Presentation on

“CRATONS OF INDIA”
 CONTENTS:
• Introduction
• Dharwar Craton - WDC AND EDC
• Baster Craton
• Singbhum Craton
• Bundelkhand Craton
• Aravalli Craton
• Conclusion
• References
 INTRODUCTION
1. Cratons are the part of the earth’s continental crust which
has attained stability and was least affected by deformation
during the later periods.
2. Cratons are generally found in the interiors of tectonic
plates.
3. They are characteristically composed ancient of
crystalline basement rock, which may be covered by
younger sedimentary rocks.
4. They have a thick crust and deep lithospheric roots that
extend as much as a few hundred kilometers into the
Earth's mantle.
5. A shield is part of the craton, where the basement rock
crops out at the surface.
 MAJOR CRATONS OF INDIA

There are five major cratons in India. They are;

1. BASTAR CRATON

2. DHARWAR CRATON

3. SINGHBHUM CRATON

4. ARAVALLI CRATON

5. BHUNDELKHAND CRATON
Outline map of the shield showing the distribution of
cartons
Dharwar DHARWAR CRATON:-
craton is
divided into
two tectonic
blocks in
1986 by
Rogers.
1. Western
Dharwar
craton
(WDC)
2. Eastern
Dharwar
craton
(EDC)
Comparison between WDC and EDC

WDC
SCHIST BELT LARGE WITH
VOLCANICS, SUBORDINATE
SEDIMENTS.
BASEMENT IS PENINSULAR GNEISS.
UNCONFORMITY MARKED BY
QPC.(<3000MY)
OLDER SEQUENCE (SARGUR
GROUP)AS NARROW BELTS AND
ENCLAVES, ABUNDANT IN THE
SOUTH.
INTER MEDIATE PRESSURE
METAMORPHISM.
EDC
NARROW, WITH GREENSTONE BELTS.
PILLOW BASALTS.
DHARWAR BATHOLITH INTRUSIVE ON
ALL SIDES .(2500-2700 MY)
OLDER SEQUENCE(WARANGAL GROUP)
MOSTLY AS ENCLAVES IN THE NORTH.
LOW PRESSURE METAMORPHISM.
 WDC -
It occupied by vast areas of peninsular India With 2
prominent super belts
1. Bababudan-western ghats-shimogga super belt
• This super belt spread appro.300km long & 100-
150km wide.
• Schistose rocks occupying 3000km Sq. Remaining
1500km Sq. Occupied by basement peninsular
gneiss.
• Bababudan Schist belt occupies an area 2500km Sq.
• A prominent but thin horizon of quartz pebble
conglomerate.
• This group dominantly made up of Metabasalt with
interbedded cross-stratified quarzitites capped by a
prominent BIF. Age is about 2700-2800MY.
 Facts
• The Bastar craton (BC) is also called Bastar-Bhandara craton. It
lies to ENE of the Dharwar craton (DC), separated from the latter
by the Godavari rift. Located to the south of the Central Indian
Tectonic Zone (CITZ) the Bastar craton is limited by three
prominent rifts, namely the Godavari rift in the SW, the Narmada
rift in the NW and the Mahanadi rift in the NE.

• The Bastar craton is essentially formed of orthogneisses with

enclaves of amphibolites, vestiges of banded TTG gneisses of 3.5–
3.0 Ga, and low- to high-grade metasediments as supracrustals.

• The gneiss/migmatites and amphibolites, constituting the early

crustal component of the Bastar craton, are grouped under the
Amgaon gneiss that resembles the Peninsular Gneiss Complex of
the Dharwar craton. It ranges in composition from tonalite to
adamellite. Amgaon gneisses occur in the north of Bastar craton
and south of Central Indian Shear zone (CIS).
❑ In Bastar craton the gneisses are classified into 5 types.
These are: the Sukma granitic gneiss (Group 1), Barsur
migmatitic gneiss (Group 2), leucocratic granite
(Group 3) occurring as plutons with migmatitic gneiss,
pegmatoidal or very coarse granite (Group 4), and
fine-grained granite (Group 5) occurring amidst the
Sukma gneisses.

❑ The gneisses of Groups 1 and 2 are chemically and

mineralogically similar to the Archaean TTG, while the
gneisses of Groups 3, 4 and 5 are of granitic nature.

❑ In the Bastar craton, three Archaean supracrustal

units are recognized. First is Sukma metamorphic
suite consisting of quartzites, metapelites, calc-silicate
rocks, and BIF with associated metabasalt and
ultramafic rocks
 Gneissic Complex
Grey gneisses and migmatites of TTG composition are exposed in
southern Bastar and in Amgaon –Gadchiroli ares
Banded gneisses occur as large raft within the dominant granitic
gneisses of the ares
These migmatites gneisses are dated at ~3000 Ma these gneisses are
affected by the later thermal events of ~2500 Ma and ~2100 Ma

Granulite Belts
Bhopalpatnam granulite belt is about 300 km long and 30-40 km wide
,and trends NW-SE to the north of Godavari graben.
The incipient charnockites are also reported to occur in the transitional
domain .meta-peridolites contain olivine spinel and orthopyroxene.BIF
and Mg-Al pelites are composed of orthopyroxene, sapphirine and
spinel Quartzite are rich in sillimanite .calc-silicate rocks contain
wollastonite scapolite and humite
Recently reported younger age (1.6-1.9 Ga))
 Key points
• Singbhum craton is made of Archean rocks that are
exposed in an area of 4000km.Sq in jharkhand and
northern parts of the Orissa state.
• Craton borded by Chhotanagpur Gneissic complex to the
north, Eatern Ghats mobile belt to the southeast, Bastar
craton to the south west and Alluvium to the east.
• Singbhum Granite (I,II,II phases) with enclaves of (i)
Older Metamorphic Group(OMG) and Older Metamorphic
Tonalite Gneiss(OMTG).
• Iron ore group(IOG), dominantly BIF at the margins of
the Singbhum Granite.
• Volcanics or greenstone belts (Simlipal,Dhanjori,Dalma
etc)
 Major belts of CGGC

1. South Palamau –Gumla-Ranchi-Puruchi Belt.

2. Daltonganji-(Northern Palamau)- Hazarobagh Belt
3. North Garhwa-Chatra-Girdih-Deogarh-Dumukh Belt
4. The Bihar Mica Belt
5. Rajgir – Kharagpur Belt
 Geodynamic Evolution
• Older metamorphic group which yield same age as
Metamorphic Tonalite Gneiss.
• Zircon age in politic rock of OMG suggest that sialic
crust had existed about 3.6Ga. Prior to the formation of
OMG.
• Singhbhum Granite – 1 in which xenoliths of OMTG
Found.
• Mesoarchean continental crust of SG-1 with enclaves
OMG and OMTG rifted and formed greenstone belt of
Badamphar group – Komatiites, pillowed tholeiitic, BIF
and Fuchsite quartzite.
• Closing of greenstone belt basins – granite intrusion
(Phase 2 and 3).
• Next cycle marked by volcanic and sediment association
of 2.8Ga
 Facts
Bundelkhand Craton is one of the Archean cratons in the Indian
shield. It is exposed over 26,000 sq. km and is bound by the
Son Narmada lineament in the south.
Bundelkhand craton is separated from the Satpura mobile belt
in the south and the Aravalli craton in the west by the
proterozoic vindhyan besin and the northern part is overlain by
the Indo-Gangetic alluvium

The main components of the craton are

1) Enclave suite of supracrustal rocks within orthogneisses.
2) Bundelkhand granite associated with quartz reefs and rare
felsic volcanic.
3) Mafic dyke swarms
1)Enclave suite of supracrustal rocks within
orthogneisses
Supracrustals
Two prominent east-west trending belts of enclave are noticed
i) Northern belt extending from karera to kabrai, kuraicha
Jhansi Mauranipur and Mahoba
ii) Southern belt from to Baraitha through Girar.
Enclave are noticed at near panna and kalinjer. These belts
have a regional trend of E-W with northerly dips.
The enclaves consist essentially of BIF with amphibolites,
ultramafics and minor quartzite, metapelite and marble.
Ultramafic rocks are mainly peridotites, dunites, pyroxenites
and gabbros closely associated with metabasic rocks and BIF.
 2) Bundelkhand granite associated with quartz
reefs and rare felsic volcanic
The vast country of Bundelkhand granite represents a
large plutonic complex of batholithic dimension.
Three types Granite;
i)Coarse grained porphyritic granite.
ii)Medium grained porphyritic granite.
iii) Leucogranite,
Felsic volcanic rocks: these rocks are associated with the
granites at many places such as mahoba, bansi, and simra
near prithipur they occur as grey to pink , fine to coarse
grained and porphyritic felsic rocks.
 Quartz Reefs
The emplacement of NE-
SW trending giant quartz
reefs along brittle shear
zones probably marks the
end stage hydrothermal
activity related to granitic
plutonism.
3) MAFIC DYKE SWARMS
A NW-SE trending swarm of
Mafic dykes is a characteristic
feature of Bundelkhand
craton some of dykes have
ENE trend, like the prominent
mahoba dyke .The geometry
of the main dyke swarms is
attributed to E-W shearing
stress, developed after
cratonisation.
 TECTONIC EVOLUTION
• Bundelkhand and Aravalli cratons were traditionally
regarded as interlinked, with the Bearch granite of Aravalli
craton being considered as the equivalent of Bundelkhand
granite.
• Geochemical and Geochronological similarities have
reinforced this comparison. The separation of two cratons with
the evolution of Hindoli and Mahakoshal belts at the cratonic
margin, was followed by the evolution of Vindhyan basin.
• Bundelkhand craton witnessed N-S compression –induced
deformation , metamorphism and emplacement of TTG gneisses
produced by the partial melting of a garnet amphibolite parental
source at 3000-3300Ma. Widespread collision-related arc
magmatism represented by bundelkhand granite commenced
probably at 2700Ma and culminated at 2500Ma.
 The region is characterized by the presence of dominantly
three types of shear zones:
E-W, NE-SW and NW-SE.
 The E-W trending, vertical shear zones constitute the subject
matter of the present study and the areas where these shear
zones are exposed have been shown.
 It may be noted that in addition to the E-W shear zones
shown in this map, there are many such shears of relatively
smaller extent that could not be shown because of the scale of
the map, however, were studied because of their typical
features, e.g. Jhankri, Kuraicha, Roni, etc.
Field photographs showing the typical occurrence of the vertical shear zones in the
Bundelkhand terrain. The rocks are mylonites. (a) Near Shivgarh, (b) At Dhaura,
(c) Near Koti, about 6 km SE of Babina, (d) North of Pura, about 5 km NW of
Sukumwa Dam.
A & B- Ultramylonite showing high degree of grain-size reduction because of dynamic
recrystallization

Cataclasite showing angular grains set in a fine grained matrix.

 ARAVALLI CRATON
❖ It occupies NW part of Indian shield covering an area of over 1 lakh sq.km.

❖ It consists of Mewar craton in the east & Marwar craton in the west.

❖ Aravalli craton is bounded to the east by Great Boundary Fault, to the west

by sands of Thar desert, to the north by Indo-Gangetic alluvium and to the

south by Son-Narmada-Tapti lineament.

❖ Predominantly consists of quartzites, marbles, pelites, greywackes and

volcanocs, exposed in Aravalli-Delhi orogen.

❖ It is distinguished by the largest felsic volcanic province of India, 3rd in the

world (Malani Igneous Suite).

 STRATIGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF ARAVALLI
SUPERGROUP:

Champaner Group
Lunavada group
Jharol Group
Udaipur Group
Aravalli Super
Group Delbari Group
Delwara Group
------------Unconformity------------
Mangalwar/Sandmata Complex
Mewar Gneiss with enclaves of Jagat Group
Delmar group :has an area over 300km with an average
width of about 500m.The basement rock is orthoquartzite
which is overlain by volcanic conglomerate(volcanic unit)

Delbari group: it overlain the Delwara group consists of a

thick horizon of petromict conglomerate,pebble arkose and
feldspatic quartzite. The conglomerate has a maximum
thickness of 2500m near Dabari

Udaipur group: consist of thick accumulation of greywacke-

phyllite intercalated with chemogenic and biogenic rocks. The
greywacke-phyllite is overlain by dolomite associated with
carbonaceous phyllite and quartzite.
Jharol group: consists of thick sequence of carbonate-free
phyllite and arenite(as distal turbidites) Has an area of 200km
with a width of 40km

Lunavada group: It occupy the polygonal area in the south

of the aravalli orogen.The bulk of the group consists of
greywacke-phyllite with associated quartz arenite.The
stratigraphy of the Luna group is not clearly established.

Champaner group: occurs as rectangular outcrop and

consists of subgreywacke,siliceous phyllite,pelitic
schist,quartzite and petromict conglomerate.It is folded into
an anticlinorium plunging to the west
The stratigraphy status is unclear because it is seperated by
the main fold belt
TECTONIC-STRATIGRAPHIC TABLE OF EVOLUTION OF
ARAVALLI CRATON
Neoproterozoic Marwar supergroup
(500-550Ma Malani igneous Suite
(720-750Ma) Sindreth/punagarh group
(800-850Ma) Sirohi group
(900Ma) Erinpura granite
Mesoproterozoic Delhi supergroup
(1100-900Ma) South Delhi fold belt
(1600-1450Ma) North Delhi fold belt
Palaeoproterozoic Hindoli group
(1800-1700Ma) Sandmata complex
(2200-1800Ma) Aravalli Supergroup & Mineralised Basin(Rajpura-
Dariba etc)
Neoarchean Mangalwar complex with Bhilwara Group
(2900-2600Ma)
Mesoarchean Mewar gneiss with Jagat group
(3300-3000Ma)
 ECONOMIC DEPOSITS:
The major economic deposits are:
Pb-Zn deposits (Zawar)
Gypsum
Marble (Macrana)
BIF
Mica (Jagat group)
Copper (Khetri )
Tungsten (Degana, Balda and Sewariya-Govindgarh
areas.)
❑ In general, the cratons are dominated by granite and
metamorphic rocks, mainly gneisses, which imply a series of
intense mountain making episodes (deformation and
metamorphism) in the Precambrian time before the stable
conditions set in. A common feature of these cratonic
regions is the occurrence of greenstone-gneiss association,
as found in other Archaean cratons of the world.

❑ The Indian shield is made up of a mosaic of Precambrian

metamorphic terrains that exhibit low to high-grade
crystalline rocks in the age range of 3.6–2.6 Ga.

❑ Cratonic blocks are described with respect to their

geology, geochronology, and structural characteristics
 Reference
• Cratons and Fold Belts of India 2009 By
Sharma Ram S Sharma.
• Geological survey India website for images
http://www.portal.gsi.gov.in/portal
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article