UPSC CORE · NCERT GEOGRAPHY · GEOLOGICAL ERAS, MAJOR FAULTS, STRUCTURAL BLOCKS OF INDIA
📚 NCERT TEXTBOOK ALIGNMENT
Class UPSC Geography — NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar) — Chapter: Geological eras, major faults, structural blocks of India.
Atlas Archaean rock sub-divisions in India?
Dharwar, Khondalites, Charnockites, Unclassified crystallines — all metamorphic (atlas table p.37); host gold, silver, iron, nickel, chromite, copper, lead-zinc, titanium, mica, manganese, tin, tungsten, asbestos, diamond, kyanite, graphite, sillimanite
Where are Dharwar rocks exposed?
Karnataka craton (Dharwar craton named after the town) — Kolar Gold Fields, Hutti gold mines; one of the world's oldest greenstone belts (~3.0-2.5 Ga)
Khondalite distribution?
Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt — Odisha (Koraput, Rayagada), AP (Visakhapatnam), Tamil Nadu — high-grade metasediments; bauxite-rich
Charnockite type locality?
Named after Job Charnock's tombstone in St John's Church, Kolkata — charnockites are hypersthene-bearing granulites typical of the Eastern Ghats and Nilgiris
Economic minerals from Archaean rocks (atlas table)?
Atlas lists: gold, silver, iron, nickel, chromite, copper, lead-zinc, titanium, mica, manganese, tin, tungsten, asbestos, diamond, kyanite, graphite, sillimanite — Archaean is India's richest mineral era
Atlas Proterozoic sub-divisions?
Malani volcanics (igneous), Granites, Aravalli, Delhi series, Cuddapah (sedimentary), Granites (old, igneous)
Aravalli System?
Oldest fold mountain in India (~2,500-1,800 Ma); runs NE-SW from Delhi to Gujarat; hosts copper (Khetri), zinc-lead (Zawar, Rampura-Agucha), marble (Makrana)
Cuddapah System?
Late Proterozoic sedimentary basin in southern AP (Cuddapah/Kadapa district) — limestone, sandstone, shale; hosts uranium (Tummalapalle), asbestos, baryte (largest baryte mine at Mangampet, AP)
Vindhyan System?
Atlas places Vindhyan in Palaeozoic (570-245 Ma) per the table, but stratigraphically it is late Proterozoic-early Cambrian; covers MP, UP, Rajasthan — sandstones for building (Chunar, Vindhya sandstone)
Malani Igneous Suite?
~750 Ma rhyolites of western Rajasthan (Jodhpur, Jaisalmer area) — one of the world's largest Precambrian volcanic provinces; signature of Rodinia supercontinent breakup
Economic minerals of Proterozoic per atlas?
Atlas: building stones, kaolin, iron, limestone, uranium — and from Cuddapah sedimentary: same set
Atlas Gondwana sub-divisions?
Lower Gondwana (Palaeozoic 570-245 Ma) and Upper Gondwana (Mesozoic 245-66 Ma); both sedimentary; host coal, gypsum, rock salt (atlas)
This topic is part of the NCERT UPSC Core Geography syllabus, specifically the textbook NCERT Class 11/12 + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar), drawn from the chapter Geological eras, major faults, structural blocks of India. Content is cross-referenced against the latest NCERT textbook editions + standard reference works (Bipan Chandra, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra for history; G.C. Leong, Savindra Singh for geography; the UPSC Civil Services prelims + mains syllabus).
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