Pant, N. C. & Dasgupta, S. An introduction to the crustal evolution of India and Antarctica: the supercontinent connection

Antarctica

Mikhalsky, E., Krylov, D., Rodionov, N., Presnyakov, S., Skublov, S. & Myasnikov, O. Refined geological history of the polyphase plutonometamorphic complex in the Thala Hills area (Enderby Land, East Antarctica) from zircon SHRIMP dating and implications for Neoproterozoic amalgamation of Gondwanaland

Roy, S. K., Pant, N. C., Kundu, A., Dharwadkar, A., Kumar, P. K., Joshi, S., Raghuram, Sadiq, M. & Pandey, M. Geological studies in the Baalsrudfjellet nunatak between the Schirmacher Oasis and the Wohlthat Mountains to establish the continuation of the East African Orogen (EAO) in central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica

Moabi, N. G., Grantham, G. H., Roberts, J. & le Roux, P. The geology and geochemistry of the Straumsnutane Formation, Straumsnutane, western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica and its tectonic setting on the western margin of the Kalahari Craton: additional evidence linking it to the Umkondo Large Igneous Province

India

Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt

Dasgupta, S., Bose, S., Bhowmik, S. K. & Sengupta, P. The Eastern Ghats Belt, India, in the context of supercontinent assembly

Chatterjee, A., Das, K., Bose, S., Ganguly, P. & Hidaka, H. Zircon U–Pb SHRIMP and monazite EPMA U–Th–total Pb geochronology of granulites of the western boundary, Eastern Ghats Belt, India: a new possibility for Neoproterozoic exhumation history

Das, E., Karmakar, S., Dey, A., Karmakar, S. & Sengupta, P. Reaction textures, pressure–temperature paths and chemical dates of monazite from a new suite of sapphirine–spinel granulites from parts of the Eastern Ghats Province, India: insights into the final amalgamation of India and East Antarctica during the formation of Rodinia

Sawant, A. D., Gupta, S., Clark, C. & Misra, S. The Rauer–Rengali connection in the Indo-Antarctica amalgam: evidence from structure, metamorphism and geochronology

Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Craton

Mukherjee, S., Dey, A., Sanyal, S., Ibanez-Mejia, M., Dutta, U. & Sengupta, P. Petrology and U–Pb geochronology of zircon in a suite of charnockitic gneisses from parts of the Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex (CGGC): evidence for the reworking of a Mesoproterozoic basement during the formation of the Rodinia supercontinent

Saikia, A., Gogoi, B., Kaulina, T., Lialina, L., Bayanova, T. & Ahmad, M. Geochemical and U–Pb zircon age characterization of granites of the Bathani Volcano Sedimentary sequence, Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex, eastern India: vestiges of the Nuna supercontinent in the Central Indian Tectonic Zone

Kumar, S., Pieru, T., Rino, V. & Hayasaka, Y. Geochemistry and U–Pb SHRIMP zircon geochronology of microgranular enclaves and host granitoids from the South Khasi Hills of the Meghalaya Plateau, NE India: evidence of synchronous mafic–felsic magma mixing–fractionation and diffusion in a post-collision tectonic environment during the Pan-African orogenic cycle

Western Indian Craton

Bose, S., Seth, P. & Dasgupta, N. Meso-Neoproterozoic mid-crustal metamorphic record from the Ajmer–Shrinagar section, Rajasthan, India and its implication to the assembly of the Greater Indian Landmass during the Grenvillian-age orogenesis

Arora, D., Pant, N. C., Fareeduddin, Sharma, S., Raghuram & Sadiq, M. Inferring a Neoproterozoic orogeny preceding the Rodinia break-up in the Sirohi Group, NW India

India and Antarctica

Meert, J. G., Pandit, M. K., Pivarunas, A., Katusin, K. & Sinha, A. K. India and Antarctica in the Precambrian: a brief analysis

Index

Gondwana hosts a multitude of geological secrets, and this volume delves a long way back in deep time to help unravel of some of these hidden geological complexities. Don’t expect to find anything younger than the Precambrian in these pages. Indeed, the title would be enhanced by the inclusion of the word Proterozoic, so readers looking to know more about the Mesozoic disintegration of Gondwana need look no further. If your passion is geochronology and plate reconstructions of the supercontinents Columbia (~1.5 Ga) and Rodinia (~1 Ga), as well as Gondwana’s early history (to ~0.5 Ga), then this is a tome you will want to access.

The book is a compilation of 13 articles distilled from about 200 papers presented at the 2015 symposium on Antarctic Science, held in Goa and hosted by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). It has only been two years in gestation, so the papers are up-to-date and topical. The Precambrian history of Earth is characterized by the ‘yo-yo’-like assembly and disintegration of supercontinents, of which both Antarctica and India are important components. Lively debate continues regarding their terrain boundaries and their mutual linkages, and the integration of tectonics, petrology and geochronology is seen as the route to re-assembling the palaeotectonic jig-saw puzzle. Palaeontology isn’t useful for terrain correlation in the depths of Proterozoic time, so high-resolution geochemistry and geochronology feature prominently in the researchers’ tool kit.
The volume contains related papers that address some of the topical questions of where, why, and when the supercontinents assembled and broke up. The first three papers are specific to western Antarctica and address the geochronology of cratons that have affinities with eastern India, Mozambique and South Africa. Most of the remaining chapters detail aspects of the Indian mobile belts (Eastern Ghats and Aravalli-Delhi), as well as the petrology of the gneissic cratons. It would have been useful to include a comprehensive summary paper to start the volume, providing some linking elements and perhaps discussion of the key challenges in terrain reconstruction. The absence of such a paper is perhaps why I enjoyed the final misfit contribution in the volume by Joe Meet et al. on the use of palaeomagnetic data to provide an alternative view of supercontinent assembly.

This is a nicely produced volume. The compilation works well in covering a billion years in less than 400 pages. It is not a book you will browse for general information. Rather, it will stand as a staple reference for researchers working on Proterozoic terrain reconstruction for years to come.