Foreword
The deep interest which the Department of
Science and Technology (DST) is taking in presenting a three
dimensional picture of Indian lithosphere was highlighted while
introducing Memoir 50 on "The Southern Granulite Terrain'.
The present compilation is a more ambitious one covering the
whole of India based on Deep Continental Studies carried out
during the last decade in different parts of the subcontinent.
These studies have been undertaken off and. on by different
organizations, but it is to the credit of the DST for bringing
together these different organizations and coordinating their
research in a planned way under the supervision of Programme
Advisory and Monitoring Committee on Deep Continental Studies.
Sri T.M. Mahadevan, formerly of the Geological
Survey of India and the Atomic Minerals Division of the Department
-of Atomic Energy has taken a leading part in planning and
programming of the various projects. His intimate knowledge
of the geology of the entire subcontinent and his special
zeal for geophysical studies had eminently qualified him for
coordinating the work of the combined effort of.both geologists
and geophysicists. Prof. B.R. Arora has been associated with
geophysical research projects of the Dept. of Science and
Technology for more than two decades. It is not unusual to
find a big gulf between the proponents of the two disciplines.
The geologist's work is mainly based on surface expression
of a wide variety of rocks and minerals. These do not interest
a geophysicist who is concerned more with basic and fundamental
aspects of the lithosphere not accessible to the geologist.
The two aspects are like two faces of the same coin and in
order to obtain a comprehensive picture,
a study of both aspects is necessary which neither
geology nor geophysics can singly provide. This challenging
task of coordination calls for special skills. It must be
said to the credit of Sri Mahadevan, Prof. Arora and Dr. K.R.
Gupta that their efforts in bringing the two disciplines together
have helped to increase our understanding of the Indian continental
lithosphere as a whole and present a unified framework. It
is earnestly hoped that the essays brought together in this
volume will be read with interest by both geologists and geophysicists.
A word of praise is due to Dr. KR. Gupta of
the Department of Science and Technology for the special interest
he has taken in promoting these studies and in providing the
impetus for the publication of the results of research to
a larger audience.
Dr. M.S. Rao and his assistants have spared
no efforts in processing this volume through the press and
are deserving our special thanks.
24 July 2003
B.P. RADHAKRISHNA
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Introduction
Scientific &
Engineering 