Recent Advances in Vindhyan Geology

The Vindhyan basin is one of the few proterozoic basins in peninsular India which has been studied for more than a century since the time of Thomas Oldham (1856). This was followed by the monumental work of F.M. Mallet (1869) and J.B. Auden (1933) that provided the basic data for all the subsequent studies. Since then many workers have pursued their studies on the Vindhyans from varied approaches as the perspectives in sedimentary geology and tectonics evolved through time. Presently the analysis of sedimentary basins is not only restricted to palaeogeographic reconstruction but is also aimed at deciphering correspondence between tectonism and sedimentation and to tracing back the history upto the point of development of the basin in relation to associated lithospheric processes. In view of this, the Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) on Earth Systems Science Division, Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, took a timely decision to sponsor a Group Discussion on the Vindhyans which was organized by and held at the Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, for three days in March, 1993. The present volume is the outcome of the group discussion. This volume highlights the current perspectives in Vindhyan geology while drawing attention, at the same time, to the fundamental problems which need to be addressed through further work as pointed out by Dr. N.D. Mitra in his deliberations as Chief Guest.