10th Biennial International Conference & Exposition

P 001

Delineation of a Possible Subsurface Ridge in Onshore Palar Basin

based on Morphotectonic Studies and its Implications
S. Mazumder*, K.K.S. Pangtey, D. S. Mitra
Summary
The Palar basin represents a virgin area in terms of exploration with a poor seismic coverage limited to only the NELP area
of ONGC and a no well control. In this context, a morphotectonic analysis of Palar area had been attempted mainly on basis
of prevalent drainage data to delineate the tectonic elements of the area. Based on the morphotectonic analysis, a centrally
placed E-W trending ridge had been hypothesized that acts as tectonic divide between the northern and southern parts of the
basin. This ridge is considered to be a a result of Post Cretaceous post rift compression in contrast to the other ridges that
were formed due to Early Cretaceous rifting episode. A number of geomorphic highs had been delineated in this ridge that
are probably culminations and can be considered exploration targets
Keywords: Palar, ridge, morphotectonics, trends

Introduction
Palar basin is an intracratonic rift basin with its rift axes
oriented in an N to NNE located in Tamil Nadu and
adjoining Andhra Pradesh with its northern part extending
into offshore. The basin is separated from adjacent Pennar
Basin in the North by a basement high called Nayudupeta
High whereas in the south it is separated from the Cauvery
Basin by, the Chingelput High (Fig 1).

Figure 1. General tectonic & geographical set up of East Coast

showing different basins and their dividing ridges with the basins
marked in blue and dividing ridges in red (1a.) Geographical and
basin outline of Palar and Pennar Basin (1b.)

The tectonic initiation of the Palar Basin however occurred

in Lower Permian in N-S oriented linear troughs found in
the southern part of the Palar basin. This led to the
deposition of Ongur Formation in a fluvio-glacial
environment with a marine influence directly over the
Precambrian crystalline rocks. Subsequently, the initiation
of rifting leading to the continental separation between
India and Antarctica in Upper Jurassic resulted in
formation of genetically related pull apart rift systems of
Cauvery, Palar, Pennar & KG ultimately forming a series
of horst and graben features. This formation of horsts and
grabens led to deposition of synsedimentary
Sriperambudur Formation in a restricted basinal setup in
lacustrine
environment.
In
Lower
Cretaceous
transpression along the junction between Antarctica and
Sri Lanka-India led to development of a NNW-SSE led to
the uplift of the Nayudupeta High which eventually
demarcates the Palar basin from the Pennar Basin.
Continued rifting of Palar Basin also led to a final tectonic
deepening of the latest stage of rifting and led to the
deposition of a transgressive Satyavedu Formation
consisting of ferrugeneous sandstone with plant fossils
(Fig 2a). Palar Rifting probably terminated in Early
Cretaceous after which the area suffered wide spread
positive movements in Late Cretaceous (Rangaraju et al,
1993). This led to the uplift and erosion of the area with no

Remote Sensing & Geomatics, KDMIPE ONGC, Dehradun

*subhom007@[Link]

surface development of any Post Rift sediment. Presently,

the Palar Basin shows evidences of neotectonics
(Ramasamy et al, 2011, Narasimhan, 1990) implying the
area is still tectonically active though it overlies a stable
South Indian shield. Fault plane solutions indicate thrust
faulting along with strike slip component along an E-W
striking nodal plane which defines the present day or the
post-rift state of stress in the region (Murty, 2002)

Figure2. a. Generalized stratigraphy (with unconformities

marked in dotted line) after Vairavan, 1993 and (2b.) drainage
nap of Palar Basin

Morphotectonic Studies in Palar Basin

The Palar basin represents a virgin area in terms of
exploration with a poor seismic coverage limited to only
the NELP area of ONGC and a no well control. In this
context, a morphotectonic analysis of Palar area had been
attempted mainly on basis of prevalent drainage data to
delineate the tectonic elements of the area. The major
drainages in the area are found to define a Parallel pattern
flowing from west to east suggesting that the regional
drainage in the area is governed be the regional slope of
the terrain (Fig 2b). However, based on structurally
induced local drainage anomalies like rectangular
drainage, drainage offset, rectilinear drainage etc. as
discussed in Mazumder et al, 2012, microlinears were
delineated and joined as per their trend and continuity to
define probable regional faults (Fig 3a)that were
subsequently validated by a field check in selective
traverses (Fig 3c). In a similar way, geomorphic highs had
been delineated based on radial and peripheral drainage as
discussed in Mazumder et al, 2012 which can be
considered to be surface expressions of subsurface
geomorphic highs (Fig 3b). These geomorphic
interpretations had been correlated with collateral data like
seismic data (Fig 3d) , earthquake epicentres, gravity and
magnetic wherever available to validate them as well as to
delineate their subsurface continuities. The delineated
morphotectonic features had also been overlain with
bathymetry (Fig 3e) , gravity and magnetic data in the
offshore part (Subrahmanyam, et al, 1995 and Murthy et
al, 1995) and also found to be correlating and continuous
in both aspects-disposition and trend.

Figure 3 a. Fault network delineated from drainage anomalies in

Palar Basin overlain on the geological map b. Geomorphic highs
interpreted from drainage data .

Analysis of Morphotectonic interpretations

A trend analysis of faults interpreted on basis of drainage in the
Palar Basin shows a dominant NE-SW trend along with
subsidiary NW-SE and E-W trends (Fig 4 a). The E-W trending
faults had been extracted as a separate theme and then a density
analysis
had
been
carried
out
on
them.

Figure 3 [Link] of Morphotectonic interpretations by field

checks(at pt. 5 near Satyavedu). d. Correlation of morphotectonic
interpretations with interpreted seismic data for validation as
well as to delineate subsurface extent. [Link] with
offshore bathymetry trend (after Murthy et al, 1995)with surface
faults from geomorphic data suggesting regional lateral
continuity

Figure 4.a) Rose diagram of faults delineated in Palar Basin

showing a dominant NE-SW trend along with subsidiary NW-SE
and E-W trends (b) Overlay of density map of E-W trending
faults (purple: highest to blue: lowest) with the regional gravity
map of Palar Basin shows that the area of higher density E-W
faults (marked in blue) more or less coincides with the area of
gravity high also coincident with the trend of interpreted
geomorphic highs (A, B, C & D) (c) Correlation with interpreted
seismic section shows basement high correlating with area of
higher density E-W faults and trend of geomorphic highs

The results of the analysis show that most of the E-W

trending faults are concentrated on the central part of the
basin (Fig 4 b). A correlation of the density map of E-W
trending faults with the regional gravity map of Palar Basin
shows that the area of higher density E-W faults in central

part of Palar Basin more or less coincides with the area of

gravity high (Fig 4 c) that bounds the northern depression
towards its south. This high is also evident from
interpreted seismic lines where traces of another low are
also observed further south of this high. An overlay of the
interpreted geomorphic highs with all of the above features
indicate that the highs in the central part of Palar Basin
form an alignment which coincides to a reasonable degree
to the earlier mentioned area of high density E-W faults
The above zone of coincident higher density E-W faults,
E-W trending geomorphic highs and region of basement
high in the central part of Palar basin can be said to define
a subsurface ridge (Fig 5 a) that differentiates the Palar
Basin into a north and a southern part. A separate trend
analysis had been carried out for each part based on faults
identified from morphotectonic analysis as well as
lineaments derived from a regional analysis. The analysis
shows that though the imprint of the NE-SW trend is fairly
evenly distributed in both the parts of the basin, the
northern part shows a very subtly developed N-S (Fig 5 b)
trend where as in the southern part it occurs as an
appreciable component of the trends (Fig 5 c). This implies
that the E-W trending basement ridge in the central part of
Palar Basin dividing it into north and south probably also
acts as a tectonic divide. The dominant NE-SW is probably
attributed to the main rifting phase between India and
Antarctica that was instrumental in creating most of the
east coast basins. The E-W trend instrumental in creating
the hypothesized centrally placed ridge is the result of the
post rift phase that is continuous even today. The present
state of stress in this region as discussed earlier is an N-S
or NNW-SSE compressive regime that is associated with
a sinistral strike slip component.
The area of high density E-W trending faults in the central
part of Palar basin coinciding with a basement high and
gravity high is also a probable result of the N-S
compressive stress. This E-W trending zone is found to
correlate in disposition and alignment with a Pre Cambrian
shear zone in the south Indian Shield (Fig 6 a and b). Since
these shear zones are associated with deep seated faults
(Harinarayana et al, 2006, Kumar et al, 2009) and occur
almost perpendicular to the present day maximum stress
direction, they might act as zones of prominent
reactivation. Now, as this E-W trend is associated with
thrust faulting, it might have caused an uplift of the region
resulting in a basement high or gravity high thus delimiting
the northern part from the south. The geomorphic highs A,

B, C & D aligned along this EW trend probably signify

culminations within the intrabasinal high.

Figure 5a) A trend analysis of faults and lineaments on either

side of broadly E-W trending ridge AB that acts as a tectonic
divide b) The northern part shows a very subtle N-S trend
whereas southern part depicts an appreciable N-S component ( c)

Implications in hydrocarbon Exploration

From the above studies, it becomes apparent that in the
post rift phase the regional stress direction acting on the
area is oriented in a N-S orientation. As such it implies that
faults oriented parallel or at low angles to this direction
might act as conduits for migration which in this case
might be the NE-SW or NNE-SSW oriented faults. Since
the deeper part of the basin lies in the north, any primary
or secondary migration along faults will be from north to
south and might be along these faults. The ridge being at a
high angle to these faults will act as tectonic barrier or trap
and hence will result in places of accumulation (Fig 7). In
such a condition geomorphic highs premised as
culminations within the E-W basement high can act as
exploratory target.

subsurface basement highs, the presently discussed

basement ridge differs from them in the aspect that this
high is a result of Post Cretaceous post rift compression
under the present state of stress whereas the ridges between
different basins were formed as a result of Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous rifting. The geomorphic highs premised
as culminations within the basement high might act as
probable exploratory target.
The views represented in the paper are those of the authors
and not of the organization they represent
Figure 6a) Pre Cambrian shear zone underlining the Palar Basin
associated with earthquake epicenters suggesting that they are
seismically active under present stress regime b) Pre Cambrian
shear zone correlating with area of maximum E-W trending faults
implying that probably the E-W basement ridge is due to
reactivation of the shear zone in present stress regime

References
Harinarayana T., Naganjaneyulu K.& Patro B.P.K., 2006,
Detection of a collision zone in south Indian shield region
from magnetotelluric studies, Gondwana Research, Vol.
10, pp 48-56
Kumar N, Singh A.P, Singh B., 2009, Structural fabric of
the Southern Indian Shield as defined by gravity trends,
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, Vol 34, 577-585
Mazumder S., Dave H.D., Mitra D.S., 2012, Drainage
mapping Supplementary tool to seismic for detecting
buried structures, P-021, Proceedings of 9th Bienial
International Conference & Exposition on Petroleum
Geophysics- SPG 2012, Hyderabad

Figure 7) E-W trending ridge acting as a tectonic barrier to the

NE and NNE trending faults that probably aid in migration thus
helping in creation for locales of accumulation

Conclusions
From the above discussions, it is observed that the Palar
Basin is probably dissected into a northern and southern
part by a broadly E-W oriented subsurface basement ridge.
The E-W ridge also acts as a tectonic divide with the area
south of it showing an appreciable N-S tectonic trend that
is very subtle in the north. This N-S trend is associated with
the Lower Gondwana rifting that probably formed the
earliest part of Palar Basin whereas the area north of it is
dominated by Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous IndiaAntarctica rift related NE-SW trend. Though the entire
southern part of eastern coast is constituted of a number of
NE-SW oriented basins and sub basins separated by

Murthy K.S.R, Venkateswaralu K., & Rao T.C.S, 1995,

Basement structure beneath the inner shelf off
Mahabalipuram to Palar River, east coast of India, Indian
Journal of Marine sciences, Vol. 24, pp 223-225
Murty G.P.S, Subrahmaniyam A.S., Murthy K.S.R &
Sarma K.V.L.N.S, 2002, evidence of fault reactivation off
Pondicherry coast from marine geophysical data, Current
Science, Vol. 83, No-12, pp 1446-1449
Narasimhan T.N., 1990, Paleochanels of the Palar river
West of Madras City: Possible Implications for vertical
movement, Journal of Geological Society of India, Vol 36,
pp 471-474
Ramasamy S.M., Kumanan C.J., Selvakumar R. and
Saravanavel J, 2011, Remote sensing revealed drainage
anomalies and related tectonics of South India,
Tectonophysics, Vol 501, pp 41-51

Rangaraju M.K., Agrawal A. & Prabhakar K.N., 1993,

Tectono-Stratigraphy, structural styles, evolutionary
model and hydrocarbon habitat, Cauvery and Palar basins,
Proceedings of second seminar on Petroliferous Basins of
India, Vol-I, pp 371-388
Subrahmaniyam
A.S.,
Lakshminarayana
S.,
Chandrasekhar D.V., Murthy K.S.R & Rao T.C.S, 1995,
Offshore structural trends from magnetic data over
Cauvery Basin, East Coast of India, Journal of Geological
Society of India, Vol 46, pp 296-273
Vairavan V.,1993 Tectonic Hisyory and Hydrocarbon
prospects of Palar and Pennar Basins, India, Proceedings
of second seminar on Petroliferous Basins of India, Vol-I,
pp 308-396