Abstract
Dharwar Craton and the Southern Granulite Terrain have always been a topic of interest. The opinion prevailing earlier was that the Southern Peninsula has undergone progressive metamorphism from north to south as exemplified by the green schist facies, amphibolite facies (intracratonic Proterozoic sediments and Dharwars) and finally the granulite facies south of the Fermor Line. Currently, the nature of contact between the granulite terrain and the Dharwars is being debated. Rocks equivalent of Sargurs and Dharwars are found in Tamil Nadu and also below the Deccan Basalts, indicating that the Dharwars extend both to the north and south. Likewise, views vary on the movement of Nilgiris. Nilgiris, Anaimalai and the adjacent mountain ranges to the east are all due to down throw of the Kaveri Crater region followed by easterly tilt of the Western Ghats at the time of separation of India and Madagascar. Dharwars have been subdivided into Western, Eastern and Central. However, there are no unambiguous evidences to justify such divisions. Various cratonic blocks of the Indian peninsula are separated by rift valleys and faults, thus indicating the possibility of all the blocks being one unit earlier. The earliest supercontinent Ur had triangular Indian Peninsula as the nucleus bordered by Kaapval and Pilbara. Similar shape of India continues in all the subsequent Supercontinent reconstructions. Peninsula as a whole shows a northerly tilt except in places which have evidences of intraplate deformation.
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Acknowledgements
A preliminary version of this paper was presented at a National Seminar (Subrahmanya, 2018). Dr. Harsh Gupta, who was present during presentation, made pertinent comments on the geophysical aspects. Subsequently drafts of the paper have been shared with Prof. Abhijit Basu, Indiana University and Prof Claudio Vita-Finzi of UCL/Natural History Museum, London, whose suggestions were incorporated. Dr. R. Srinivasan, NGRI/IISc., went through the PPT/paper in great detail and made very important observations. Prof. Colin Reeves, ITC, Delft/Earthworks, was requested to go through the paper mainly from the geophysical angle. He has analyzed the paper critically and has given very valuable inputs. Prof. B Mahabaleswar evaluated the paper in great detail. Based on the reviews/comments/suggestions/observations/objections received from the aforementioned Earth Scientists and anonymous reviewers, the paper has been suitably modified. However, author alone is responsible for the interpretations which may be at variance with the generally accepted and prevailing ideas.
Questions arose on the geology of the Indian subcontinent while working on the Kaveri Crater. Attempt to find answers and resolve some outstanding issues have resulted in the present paper. There was no financial support for this work. However, a pilot project sanctioned for carrying out preliminary investigations on the Impact Structure, vide MoES/P.O./Geosci/55/2015 dated 31.03.2016, is being acknowledged.
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Subrahmanya, K.R. Bhaaratha Craton - The Monolithic Precambrian Terrain of the Indian Peninsula. J Geol Soc India 98, 41–46 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-022-1925-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-022-1925-1