THE DHARWAR CRATON, SOUTHERN INDIA, AND ITS LATE ARCHEAN PLATE TECTONIC SETTING - CURRENT INTERPRETATIONS AND CONTROVERSIES

In spite of detailed geological investigations of the Dharwar craton s ince the 1890s, its principal lithological units, structure and chrono logy remain contentious. Important new work on lithostratigraphy, basi n development, structure, geochemistry and geochronology has led to wi de-ranging speculation on the Late Archaean plate tectonic setting. Mu ch of the speculation is based on uniformitarian models which contrast with a recent proposal that the evolution of the craton was controlle d by gravity-driven processes with no crustal shortening.