Thermo-mechanical structure of the southern part of the Indian Shield and its relevance to Precambrian basin evolution

Abstract

The thermal and mechanical structures of the southern part of the Precambrian Indian Shield have been estimated using available heat flow data and shear stress profiles from olivine rheology. These and other geological, geochronological and geophysical data including deep seismic studies (DSS) profiles of Proterozoic Cuddapah basin on South Indian Shield, are utilized to examine thermal models for the evolution of Precambrian intracratonic, platform basins on the Archean lithosphere of Indian Shield. Evidence of mantle perturbations and cycles of thermal events are documented to be important in the Cuddapah basin's evolution. Haxby et al.'s (1976) thermal model has been shown to explain the Cuddapah basin's flexuring and magnitude of subsidence.