7-ecionop&sics.

135 (1987) 307-327 307

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

Regional tectonic framework, structure and evolution

of the western marginal basins of India

SK. BISWAS

Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Born&v Regionul Business Centre, 6-C, Pri.vadarshini.
Eastern Express Highway, Bombyv-400 022 (India)

(Received June 261985: revised version accepted August 12.1986)

Abstract

Biswas, S.K., 1987. Regional tectonic framework, structure and evolution of the western marginal basins of India.
Tectonoph_ysics, 135: 307-327.

The Kutch-Saurashtra, Cambay and Narmada basins are pericontinental rift basins in the western margin of the
Indian craton. These basins were formed by rifting along Precambrian tectonic trends. Interplay of three major
Precambrian tectonic trends of western India, Dharwar (NNW-SSE), Aravalli-Delhi (NE-SW) and Satpura
(ENE-WSW), controlled the tectonic style of the basins. The geological history of the basins indicates that these basins
were formed by sequential reactivation of primordial faults. The Kutch basin opened up first in the Early Jurassic
(rifting was initiated in Late Triassic) along the Delhi trend followed by the Cambay basin in the Early Cretaceous
along the Dharwar trend and the Narmada basin in Late Cretaceous time along the Satpura trend. The evolution of the
basins took place in four stages. These stages are synchronous with the important events in the evolution of the Indian
sub-continent-its breakup from Gondwanaland in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic, its northward drifting during the
Jurassic-Cretaceous and collision with the Asian continent in the Early Tertiary. The most important tectonic events
occurred in Late Cretaceous time. The present style of the continental margins of India evolved during Early Tertiary
time.
The Saurashtra arch, the extension of the Aravalli Range across the western continental shelf, subsided along the
eastern margin fault of the Cambay basin during the Early Cretaceous. It formed an extensive depositional platform
continuous with the Kutch shelf, for the accumulation of thick deltaic sediments. A part of the Saurashtra arch was
uplifted as a horst during the main tectonic phase in the Late Cretaceous.
The present high thermal regime of the Cambay-Bombay High region is suggestive of a renewed rifting phase.

Introduction ing the Mesozoic, and, are thus, considered as

important Mesozoic marginal marine basins (Bis-
The Kutch, Cambay and Narmada basins are was, 1982).
three major marginal rift basins in the western The evolution of the three basins during differ-
margin platform of the Indian craton (Fig. 1). The ent stages of India’s northward drift after breakup
basins occur close to each other in the mid-west- from Gondwanaland in the Late Triassic-Early
em part of the Indian sub-continent. These basins Jurassic has been discussed by Biswas (1982). He
are bounded by intersecting sets of faults whose brought out the sequential development of these
trends follow three important Precambrian basins from north to south. The Kutch rifting
tectonic trends (Biswas, 1982). The Saurashtra took place in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic,
peninsula occurs as a horst block between the Cambay rifting in Early Cretaceous and Narmada
rifts. These basins formed at different times dur- rifting in Late Cretaceous time. These rifting events

~~1951/87/~03.50 0 1987 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

LEGEND
“L!srERhAh\’

TERTIARY

3ECCAN ‘RAP

UPPER CRETACEOUS

LOWER CRETACEOdS

JURASSIC

UPPER PROTEROZOIC

COWER PROTEROLO~C
/ DHARWAR SYSTEM 1

:RAwTES

CHARNOCKITES

LINEAMENTS, STRUCTURAL TRENDS.

FOLIATIONS, STRIKES, FOLD AXES e’c

MAJOR FAULT
 309

are synchronous with the major events in India’s framework, stratigraphic and structural features,
drift history. Raju (1968) has described the tectonic and the depositional histories of these basins.
framework and history of the Cambay basin. The In this paper, the regional tectonic framework,
tectonic framework of the Narmada basin has not the structure of the three basins which controlled
been studied in detail. Rao and Talukdar (I980) the sedimentation and their geotectonic evolution
have described the regional tectonic set up of are discussed. The Kutch basin which has the
Narmada and Bombay offshore area. Biswas and longest record of the Mesozoic in western India, is
Deshpande (1983) have discussed the tectonic discussed in detail.

AREi

‘X - NAGAR PARKAR RiDGE 6

A - ISLANO BELT RIDGE

LR - MAIN LAND RIDGE

OR- WAGAO AlOGE

jGF- NARMAOA-SON GEOFRACTURE

CF - WEST COAST FAULT

%-- MAJOR FAULTS

- TECTONIC TRENDS

Fig. 2. Pericratonic rift basins with major structural lineaments.

Indian shield juvenated in the Mesozoic-Tertiary to form oce-
anic transform faults and rifts which determined
In order to appreciate the role of the Prc- phases of Indian Ocean floor spreading. In the
cambrian structural trends in the tectonic evolu- present case also, it is observed that the primor-
tion of the marginal basins, a brief review of the dial fault pattern and basement grain controlled
Precambrian geology of India may be relevant. the structural styles of the sedimentary basins.
The major portion of the Indian Peninsula is Reactivation of major basement faults and block
the shield area with intracratonic and pericratonic faulting along them gave rise to intracratonic and
fault-bounded basins. More than half the area of marginal basins of the Indian Shield. Repeated
the peninsula exposes Archaean gneisses and movetnents along them at different times con-
schists and Precambrian sediments and igneous trolled the evolution of these basins. The parallel-
rocks which have been metamorphosed to various ism of fold axes and fault patterns with prevailing
degrees. The rest of the Peninsula is covered by basement lineaments are readily apparent in all
volcanic flows (Deccan and Rajmahal Trap flows), the basins. Predominance of a particular trend
Late Precambrian-Early Palaeozoic sediments. and subsidiary cross trends in a basin depend on
and Gondwana rocks (Fig. 1). the relative time of reactivation of different sets
Krishnan (1953) described structural and tec- of lineaments in the adjacent craton.
tonic features of India in detail. He brought out
that there are certain persistent regional trends General geology
noticeable in the Precambrian rocks of different
parts of India. These trends are regional foliation ,411 three basins originated in different periods
strikes, fold axes of ancient mobile belts and strike during the Mesozoic and have varying thickness of
faults which are manifest as major tectonic linea- Mesozoic sediments. Whereas Kutch and Narmada
ments. In western India three such major trends basins are Mesozoic basins, the Cambay basin is
are seen (Figs. 1 and 2): Dharwar, Ara~~alli/Del~~ mainly a Tertiary basin. It originated during the
and Satpura. These trends are seen as metamor- Mesozoic but subsided at a greater rate during the
phic belts representing three major erogenic cycles. Tertiary.
Of these, Aravalli and Dharwar represent the Generalized stratigraphy, correlation and histo-
oldest erogenic cycles followed by Satpura. In the ries of marginal rift basins are summarized in
Aravalli region (Fig. 1) the diastrophism was re- Table 1. The geology of the basins is depicted in
peated in the Upper Precambrian and the rocks of the regional geological map (Fig. 1).
Delhi systems were intensly folded into a syn- The Kutch basin has the most complete Meso-
clinorium and intruded by granite and other ig- zoic record (Biswas, 1981) with thick accumula-
neous rocks. This synclinorium, parallel to the tions of Late Triassic to Lower Cretaceous sedi-
strike of the Aravalli fold belt, extends southwest ments (3000 m). Sediments were deposited in a
towards the Kutch region (Krishnan, 1953; Bis- sheltered gulf in sublittoral to deltaic environ-
was. 1982). ments in two major cycles: a Middle Jurassic
Basement controlled tectonics have been dis- transgressive cycle and a Late Jurassic-Early
cussed by many authors (Prucha et al.. 1965: Cretaceous regressive cycle (Biswas, 1981). During
Beioussov, 1962; Eremenko, 1968; Milanovsky, the transgressive cycle mainly carbonates and
1972; Katz, 1978; Biswas, 1980, 1982). Naini and shales were deposited, whilst deltaic elastics con-
Kolla (1982) also brought out that horsts and stitute the regressive deposit. Sediments were laid
grabens in the western continental margin of India down on a Precambrian granitic basement exposed
were formed by reactivation of Precambrian base- only in the Nagar Parkar Hills (NP uplift, Fig. 5)
ment trends, NNW-SSE and ENE-WSW. Katz in Pakistan, bordering the northern flank of the
(1973, 1979) demonstrated in the context of the graben. The Mesozoic sediments were uplifted,
India--Madagascar and India-Sri Lanka sep- folded, intruded and covered by Deccan Trap
aration, that Precambrian lineaments were re- basaltic flows in Late Cretaceous-Early Palaeo-
TABLE 1

Generalized stratigraphy and history of marginal rift basins

KUTCH BASIN I C A MBAY BASIN NARMADA BASIN

AGE
LITHOLOGY IENVIRONMENT~ EVENTS t LITHOLOGY IENVIR~MENT EV ENTS LIT HOLOGY ENVIRONME~ EVENTS
SondwMle/Conqbm- ff*qmIim, YQW slwdmne/3tl& /
PLIOCENE wotr, MI’W’ Ml*,* Lwtmt
I~000 ft I T*ct’mu YoIIHnt COnpl9mnllt* Fl”.lo- Dwolc to ffdqmsm, Mop’
(350011J mnnr Twtoac c,ct.
6mH/Llormn~, ShOlIW mrm* Tran~qrrrmn
E. MIOCENE Silt00nr l66Oft.)
fMq~r~,TqctCyc~~ ___I
OLIGOCENE Sholbr hlorm. Tmn.q’*Oio’l yrk /3mctan* , oulOoto’yir’anrq’-
Roq’*rsl4’lpT*st.Cp* Lmlmtmwmoo+oof?l ,rron/Aqr~t*lon
Ymnr ,09tto*c
CyCl*8
M. EOCENE L~“‘J’w- ys* Shotlow Yo’,“.
I ll66f11

E. EOCENE S”“‘“p;~ NwN/P’OdwltOc T’onrq’*rran

Sh0ltw Yo’m.

Lotr’itr/TufflF~.cby~
PALEOCENE Smd#tonr fl63ft 1 Cont,n*ntol Flur,o)R-t’w trobm Formotion

L.CRETACEOUS 2;; ;;;~o:f~” TW’*%t’iol

T,r,~r,,,o, uphw E’ow’vvol-
CMictty &#j.T,ct,C~

Ft”rml,O.itste Rlftinq

U. JURASSIC SqRd8t~WW;tO; St&&h Ma,,“.

A*q’*$aion
E.-M. JURASSIC L-~~~~o~~ Shatkr Yo’,“, T’*‘l*q’.srion

LATE TRIASSIC *,‘,,“a

cene time. The Palaeocene is represented by ter- inundation is restricted to the western part of the
restrial volcano-elastic sediments. Early Eocene basin. These sediments lie on the Upper Protero-
transgression and subsequent Tertiary deposition zoic metasediments but towards the western part
took place in peripheral lows bordering the they are underlain by Lower Cretaceous fluvio-
Mesozoic highs, and in lows between them. deltaic sediments and overlain by Eocene and
Tectonic movements in the Tertiary were milder Miocene rocks near the coastal region where the
and cyclic, represented in the stratigraphic column embayment opens out (see Fig. 13). Towards the
as extensive unconformities. east, in the middle of this rift zone, remnants of
Holes drilled in the Cambay basin have marine Permo-carboniferous sediments occur
penetrated over 400 m of the Lower Cretaceous (Krishnan, 1968).
fluvio-deltaic sedimentary sequence (Roy Chow- During the Early Cretaceous the Kutch-..-
dhury et al., 1972). From seismic data, Biswas Saurashtra-Narmada region was a wide shelf
(1982) concluded that at least 1200 m of Mesozoic which received a thick pile of deltaic sediments
sedimentary rocks could be expected beneath the (over 1800 m) as the Mesozoic sea finally re-
Deccan Trap flows which form the floor of a gressed (Biswas, 1983).
Tertiary (Palaeocene to Pliocene) sequence about The Deccan Trap basic lavas represent
5000 m thick. In this basin also, the Tertiary widespread volcanic eruption towards the end of
sequence starts with thick volcano-elastic pied- the Cretaceous, which covered the Mesozoic sedi-
mont fanglomerates deposited in yolked basin mentary rocks of all these basins. This volcanic
condition during the initial stages of rifting. activity was a late-tectonic event at the close of
Marine sedimentation started with an Early the Late Cretaceous diastrophic episode in west-
Eocene transgression during the subsidence stage ern India (Biswas and Deshpande, 1983).
when mainly dark shales were deposited. This was
followed by an oscillatory stage when lagoonal Regional tectonic framework
and deltaic sedimentation took place in intra-basi-
nal lows. In the Early Miocene, as in the other two The western continental margin of India can be
basins, an extensive marine transgression took classed as an Atlantic-type passive margin (Bis-
place (Raju, 1968). The rocks of this basin are not was, 1982). In Fig. 2, the major tectonic linea-
exposed. They are covered by thick alluvial de- ments constituting the tectonic framework of
posits. Most of this geological information has western India are depicted, while in Fig. 3 a part
been obtained from wells drilled for oil and gas. of the tectonic map of India showing the major
In the Narmada basin, shallow marine. Late tectonic elements of Western India is shown. Three
Cretaceous rocks (100 m) are exposed in scattered Precambrian erogenic trends - the NNW-SSE
outcrops underlying the Deccan Trap. These rocks Dharwar trend, the NE-SW Aravalli trend and
were deposited in a narrow embayment in the the ENE-WSW Satpura trend - dominate the
western part of the basin as a result of transgres- structural fabric of Western India.
sion during the Turonian (Jafar, 1982). Among the The Narmada -Son line~ent along the Satpura
three marginal basins. Late Cretaceous marine trend is a major tectonic boundary {West, 1962;
sediments occur only in this basin, indicating a Choubey, 1971) dividing the Indian Shield into a
subsidence while in the other two basins this was a southern peninsular block and a northern foreland
period of non-deposition and volcanic activity. block.
However, the Turonian transgression was very The Dharwar trend is parallel to the faulted
short-lived, as the Late Cretaceous tectonic activ- west coast of India and a series of extension faults
ity also affected the sediments towards the end of responsible for widening the western continental
the Cretaceous or during the Early Palaeocene. shelf (Mitra et al., 1983). Its northward extension
Uplifts, subsequent erosion and Deccan Trap into the western part of the Indian Shield across
volcanic flows restricted the occurrence of marine the Narmada rift gave rise to the Cambay graben.
sediments in a few inliers. The Late Cretaceous The third important tectonic trend is the
 313

FIRST ORDER POSITIVE

STRUCTURE

+<MPORTANT FAULTS
+’
&hK\-SLIP

DECCAN

YNE CLISE

0
D
I

TECTONIC FRAMEWORK OF WESTERN INOiA.

( MODIFIEG FROM ERMENKO 01. et., 1969 t
Fig. 3. Tectonic framework of western India (modified from Eremenko et al.. 1969)

NE-SW Aravalh trend which splays out into three
components at its south-western extremity. The
main NE-SW trend continues across the Cambay
graben into Saurashtra as a southwesterly plung-
ing arch. The arch extends across the continental
shelf dividing it into a northern Kutch-Saurashtra
shelf and a southern Bombay-Kerala shelf. The
northern component of the Aravalli orogen which
is the trend of the Delhi fold belt, swings to E-W
and continues into the Kutch region across the
Cambay graben. The Kutch basin rifted along this
trend. The Aravalli and Delhi trends which cross
the Cambay graben, are seen as important cross sediments considerably to the west of this
trends within the graben in the form of numerous meridian. The Indus shelf is characterized by “ir-
transverse and oblique faults, uplifts and geomor- regular ridges or promontories of the Indian Shield
phic lineaments. Courses of some of the important which extend northwestward into the basin for
rivers like the Banas, Saraswati and Sabarmati varying distances” (Rahman. 1963) subdividing
across this basin also illustrate such cross-trends the shelf into subsidiary basins. The southern part
very well. Gravity highs clearly show these cross- of this shelf, south of the Jaisalmer arch (Figs. 2
trends across the Cambay graben continuing into and 3), has been named the Saurashtra--Kutch
Kutch where they form the major longitudinal shelf (Eremenko et al., 1969). This shelf is again
trend (Fig. 4). The third component veers anti- divided by an east-west trending Nagar Parkar--
clockwise and tends to merge with the Satpura Tharad ridge into two subsidiary basins----a north-
trend. ern Shahgarh basin of South Rajasthan and a
The Saurashtra horst remains as a foundered southern Kutch-Saurashtra basin (Fig. 3). This
block between the three intersecting rifts along the southern basin is thus situated at the sctuthern-
major Precambrian trends. It is a more or less most end of the Indus shelf where it meets the
square shaped block tilted to the southwest. Its continental shelf of the Arabian Sea along the
straight western margin is also a faulted margin Narmada “deep-fault”.
which follows the Dharwar trend. The western The Cambay basin occupies a narrow NNW-
margin fault cuts across the Saurashtra arch uplift- SSE trending graben in the eastern part of the
ing this block. Saurashtra-Kutch shelf (Fig. 3). A linear positive
The western part of the Indian sub-continent is feature of low magnitude, indicated by the gravity
characterized by the Baluchistan orogen, Indus map (Fig. 4) separates the graben and the
basin (foredeep zone) and the Indus shelf cir- Kutch-Saurashtra basin. This high, called here the
cumscribing the northwestern part of the Indian Radhanpur-Barmer arch, extends along the west-
Shield (Fig. 3). The hinge zone of the Indus basin ern margin of the graben. Evidently. the high is
appears to be passing along the Jaisalmer-Kutch the result of uplift of the western shoulder of the
meridian as indicated by the thickening of the Cambay graben. This arch crosses the Nagar

/ ---
l CAMLL?

0 50 100 Km
, f

Fig. 4. Trends of basement highs in the Kutch-Cambay region showing important cross-trends in the Cambay basin.

Parkar-Tharad ridge almost at a right angle near
Tharad and the Kutch-Saurashtra shelf occupies
the angle between them. The Kutch rift basin
occupies the northern part of this shelf between
the Tharad ridge and the Saurashtra uplift.
Basin structure
The structural style of the basin is unique.
Nowhere in India is a similar style to be seen. The
numerous Late Cretaceous uplifts with associated
plutonic bodies and inte~ening Tertiary basins,
are comparable with the Laramide structures of
the Colorado Plateau and Central Montana
Rockies of North America (Eardly, 1962; Prucha
et al., 196.5) and the structures of the Russian
Platform (Beloussov, 1962).
The basin is distinguished by highlands which
are the areas of uplifts and the plains which are
the basins between the uplifts (Fig. 5). The margi-
nal hill ranges of the highlands with escarpments
facing the plains of the basins, are marginal
flexures or monoclines along the master faults of
the uplifts (Biswas, 1980).
The uplifts are oriented east-west along five
principal faults: (1) the Nagar Parkar fault, (2) the
Island Belt fault, (3) the South Wagad fault. (4)
Fig. 5. Architecture
315
the Kutch Mainland fault and (5) the North
Kathiawar fault. Linear uplifts along the first four
faults have given rise to four subp~allel positive
elements or ridges: Nagar Parkar-Tharad, the Is-
land Belt, Wagad and the Kutch Mainland (Figs.
2, 4 and 5). The Kathiawar or Saurashtra uplift
along the North Kathiawar fault is a quadrangular
horst bounded by faults on all sides (Fig. 2). The
lineaments formed by these ridges are also indi-
cated by subsurface gravity trends which can be
traced through the Cambay graben into the areas
of Delhi folding (Fig. 4). The trends swing east-
ward from E-W to NE-SW following the Delhi
tectonic trends. The uplifts, therefore, are the re-
sult of the differential movements of discrete base-
ment blocks along ancient faults parallel to the
Precambrian tectonic trends. The comparatively
thin sediment cover was drape-folded into linear
flexures or “~~~c~~u~~e~~”(Prucha et al., 1965)
along the faulted margins of the uplifts.
The ridges are separated by “sub-basins” be-
tween the ridges which are in the form of half-
grabens (Fig. 6).
The most striking feature of the basin is the
occurrence of a meridional high in the middle of
the basin. This Median High controlled the facies
and thickness of the sediments (Fig. 7). It passes
transversely across both positive and negative ele-
ments of the basin so that the uplifts plunge
of the Kutch basin.
316

Y)

m

RSIIIINI:
Fig. 7. Stratigraphic section (along depositional
thickness and facies of the Upper Jurassic formations.
indicating its synsedimentary growth in the Late Jurassic.
bilaterally and the sub-basins have a central high
or shallow region. The Median High trends
NNE-SSW. To the west of the high the basin is
deeper with thicker accumulation of sediments
showing change of facies from shallow to deeper
shelf. To the east of the high, the basement is
shallow with less thickness of sediments and the
facies varies from shallow marine to littoral and
fluvial. Most of the uplifts occur on the higher
eastern part of the basin. Thus, this Median High
occurs along the hinge line of the basin and forms
a tectonized zone featured by intense faulting,
folding and intrusions.
The Middle Jurassic formations, however, show
uniform thickness across this but the Upper
Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous elastic (deltaic) sedi-
ments thicken considerably to the west of the high
with the consequent change of facies (Fig. 7). This
indicates that this high started to develop during
the Late Jurassic sedimentation with a greater
degree of subsidence on its western flank. It ap-
pears that the high was formed by the regional
bending of the basin along its hinge zone which is
parallel to the regional hinge of the main Indus
basin (Fig. 3).
Thus, the structure of the Kutch-Saurashtra
shelf consists of a Kutch basin bounded by the
Nagar Parkar ridge, the Radhanpur-Barmer arch
317
EAST
‘i”
x
STABLE PART
MEDIAN HIGH
PART
strike) of Kutch M~nl~d across Median High. Note effect of the high on the
The high has no effect on the thickness of the Middle Jurassic formations
and the Katbiawar uplift (Fig. 5). The basin plat-
form slopes towards the southwest in which direc-
tion the embayment opens up. The platform fea-
tures parallel fault ridges and a Median High
across them demarcating the hinge of the basin in
Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous time. The margins
of this basin are defined by the Precambrian ter-
rain now exposed in Rajasthan, Gujarat and
Pakistan. The northern margin is faulted along the
Nagar Parkar fault and the southern along the
North Kathiawar fault. The structural axis of the
basin as indicated by sediment thickness, plunges
southwest, trending parallel and close to the
Kathiawar uplift (Fig. 5).
The Saurashtra horst (Kathiawar uplift) which
is the uplifted southern part of the Kutch-
Saurashtra shelf, is bounded by two major inter-
secting sets of faults parallel to the Dharwar and
the Satpura tectonic trends (Fig. 2). This block is
the uplifted portion of a WSW-plunging basement
arch which continues across the continental shelf
where it is known as the Kori High (Fig. 3). This
part of the shelf thus formed an arched deposi-
tional platform sloping towards the southwest.
Cambay
The Cambay Tertiary basin is a graben (Fig. 8)
between the Kathiawar (Saur~htra) Uplift and
 NE

KATHI AWAR UPLlf T CAMBAY GRABEN ARAVALII RANGE

Fig. 8. Geological Section across the Cambay basin along line RB’ of Fig. 3.

the Aravalli Range, extending along the west coast fluvial sands in the northern part of the basin
through the Gulf of Cambay in a roughly which are correlatable with the fluvio-deltaic
NNW-SSE alignment parallel to the Dharwar Lower Cretaceous formations of Kutch and
trend (Fig. 2). In the continental shelf. it is flanked Saurashtra (Hardas, 1980). Palaeocurrent data in-
by the Bombay platform and the Ratnagiri ridges dicate sediment transport uniformly towards
to the west and by peninsular India to the east west-southwest in the Saurashtra block during the
(Raju and Srinivasan, 1983; Mitra et al., 1983; see Early Cretaceous (Bhandari and Kumar, 1970). It
Fig. 3). A series of normal faults parallel to the appears that during that time the sediments were
same trend in the wide continental shelf defines transported mainly by the rivers flowing westward
the Atlantic-type margin of Western India (Figs. 9 from the Aravalli Range and adjacent uplands
and 10). The Cambay graben crosses the Narmada across the Cambay graben area. In the Early
graben near the mouth of the Gulf of Cambay. Cretaceous, therefore. the Cambay graben had not
The extension of the Narmada graben in the con- yet been formed. The whole area was a part of the
tinental shelf south of Saurashtra is called the developing western Indian shelf. The basin was a
Surat basin (Fig. 3). Very little information is part of an extensive west-sloping platform with a
available on the tectonic history of the Cambay hinge along the eastern fault (of the Cambay
basin during the Mesozoic. Drilling data indicate graben). This fault was activated across the

Fig. 9. Geological Section across the Surat basin along line DD’ of Fig. 3
 BOMBAY PLATFORM
W E
t4EOGEME
8 o”A*ERNdHY
m HEOOENE
m RILAEOGENE
m OECCANTRAP
Fig. 10. Geological Section across
Aravalli Range initiating the rifting of the
Saurashtra block. During the Late Cretaceous, the
Sa~ashtra block was uplifted and the Cambay
graben formed. It remained as a rift valley with a
number of volcanic centres for Deccan Trap flows,
now seen as intrabasinal highs (Fig. 11). The main
subsidence of this graben with a floor of Deccan
Trap lavas started in Early Tertiary time. The
intrabasinal differential block movements along
cross faults formed four discrete segments (Raju,
1968) during the Tertiary tectonic evidents (Fig.
11). Kaila et al. (1980) mapped seven blocks
bounded by deep-seated faults in the southern
part of the Cambay graben by deep seismic sound-
ing. The palaeo-highs formed by subsidiary blocks
and volcanic centres controlled the distribution of
sedimentary facies.
The ENE-WSW graben bounded by a system
of subparallel, dextral wrench faults (Das and
Patel, 1984), slightly diverging towards the west, is
now occupied by the Narmada river valley. This
system of faults delineates the Narmada-Son
mega-hneament. This mega-lineament (Fig. 2) is a
geofracture or “deep-fault” as evident from its
extension into the Moho at a depth of 35-40 km
(Kaila et al., 1980, 1985). From deep seismic
sounding profiles, Kaila et al. have shown that the
rift zone is featured by block faulting along a set
of deep faults which displace the Moho (see Fig.
P&NNh DEPRESS ION
2
201tm
l..__2-
Bombay Platform along line EE’ of Fig. 3 (based on seismic stratigraph~).
12). The central block between SP 160 and SP 200
j has been trough faulted, accumulating about 1.7
km thick pre-Trap sediments. This zone of maxi-
mum subsidence occurs at a place where the
Godavari graben {trending parallel to the Dhar-
war strike) meets the Narmada graben, forming a
depocentre. Since the Godavari Graben is filled
with Gondwana sediments, it is presumed that a
greater part of the thickness of pre-Trap sediments
at the depocentre might belong to the Gondwana
System. From the velocity data, Kaila et al. as-
sumed that Late Cretaceous sediments are re-
stricted in the shallower, north side of the trough
(Fig. 12). As seen from the extent of the outcrop
and the thickness of the sediments, the Cretaceous
basin is confined to the western part of the rift
zone within an embayment widening and deepen-
ing towards the west (Fig. 13).
Kaila et al. (1985) further brought out the
complexity of movements along this system of
faults. They found a correlation between the dis-
placements of the basement and Moho along the
deep faults (Kaila et al., 1980). The fault at SP 135
forms a tectonic boundary between the Late Pro-
terozoic-Early Palaeozoic epicontinental marine
rocks (Vindhyan System) in the north and the
paralic Gondwana rocks in the south (Fig. 12).
Kaila et al. (1985) attributed this to the reversal of
movements along deep faults bounding the central
trough. Permian rifting along this fault zone is
responsible for marine sedimentation in central
India during that time (Eremenko et al., 1969).
320

I .

,..I“
’ .:
,I ‘..., :‘: :
.’ . . . . . . :
,’ : .: ‘.
:.: ._,_; :.:.. ,, t.:
1_...
..I’
:
: .:
: :
: .
;‘S
t
. I.
. .._
t. . .
::

ii :
.:

: :* ‘,
‘_
._
‘.
:. I.
‘... : .._.

: ‘.
..“,J ‘.

‘%_. .
..
‘: :
: ’
2’

_I. .’ PENINSULAR
_:’ .

8 LOCK

OF CAMBAY

Fig. 11. Architecture of the Cambay Basin. (Modified from Raju and Srinivasan. 1983.)
Fig. 12. Geological Section across the Narmada basin along line CC’ of Fig. 3. (Modified from Kaila et al.. 10x5.)
322

n ALLUVIUM

m TERTIARY

I^ DECCAN TRAP

/ APPROX MATE BASIN L,M,T m CRETACEOUS

EASINA; AXIS WITH PLUNGE DIRECTION m PRECAMBRIAN

-

Fig. 13. Architecture of the Narmada Basin.

Reactivation of the faults in the Cretaceous re- Andaman-Sumatra arc, and dextral transform
sulted in the opening of the Mesozoic rift basin. A motion along the northeastern plate boundary of
Tertiary depocentre formed in the outer part of India with the Indosinian plate (Parkar and Gea-
the embayment (Broach sub-depression) where the ley, 1983) (Fig. 14). Roy and Kacker (1982) sug-
Narmada rift intersects the Cambay rift (Fig. 11). gested a genetic association of the right lateral
This sub-depression is the extension of the central Dauki tear fault (Fig. 14) on the south side of the
trough mentioned above (Kaila et al., 1981). The northeastern cratonic wedge of India, with the
uplift of the Saurashtra arch terminated the Creta-
ceous sedimentation in the northern part of the
EURASIA
continental shelf and restricted the shallow marine
Late Cretaceous sedimentation within the embay-
ment through the Narmada graben and the em-
CHlNA PLATE
bryonic Cambay basin.
Pal and Bhimasankaran (1976) related post-
Jurassic drift of the Indian plate with the wrench-
type Narmada-Son mega-lineament. The dextral
motion along this (Das and Patel, 1984) in the
context of the anticlockwise rotation of India ap-
pears anomalous. A detailed discussion on this is
beyond the scope of the present paper. It may be
mentioned here that the right lateral movement
appears to be the result of differential transform
motion of the foreland and peninsular blocks
caused by the combined effect of the northward
motion of India as it continues to underthrust
below the Asian continent, eastward convergance Fig. 14. Sketch diagram showing differential movements along
of the Bay of Bengal due to subduction below the the Narmada mega-shear.

Narmada-Son mega-lineament. They described
the Narmada-Son-Da&i lineament as a mega-
shear across the Indian sub-continent, generated
through a global stress system related to spreading
of the Indian Ocean floor. The Narmada-Son-
Da&i mega-shear appears to continue into the
Naga Hill Schuppan belt near the northeastern
collision margin with the Indosinian plate. The
right lateral transform motion along this plate
boundary (fig. 34 in Thompson, 1976) is compati-
ble with the movement along the Narmada rift
zone.
Evolution of the basin
The evolution of the western margin basins is
related to the breakup of eastern Gondw~~~d
from western Gondwanaland in the Late Triassic/
Early Jurassic (Norton and &later, 1979) and the
subsequent spreading history of the Eastern In-
dian Ocean. While India together with Antarctica
and Australia rifted away from Africa, the graben
faulting in the western margin of India took place
by reactivation of ancient faults sequentially from
north to south (Biswas, 1982). With the initiation
of Indo-Antarctic separation in the Late Neoco-
mian (Lawver et al., 1983, and the subsequent
separation of Sri Lanka from India, the eastern
margin basins of India began to develop. The
present continental margin evolved when India’s
drift motion along an anticlockwise path slowed
down considerably after its collision with Eurasia
in Late Eocene-Oligocene time (Norton and
Sclater, 1979). The main tectonic events took place
during the Late Cretaceous when the drift motion
was at its maximum, with an average rate exceed-
ing 15 cm/yr. (Powell, 1979).
The three marginal basins of western India,
their structural style and architecture as described
above, evolved in four stages as depicted in Fig.
15A-D.
Stage I
Kutch rifting along the Delhi trend was ini-
tiated in the Late Triassic as evidenced by con-
tinental Rhaetic sediments in the northern part of
the basin (Kosal, 1984).
323
During Jurassic time, in the early stages of
India’s northward drift away from Gondwana-
land, the Kutch rift basin was formed by subsi-
dence of a block between the Nagar Parkar Hills
and the southwest extension of the Aravalli Range
(Fig. 15A). The first occurrence of marine sedi-
ments in the Middle Jurassic (Table 1) indicates
that this graben became a fully marine basin dur-
ing that time. It appears that the “Great Boundary
Fault” of the Aravalli Range extended beyond the
continental margin along the northern coastline of
Saurashtra and acted as a principal weak zone
(Roday and Singh, 1982; Das and Patel, 1984).
The Kutch basin was the earliest of the three
basins which received marine sediments. The
Narmada geofracture and the West Coast fault
remained passive as important structural linea-
ments. The southeastern extremity of the Aravalli
Range was subjected to erosion and peneplanation
during this stage.
Stage II
In Early Cretaceous time, the Kutch basin was
filled up and the sea began to recede (Table 1).
The southwestern part of the Aravalli Range was
peneplaned. The East Cambay fault which bounds
the eastern margin of the Cambay basin (along the
same NNW-SSE lineament as the West Coast
fault) became active across the Aravalli Range.
The entire region lying west of the East Cambay
fault and north of the Narmada fault (Fig. 15B)
subsided to form an extensive platform. The rivers
flowing to the southwest from the Aravalli Hills
deposited a large volume of deltaic sediments on
this platform as it subsided with the East Cambay
fault acting as the hinge (Biswas, 1983). The rift-
ing along the Narmada geofracture was initiated
during this time with the opening of a basin at its
western end where deltaic sediments were also
deposited by the rivers flowing along the geofrac-
ture.
During this period, India-Antarctica rifting was
initiated, and India’s east coast started to evolve
forming the eastern pericontinental shelf basins.
The occurrence of Albian paralic sediments indi-
cates that at the end of this period, rifting of Sri
324

A - Jurorsic R - Early Cretocaous

C .- Late Cretoceous -Paleocene

K KUTCH BASIN SL SRI LANKA BLOCK

C CAMBAY BASIN << >> NAGAR PARKAR HILLS
s SAURABHTRA BASIN NG NARMADA GEOFRACTURE
SBL SAURASHTRA GLOCK GBF GREAT 8OUNOARY FAULT
NARMADA BASIN WCF WEST COAST FAULT
:;.::.:.; AREAS OF MARINE SEOIMLNTATION
;P BOMBAY PLATFORM
SURAT BASiN .* AREAS OF DELTALCSEDIMENTATION
SB
G GODAVARI GRABEN ..--- INCIPIENT FAULT
MAHANAOI GRABEN FAULTS
ARAVALL! RANGE 2 GRABENS
NOT TO SCdiE
7z VOLCANIC CENTRES

Fig. 15. Stages of development of western margin basins. Set text for explanation.

Lanka along the NE-SW Precambrian trend was
initiated (Katz, 1978).
Stage 111
The Late Cretaceous saw extensive regional
uplift in the western part of India (Fig. 150. The
Saurashtra block separated out at this time as a
result of renewed movements along the western
extension of the “Great Boundary Fault” (North
Kathiawar fault), the western margin fauh of the
Cambay Basin. the western extension of the
Narmada fault and the West Kathiawar fault (Fig.
3). The Cambay graben came into existence as a
rift valley by reactivation of its boundary faults.
The Narmada rift opened up and received marine
sediments. Intensive block movement gave rise to
the uplifts of Kutch. The foreland block north of
the Narmada fault and the peninsular block south
of it moved up as the Narmada graben subsided.
The peninsular block tilted eastward, drowning
the eastern intracratonic grabens (Godavari and

Mahanadi) and initiating marginal deltaic sedi-
mentation along the eastern continental margin
(1X). The Palk Strait rift started to develop as the
Sri Lanka block separated away from India as
evidenced by the marine Late Cretaceous sedi-
ments resting over the basement in the intervening
Palk Strait graben. Towards the end of the Creta-
ceous (60-65 Ma) extensive subaerial eruption
took place through a number of volcanic centres
in the Cambay graben, Saurashtra and Kutch
(Biswas and Deshpande, 1973) when one of the
spreading ridge axis was close to the western
margin of India (Norton and Sclater, 1979).
Stage IV
The present shape of the continental margins of
India evolved during Early Tertiary time (Fig.
15D) when India collided with Asia and stabilized
its present position. Eastern margin basins evolved
and Sri Lanka moved to its present position. The
West Coast fault was reactivated as the present
western continental shelf subsided along it. The
Cambay graben extended southward along the
West Coast fault into the subsiding continental
shelf. The Cambay and Narmada grabens crossed
and mutually displaced each other. Conjugate
shearing along the bounding faults of the two
grabens resulted in a right-lateral movement along
the Narmada faults and a left-lateral movement
along the Cambay faults (Rao and Talukdar, 1980,
Fig. 3). The Cambay graben subsided, accumulat-
ing thick Tertiary sediments over a relatively thin
floor of Deccan Trap flow. The Saurashtra block
remained as a horst while the Kutch, Cambay and
Surat basins subsided around it. The eastern part
of the Narmada graben was uplifted, becoming a
rift valley again.
The Cambay and Bombay platform areas are
characterized by high geothermal gradient and
heat flow today. The fact that the Tertiary sedi-
ments are prolifically oil-bearing and that the oil
generated in the Early Tertiary is not over-ma-
tured or destroyed by the heat flow, suggests that
an older thermal regime is responsible for oil
generation in these basins. From this it follows
that there had been repetitive thermal cycles,
probably associated with different rifting phases
325
and mantle updoming. The present thermal re-
gime appears to be quite young and associated
with a recent rifting phase. This contention is
supported by seismic evidence (Kaila et al., 1980)
indicating a shallow depth of the mantle, 20-25
km, near the junction of the Cambay and Narmada
rifts. Several earthquakes in this region in recent
years (Guha and Power; 1982) have lent further
support to such inte~retation.
Conclusions
(1) Kutch, Cambay and Narmada are three
pe~continental rift basins on the western margin
of India which evolved during different phases of
India’s geotectonic history during its break up
from Gondwanaland, its northward drift and final
collision with Eurasia.
(2) Kutch and Narmada are Mesozoic basins
whereas Cambay is mainly a Tertiary basin which
originated during the Early Cretaceous as a fluvial
valley. The Kutch and Narmada basins expe-
rienced only peripheral subsidence during the Ter-
tiary. The Kutch basin has the most complete
stratigraphic record from the Middle Jurassic to
the Holocene.
(3) The Kutch basin is fault-bounded with a
southwesterly palaeoslope featured by sub-parallel
residual fault ridges and crossed by a Median
High along its hinge zone.
(4) The Saurashtra horst is the uplifted part of
a WSW-plunging basement arch which divides the
western continental margin into a northern
Kutch-Saurashtra shelf and a southern Bombay-
Kerala shelf. The arch forms the southern limit of
the Jurassic sedimentation of the Indus shelf basin.
(5) Three Precambrian erogenic trends-
NNW-SSE Dharwar trend, NE-SW Aravalli-
Delhi trend and ENE-WSW Satpura trend-con-
trolled the tectonic framework of the western
margin of India.
(6) The Saurashtra arch is the extension of the
Aravalli Range. It subsided along the eastern
margin fault of the Cambay basin during the
Early Cretaceous forming an extensive deposi-
tional platform continuous with the Kutch shelf,
for thick accumulation of deltaic sediments. Dur-
ing the major tectonic phase in the Late Creta-
326

ceous, a part of the arch was uplifted as a horst Biswas, SK. and Deshpande, S.V., 1983. Geology and hydro-
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