The document summarizes the tectonic framework of India in 3 broad divisions - Peninsular India, Extra-Peninsular India, and the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Peninsular India comprises the Indian shield and its sedimentary basins, and is further divided into the shield areas, mobile belts, and Proterozoic sedimentary basins. Extra-Peninsular India includes the Himalayan mountain ranges, divided into the Lesser Himalayan zone, Central Crystalline zone, and Tethyan zone. The Indo-Gangetic Plain is a deep crustal trough in northern India filled with Quaternary sediments.

1. TECTONIC FRAMEWORK OF INDIA
Guided by Presented by
Dr.VishnuGadgil Ruchita Singh
Class-M.Sc. (I Sem.)
Govt.Holkar Science College Indore(M.P.)
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2. CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Tectonic division of India
1. Peninsular India
a. Indian Shield
b. Proterozoic Sedimentary Basin
c. Upper Palaeozoic And Mesozoic Successions
d. Cenozoic Cover
2. Extra Peninsular India
a. Foredeep Folded Belts
b. Lessar Himalayan Zone
c. Central Crystalline andTethyan Himalayan Zones
3. Indo- Gangetic Plain
4. Seismic zones of India
 References
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3. INTRODUCTION
The Indian subcontinent is a conspicous physical entity in a map of
Asian continent.In the north it is bordered by the Himalayan
mountains and it is surround by Arabian sea in the west,Indian
ocean in the south and Bay of Bengal in the east.
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4. Fig.1
Source:www.freeworldmaps.net 4

5. TECTONIC DIVISIONS OF INDIA
The three broadest tectonic division of India is
1. Peninsular India
2. Extra Peninsular India
3. Indo Gangetic Plain
Fig.2
Source:www.resarchgate.net 5

6. The three tectonic divisions are further subdivided into tectonic units
of smaller order.Each of these tectonic units is characterized by its
own set of geological features.
Fig.3
Source:www.researchgate.net 6

7. PENINSULAR INDIA
Peninsular India comprises the Indian shield and its proterozoic and
phanerozoic covers. It is characterized by extreamly varied physiography. It
comprise a complex association of plateau mountain with widely distributed
drainage, peneplained ancient folded mountains, massifs, elongate graben like
valleys and coastal plains.
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8. INDIAN SHIELD
The Indian Shield comprising the Precambrian Basement is
predominantly made up of the granitic gneisses and migmatites
(PeninsularGneiss).The Peninsular Gneiss is also known as
Fundamental Gneiss i.e., basement for all the succeeding rock
formations. It consists of five major Archaen Cratons
1. DharwarCraton
2. Bastar Craton
3. Singhbhum Craton
4. Bundelkhand Craton
5. Aravalli Craton
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9. DHARWAR CRATON
BASTAR CRATON
The Dharwar craton is one of the best- studied terrains of Peninsular
India, and is renowned for its greenstone/schist belts, grey gneisses,
charnockites and younger granites.The craton is divided into western
and eastern Dharwar.
Bastar craton covers an area of 1,30,000 sq.km and is bounded by the
Godavari graben in the south, Mahanadi graben in the north-east,
Central IndianTectonic Zone forming part of the Satpura mobile belt in
the east and DeccanTrap cover in the west.
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10. 10
Fig.4 Dharwar Craton

11. 11
Fig.5 Bastar Craton

12. SINGHBHUM CRATON
BUNDELKHAND CRATON
Singhbhum craton covers a triangular area of 50,000 sq.km and consist
of a core Singhbhum granite, rimmed by supracrustals of varied
character an age.
Bundelkhand craton named for the fifteenth century Kingdom of
Bundelkhand is a triangular region having semi-circular sides, and
covers an area of 26,000 sq.km. Bundelkhand craton is separated from
the Satpura mobile belt in the south and the Aravalli craton in the west
by the ProterozoicVindhyan Basin.
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13. 13
Fig.6. Singhbhum Craton

14. 14
Fig.7 Bundelkhand Craton

15. ARAVALLI CRATON
Aravalli craton is separated from Bundelkhand craton by the great
Vindhya basin and Hindoli Group that are bounded by faults.Aravalli
cratons covers and area of over one lakh sq.km. encompassing the
entire State of Rajasthan, parts of Gujrat and Madhya Pradesh and
fringes of Delhi and Haryana.
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Fig.8

16. MOBILE BELTS
Eastern Ghats Mobile
Belt(EGMB)
EGMB is a NE trending belt about 1000 km. long and 300 km. wide at the
maximum and tapers from north to south. It cuts across the trendlines of
Dharwar, Bastar and Singhbhum cratons, with a transitional metamorphic
boundary in the west.
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17. 17
Fig.9

18. Pandyan Mobile Belts(PMB)
PMB refers to the granulite terrain situated to the south of
Palghat – Cauvery shear zone it is also known as the Southern
GranuliteTerrain.The PMB is divided form north to south into
Marginal Zone, Madurai Block andTrivandrum Block, separated
by major zones.
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19. SATPURA MOBILE BELTS(SMB)
Satpura mobile belt is a very long E-W trending orogenic belt
that cuts across the northern part of Peninsular India.The
mobile belt divides the Indian Shield into northern
Bundelkhand protocontinent and the southern Deccan
protocontinent.
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20. 20
Fig.10 Satpura Mobile Belt

21. PROTEROZOIC SEDIMENTARY BASIN
Proterozoic Sedimentary Basins are flat lying ,unmetamorphosed and
peripherally deformed cratonic basin.They cover an area of about
150000 sq.km and occupy nearly 20% of the Indian Shield.The major
sedimentary basins are i)The greatVindhya Basin encircling the
Bundelkhand craton,ii)Chhattisgarh,Khariar and Bastar basins on
Bastar craton iii) Pranhita -Godavari basin between Dharwar and Bastar
cratons,and iv) Cuddapah , Kaladgi and Bhima basins on Dharwar
craton.
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22. VINDHYAN BASIN
The largest single ‘ Purana ' basin is the sickle-shaped NE trending
Vindhyan basin.It wraps around Bundelkhand granite and has faulted
contacts with the adjacent cratons.The major structure of the basin is a
synclinorium with axis curving along the centre of the sickle-shape.
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Fig.11

23. CHHATTISGARH BASIN
Chhattisgarh basin is the largest ‘ Purana ' basin of Bastar craton
and is linked to the other basins of Khariar,Ampani,Indravati and
Sabari through many outliers.It is delimited by Kotri-Dongargarh
belt in the west, Satapura mobile belt and Mahanadi graben in the
north,and EasternGhats mobile belts in the east.
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24. KHARIAR BASIN
The Khariar (Noagarh) basin to the south of Chhattisgarh basin consists
of two sequences of lower sandstone-limestone and upper sandstone-
shale separated by a disconformity.The succession is called the Pairi
Group.
INDRAVATI AND SABARI
BASIN(BASTAR BASINS)
The Indravati basin consists of 350-550m thick sequence of sandstone-shale-
limestone-dolomite-shale.IndravatiGroup overlies basement granites and
gneisses on all sides and the Kondagaon granulite belt in the north.
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25. PRANHITA-GODAVARI(P-G) BASIN
The P-G basin occurs in two parallel NW-SE trading basins viz.,the
western Pakhal(or Mallampalli) basin on Darwar craton and eastern
Albaka basin on Bastar craton,with the intervening Gondwana basin of
the Godavari graben.
CUDDAPAH BASIN
Cuddapah basin is a crescent shaped,easterly concave,N-S trending
basin in Dharwar craton,covering an area of 44000 sq.km.It is the
second largest basin after the greatVindhyan basin.
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26. 26
Fig.13 Pranhita - Godavari Basin

27. 27
Fig.14Cuddappah Basin

28. KALADGI BASIN
Kaladgi Basin is an E-W trending irregular basin having 8300 sq.km
area,and is underlain by gneisses,granites of Dharwar craton in the
south and east,and overlain by DeccanTrap in the north.
BHIMA BASIN
Bhima basin is a NE trending sinuous basin that uncomfortably
overlies the granites of Eastern Darwar Craton in the south and
underlies DeccanTrap in the north.It has vast resources of
limestone and the newly discovered uranium deposit ai Gogi.
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29. 29
Fig .15 Kaladgi Basin
Fig.16 Bhima Basin

30. UPPER PALAEOZOIC AND MESOZOIC
SUCCESSIONS
Thick successions of the Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks deposited
in three great graben type basins: Narmada-Son- Damodar, Mahanadi
and Godavari Grabens.Sedimentary rocks of these grabens are grouped
into Gondwana Sequence known for its rich coal deposits.In Narmada-
Son- Damodar and MahanadiGrabens,the Gondwana rocks rest directly
over the Precambrian Basement.However,in Godavari Graben,an
intervening Upper Proterozoic rock succession has also been preserved.
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31. 31
Fig.17 Narmada-Son-Damodar,
Mahanadi and Godavari graben

32. CENOZOIC COVER
The greater part of north-western and south-eastern Peninsula was
under marine transgressive basins during Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras.A
great thickness of marine rocks were deposited in these continental
shelves.The Rajasthan Shelf is characterized by a succession of rocks
beginning with a Proterozoic Basement overlain by marine rocks of
Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, Palaeogene and Neogene ages.The Saurashtra-
Kutch Shelf comprises Aravalli-Delhi Basement, Mesozoic marine
rocks,DeccanTraps and marine Paleogene and Neogene successions.
The southeastern coastal region is demarcated into three shelves ,i.e.,
Thanjavur Shelf, Godavari Shelf and Cuttack Shelf.
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33. EXTRA-PENINSULAR INDIA
The Extra-Peninsular India is composed of Himalayan mountain
ranges in the north and the Arakan-Yoma ranges in the east.The
ranges are made up of theTertiary mountains in belts and the
frontal foredeep folded belts.The Himalayan is subdivided into the
three longitudinal tectonic geomorphic zones,viz.,the Lesser
HimalayanZone,the Central Crystalline Zone of the Higher
Himalaya and theTethyan Himalayan Zone.
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34. 34
Fig.18 Extra-Peninsular India

35. FOREDEEP FOLDED BELTS
The foredeep folded belt known as the the Siwalik Range(Outer
Himalaya)has a maximum width of about 50km in its western extremity
in the neighborhood of Jammu.The belt merges westwardly into the
Patwar plateau of Pakistan.
Foredeep folded belt in the west of the Arakan-Yoma ranges comprises
the low lying hills of Mizoram,Tripura and Manipur.The Siwalik foredeep
folded belt and the foredeep in the west of Arakan-Yoma ranges are
both made up of Neogene sediments.
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36. LESSER HIMALAYAN ZONE
Average altitude of the Lesser HimalayanZone ranges between
2000m. and 3000m.The physiography of this zone is characterized by
three main branches of mountain ranges obliquely emerging
westwards from the Great Himalayan ranges.The Lesser Himalayan
ranges are known as: i) Nag-Tibba range,ii) Dhauladhar range and iii)
Pir-Panjal range.
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37. CENTRAL CRYSTALLINE AND
TETHYAN HIMALAYAN ZONES
The two tectonic zones have been grouped into a single
physiographic unit referred to as Higher(or Great) Himalaya with
average altitude of more than 6,000m.A greater part of this region is
snowbound throughout the year.Central CrystallineZone comprises
Precambrian basement intermixed with granitic plutons ofTertiary
age.TheTethyan Himalayan Zone is composed of a fairly continuous
marine succession of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic ages resting
unconformably over the Precambrian basement of the Central
Crystalline Zone.
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38. INDO-GANGETIC PLAIN
The Indo-Gangetic Plain extends from the mouth of Indus river draining
into the Arabian Sea in the west through the northern plains of India to
the great deltic Sunderban where the Ganga and Brahmaputra river
systems together drain into the Bay of Bengal.It is a deep crustal trough
filled with Quaternary sediments.
The Indo-Gangetic Plain is divided into four shelf areas separated from
one another by three transverse 'highs'(burried hills).The 'highs' are
known,from west to east, as Delhi-Haridwar Ridge , Faizabad Ridge and
Monghyr-Saharsa Ridge.
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39. 39
Fig.19 Indo-Gangetic Plains

40. SEISMIC ZONES OF INDIA
India is divided into four seismic zones
1.Zone 5
It covers the highest risks zone. It is referred to as theVery High
Damage Risk Zone.
2.Zone 4
This zone is called the High Damage Risk Zone.
3.Zone 3
This zone is classified as Moderate Damage Risk Zone.
4.Zone 2
This zone is classified as Low Damage Risk Zone.
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41. 41
Fig.20 Seismic Map of India

42. REFERENCES
• Kumar Ravindra, Fundamental of Historical Geology and
Stratigraphy of India(First Edition), NewAge International
Publishers, 46-56.
• Ramakrishna.M andVaidyanadhan R., Geology of India(Volume 1)
,Geological Society Of India, 1-261
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki (accessed on 27-09-2019)
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43. THANK YOU
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