We present here the most comprehensive study of the thickness and composition (Vp/Vs ratio) of the South India Precambrian crust and the nature of shallower mantle inferred from analysis of teleseismic receiver functions from 70 broad-band seismic stations operated as a part of the India Deep Earth Imaging Experiment (INDEX). South India could be broadly divided into regions with thin crust (32-38 km) and thick crust (38-54 km). Thin crust domains include the East Dharwar Craton (EDC), Cuddapah basin and Madurai/Kerala Khondalite Block. The thicker crust domain includes the Western Dharwar Craton (WDC) and northern part of Southern Granulite Terrain. The WDC shows progressive increase in thickness from 38 km in north to 46-54 km in south, compared to an almost flat Moho beneath the EDC. Compositionally, most of the crustal domains are felsic to intermediate (Vp/Vs ∼ 1.69-1.75) except the mid Archean block in the southern WDC where it is mafic (Vp/Vs > 1.81). Considering erosion depth in the WDC, we argue for Himalaya like ∼70 km thick crust beneath it during the Archean. Variation in crustal thickness does not have a first-order influence on regional topography in South India and suggests significant role for the crustal composition. We also present evidence of mid-lithospheric low velocity at ∼85-100 km beneath South India.

Analysis of teleseismic waves using S-P converted phases, travel time-terms and residual travel times point to the presence of an anomalous thick (4-5 km thicker) low velocity (-3%) crust beneath Kodaikanal (KOD) on granulites characterized by an oriented inhomogeneity inferred as possibly due to Mylonites in contrast to the nature of crust beneath the adjoining precambrian granite-gneiss terrain. The observed seismic signatures in the South India granulites (represented by KOD) offer an opportunity to discriminate between the competing hypotheses of tectonic thickening and magraatic anderplating to explain the origin of the granulites of South India. This analysis lends support to the hypothesis of a continent-continent collision origin for the granulites in the study region.

We evaluated the quality of seismic phase data from Indian seismological stations through the analysis of teleseismic travel times reported during 1976-83 and infer that only WWSSN stations (NDI, SHL, POO, KOD) apart from GBA and HYB can be rated satisfactory while the majority of stations (more than 40) produce very poor quality data sets. Detailed analysis of teleseismic P-wave travel time residuals shows that while the average structure of the upper mantle beneath India has high velocity (negative residuals) there are marked lateral variations. In particular, three zones of anomalous positive residuals (low velocity) are observed: one beneath the north western part of the Deccan trap, the second covering the southernmost peninsula (granulite terrain) and a third rather localized one, to the north of Delhi coinciding with Delhi-Haridwar ridge. New Delhi exhibits strong negative residuals in the E-SE quadrant along with negative station anomaly, implying that it is underlain by an anomalous high velocity crust/upper mantle. The negative residuals observed over India, continue beneath the Himalaya till the south of Lhasa but change sign further northward, suggesting the northern limit of the Indian upper mantle structure.