Abstract Landscape adaptation in central India is quite exceptional, as more than 300 Lower Palaeolithic occurrences have been reported in different contexts. The present work deals with these assemblages and associated raw material sources in the central Narmada Valley. The central Narmada Valley is rich in various rock types that were used as raw material by various hominin populations. The Narmada River divides the region into northern and southern parts. In the north, there are mainly the Vindhyan Supergroup and Deccan Trap, whereas, in the south, there are primarily the Gondwana Supergroup, the Deccan Traps and the Mahakoshal Group. Along the river, there are exposures of the Vindhyan Supergroup and thick deposits of Quaternary alluvium. The main raw material types in the north of Narmada are quartzite and sandstone (Vindhyan Supergroup), whereas, in the south of Narmada, the main raw materials are quartzite (Gondwana Supergroup) and chert (Deccan Trap). Acheulean sites are mostly found along the foothills of Vindhyan, as well as along the banks of the Narmada River and its tributaries. In this chapter, the author has tried to link these raw material sources with the occurrences of Palaeolithic sites in order to have a better understanding of past hominin land-use patterns and ecological adaptations.

Abstract The Lower Son Valley is generally overlooked despite a lengthy history of archaeological and geological studies in the adjacent Middle Son Valley. However, recent explorations in the former have yielded a large number of Palaeolithic and microlithic sites. This paper provides an initial report on Doma, a newly discovered site with the first-known stratified bifaces in this part of the valley. The site preserves multi-period technologies in different contexts, including terminal Acheulean/early Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic (all tentatively assigned based on respective typologies). Preliminary field observations are presented on the sedimentary sequence, archaeological surveys, topographical mapping, raw material and the overall palaeoanthropological assessment of Doma. The raw material utilized at the site is primarily porcellanite, derived from exposures of the Semri Group of the Vindhyan Supergroup. The oldest Palaeolithic evidence at Doma broadly resembles Late Acheulean sites dated to c. 140–120 ka in the nearby Middle Son Valley. The Pleistocene sediments here also yielded mammalian fossil specimens, such as long bone fragments, dental specimens and antler fragments. Along with the lithics and fossils, the site also preserves datable sedimentary sequences with calcrete, all key proxies in developing a testable model of technological transitions within a palaeoenvironmental framework, in the future.

Abstract Reconstructing the stratigraphic architecture of deposits prior to Cenozoic Himalayan uplift is critical for unravelling the structural, metamorphic, depositional and erosional history of the orogen. The nature and distribution of Proterozoic and lower Paleozoic strata have helped elucidate the relationship between lithotectonic zones, as well as the geometries of major bounding faults. Stratigraphic and geochronological work has revealed a uniform and widespread pattern of Paleoproterozoic strata >1.6 Ga that are unconformably overlain by <1.1 Ga rocks. The overlying Neoproterozoic strata record marine sedimentation, including a Cryogenian diamictite, a well-developed carbonate platform succession and condensed fossiliferous Precambrian–Cambrian boundary strata. Palaeontological study of Cambrian units permits correlation from the Indian craton through three Himalayan lithotectonic zones to a precision of within a few million years. Detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis shows the differentiation of a proximal realm of relatively condensed, nearshore, evaporite-rich units to the south and a distal realm of thick, deltaic deposits to the north. Thus, Neoproterozoic and Cambrian strata blanketed the northern Indian craton with an extensive, northward-deepening, succession. Today, these rocks are absent from parts of the inner Lesser Himalaya, and the uplift and erosion of these proximal facies explains a marked change in global seawater isotopic chemistry at 16 Ma.

Abstract The Precambrian geological history of Peninsular India covers nearly 3.0 Ga. The Peninsula is an assembly of five different cratonic nuclei known as the Aravalli–Bundelkhand, Eastern Dharwar, Western Dharwar, Bastar and Singhbhum cratons along with the Southern Granulite Province. Final amalgamation of these elements occurred either by the end of the Archaean (2.5 Ga) or by the end of the Palaeoproterozoic ( c. 1.6 Ga). Each of these nuclei contains one or more sedimentary basins (or metasedimentary basins) of Proterozoic age. This chapter provides an overview of each of the cratons and a brief description of the Precambrian sedimentary basins in India that form the focus of the remainder of this book. In our view, it appears that basin formation and subsequent closure can be grossly constrained to three separate intervals that also broadly correspond to the assembly and disaggregation of the supercontinents Columbia, Rodinia and Gondwana. The oldest Purana-I basins developed during the 2.5–1.6 Ga interval, Purana-II basins formed during the 1.6–1.0 Ga interval and the Purana-III basins formed during the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian interval.

Abstract Overlying Archaean Bundelkhand Granite Gneiss Complex, the Gwalior and Bijawar Groups of rocks represent two Palaeoproterozoic basin successions which, despite their common sediment provenance and analogous rift-related tectonic setup, record more dissimilarity in their sedimentation pattern than similarity. Whereas early sedimentation in the Gwalior Basin is clastic, the early Bijawar sedimentation is dominantly chemogenic (limestone and chert) except for an early, restricted volcano-clastic record. Although both of the basins record syn-depositional volcanic/volcaniclastic event(s) in the form of occurrence of basaltic and basaltic–andesite sills encased within their respective basin fills, the occurrence of iron formation in the later part of Gwalior sedimentation history and its absence in the Bijawar succession is related to variable oxidation conditions in the water columns of the two basins. Rising sea-level and upwelling on the continental margins of these two rift-related basins possibly generated different water chemistries; these allowed the deposition of iron formation in the Gwalior Basin and phosphorite in the Bijawar Basin. Effects of post-depositional digenetic re-crystallization are noticed within both iron formation and phosphorite deposits present in the basin successions.

Abstract This chapter attempts an understanding of the Proterozoic Vindhyan Basin history in the broad framework of central India. Although the entire Vindhyan Supergroup is within the scope of this work, particular attention is paid to the little-known northwestern fringe exposures. Distinctive facies assemblages and diverse palaeocurrents in these exposures of the Lower Vindhyan play a pivotal role in the interpretation. Analysis of outcrop and subsurface data that extend under the Gangetic alluvium to the north of the Vindhyan outcrops further supports the hypothesis that an east–west-elongated basement ridge initially separated the master Vindhyan Basin from smaller contemporary basins to the north. Deposition took place in isolated lacustrine and fluvial basins north of the divide and largely in a marine realm south. Dextral shear accompanying rifting generated ridges that criss-crossed the Lower Vindhyan seafloor to the south. The uniform character of the Upper Vindhyan throughout, nevertheless, testifies to later drowning of the divide and unification of all of the basins as a consequence of regional tilt northward. However, the extended Vindhyan Sea was restricted by a second east–west-elongated ridge from merger with the contemporary Proterozoic sea further north, disparate sediments of which have been encountered in a few drill cores only.

The ~11-km-wide Dhala impact structure, in north-central India, is located in Archean granitoids of the Bundelkhand craton and is partially exposed beneath Paleoproterozoic sediments belonging to the Vindhyan Supergroup, which place the age of the structure between ca. 2.5 Ga and ca. 1.7 Ga. Field mapping and extensive drill-core observations show that an originally coherent impact melt sheet up to 130 m thick was spread over more than 12 km 2 . Confirmation of the impact origin of the structure is based on the recognition of diagnostic shock metamorphic features in clasts in impact melt rock. In order to better constrain the age of the impact event, a geochronological study was undertaken of the Dhala impact melt breccia, involving 40 Ar/ 39 Ar step-heating and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb dating techniques that were applied to surface and subsurface samples. The U-Pb data for two samples yield ages of 2563 Ma and 2553 Ma, which indicate the age of the granitoid basement. The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar experiments resulted in partial plateau ages that indicate that the Dhala impact melt rock was affected by a strong thermal/hydrothermal overprint at ca. 1 Ga. SHRIMP U-Pb ages for two zircon overgrowths indicate a ca. 530 Ma event that could have contributed to the post-impact resetting of the impact melt rock. The results indicate a common problem experienced when attempting to date small- to moderately sized impact events. Further analysis is planned.

From the mantle plume model it would be expected that one to a few kilometers of regional, domal lithospheric uplift occurred 5–20 m.y. before the onset of flood basalt volcanism. This uplift resulted from heat conduction out of and dynamic support by the hot, buoyant, rising plume head. Field evidence for such uplift would comprise sedimentary sequences that reflect progressive basin shallowing before volcanism or (in the case of differential uplift along faults) widespread conglomerates derived from the basement rocks and underlying the first lavas. Local uplifts and subsidences cannot be used to invoke or rule out plume-caused uplift. Over large areas of the Late Cretaceous Deccan flood basalt province, the base of the lava pile is in the subsurface. Basalt-basement contacts are observed along the periphery of the province and in central India (the Satpura and Vindhya ranges), where substantial post-Deccan uplift is evident. Here, extensive horizontal Deccan basalt flows directly overlie extensive low-relief planation surfaces cut on various older rocks (Archean through Mesozoic) with different internal structures. Locally, thin, patchy Late Cretaceous clays and limestones (the Lameta Formation) separate the basalts and basement, but some Lameta sediments are known to have been derived from already erupted Deccan basalt flows in nearby areas. Thus, the eruption and flowage of the earliest Deccan basalt lava flows onto extensive flat planation surfaces developed on varied bedrock, and the nearly total absence of basement-derived conglomerates at the base of the lava pile throughout the province, are evidence against prevolcanic lithospheric uplift (both regional and local), and thereby the plume head model. There has been major (∼1 km) post-Deccan, Neogene uplift of the Indian peninsula and the Sahyadri (Western Ghats) Range, which runs along the entire western Indian rifted margin, well beyond the Deccan basalt cover. This uplift has raised the regional Late Cretaceous lateritized surface developed on the Deccan lava pile to a high elevation. This uplift cannot reflect Deccan-related magmatic underplating, but is partly denudational, is aided by a compressive stress regime throughout India since the India-Asia collision, and is possibly also related to active eastward flow of the sublithospheric mantle. The easterly drainage of the Indian peninsula, speculated to be dome-flank drainage caused by the plume head, predates the uplift. Field evidence from the Deccan and India is in conflict with a model of plume-caused regional uplift a few million years before the onset of volcanism.