Scientists Identify India’s Oldest Known Rock Fragment in Chhattisgarh

A collaborative team of earth‑science researchers has announced the recovery of India’s oldest confirmed rock fragment from the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The piece, examined near the Bhopalpatnam belt, has been radiometrically dated to roughly 3.65 billion years, making it the most ancient crystalline material yet identified on the subcontinent.

The investigation, featured in a peer‑reviewed article on Eoarchean subduction, outlines three principal rock units that compose the Southwest Bastar Craton. These include the Sukam Group (layered amphibolite‑granulite), the Begapāl Group (green‑schist with amphibolite interlayers), and the Bhopalpatnam Belt, where charnokite magmatism predominates.

Chronological data point to three discrete geologic phases: an initial crust‑forming event at 3.65 Ga, a second wave between 3.64 and 3.60 Ga, and a later phase from 3.44 to 3.40 Ga. The authors argue that these episodes record early subduction and magmatic activity that contributed to the stabilization of the Indian crust.

Previously, the Singhbhum formation in Jharkhand, dated at 3.3‑3.5 Ga, held the record for the oldest Indian rock. The Bastar discovery not only resets that benchmark but also offers a crucial window into the planet’s earliest tectonic behavior.