Pull-apart origin of the Satpura Gondwana basin, central India

Abstract

The Gondwana basins of peninsular India are traditionally considered as extensional-rift basins due to the overwhelming evidence of fault-controlled synsedimentary subsidence. These basins indeed originated under a bulk extensional tectonic regime, due to failure of the attenuated crust along pre-existing zones of weakness inherited from Precambrian structural fabrics. However, disposition of the basins and their structural architecture indicate that the kinematics of all the basins cannot be extensional. To maintain kinematic compatibility with other basins as well as the bulk lateral extension, some basins ought to be of strike-slip origin. The disposition, shape and structural architecture of the Satpura basin, central India suggest that the basin could be a pull-apart basin that developed above a releasing jog of a left-stepping strike-slip fault system defined by the Son-Narmada south fault and Tapti north fault in consequence to sinistral displacement along WSW-ENE. Development of a sedimentary basin under the above-mentioned kinematic condition was simulated in model experiments with sandpack. The shape, relative size, stratigraphic and structural architecture of the experimental basin tally with that of the Satpura basin. The experimental results also provide insights into the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Satpura basin in particular and pull-apart basins in general.

Pattern of sedimentation during the Late Paleozoic, Gondwanaland glaciation: An example from the Talchir Formation, Satpura Gondwana basin, central India

“…• The strata that are transitional between the Talchir and the overlying Barakar Formation show preservation of abundant plant materials suggesting gradual warming and deglaciation. • The overall sediment transport direction is found to be northerly, across the trend of syn-sedimentary faults that induced subsidence during the early phase of basin evolution (Chakraborty and Ghosh 2005).…”

“…The basin is filled with ca. 5-km thick siliciclastic succession ranging in age from Permian to Cretaceous (Chakraborty and Ghosh 2005). The Satpura basin (∼ 200 km long, ∼ 60 km wide) is rhomb-shaped, relatively long in the ENE-WSW direction, and its longer sides are marked by the ENE-WSW trending Son-Narmada south fault and Tapti north fault in the north and south respectively (see Chakraborty and Ghosh 2005).…”

“…5-km thick siliciclastic succession ranging in age from Permian to Cretaceous (Chakraborty and Ghosh 2005). The Satpura basin (∼ 200 km long, ∼ 60 km wide) is rhomb-shaped, relatively long in the ENE-WSW direction, and its longer sides are marked by the ENE-WSW trending Son-Narmada south fault and Tapti north fault in the north and south respectively (see Chakraborty and Ghosh 2005). These faults are subvertical near the surface and show evidence of strike-slip movements (Crawford 1978;Das and Patel 1984;Biswas 1999Biswas , 2003 indicating the pull-apart origin of the basin (Chakraborty and Ghosh 2005).…”

Understanding the transportational and depositional setting of Panchet Formation, Purulia and Bankura districts of West Bengal, India — Evidence from grain size analysis

“…The basin has faulted margins and both the Raniganj and Panchet rocks directly abut against the basement in the southern part. Evidences of syn-and postsedimentation faulting are also numerous (Gee, 1932;Chakraborty and Ghosh, 2005). Exposures of Raniganj, (after Ghosh et al, 1994).…”

Palaeoseismicity in relation to basin tectonics as revealed from soft-sediment deformation structures of the Lower Triassic Panchet formation, Raniganj basin (Damodar valley), eastern India

“…These three Permianto Jurassic-aged riftogenic continental basins filled with Gondwana sediments converge to meet at the Satpura area in central India (Narain 1994;Chakraborty and Ghosh 2005).…”