Passive continental margins are formed within a single lithospheric plate in which the continental crust adjoins the oceanic crust. Assessment of the geological potential of these margins requires a comprehensive knowledge on the history of the ocean—from the time of pre-rifting events to the present. Tectonics of the Eastern Continental Margin of India presents the different aspects of a passive margin such as its evolution, tectonics, and associated hazards, taking the Eastern Continental Margin of India (ECMI) as a case study. It discusses the passive margin and focuses on its origin, morphology, structure, and exploration potential; describes the major structural lineaments delineated from the geophysical data over the ECMI; and attempts to explain the geodynamic evolution of this passive margin. A preliminary estimate on the seismic hazards associated with ECMI is also presented in the book.

This work reviews the mechanism of rifting with a focus on pre-existing tectonic weaknesses in pre-rift and/or basement rocks, i.e., on tectonic inheritance. The passive margins that are studied in this book are the Norwegian Continental Shelf, the Eastern North America and the East and West Indian Continental Margins. The continental rifts that have been analysed are the East African Rift System, the Brazilian Continental Rift Systems and the European Cenozoic Rift System. It states how rifts and passive margins serve as valuable locations for hydrocarbon exploration. Tectonic inheritance/heritage examines the influence of pre-existing/pre-rift elements on the geometry, genesis and propagation of rift-related faults. Such elements include anisotropies in the shallow crustal levels, as well as the rheology of the lithosphere. Inheritance greatly influences the architecture of rifted passive margins including the attitude of faults and geometry of horsts, (half-) grabens, transfer zones etc. Inheritance is also a determining factor in the width of rifts and rift shoulder topography.

During the past 10 years, the Oil industry in India has seen a tremendous rise in exploration activity with several major E&P companies generating vast amount of new geological and geophysical data. The availability of such integrated data sets (gravity, magnetic, seismic, drilled wells), especially in the deep offshore basins, has led the authors to revisit earlier concepts and models in order to redefine the tectonic framework of major offshore basins along the Indian continental margins. The book covers the stratigraphic evolution, play types and the classification of major offshore basins both in shallow and deepwater environments. - Incorporation of latest dataset (specially the seismic, gravity and magnetic) - Analogy of global offshore basins with India - Sedimentation and depositional history of Bengal fan and Indus fan - Redefinition of major tectonic framework of the margins - Exceleent high quality graphics that include: seismic sections, gravity-magnetic maps, conceptual geological models and new revised tectonic elements

This book presents a compilation of findings, review and original works, on the tectonic evolution and structural detail of several terrains in India. It captures the tectonic diversity of the Indian terrain, including tectonics of India's coastal areas, the tectonic evolution of Gondwana and Proterozoic (Purana) basins. It also describes the research results of the Indian craton's geo-history, Tertiary Bengal basin, and also the Himalayan collisional zone. Thus the book covers the deformation history of Indian terrain involving strike slip, compressional and extensional tectonics, and ductile and brittle shear deformations.

Knowledge of the density of the subsurface of a planet is crucial in determining its interior structure, and one can estimate the average bulk crustal density directly using the admittance between topography and gravity, which has been successfully used for the Moon and is being extended to Mars. The interpretation of gravity data is commonly done by computation of a gravity anomaly (GA) by correcting the raw data for a number of factors that impact the gravity field. Depending on the target science, different types of GA can be computed, the interpretation of which have been widely employed in geophysics to explore the interior of the Earth and other planets, through applications in airborne gravity, near-surface geophysics, regional geophysics, and planetary geophysics. Yet how to extract a great variety of information from GAs for applications in geophysics entails further investigation. Over the decades, remarkable progress has been made to extract information from GAs identified from data. For instance, a series of 3D inversion algorithms facilitates the extraction of the subsurface density distribution. With the improved processing based on dense gravity observations that yield high precision and high resolution GAs, more detailed geological information can be unveiled. When using the admittance between topography and gravity to estimate the crustal density, it is essential to identify what kinds of GAs to be used, such as Bouguer gravity or free-air gravity. Also, what appropriate approaches to scrutinize the applications of GAs in various case studies (e.g., calculating the geoid and estimating the elastic thickness) need to be decoded.

This books documents the salient characters of the tectonic evolution of the Indian subcontinent. It showcases the well investigated subcontinent of Gondwana. The book is linked to an updated geological and tectonic map of this region on 1:12,000,000 in scale. The Indian subcontinent displays almost uninterrupted and unique the geological history since about Eo-Archean (~3800 Ma) to recent, with the development of many Proterozoic deformed and metamorphosed fold belts around Archean nuclei, and enormously thick undeformed platform deposits. After their stabilization during late Proterozoic, the subcontinent underwent Paleozoic rifting and deposition of coal-bearing thick sequences, followed by enormously-thick outpouring of Deccan volcanics as a consequence of huge mantle plume. The youngest event in its evolution is the Cenozoic Himalayan Orogenic Mountains, spanning the area between Nanga Parbat and Namcha Barwah; a part of which extends both in Pakistan and Myanmar.

This book presents in a concise format a simplified and coherent geological-dynamical history of the Indian subcontinent (including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Southern Tibet and Pakistan). Encompassing a broad array of information related to structure and tectonics, stratigraphy and palaeontology, sedimentation and palaeogeography, petrology and geochemistry, geomorphology and geophysics, it explores the geodynamic developments that took place from the beginning around 3.4 billion years ago to the last about 5,000 years before present. Presented in a distilled form, the observations and deductions of practitioners, this book is meant for teachers, researchers and students of geology, geophysics and geomorphology and practitioners of earth sciences. A comprehensive list of references to original works provides guidance for those seeking further details and who wish to examine selected problems in depth. The book is illustrated with a wealth of maps, cross sections and block diagrams — all simplified and redesigned.