INFLUENCE OF GEOLOGY ON THE LOCALIZATION OF ANCIENT CAVES

Of the 1545 caves in India, more than 1200 caves are located in the re gion of Deccan Trap in Maharashtra State. The reconnaissance survey of these caves demonstrated that more than 1000 caves are concentrated i n the area made up of amygdaloidal basalts, as they provide suitable m edium for carving. In contrast to this, in the region of compact basal ts, which do not provide homogeneous medium for carving due to their j ointed nature, the cave centres are few and far between, This clearly indicates that the carving activity in the Deccan Trap region was infl uenced by the geological factors and not by trade routes as is commonl y believed.