Geological Evolution of Kachchh:An Epitome of Successive Phanerozoic Events

Kachchh geological province is conventionally referred to as 'Kachchh basin' or 'Kachchh rift basin' or even 'Kachchh aulacogen'. The geological records, however, recount a different history of the diverse depositional environment under diverse tectonic situations. The earliest Phanerozoic event was the deposition of Palaeozoic sediments during upper Permian and lower Triassic. Next event was a major marine incursion along rift zones coinciding with the Gondwana break-up and the initiation of northward drifting of the 'Indian land mass'. This was followed by the Reunion Plume related magmatism centring on the K- T boundary. Overlying this occur lignite deposits in the Naredi Formation correlatable with the global Eocene excursion. The Cenozoic basin closure corresponds to the major uplift in the Himalayas during the early Quaternary. Finally, the evidence of recurrent youngest block-movement-type active tectonics transformed the terrain into a zone of high seismicity.