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A rift basin born as Gondwana tore apart — rich in Jurassic marine fossils, and still shaking with earthquakes today.

The Kutch Basin opened as a rift when the supercontinent Gondwana began to break apart, starting in the Jurassic around 160 million years ago. As the crust stretched and subsided, shallow seas flooded in and laid down thick, richly fossiliferous marine rocks — Kutch is a celebrated site for Jurassic ammonites and other sea life.

The region remains tectonically active. It was struck by the devastating 2001 Bhuj earthquake, and an earlier great quake in 1819 famously threw up a ridge known as the “Allah Bund,” damming a river and reshaping the landscape overnight.

Sources

• Geological Survey of India

A short reference note: this summary draws on third-party sources such as the Geological Survey of India and Wikipedia. In time I plan to give every geological feature its own learning-oriented write-up — with custom diagrams, graphs, and study pointers — as I’ve already done for the 11 locations that have an Instagram reel.