TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL GUJARAT PLAIN, WESTERN INDIA

The Quaternary basin of the Gujarat plain is formed due to the reactiv ation of Tertiary basement faults. The uplift as a horst of the Araval li in the east and the Saurashtra peninsula in the west, comprising a culminating event of the post-Mesozoic rifting of the western continen tal margin, resulted in the Quaternary basin which was later filled up by alluvial sediments. The basin that received the fluvial sediments marked the end phase of the Cambay graben subsidence that was initiate d in the Paleocene. The nature of variation in thickness of the Quater nary sediments in its different segments indicates that the basin comp rised a series of horsts and grabens. Whereas the Early Quaternary tec tonism gave rise to the differential basement topography, the tectonic events of the Late Quaternary were responsible for the present landsc ape development in Central Gujarat.