Editing Geography of India (section)

===Cratons===
[[File:India topo big.jpg|thumb|Topography of India]]
{{anchor | Craton | Cratons of India | Indian Craton | Indian Shield}}
[[File:Malani Igneous Suite Jodhpur near Mehrangarh Fort.jpg|thumb| Malani Igneous Suite, largest in India and third largest igneous suite in the world, at Jodhpur near [[Mehrangarh Fort]].]]

[[Craton]]s are a specific kind of [[continental crust]] made up of a top layer called [[Platform (geology)|platform]] and an older layer called [[Basement (geology)|basement]]. A [[Shield (geology)|shield]] is the part of a craton where basement rock crops out of the ground, and it is relatively the older and more stable section, unaffected by [[plate tectonics]].<ref name="cratonm2">[https://www.slideshare.net/pramodgpramod/cratons-of-india Cratons of India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912162139/https://www.slideshare.net/pramodgpramod/cratons-of-india|date=12 September 2021}}.</ref><ref name="cratonm1">[http://mem.lyellcollection.org/content/43/1/151 Cratons of India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116100217/http://mem.lyellcollection.org/content/43/1/151|date=16 January 2019}}, lyellcollection.org.</ref>

The Indian Craton can be divided into five major cratons as such:
* Aravalli Craton (Marwar-Mewar Craton or Western Indian Craton): Covers [[Rajasthan]] as well as [[Tosham Hill range|western]] and [[South Haryana|southern]] [[Haryana]]. It comprises Mewar Craton in the east and Marwar Craton in the west. It is limited by the ''Great Boundary Fault'' in the east, sandy Thar Desert in the [[Thar desert]] in the west, Indo-ganetic alluvium in the north, [[Son River|Son]]-[[Narmada River|Narmada]]-[[Tapti River|Tapti]] in the south. It mainly has [[quartzite]], [[marble]], [[pelite]], [[greywacke]] and extinct volcanos exposed in [[Aravalli-Delhi Orogen]]. [[Jodhpur Group – Malani Igneous Suite Contact|Malani Igneous Suite]] is the largest in India and third largest [[Igneous rock|igneous]] suite in the world.
* Bundelkand Craton, covers 26,00&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> in the [[Bundelkhand]] region of [[Uttar Pradesh]] and [[Madhya Pradesh]] and forms the basis of the Malwa Plateau. It is limited by the [[Aravalli Range|Aravalli]] in the west, Narmada river and Satpura range in the south, and Indo-Gantetic alluvium in the north. It is similar to the Aravali Craton, which used to be a single craton before being divided into two with the evolution of [[Hindoli]] and [[Mahakoshal]] belts at the margins of two cratons.
* [[Dharwar craton|Dharwar Craton]] (Karnataka Craton), 3.4 - 2.6 Ga, [[granite]]-[[Greenstone belt|greenstone]] terrain covers the state of [[Karnataka]] and parts of eastern and southern [[Maharashtra]] state, and forms the basis of the southern end of the Deccan Plateau. In 1886 it was divided into two tectonic blocks, namely Eastern Dharwar Craton (EDC) and Western Dharwar Craton (WDC).
* Singhbhum Craton, 4,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> area which primarily covers [[Jharkhand]] as well as parts of [[Odisha]], northern [[Andhra Pradesh]], northern [[Telangana]] and eastern Maharashtra. It is limited by the Chhota Nagpur Plateau to the north, Eastern Ghats to the southeast, Bastar Craton to southwest and alluvium plain to the east.
* Bastar Craton (Bastar-Bhandara Craton), primarily covers [[Chhattisgarh]] and forms the basis of the Chhota Nagpur Plateau. It is a remnant of 3.4-3.0 Ga old [[Tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite|TTG]] [[gneiss]]es of five types. It is subdivided into Kotri-Dongagarh [[Orogeny|Orogen]] and the Rest of Bastar Craton. It is limited by three [[rift]]s, [[Godavari]] rift in southwest, [[Narmada]] rift in northwest and [[Mahanadi]] rift in northeast.