NGRI scientists unravel geological link between India and Antarctica

HYDERABAD: A team of scientists from city-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) has made a new discovery that sheds light on the ancient connection between the Indian subcontinent and Antarctica. Their research provides compelling evidence of a collision between India and East Antarctica over a billion years ago.
The NGRI team, including Dr K Chandrakala, OP Pandey, Biswajit Mandal, K Renuka, and N Prem Kumar, has revealed the presence of a hidden ridge beneath Darsi and Addanki regions of AP.This structure is attributed to the historic collision, and the study also suggests that the Cuddapah basin had tilted towards the south. Moreover, the region shows signs of historical seismic activity, indicating the possibility of a marginal ocean basin along the east coast during the Columbia and Rodinia supercontinent assembly periods.

By reprocessing seismic data along a 325-km profile from Alampur to Ganapeswaram, the team investigated the subsurface crustal seismic structure of the north Cuddapah basin. Their findings revealed a thin layer of alluvium underlain by Gondwana sediments and Proterozoic sedimentary layers. Gondwana was an ancient supercontinent that included present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica.
“Our research has uncovered that Proterozoic sedimentation in the study region was more extensive than previously known,” the NGRI scientists told TOI. “We have identified both the upper and lower Proterozoic Cuddapah sediments, resting directly over the crystalline basement. This provides new insights into the geological evolution of India’s eastern coast during the Proterozoic period,” they added.
The research was published in the ‘Journal of Pure and Applied Geophysics’.