumulated in different areas of peninsular India

between Permo-Carboniferous and Lower Cretaceous are referred as Gondwanas
(Veevers and Tewari 1995). The Gondwana deposits mark resumption of sedi-
mentation in the peninsular India in Late Carboniferous after a long hiatus since the
Proterozoic.
Formation of Gondwana basins in India as well as in other continents records a
major tectonic event of the Earth, which has been interpreted as driven by the
episodic release of Pangean induced heat. The Gondwana successions are preserved
in a number of discrete basins in the peninsular India. The structural basins are
relics of the original depositional master basin that was disrupted during and after
deposition (Veevers and Tewari 1995). The basins define three linear belts along
the present-day river valleys of (1) Narmada–Son–Damodar (NSD), (2) Pranhita–
Godavari and (3) Mahanadi (Fig. 1). The latter two river valleys are subparallel to
each other and meet the ENE–WSW trending NSD valley and the present-day
eastern margin of the subcontinent at high angle (Biswas 1999; Mishra et al. 1999;
Acharyya 2000).
Gondwana Basins of India account for nearly 99% of coal resource of the
country. The basins occur along major river valleys either as discrete bodies or are
unified by post-Permian strata and are named after the Rivers Damodar, Son,
Mahanadi, Godavari etc. or the linear hill ranges like Satpura and Rajmahal
(Fig. 1). Throughout the Gondwana sequence in the Peninsular India the Barakar
Formation is the predominant coal bearing horizon. Indian Gondwana coal are
Pb—Isotopic Characterization of Major Indian Gondwana … 443
Fig. 1 Location of sampling

points from the Indian
Gondwana Coalfields covered
in present study
mostly bituminous to sub—bituminous and occurs as seams inter -banded with

sediments. They typically have high ash content in range of 35–50% (Raja Rao
1982, 1983, 1987; Mukherjee 2019).
3 Methodology
3.1 Sample Collection
Coal samples have been collected from actively mined Gondwana coal deposits
spread all over India. The coalfields covered in the purview of this study are Talcher
and Ib Valley Coalfield (40 Samples), Rajmahal Coalfield (20 samples), Wardha
444 R. Kumar et al.
Valley Coalfield (18 samples), Godavari Valley Coalfield (18 samples) and Korba
Coalfield (14 samples). Over all 110 coal samples have been analysed in this study
covering the E, S and central Indian Coalfields with the objective to delineate inter
as well as intra—seam variations, if at all present which can be traced after anal-
yses. All the samples are bituminous to sub—bituminous coal and feed the major
thermal power plants (TPPs) for power generation. In addition to the coal samples,
fly ash samples of major TTPs in the corresponding area have also been analysed
for Pb-isotopic composition. Figure 1 shows the disposition of Indian Gondwana
Coal deposits and location of the samples collected.
3.2 Analytical Procedure
The physical and chemical processing methodology adopted for the determination
of Pb—isotopic composition for coal samples was dry ashing and mineralization
process as per Díaz-Somoano et al. (2007). The coal samples were pulverised in
agate motor and dried to constant weight at room temperature. After this step the
samples were finally dried in a muffle furnace (*90 °C; 2 h) to remove the
moisture. One gm of coal sample was taken and then mineralized under controlled
conditions using a programmable furnace by the dry ashing with a temperature
increase of 1 °C per minute to a maximum temperature of 500 °C. The total
mineralization time was 10 h after attaining the required temperature. The ash—
content was determined gravimetrically. The ash was then dampened with one drop
of Milli-Q deionized water before treating with the 5 mL of concentrated HF and
0.5 mL of concentrated HClO4 in savillex vials and left overnight. The mixture of
acids was evaporated to near dryness and this step was repeated. After attaining the
incipient moisture—content, the residue was dissolved in 2 mL of concentrated
HNO3, transferred to a 100 mL volumetric flask, filled to the mark with Milli-Q
deionised water and transferred to a 100 mL PP Nalgene bottle. This stock solution
was later diluted to 2% (v/v) HNO3 for determination of the LIRs. All the exper-
iments were performed with considerable number of duplicate and procedural
blanks to determine possible contamination from reagents and general handling.
The fly ash samples were dried to remove moisture content and then 0.2 g of
sample has been digested using an acid solution of HCl:HNO3:HF::3:3:2 using
Anton Paar Multiwave 3000 Microwave digestion system. The mixture of acids and
fly ash was evaporated to near dryness and this step was repeated again (Zhou et al.
2014). The residue was dissolved in 2 ml of concentrated HNO3, transferred to a
100 ml volumetric flask, filled to the mark with MilliQ water and transferred to a
100 ml HDPE bottle.
These chemically processed samples of coal and fly ash have been analysed for
LIRs using Nu Plasma II MC ICPMS housed at LAMCI facility of G & IG Division
of the Geological Survey of India, Kolkata. The instrument is equipped with 22
collectors (17 F Collectors and 5 Ion Counters). Routine measurements made in
static mode using the Faraday detectors with 1011 X resistors and Ion counting
Table 1 MC ICP MS Instrument/model MC ICPMS/Nu plasma II

operating conditions during
data acquisition Collection mode Static
Data acquisition Isotope ratio mode
Sample cone Ni (1 mm orifice)
Skimmer cone Ni (0.7 mm orifice)
Collector types used Six Faradays
Coolant gas flow 13 L/min
Auxiliary (Ar) 0.87–0.9 L/min
Nebuliser 33–34 psi
RF power 1300 W
Standards used SRM 981 and SRM 983
Rinse time between two samples 4–5 min with 5% HNO3
channels with ion yield *1.0 mv per ppm. The typical operating parameters of
measurement are provided in Table 1.
Samples and standards were adjusted to a Pb/Tl ratio of 9:1 (after Weiss et al.
2004).The concentration of Tl solution was maintained at 8 ppb. The analytical
protocol followed during the course of analyses was standard-sample-standard
bracketing method using two Standards (SRM 981 & 983) after every five to seven
unknown solutions. NIST SRM-981 are 206Pb/204Pb = 16.934 ± 0.007,
207
Pb/204Pb = 15.486 ± 0.012, and 208Pb/204Pb = 36.673 ± 0.033 (n = 15),
respectively, which matches well with the recalibrated magnitudes: 16.9322,
15.4855, and 36.6856, respectively. Similarly, for NIST SRM 983 ratios are
204
Pb/206Pb = 0.000298, 207Pb/206Pb = 0.070906, and 208Pb/206Pb = 0.013095
(n = 20) respectively, which matches well with the recalibrated magnitudes:
0.000371, 0.071201, and 0.013619, respectively. (Todt et al. 1996; Belinda et al.
2000; Tanimizu and Ishikawa 2006 references rearranged with oldest at first and
youngest at last). The contribution of 204Hg in the measurement of 204Pb was
periodically monitored and mathematical correction was performed in the data
acquisition program (called as the NICE: Nu Instruments Calculation Editor: File in
Nu Plasma II) to account for any small contribution from Hg on the signal at 204Pb
(typically <300 counts s−1, or below 0.4% of the total 204Pb signal). The precision
of the measurements by MC-ICP-MS was below 0.07% for all measured isotope
ratios. The corresponding blank Pb-content value obtained during the analyses span
has been in the range of 10–11 ng ml−1 (White et al. 2000; Das et al. 2016 this
reference attached as protocols followed are similar to this for our Laboratory).
4 Results
It is a general practise to use 207Pb/206Pb (or 206Pb/207Pb) and 208Pb/206Pb ratios in

variation plots for environmental studies and 208Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb and
206
Pb/204Pb ratios for geochronological and geochemical studies. Since the
Table 2 Lead isotope composition of Indian Gondwana Coal—deposits and fly ash determined in this study and other coal deposits from published literature
446
207 208
Samples Pb/206Pb Pb/206Pb Pb—content (mg kg−1)
Mean Max Min RSD Mean Max Min RSD Mean Max Min RSD
Talcher & Ib valley 0.8220 0.8531 0.7215 0.0266 2.0863 2.1655 1.9484 0.0192 40.94 72.73 15.40 0.34
coalfields (n = 40)
Rajmahal coalfield 0.8022 0.8467 0.7748 0.0233 2.0104 2.0560 1.9746 0.0140 74.60 160.89 23.48 0.44
(n = 20)
Godavari valley 0.7761 0.8219 0.7150 0.0449 2.0382 2.0767 1.9858 0.0130 237.74 565.91 54.67 0.79
coalfield (n = 18)
Wardha valley 0.8303 0.8731 0.8050 0.0170 2.0735 2.0998 2.0373 0.0069 180.98 437.92 39.13 0.59
coalfield (n = 18)
Korba coalfield 0.8514 0.8845 0.8050 0.0270 2.1442 2.2231 2.0725 0.0209 18.43 42.10 3.20 0.68
(n = 14)
East Indian coals 0.8263 0.8007 0.8518 2.0837 2.1606 2.0067 238 440 37
(Kumar et al. 2016b,
35th IGC)
Kolaghat fly ash 0.8726 ± 0.0007 – – – 2.1542 ± 0.0016 – – – – – – –
Bandel fly ash 0.8608 ± 0.0005 – – – 2.1382 ± 0.0008 – – – – – – –
Korba fly ash 0.8478 ± 0.0010 – – – 2.1070 ± 0.0002 – – – – – – –
Talcher fly ash 0.8668 ± 0.0001 – – – 2.1534 ± 0.0007 – – – – – – –
Khaiperkheda fly 0.8757 ± 0.0001 – – – 2.1706 ± 0.0003 – – – – – – –
ash
Raniganj coalfield 0.8162 0.8275 0.8007 0.0097 2.0602 2.0875 2.0175 0.230 – – – –
(Das et al. 2016) (Std (Std
Dev) Dev)
Jharia coalfield (Das 0.8396 0.8573 0.8191 0.0148 2.0946 2.1308 2.0543 0.0280 – – – –
et al. 2016) (Std (Std
Dev) Dev)
(continued)
R. Kumar et al.
Table 2 (continued)
207 208
Samples Pb/206Pb Pb/206Pb Pb—content (mg kg−1)
Mean Max Min RSD Mean Max Min RSD Mean Max Min RSD
Chinese Coal 0.8479 0.8661 0.8326 – 2.0892 2.141 1.99 – 40 400 – –
(Zhang et al. 2007;
Cheng and Hu 2010)
World Coal 0.8322 0.8546 0.8036 – 2.0567 2.1013 1.9822 – – – – –
(Díaz-Somoano
et al. 2009)
Indonesian Coal 0.8449 0.8474 0.8417 – 2.0929 2.1013 2.0878 – – – – –
(Díaz-Somoano
et al. 2009)
Chinese fly ash 0.868 0.867 0.855 – 2.13 2.157 2.103 – – – – –
(Chen et al. 2005)
Pb—Isotopic Characterization of Major Indian Gondwana …
447
448 R. Kumar et al.
Fig. 2 Compiled three ratio plot of Indian Coal and fly ash in comparison to the published values
of coal and fly ash elsewhere
materials analysed in the present work are coal and fly ash, hence, it is apposite to
represent the results in terms of 207Pb/206Pb (or 206Pb/207Pb) and 208Pb/206Pb ratios.
The results obtained in the present wok as well as dataset available from published
literature are summarised in Table 2. The compiled three ratio plot of Indian Coal
and Fly ash in comparison to the published values of coal and fly ash elsewhere are
shown in Fig. 2.
4.1 LIRs of Coal Samples
The coal deposits of Talcher and Ib valley are situated in the eastern part of India
and follow the Mahanadi graben along which the coal has developed. Total 40
samples have been analysed from these coal—deposits collected from working
seams and act as feed to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Super
Thermal Power plant at Talcher. These coal also act as feed in the Bandel and
Kolaghat Thermal Power Plant. The 207Pb/206Pb ratio range between 0.7215 and
0.8531 with a mean value of 0.8220 whereas the 208Pb/206Pb ratio ranges between
1.9484 and 2.1655 with a mean value of 2.0863. The Pb-concentration measured of
these coal—deposits lie between 15.40 and 72.73 mg kg−1 with a mean value of
40.94 mg kg−1.
The coal-deposits of Rajmahal are situated in the eastern part of India where the
coal development has taken place along the main Rajmahal—Purnea Basin. The
analysed coal samples (n = 20) from Rajmahal Coalfield have isotopic signatures in
range of 0.7748–0.8467 with mean value of 0.8022 and 1.9746–2.0560 with mean
value of 2.0104 for the 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb ratios respectively. This
coalfield is also the supplier of coal to Bandel and Kolagahat Thermal Power Plant
for power generation.
The coal deposits of Godavari Valley have been developed along the course of
river Godavari. On the Gondwana Basin’s map of India (Fig. 1); in fact two
coalfields have a linear extension from NW to SE. The NE extension of the coal-
field is along Wardha River and hence, known as Wardha Valley Coalfield and the
SE extension is known as the East Godavari Valley Coalfield. The 18 coal samples
analysed from Godavari Valley Coalfield have 207Pb/206Pb ratios in range of
0.7150–0.8219 with mean value of 0.7761 and 208Pb/206Pb ratios in range of
1.9858–2.0767 with mean value of 2.0382. The concentration of Pb in this coalfield
obtained in range 238–566 mg kg−1 with a mean value of 238 mg kg−1.
The 18 coal samples analysed from Wardha Valley Coalfield have 207Pb/206Pb
ratios in range of 0.8050–0.8731 with mean value of 0.8303 and 208Pb/206Pb ratios
in range of 2.0373–2.0998 with mean value of 2.0735. The concentration of Pb in
this coalfield ranges 39–438 mg kg−1 with a mean value of 181 mg kg−1.
The Korba Coalfield forms the central Indian Gondwana Coal deposits.
Quarriable potentiality of the seam of Barakar Formation and its occurrence at
shallow depth (8.80 m) further enhances its importance. It is 16.82–18.74 m thick
and occurs in the western part of the area only in between two NNE-SSW faults. The
fourteen samples analysed from this coalfield has isotopic composition in range
0.8050–0.8845 with mean value of 0.8514 and 2.0725–2.2231 with mean value of
2.1442 for the 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb ratios respectively. The Pb—concen-
tration of these coal samples are in range of 3.2–42 mg kg−1 with mean value of
18.5 mg kg−1.
4.2 LIRs of Fly Ash Samples
During the course of this work fly ash samples have also been analysed from the
power plants using the coal deposits as feed. The Kolaghat, Bandel and NTPC
Talcher Termal Power Plants have their source in coalfields of Raniganj, Jharia,
Talcher, Ib and Rajmhal. The NTPC Korba has its source for power generation in
Korba Coalfield. The coals of Wardha valley coalfields act as feed to the
Khaiperkheda Thermal Power Plant. The results obtained are presented in Table 2.
450 R. Kumar et al.
5 Discussion
As is evident from the previous section that the LIRs of Indian Gondwana coal—
deposits ranges 0.7150–0.8845 for 207/206 Pb and 1.9484–2.2231 for 208/206 Pb
with Pb concentration ranges 3.2–566 mg kg−1. The variability of the Pb—content
and its isotopic composition can be attributed to high and variable ash—content of
the coal seams including its pyrite—content and/or more radiogenic behaviour. It
might be worth noting that the data obtained in the present work compares well
with the records from the Chinese coals (Shanghai, Nanjing and Huinan Coalfield)
that have Pb—content varying 40–400 ppm with a 206Pb/207Pb IR variation of
0.8326–0.8661 and 208Pb/206Pb IR values of 1.99–2.141 (Zhang et al. 2007; Cheng
and Hu 2010).
Similarly the LIRs obtained in the fly ash analyses ranges 0.8478–0.8757 for
207/206 Pb and 2.1070–2.1706 for 208/206 Pb. These values have an increasing
trend with respect to the feed coal Pb isotopic compositions when compared to the
respective coal—deposits. Also the dataset obtained complies well with the pub-
lished literature which reports the Pb isotopic composition for Chinese fly ash,
which ranges 0.855–0.867 for 207/206 and 2.103–2.157 for 208/206, respectively
(Chen et al. 2005).
5.1 LIRs in Fingerprinting
Uranium can be bonded to the organic material of the coal and also to the inorganic
components (Swaine 1990). In this case, the isotopic composition i.e. LIRs of the
coal is a result of mixing of the isotope ratios of common Pb in organic material at
the time of its sedimentation and the radioactive products of the subsequently
transported U and Th. Because of the predominance of 238U in natural isotopic
mixtures, the fingerprints of 206Pb are substantially affected by systems highly
enriched in U. This anomalous isotopic composition of Pb and the influence of U on
the Pb IR are the properties used to characterize and ultimately “fingerprinting/
tracing” the source.
The present work reports and reviews the isotopic composition i.e., the LIRs of
the Indian Gondwana basin Coal deposits. These dataset aim at establishing a
background for identifying relative contribution of coal, especially those used in
coal—fired thermal plants for the Pb pollution in India. To test this hypothesis, the
LIRs data generated by Das et al. (2016) for the different anthropogenic contrib-
utors of Pb in Kolkata City and LIRs reported by Kumar et al. (2016c) in the dust
storm aerosols of Indian subcontinent has been used for tracing/fingerprinting the
pollutant in the township of Kolkata. The dataset obtained by Das et al. (2016) are
on a gamut of food items (such as Rice, Dal, Spices, Vegetables, Fish, Meat,
Chicken and Herbs), street dust, diesel and rainwater of Kolkata city. By applying
binary mixing model on these dataset along with data reported by Kumar et al.
(2016a, b) has shown that coal—combustion is not the major contributor in the
atmosphere of Kolkata City instead the diesel is the principal contributor in the
form of vehicular exhaust. Thus using the LIR in coal samples from East Indian
Gondwana coal deposits, a logical clue for “tracing/fingerprinting” the Pb pollution
source in the Indian scenario particularly for the Kolkata City has been achieved
(Das et al. 2016; Kumar et al. 2017).
It is further recommended that LIRs of environmental milieu/matrices should be
taken up in different power—hub Indian cities and the inventory on LIRs of Indian
coal should be compared for getting a novel qualitative as well as quantitative
“fingerprinting” of environmental pollution and contribution from anthropogenic
sources.
5.2 LIRs in Gondwana Reconstruction
Apart from these environmental aspect, the LIR data set generated in the present
work particularly of the Mahanadi and Godavari valley coal—deposits can have
implications on the Gondwana reconstruction.
The Gondwana sequence in the East Antarctica is restricted to the area around
Beaver Lake in the Lambert graben. The sequence is known as the Amery Group
(Mond 1972) and represents >4000 m thick sequence of coal—bearing conglom-
erate—sandstone—minor shale association. Broadly, the sequence is >400 m thick
Upper Permian Radok Conglomerate in the basal part, followed by *3000 m thick
coals bearing Bainmedart Coal Measures which is overlain by around 750 m thick
Triassic Flagstone Bench Formation. The lithofacies and palynology of the rocks of
the Amrey Group has been studied (Playford 1990; Webb and Fielding 1993;
McLoughlin and Drinnan 1997), but the information on lead- isotopic composition
of this Group of rocks is not yet reported.
In the Gondwana reconstruction, there is a consensus that the *1.0 Ga mobile
belts of the Eastern Ghats in India and the Eastern Reyner Complex in Antarctica
were parts of a suture zone associated with Rhodinia Formation. However, these
belts occur parallel to the boundaries of the continents and hence using them in
Gondwana reconstruction could be superfluous. The Gondwana basins of the
Amery Group of the Lambert Graben and those of the Mahanadi and Godavari
basins in India that are aligned transverse to the continental margins are favoured
for a tighter Gondwana reconstruction. Available literature postulates correlation of
Lambert Graben with Godavari basin on the basis of regional geology and coal
petrology (Holdgate et al. 2005) while the correlation model with Mahanadi basin is
favoured based on geophysics and bathymetry (Stagg 1985; Mishra et al. 1999)
(Fig. 3). Since geophysics and bathymetry gets much influenced due to
post-breakup events in the seafloor, a stronger correlation of the Lambert Graben
with either the Mahanadi or the Godavari basin would require further constraints.
The distinctive Pb—isotopic compositional variation between the coals from the
Mahanadi basin and the coals from the Godavari—Wardha basin as obtained in the
452 R. Kumar et al.
Fig. 3 Proposed reconstruction models of Permian-Triassic Gondwana illustrating separation of

Indian and Antarctic, disposition of rifted coalfields of Mahanadi Valley, Godavari Valley and
Lambert graben (Antarctica) shown. a After Stagg (1985) and Boger and Wilson (2003); b After
Harrowfield et al. (2005)
present work and similar data set from Amrey Group and its coal deposit could offer
a good constrain to achieve a better fit between India and Antarctica in a Gondwana
framework. Moreover, the possible reconstruction—hypotheses proposed between
Indian and East Antarctica can also be tested with the aid of LIRs in coal of these
two presently widely separated terrains (Stagg 1985; Boger and Wilson 2003;
Harrowfield et al. 2005).
6 Conclusions
Pb is present in different modes of occurrences in different coals. The evaluation of

LIRs obtained from coals is helpful in discriminating between the different lead
species. The present study is an attempt to create a comprehensive and systematic
database for the Indian Gondwana coal deposits. Hence, the data in terms of LIRs
of coal are unknown unique isotopic signature of Indian Gondwana coal. The LIR
of Indian Gondwana coals varies 0.7150–0.8845 for 207/206 Pb and 1.9484–
2.2231 for 208/206 Pb with 3.2–566 mg kg−1 of Pb concentration. The variability
of the Pb—content and its isotopic composition can be attributed to high and
variable ash—content of the coal seams including its pyrite content as well as more
radiogenic behaviour. Similarly the LIRs obtained in the fly ash analyses ranges
0.8478–0.8757 for 207/206 Pb and 2.1070–2.1706 for 208/206 Pb. These values
have an increasing trend with respect to the feed coal Pb isotopic compositions
when compared to the respective coal—deposits. Explicitly, the inventory gener-
ated in terms of LIRs and Pb—content in Indian Gondwana coals would contribute
to establish a background for identifying relative contribution of coal, especially

those used in coal—fired thermal plants for the lead pollution in India. Not only
this, these unique isotopic signatures of Pb can be used for regional implications as
chemical tracers (Sr—isotopes, d13C and d18O measurements are generally used)
for stratigraphic correlation and Gondwana reconstruction also.
Acknowledgements This work is the outcome of the research project (RP/CHQMIV/2014/114)

approved by Ministry of Mines and to be taken up by the Geological Survey of India, Kolkata. The
author would like to thank the Director General, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, for all sort of
administrative supports and permission to publish this research outcome. The West Bengal Power
Development Corporation, Kolkata and different regional ancillaries of Coal India Ltd. are
acknowledged for their fruitful discussions and granting permission to collect samples from
Thermal Power Plants and collieries respectively. Soumyajit Mukherjee edited and reviewed this
manuscript. This work is summarized in Mukherjee (2019).
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Correction to: Geomorphic
Characteristics and Morphologic Dating
of the Allah Bund Fault Scarp, Great
Rann of Kachchh, Western India

Mohammedharoon Shaikh, Abhishek Kumar, Naimisha Vanik
and L. S. Chamyal
Correction to:
Chapter “Geomorphic Characteristics and Morphologic
Dating of the Allah Bund Fault Scarp, Great Rann
of Kachchh, Western India” in: S. Mukherjee (ed.),
Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context, Springer
Geology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99341-6_3
The original version of the book was inadvertently published without incorporating
the author corrections in figure captions 5 & 6 in chapter “Geomorphic
Characteristics and Morphologic Dating of the Allah Bund Fault Scarp, Great Rann
of Kachchh, Western India”. The correction chapter and the book have been now
updated with the changes.
The updated version of this chapter can be found at

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99341-6_3
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 E1


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What is the Springer Geology book series about?

What is the Springer Geology book series about?

What information is included in the book?

What information is included in the book?

Springer Geology

Soumyajit Mukherjee Editor

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10172

Tectonics and Structural

ISSN 2197-9545 ISSN 2197-9553 (electronic)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018954602

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019, corrected publication 2019

Brusi D, Calonge A, Souza E (2016)

Mumbai, India Soumyajit Mukherjee

Introduction to Tectonics and Structural Geology: Indian Context . . . . 1

Tectonic History of the Granitoids and Kadiri Schist Belt

1 Summary of Different Chapters

Tectonics and structural geology of Indian terrain is of great interest to the

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1

Dutta D, Biswas T, Mukherjee S (Submitted) Orogen-parallel compression in NW Himalaya:

Mukherjee S (2015a) Petroleum geosciences: Indian contexts. Springer Geology. ISBN

Subham Mukherjee, Anindita Dey, Sanjoy Sanyal and Pulak Sengupta

S. Mukherjee A. Dey S. Sanyal P. Sengupta (&)

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 7

against the Precambrian Vestfold block of east Antarctica in the reconstructed

2 Extent and the Boundary Relations

3 Classiﬁcation of the CGGC on the Basis of Extant

Scarcity of detail petrological, lithological and geochronological data is the major

should not be divided using geomorphic feature of younger sedimentary rocks of

The E-W trending Domain IB is sandwiched between GBF and Domain II

this HP-MT metamorphism was followed by a steep decompressive path indicating

3.4 Domain III

CGGC gneisses demarcated by a conglomerate horizon (Ghose and Mukherjee

4.1 Tectonothermal Events at CGGC

4.1.1 Sedimentation History of the Supracrustal Enclaves

Timing of sedimentation and provenance of the precursor sediments of metasedi-

Fig. 4 a Basin formation and sedimentation over an unknown basement of CGGC

4.1.2 Magmatic History

4.1.3 Metamorphism and Deformation: Summary of the Events

The oldest metamorphic event recorded in the CGGC is characterised by an ultra-high

4.2 Evaluation of Shear Zones

4.3 Extension of the CGGC

4.3.1 Northern Boundary of CGGC

that the Paleoproterozoic basement orthogneisses presumably continued beneath the

4.3.2 Western Boundary of CGGC

granites at *940 Ma derived from a Paleo-Proterozoic crustal source (Bhowmik

4.3.3 Eastern Margin

4.4 Southern Margin: North Singhbhum Fold Belt &

4.5 CGGC and the Proterozoic Supercontinental Cycles

4.5.1 Columbia Supercontinent

Fig. 6 Regional diagram summarizing Paleoproterozoic magmatic and metamorphic events in c

4.5.2 Rodinia Supercontinent

Fig. 7 Regional diagram summarizing pressure–temperature trajectories and the geochronolog-

5 The CGGC: Future Prospects

(i) combined petrological and structural studied along continuous segments

Bhowmik SK, Saha L, Dasgupta S, Fukuoka M (2009) Metamorphic phase relations in

Chambers JA, Argles TW, Horstwood MSA et al (2008) Tectonic implications of

Elburg M, Jacobs J, Andersen T et al (2015) Early Neoproterozoic metagabbro-tonalite-

Mukherjee S (2015) A review on out-of-sequence deformation in the Himalaya. In: Mukherjee S,

Roy A, Kagami H, Yoshida M et al (2006) Rb – Sr and Sm – Nd dating of different metamorphic

Akash Padmalal, Nitesh Khonde, D. M. Maurya,

A. Padmalal N. Khonde D. M. Maurya (&) M. Shaikh

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 55

2 Great Rann of Kachchh

2.1 The Banni Plain