Stratigraphy of India

8/10/2019 Stratigraphy of India

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Stratigraphy of India

Physiographic Division of India


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The broadest geomorphic divisions of India,

namely:

Peninsular Indiaor

Peninsular Shield.

Extra PeninuslarIndia.

Indo-gangetic alluvialplain.


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Peninsular India.

It is triangular

plateaus lying to the

south of the Indo-gangetic alluvial plain.

or

South of Vindhyanranges.


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The other units, known as the extra-peninsular

area, lie at the northern extremity of the country.

It is made up of the

mighty Himalayan

ranges and theirextenstion into

Bulchistan on the one

hand, Burma and

Arkan on the otherhand.


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The extensive Indo-

Gangetic alluvial plains

stretching across

northern India from

Assam, Bengal on the

east, through Bihar andU.P to the Punjab and

Sindhu on the West.

or

Its lie in between the

Peninsular and Extra-

Peninsular regions.


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Stratigraphy

Peninsular:is made

up of very ancient

rocks of Precambrian

age. The ancient

rocks have been

metamorphosed tovarying degrees


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Stratigraphy

Extra-Peninsular:Themountain rangesforming the extra-peninsular. It made upprimarily of sedimentaryformation ranging in ageform Cambrian toPleistocene.

The core of theHimalayan mountains ismade up of graniteTertiary age.


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Stratigraphy

Indo-Gangetic

alluvial plane:have

been formed only

during the quaternaryera. They are made

up of Sand, Clay and

peat beds.


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Structure The peninsular may be

regarded as very stable land

masses. It has not beenaffected by tectonic revolutionof post cambrian age.

The extra-peninsular havebeen affected by several

orogenic movement, leading tothe development of thecomplex Himalaan mountainduring the Tertiary era.

Indo-gangetic alluvial plainmade up of undisturbed layersof recent sediments, whichhave been deposited graduallyin a very large depressionlaying in between thepeninsular and extra

penisnular.


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Physical features

Peninsular is a very ancient

stable land, which has beeneroded continuously since itsformation. The mountainranges are remnants of theancient plateau and rivershave for obvious reasons

attained their base levelerosions.

Extra peninsular is made up ofyoung mountains ranges. Theyouthful river of this

physiographic units are now inaction in grading their courses.

Indo-gangetic alluvial plainsare very extensive stretches oflow land with a very small

gradient towards the sea.


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Climate

India, Pakistan and

Burma together havean area of over

3,03, 84,000 sq.km.

India2,03,36,000sq.km.

Kanyakumari to the

north of Kashmir

3200 km

West to east from

Bulchistan to Burma

650km.

India and Pakistan

streach between NLatitude 8o & 37oand

E Longitude 61o&

97o.


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The northern part of the country, that beyond the

latitude of Calcutta and Ahamadabad, lie to the

north of the tropic of Cancer.

The mountain barrier of the Himalayan plays an

important part not only in influencing the distribution

of rain in northern India. but also in preventing this

region from experiencing the very cold winterscharacterising the territories to their north.

The SW monsoon regions from the end of May-

December, the earlier half being the general rainy

season.

The NE monsoon is active during the cold weather

but the winds are dry before they blow over the Bay

of Bengal.


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During the succeeding months of March to May,the temperature rises steadily to a maximum, theinterior of the country registering 42 deg. To 49

deg. In early May. Deccan plateau falls in the rain-shadow of the

Western Ghats and hence receives only a smallamount of rain.

Western Ghats receives over 250 cm of rainduring the monsoon where as the shadow regiongets only 60 cm or less.

The winds sweeping up through the Bay of

Bengal strike the Arkan and Assam hills, the laterforcing the winds up to an altitude of some 5000feet when all their moisture content is precipitatedas rain.


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Rainfall map of India.

The neighborhood ofCherrapunji is know to

receive the highest

rainfall in the World.

Average rain is about

1150 cm per year. The

maximum recorded being

2300 cm in 1861.

SW Punjab, Western

Rajputana, Sind andBulchistan constitute a

region of very low rainfall

(below 25 cm per annum)


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MountainsWestern Ghats:

These forms a well

marked features along thewestern coast of Indiafrom the Tapi Valley downto Cape Comorin. It isnearly 1600 km long. Theiraverage elevation is from10001300 mts. Butmany peaks rise to over2400 mts. Eg.

Doddabetta2636m,

Mukurti2,554m in theNilagiris,

Anaimudi- 2693m in theAnaimalais and

Vembadi shola2505m inthe Palani hills.

Chief mountains of Peninsular India are: Western Ghats

Eastern Ghats

Vindhyas ranges

Satpuras ranges

Aravallis ranges


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MountainsEastern Ghats:

A series of rather

detached hill ranges ofheterogeneouscomposition which stretchinternittently form thenorthern boarders ofOrissa through the coastalregions of the

AndraPradesh to join theNiligiries in the westernportion of the Madras.They are uniform in theircharacter in Orissa and inthe northern part of AndraPradesh down to the

Valley of Krisna River,

being composed ofgranitiferous sillamanite

geneiss (Khondalite) andlarge masses ofCharnockite.


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MountainsEastern Ghats:

Their Average elevation is

about 750 m, but fewpoints rise to over 1500 m.Eg.

Korlapat-1213m

Banksamo 1274 in

Kalahandi Mimaigiri 1515m in

Koraput

Malayagiri- 1186m PalLahara

Meghasani-1164m inMayurbhanj

Mankarnacha-1109 inBonai

Mahendragiri1500m in

Ganjam


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Mountains

Vindhyas Mountain:

Which separate southern from Northern India

are a fairly continuous group of hill ranges,

lying to the north of the Narmada river and

through Indor, Bhopal, Baghalkhand andBundelkhand.

The general elevation is 450, but a few places

rise above 900m.

The majority of the range are composed ofSandstone and Quartzite of Vindhyan System.


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Mountains

Satpura Mountain:

Name was applied orignally to the hills in theNimar district of Mahya Pradesh, which

separated the Narmada and Tapi Rivers.

The Satpuras are composed of several moreor less parallel ridges of Deccan trap lava flows.

Their northern slopes are drained by the

Narmada river and Southern slopes by the

Waingang, Wardha and Tapi rivers.


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Mountains

Aravalli Mountain:

Mountains are now the remnant of once greatmountain ranges of tectonic origin.

They cross Rajasthan from South-West tonorth-east separating the arid semi desert of

the Bikaner, Jodhpur and Jaisalmar area onthe west from the more fertile region ofUdiapur and Jaipur on the east.

Composed of rocks of the Aravalli, Delhi and

Vindhyan systems.


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Rivers

Major Rivers:

Damodar, Brahmani,

Subarnarekha, Mahanandi,

Godavari, Krishna, Pennar,

Cauvery and Tambarapani

which flow into the Bay ofBengal, while the Narmada

and Tapi flow in to the

Arabian sea. Banas, Lumi,

Chambal, Sindh, Betwa,Southern Tons, Kan and

Sone are Peninsular river of

Northern India belonging to

the Ganga System


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The Indian Rivers :

The characteristics of therivers of India differ with

the physiographic

characteristics. The rivers of

India may be divided intotwo large divisions on the

basis of their drainage

characteristics

(Figure).

1. The Peninsular Indian

Rivers

2. The Extra-Peninsular Indian

Rivers


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Rivers of Peninsular India :

The rivers of the Peninsular India originate

on the Western Ghats. The Western Ghatsreceive heavy rainfall from the southwestmonsoon. Hence, there is flow of water inthe rivers only during the season of

rainfall.

In the dry seasons, the rivers become dry,too. It is because of this, the rivers of the

Peninsular India are 'nonperennial rivers'.The rivers that originate among theWestern Ghats drain the PeninsularPlateau.


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The plateau has slopes from west to east.

Hence, most rivers of the Peninsular India flow

eastwards and join the Bay of Bengal. Of the

east flowing rivers, the most important ones are

the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery.

The Cauvery originates at the Kodagu Hills ofKarnataka, traverses the state of Tamil Nadu

and then joins the Bay of Bengal. In the districts

of Tiruchchirappalli and Thanjavur, the river has

created a vast delta. The Godavari and Krishnarivers make Andhra Pradesh rich.


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Rivers of Extra-Peninsular India :

o Most of the rivers traversing the Extra-

Peninsular India originate on the Himalayas. The

Himalayas are lofty mountains. Hence, there are

glaciers on the Himalayas.

o The Extra- Peninsular rivers receive their watersfrom these glaciers. Also, in the season, there is

water from the rainfall for these rivers.

o It is because of this the Extra-Peninsular Indian

rivers have water flows all through the year. Assuch, these rivers are called the 'perennial

rivers'.


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Of these Extra-Peninsular rivers, the Ganges are

the most significant. The Ganges has created a

vast plains at the foot of the Himalayas.

Originating on the Himalayas, the Ganges

reaches the plains at Haridwar.

This holy river has tributaries such as theYamuna and the Kosi.

Before draining into the Bay of Bengal, the

Ganges gives rise to a number of distributaries

and creates a vast delta.

A large part of this delta is in Bangladesh. This

river connects the Calcutta Port with the sea.


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The two rivers, the Indus and the Brahmaputra,that originate on the Himalayas drain only a very

small area. A vast area of the Indus is inPakistan.

The Sutlej, which is a tributary of the Indus, runsin the northwest border areas.

Bakra-Nangal, which is the largest of the damsin Asia, has been constructed across the Sutlej.The state of Punjab has benefitted greatly fromthis dam.

A major portion of the river Brahmaputra is inTibet. This river runs through the Assam Hillsand turns into the Indian territories. Further, itreaches into Bangladesh.


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Waterfalls

Numerous waterfalls in the

Western Ghats, many ofthem small, only 6-9m high

and generally found in the

course of the wesernly

flowing streams.Jog Fallson the Sharavathi

river, Shivamoga,

comprising four magnificent

falls called Raja, Rocket,Roarer and Dama (Rani)

arranged on a curve and

having a sheer drop of

255m

Jog falls


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Waterfalls

ShivanasamudramFallson the Cauvery

river, a series of

cascades about 90m

high, are well knownsince they were the first

fall in India to be

harnessed for Power.


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Other falls:

Pykara fallsin Niligiris- Utilised for hydroelectric

power.

Gokak falls,on the Gokak river, Belgaum.

Yenna fallsnear Mahabaleswar, have a drop of180m.

Dhuandhara fallsnear Jabalpur only 9m high.

.

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Tectonic divisions

Subdivided into tectonic

units of smaller order.

Each of these tectonic

units is characterised byits own set of geological

features. Thus, a tectonic

units often overlapped the

neighboring tectonic unitduring a certain interval of

geological time.

Peninsular India.

Extra- Peninsular India.

Indo-gangetic alluvial

plain.


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Indian ShieldPrecambrian basement

is predominantly madeup of the graniticgneisses andmigmatites. (PG)

It has been delineatedinto four sub-unitsaccording to theircharacteristic of

structural trends thatare well reflected in theorographic trends ofthese regions.


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The sub-units are:

Dharwar

Eastern Ghats Aravalli and

Satpura.

The structural trend of these sub-units are theresults of often more than one orogenic events.

The Dharwar trend resulted in at least two or

possibly three distinct orogenic cycle.

The Eastern ghats, the Aravalli and the Satpuratrends were also formed during two or more

orogenic cycles.


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Proterozoic cover

Rocks are exposed in the

southern Peninsula in theCuddapah depression.The depression seems tohave covered a majorparts of SouthernPeninsula. In thenorthwestern Peninsula,the lower proterozoicbasin of geosynclinal typeare Area of Delhifolding.

The middle and upperproterozoic successionwere deposited in a greatbasin is called asVindhyan syncline.


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Proterozoic cover

Bundelkhand Massif:

rocks were laid directlycover the Precambrianbasement.

It comprises graniticgneisses and migmatites

similar to the Peninsulargneiss.

The Vindhyan syneclise isalso considered to haveextended northwards intothe Lesser Himalayanregion where the rocks ofthe basin have undergonea tertiary orogenicdeformation.


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Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Succession

The lower palaeozoic rocks

is conspicuously absentfrom the Indian Peninsula.Thick succession of UpperPalaeozoic and Mesozoicrocks deposited in threegreat graben type basinare:

Narmada-son-Damodargraben

Mahanadi graben

Godavari graben.Sedimentary rocks of thesegrabens are grouped intoGondwana sequence knowfor its rich coal deposits.


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Cenozoic cover

The greater part of

northern-western andsouthern eastern peninsulawas under marinetransgressive basin duringMesozoic and Cenozoiceras. A great thickness ofmarine rocks weredeposited in thesecontinental shelves,

Rajasthan self

Saurastrakutchch self.

oil pro. Paleog-Neoge

Precambrian


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Cenozoic cover

The south eastern coastal regionis demarcated into three shelvesie.,

Thanjavur shelf

Godavari shelf

Cuttack shelf

Precambrian basement

The Indian shield exposed as theshillong massif and the Mikir hillmassif in the northeastern Indiais overlain by palaeogene andNeogene successions in the

North Shillogn shelf.

Upper Assam Shelf.The shelves comprise aPrecambrian basement and anoil- Producing Palaeogene-Neogene cover.


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Extra-Peninsular India Is composed of the

Himalayan mountainranges in the north and the

Arakan-Yoma in the east.

The ranges are made up ofthe Tertiary mountain beltsand the frontal foredeep

folded belts. The Himalaya belt extend

for a total length of about2400 km from NangaParbat in the west to

Namcha Barwa in the East. Himalaya is further

subdivided into the threelongitudinal tectonicgeomorphic zones

The Lesser Himalayanzone

The Central Crystallinezone of the HigherHimalayan zone and

The Tethyan Himalayanzone.


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Tethyan (Tibetan) Himalaya

It consist of thick, 10-17km,marine sediments that weredeposited on the continentalshelf and slope of the Indiancontinent. This occured asIndia was drifting but still inthe southern hemisphere(Verma 1997). Sediments arelargely unmetamorphosed,which has made for excellentpreservation of fossils and

occur in synclinorium-typebasins. However, haveexperienced greenschistfacies deformation (Windley1995).


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Tethyan (Tibetan) Himalaya

Fossils occur in this east-

west zone within strata thatare very clearly known. The

large variety of size and

distribution of fauna suggest

that life was flourishing in this

area before the orogen. Suchsuccess in biological diversity

is accounted for by the

relatively stationary position

of the Tehthyan Zonebetween mid-Proterozoic and

Eocene time.


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Higher (Greater) Himalayas

The Higher Himalayasare also known as theCentral Crystalline zone,comprised of ductilydeformed metamorphicrocks and mark the axis

of orogenic uplift. Micaschist, quartzite,paragneiss, migmatite,and leucogranite bodiescharacterize this

uppermost Himalayanzone.



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Corresponding mineralsassemblages are dominated

by biotite to sillmanite,representing greenschist toamphibolite facies deformation.Deformation seems to haveoccurred in a north to south

direction and is associated withthe Main Central Thrust Fault(MCT), which brings the higherHimalayas on top of the lowerHimalayas (Sorkhabi 1999).

Initially, it was thought thatapproximately 350km ofshortening had occurred in theGreater Himalayan sequenceof rocks.


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As a result, it is now estimatedthat between 600 and 650km of

shortening occurred here. Therewas also a question ofprovenance for GreatHimalayan rocks. Previous worksuggested that lower Indiancrust comprised this area. New

interpretations of rocks thereindicate that the higherHimalayas are actually made ofsupercrustal rock. This ideastates that upper crustalmaterial of India accreted

northward onto the Asiancontinent and that crustalmaterial was origanlly anappendage of India that was,itself, accreted to India duringPaleozoic time.


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Lesser (Lower) Himalayas

The Lesser Himalayan zone isbounded the Main Central

Thrust(MCT) in the north andMain Boundary Thrust(MBT) tothe south.

Unlike the higher Himalayas,the lessers only experienced upto greenschist facies

metamorphism.The rock types present here arealso different. They are primarilysedimentary rocks from theIndian platform. Rock units herealso show a series of anticlinesand synclines that are in manycases quite sheared.

Fossils have been documentedin this zone, but they do notoccur at the same frequency as

Tehtyan zone fossils.


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view of Himalyan zones: cross section modeled after

DeCelles (1998). It not only shows geological

divisions within the mountain belt, but also structuresand geologic relationships between rock types and

structures. It is effective in showing relative motion

along faults.

I d G ti All i l Pl i


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Indo Gangetic Alluvial Plain

It is a deep crustal troughfilled with Quaternary

sediments. It origin andstructure are closely relatedwith the rise of the Himalaya.Maximum thickness of thesediments is encountered

along its northern fringesnear the foredeep folded beltof Siwalik hills.

It is divided into four shelfareas separated from one

another by three transverssehighs (burried hills). Thehighs are known, from westto east, as Delhi-HaridwarRidge, Faizabad RidgeandMonghyr-Saharsa Ridge.

I d G ti All i l Pl i


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Indo Gangetic Alluvial Plain

Delhi-Haridwar ridges is

composed of a Precambrianbasement overlain by a

succession of Plaaeogene

and Neogene sediments.

Faizabad ridges are made up

of Precambrian basement

overlain by Vindhyan rock

and Neogene sediments.

Monghyr-Saharsa ridges

contains in its succession therocks of Gondwana age and

elements of Rajmahal Traps.

Stratigraphy of India

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