Spatio-temporal evolution of the Satpura Mountain Belt of India: A comparison with the Capricorn Orogen of Western Australia and implication for evolution of the supercontinent Columbia

Reconstruction of the Neoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia shows near neighbour positions of the South Indian Cratons and Western Australian Cratons. These cratonic areas are characterized by extensive Paleoproterozoic tectonism. Detailed analysis of the spatio-temporal data of the Satpura Mountains of India indicates presence of at least three episodes of Proterozoic orogeny at ∼2100–1900 Ma, ∼1850 Ma and ∼1650 Ma, and associated basin development and closing. A subdued imprint of the Grenville orogeny (∼950 Ma) is also found in rock records of this Mountain Belt. The Capricorn Orogen of Western Australia also shows three episodes of orogeny: Opthalmian–Glenburgh Orogeny (2100–1950 Ma), Capricorn Orogeny (∼1800 Ma) and Mangaroon Orogeny (∼1650 Ma), and basin opening and closing related to these tectonic movements. These broad similarities suggest their joint evolution possibly in a near neighbour position during Paleoproterozoic Era. In view of juxtaposition of the Western Australia along the east coast of India, at the position of the Eastern Ghats, during Archean, it is suggested that the breaking of this Archean megacraton at ∼2400 Ma led to northward movement of the broken components and formation of the Satpura–Capricorn Orogen (at ∼2100 and ∼1800 Ma) due to the collision of cratonic blocks with the pre-existing northern cratonic nuclei of India and Western Australia. This is also the time of formation of the supercontinent Columbia. A phase of basin opening followed the ∼1800 Ma event, followed by another phase of collisional event at ∼1600 Ma at the site of the Satpura–Capricorn Orogen. Subsequent evolutions of the Satpura and the Capricorn Orogens differ slightly, indicating separate evolutional history.