Erosional Patterns and Fracture Zones in Peninsular India

Abstract

AbstractThree areas in peninsular India are described in which the geometric orientation of the drainage pattern has led to the location of a system of parallel crustal fractures. One area is in the Archaean basement of South India. The remainder are located on Deccan basalts. The fractures are not as a rule accompanied by fault displacements, and are regarded as planes of shearing. The shearing in the Deccan basalts cuts across the post-lava dykes, and is considered to coincide with late magmatic mineralization and the break-up of the Gondwana continent in mid-Tertiary times.