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Revisiting the stratigraphy of the Mesoproterozoic Chhattisgarh Supergroup, Bastar craton, India based on subsurface lithoinformation

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Abstract

In the last 10 years, several teams of geologists from different institutions in India and abroad have vigorously investigated the Chhattisgarh basin (Bastar craton, India). Based on the new results and the lithologs of more than 350 water wells, resistivity and gamma-ray logs, and extensive geological traverses, we present a revised geological map, relevant cross sections, a new comprehensive stratigraphic column and a discussion of the new findings. Major outcomes of this revision are: (1) confirming the existence of two sub-basins (Hirri and Baradwar) and two depocentres; (2) establishing the age of the basin to be essentially Mesoproterozoic; (3) discarding the ‘unclassified Pandaria Formation’ and classifying the package of Pandaria rock units into Chandi, Tarenga, Hirri and Maniari formations in the Hirri sub-basin; (4) accepting the ‘group’ status of the Singhora Group and the newly proposed Kharsiya Groups in the Baradwar sub-basin; (5) establishing an intrabasinal correlation of formations; (6) reappraising the thicknesses of the different formations; and (7) finding that the geometry of the basin is ‘bowl-shaped’, which is compatible with a sag model for the origin and evolution of the basin.

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Acknowledgements

Authors affiliated with CGWB are thankful to Shri Sushil Gupta, Chairman, CGWB, for according permission to publish the work. The logistic support and encouragement provided by the past Member (SAM) of CGWB Shri Subrata Kunar and the Regional Directors of CGWB, NCCR and RGI, Raipur are thankfully acknowledged. The authors are thankful to Prof. Abhijit Basu for his constant encouragement and sugestions and inspiration to write on this subject by compiling subsurface data. The paper is benefited from the comments of an anonymous reviewer. Compilation and interpretation of available CGWB data of groundwater exploration reported in this paper are solely the view of the authors and may not necessarily represent the view of the department they belong to.

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  1. Arunangshu Mukherjee

    Present address: Upper Yamuna River Board, R K Puram, New Delhi, 110 066, India.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rajiv Gandhi National Ground Water Training and Research Institute, Central Ground Water Board, Bhu Jal Bhawan, NH-IV, Faridabad, 121 001, India.

    Arunangshu Mukherjee

  2. Central Ground Water Board, Bhu Jal Bhawan, NH-IV, Faridabad, 121 001, India.

    Ranjan Kumar Ray

  3. Central Ground Water Board, Sector 27A, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh, 160 019, India.

    Dinesh Tewari

  4. Rajiv Gandhi National Ground Water Training and Research Institute, Central Ground Water Board, Tagore Nagar, Raipur, 492 001, India.

    Vijay Kumar Ingle & Bikram Kumar Sahoo

  5. School of Studies in Geology, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, 492 007, India.

    M W Y Khan

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  1. Arunangshu Mukherjee
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Mukherjee, A., Ray, R.K., Tewari, D. et al. Revisiting the stratigraphy of the Mesoproterozoic Chhattisgarh Supergroup, Bastar craton, India based on subsurface lithoinformation. J Earth Syst Sci 123, 617–632 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-014-0418-z

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