Fracture zones in the Deccan Traps of Western and Central India: A study based on remote sensing techniques

Deccan Trap lavas (Cretaceous to Tertiary), which cover a large area in the Western and the Central India, are generally regarded as structurally undisturbed save for certain areas along the west-coast and the Narmada Valley in Central India. Remote Sensing techniques have given a new dimension to the problem of locating such disturbed areas by virtue of the capacity of aerospace imagery to delineate lineaments, many of which represent structural geological features. Studies carried out in the areas west and north west of Pune, (above and below the western ghat scrap), the Narmada valley region north of Barwah and the Ramakona area of Central India, reveal that these areas are riddled with fractures. The fractures have generally given rise to narrow valley or escarpments. Some of the fractures show displacement along them, while some show intrusive dykes filling them. The fractures in Central India were sometimes found to the extensions of faults traversing the basement. Hence, in the regoins, where the basement is not exposed, they may be suggestive of the structural trends of the concealed basement.