Nature of the Moyar and Bhavani shear zones, with a note on its implication on the tectonics of the southern Indian Precambrian shield

Abstract

The Moyar, Bhavani and Palghat-Cauvery shear zones have figured prominently in tectonic and metamorphic syntheses in the southern Indian Precambrian shield. Implicit in these studies is the assumption that in the Moyar shear zone in particular, transport has a large strike-slip component, with a dextral displacement of as high as 70 km. Detailed structural investigations in several key sectors and reconnaissance over a large terrane cast doubt on several aspects of the accepted tectonic model. Both the Moyar and the Bhavani shear zones are steeply-dipping thrusts, with the Moyar shear in particular characterized by a predominantly dip-slip transport. Such a movement on a subvertical plane striking EW could in no way rotate the northerly ‘trends’ to EW ones as believed by many worker. Further, the Moyar and Bhavani shear zones are neither as extensive nor as pervasive as envisaged. Veering of the ‘trends’ in southern Karnataka, northern Tamil Nadu and northern Kerala is an inherent feature of the superposed fold systems here. Isoclinal folds with axial planes of diverse attitudes, overprinted by upright folds of varying tightness, have resulted in this change in ‘trend’.