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Field Guide to Elephanta Island, Mumbai

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 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 1

ACROFI VI Field Trip 2

ELEPHANTA ISLAND, MUMBAI HARBOUR, INDIA
29 November 2016

Hetu Sheth1 and Hrishikesh Samant2

1
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Powai,
Mumbai 400076 (email: hcsheth@iitb.ac.in; cell: 9987094012)
2
Department of Geology, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai 400001 (email:
hrishikesh.samant@xaviers.edu; cell: 9820374534)

SUMMARY

Elephanta Island, in the Mumbai harbour, hosts the mid-6th century A.D.
Elephanta Caves. These are the finest rock-cut caves in western India, containing
exquisite Hindu religious sculptures carved in Deccan basalt. They are a protected
monument of the Archaeological Survey of India (since 1909) and a UNESCO
World Heritage Site (since 1987). On this field trip we will see:
(1) Well-exposed primary volcanic structures in the “compound” lava flows of the
Deccan basalts in the Elephanta Caves. These are of the same type and scale as
seen in Hawaiian and many Icelandic and Deccan lava flows. We will, of course,
also examine the beautiful sculptures for which the Elephanta Caves are famous.
(2) A rubbly pahoehoe flow with flow-top breccia and complex columnar jointing.
(3) A well-developed and well-exposed fault zone in this rubbly pahoehoe flow.
(4) Dykes intruding the flows, both within and just outside the cave premises, and
additional dykes and a shallow-level, beautifully jointed sheet intrusion on the
southern coastline of the island. Note that these last will be subject to suitable tide
conditions (high tide at 11:34 am and low tide at 5:41 pm on 29/11/16).
This day trip is suitable for all fitness levels. However, expect mostly level
walking for ~6 km, and climbing a stone staircase gaining about 75 m height. The
afternoon may be somewhat hot in the open sun, with humidity, so bring cap and
sun cream. Field or sports shoes with good grip are recommended. Always watch
your step, and look out for snakes and dangerous insects (:
We will show that the Elephanta Caves, a monument for archaeology and
history, and sculpture and art, are a monument for volcanology and geology as
well. Similarly, Elephanta Island has excellent geological features which have
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 2
only now begun to be studied (Samant et al., in press; Sheth et al., submitted;
Vanit Patel, Ph.D. thesis in preparation, IIT Bombay), and which you will see.

ATTENTION: TIME SCHEDULE AND IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS

1. All participants are to eat early breakfast by 7.00 am and to collect their
packed working lunch and water bottle (2 liters a must). Board the bus at 7.15
am sharp and depart for Gateway of India by the Eastern Express Highway to
Ghatkopar and then the new Trans-Harbour Freeway.
2. Arrival of the bus with the participants at Gateway of India 8.30 am, and
purchase of tickets for the ferry to Elephanta Island. In the meantime, the
participants can photograph the iconic Gateway (though against the light,
with the sun in the east) and the old (1903) and the new (1973) Taj Mahal
hotels (in the light). The Gateway was built in 1911 to commemorate the visit
of England’s King George V. PLEASE STAY WITH THE FIELD GUIDES
AT ALL TIMES. If you must separate, let them know.
3. Depart with the ferry boat by 9 am. PRESERVE YOUR RETURN TICKET.
You will get the classical view of Gateway and the Taj Mahal hotels (below
right) from the boat. Sea gulls will follow the boat as some tourists feed them.
Do not fall or drop your camera into the water. It is PROHIBITED to
photograph the harbour’s installations or ships. Vendors on the boat sell
jewellery etc. (haggle heavily), snacks, cold drinks… (at your own cost).

4. Arrival in Elephanta Island by 10 am. All participants will disembark

carefully, watching out for wet ground, and make a short walk (10 minutes)
with the field guides to enter Elephanta, where a small entry fee is to be paid.
5. On entering, you will see a line of shops selling various gift articles,
handicrafts, etc. NO STOPPING. We will provide some time for this at the
end of the trip. Note: Toilets available here should be used if needed. There
are toilets in further up in the cave premises but these may not be clean.
6. We will begin the short (10 minutes), 75 m climb on the stone staircase to the
Elephanta Caves. This path is lined by restaurants (all charging double the
official prices) and with stalls selling very attractive items such as
handicrafts, jewellery, semiprecious stones, idols, T-shirts, caps and hats, and
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 3
more. We recommend not buying anything here (or even stopping to enquire)
as this will leave you behind. Note that the prices (even of guidebooks) are all
greatly inflated over official or reasonable prices, and the quality exaggerated
(e.g., the silverware is most probably not so). If you buy anything quickly, be
sure to haggle heavily, but do not enter into a confrontation with the vendors,
who can be very aggressive in our experience.
7. We enter the cave premises (by 10.30 am) and purchase tickets, which cost
significantly higher for foreign participants than for Indian nationals. All
participants will be given their ticket, which must be preserved while on site.
8. Beware of monkeys who abound in the cave premises. They are playful and
naughty, and generally harmless, but can steal your food, cap, or other items.
9. From 10.30 am to 12.00 noon we will visit Elephanta Caves 3, then 4, and
then 1 (the best), in that order. At first, stay with the guides to learn about the
main sculptures and geological features. Later, there is free time for
everybody (12.00 noon to 1.00 pm) to experience the caves on their own,
photograph the sculptures, and eat your packed lunch outside Cave 1.
10. At 1.00 pm sharp, we leave the cave premises and walk to the abandoned
quarry near the southeastern end of the island (~20 minutes) to visit a
beautifully exposed fault zone, as well as the rubbly pahoehoe flow with
complex columnar jointing patterns. BEWARE OF FALLING INTO THE
QUARRY (A 35 METER FALL) and OF FALLING ROCKS when below.
11. At 2.30 pm sharp, we leave the quarry and go to the southern coast of the
island to examine a sheet intrusion with beautiful columnar joints and several
dykes (subject to the tide being low enough). There are also interesting
coastal geomorphological features and possibilities to photograph shore birds.
12. At 3.30 pm sharp, we walk back north towards the Caves to reach the jetty for
the Mumbai boats, descending the staircase lined with hawkers and then the
open area with shops near the exit point. You have time for shopping and for
getting snacks, tea/coffee or cold drinks (to your own account) up to 4.15 pm.
13. At 4.15 pm, everyone will join the guides and walk to the pier to board the
ferry for Gateway of India. You will have to show your ticket to board.
14. All will board the ferry NO LATER THAN 4.30 pm and arrive at Gateway of
India by 5.30 pm. You may have a few minutes for roaming around and
photography at Gateway of India (in suitable evening light with the sun in the
west), but expect big crowds and take care of your belongings.
15. All board the bus by 5.45 pm, taking the same route as in the morning, but
arriving IITB by 7.00 pm (or later) depending on rush-hour traffic.
16. Those participants who do not wish to continue the geological field trip after
seeing the Elephanta Caves, and want more time to see the caves or to shop,
or to see around Gateway of India, should separate from the field party at
13.00 pm AFTER INFORMING THE GUIDES. They will make sure to catch
the ferry back to Mumbai anytime but no later than 4.30 pm (using their
ticket), and be present at Gateway of India no later than 5.30 pm to meet the
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 4
main field party. No-shows will be understood as having made their own
arrangements to get to IITB from Gateway of India.
17. It is understood that all participants will join their field trip at their own risk
and, in case of any unforeseen incidents or accidents, the participants will not
hold the field guides or the conference organizers responsible in any way.

PAHOEHOE LAVA AND FLOOD BASALT EMPLACEMENT: A NOTE

The emplacement of pahoehoe lava flows is well understood, largely from

observations of active Hawaiian lava flows (e.g., Macdonald 1953; Rowland and
Walker 1987; Hon et al. 1994; Self et al. 1996, Anderson et al. 1999, and many
others). Such flows grow mostly endogenously, implying that lava is transported
under a thick solidified crust (often in lava tubes), retains its heat, and travels long
distances from the eruptive vent. Individual flows are typically compound
(Walker 1971), made up of many smaller flow units (called flow lobes and toes).
Each lobe develops an upper crust (solidifying downwards) and a lower crust
(solidifying upwards) after emplacement. Escaping gas bubbles form pipe vesicles
in the lower crust and get trapped beneath the upper crust, leaving a dense,
vesicle-free core between the two crusts. A lobe swells (inflates) as lava that
continues to be supplied lifts the upper crust. A viscoelastic upper crustal layer
under the top brittle crustal layer undergoes ductile stretching and accomodates
the incoming lava. The lobe, inflating like a water-filled balloon, eventually bursts
and a new lobe emerges and itself grows by inflation, this process repeating as
long as lava continues to be supplied from the vent. On stagnation and after
advanced solidification, residual differentiate can rise as vesicle cylinders that get
deflected into horizontal vesicular sheets by the upper crust (Goff 1996). A key
aspect of such inflated flows is that the final lobe thickness is many times the
initial emplacement thickness.
The three-dimensional stacking of lobes in a compound pahoehoe flow can be
very complex. Several types of such flows (such as hummocky and sheet flows,
Self et al. 1996, 1998) and flow lobes (such as P-type lobes with pipe vesicles, and
spongy or S-type lobes, Walker 1989) are identified. Primary volcanic structures
of such flows, which indicate inflation and endogenous growth, include the
classical three-tiered lobes with a core separating upper and lower crusts, pipe
vesicles, horizontal vesicular zones (formed by trapping of bubbles at the
downward-growing boundary of the upper crust), tumuli (domal uplifts containing
extension clefts and lava squeeze-ups), lava rises and pressure ridges, and
inflation pits (e.g., Walker 1991; Self et al. 1998). The same structures are known
from similar-sized or larger compound flows on Iceland (e.g., Rossi and
Gudmundsson 1996), and from vastly larger continental flood basalt (CFB) lava
flows such as those of the Columbia River and Deccan Traps provinces (Fig. 1a)
(e.g., Self et al. 1996, 1997, 1998; Keszthelyi et al. 1999; Bondre et al. 2000,
2004; Duraiswami et al. 2001, 2002; Sheth 2006).
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 5

THE ELEPHANTA CAVES

The ~65 Ma Deccan Traps (Fig. 1a) cover more than 500,000 km2 in western
and central India. The flood basalts are overwhelmingly pahoehoe, and contain
both small-scale compound flows and thick, laterally extensive “simple” flows,
many of which are recognized as rubbly pahoehoe (Walker 1971; Bondre et al.
2004; Sheth 2006; Duraiswami et al. 2008; Sheth et al. 2011).
There are well over a thousand rock-cut caves known in the Deccan Traps.
Deshmukh (1994) noted that out of some 1545 Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious
rock-cut caves in India, 1200 are in the Deccan basalt in Maharashtra State in
western India, overwhelmingly in the highly amygdaloidal compound flows (Fig.
1a), because of their ease of carving. Of all these rock-cut caves, the UNESCO
World Heritage monuments of Ajanta and Ellora in the central Deccan Traps (Fig.
1a) are the largest, grandest and most famous. The Ajanta Caves (ca. 2 nd century
B.C. onwards) are renowned for their Buddhist sculptures and paintings, whereas
the Ellora Caves (ca. 7th century A.D. onwards) the renowned for Buddhist, Hindu
and Jain sculptures. The Elephanta Caves on the island of Elephanta in the
Mumbai harbour, on the western Indian coast, are the best example of rock-cut
caves in Deccan basalt in all of western India according to Michell (2014).

Fig. 1

The reader is referred to Michell (2014) for a detailed and well-illustrated

historical and artistic account of the Caves and their sculptures. The sculptures
depict the scenes of life, moods, and relentless energy of the Hindu god Shiva
(syn. Mahadeva, and many other names). Michell (2014) considers the Caves to
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 6
have been carved in the ca. mid-6th century A.D., possibly by Hindu kings of the
Maurya dynasty; a subsequent 1000-year period is shrouded in mystery. The
island and the nearby region were controlled by the Portuguese (from 1534
onwards) and by the British (from 1774 onwards), with a possible intervening and
short-lived Maratha rule, and accounts of the Caves and the island by foreign
travellers, from the 16th century onwards, can be found in Michell (2014). The
island’s original name is Gharapuri, and it was named Elephanta by the
Portuguese in the 18th century after a 4.5 m long and 2.4 m high basalt stone
elephant found on its southern shore near Rajbandar village (Fig. 1b), the old
landing place (Michell 2014). The elephant began to disintegrate in the 19 th
century and was relocated to the city museum in Mumbai.
Michell (2014) also mentions extensive vandalism of the monuments by
Portuguese and British soliders – the sculptures were the target of rifle-shooting
and cannons were fired into the Caves for testing the echoes. In 1890, the Public
Works Department of Bombay (now Mumbai) city began the task of preserving
the Caves, the Caves were made a protected monument of national importance by
the Archaeological Survey of India in 1909 (note that India was under British rule
until 1947), and were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. Despite
the early vandalism, the sculptures still retain substantial glory, though only traces
remain of the Caves’ original paintings.
Elephanta Island is reached by boat from the Gateway of India in
southernmost Mumbai (~13 km, 1 hour). It receives hundreds of Indian and
foreign tourists every day, who must return to Mumbai in the evening as night
stay on the island is not permitted. Though there is historical and archaeological
technical literature available on the Elephanta Caves (e.g., Chandra 1957;
Kramrisch 1981; Spink 1983; Collins 1988; Khandalavala 1990) as well as tourist
guidebooks, the geological literature is sparse (Samant et al., in press; Sheth et al.,
submitted; Vanit Patel, Ph.D. thesis in preparation, IIT Bombay).

THE REGIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONTEXT

The western Indian rifted margin (Fig. 2) evolved during two major episodes
of continental break-up and flood basalt volcanism, at ~85 Ma between India and
Madagascar (Storey et al. 1995; Pande et al. 2001) and at ~63 Ma between India
and Seychelles (Collier et al. 2008; Bhattacharya and Yatheesh 2015). Mumbai
and Elephanta are located on the Panvel flexure (Fig. 2), a large-scale (150 km
long and 30 km wide) tectonic structure on the rifted margin in which the basalts
show significant dips towards the Arabian Sea (Auden 1949; Dessai and Bertrand
1995; Sheth 1998).
Mumbai, originally a group of several islands, is unusual in the Deccan CFB
province due to its Danian-age (post-Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundary)
magmatism, of varied composition and style. It shows lava flows of tholeiites,
pillow basalts and spilites, hyaloclastites and rhyolites, with inter-trappean
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 7
sediments and pyroclastic deposits, trachyte intrusions, and many dykes of varied
compositions (e.g., Sukheswala and Poldervaart 1958; Sethna 1981, 1999; Cripps
et al. 2005; Zellmer et al. 2012; Sheth et al. 2014). The entire sequence affected
by the Panvel flexure has acquired prominent (typically 17 o) seaward dips (Fig. 2).
Hooper et al. (2010) argue that the Panvel flexure formed at 65-64 Ma, soon after
the Deccan eruptions, whereas Sheth and Pande (2014) conclude that the Panvel
flexure postdates the Dongri rhyolite flow in northwestern Mumbai, dated by them
at 62.6  0.6 Ma and 62.9  0.2 Ma (2) (40Ar/39Ar ages, relative to monitor
MMhb-1 age of 523.1  2.6 Ma). The Deccan lavas to the east of Mumbai, in the
New Mumbai and Nhava-Sheva-Uran areas of the Indian mainland, are also
affected by the Panvel flexure, though their westerly dips are more gentle (2-5o)
(Fig. 2). The flexure axis passes through Panvel and Kalyan, and further east the
lavas are horizontal.

Fig. 2

GEOLOGY OF THE ELEPHANTA CAVES

Elephanta Island (Fig. 1a), made up entirely of Deccan flood basalt, is 7 km in

circumference and this coastline is mostly covered by mangroves. The island
consists of an eastern hill (rising 168 m above the sea) and a western hill (131 m)
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 8
separated by a ~N-S-aligned median valley (Fig. 1b,c). Both hills are covered in
jungle in large part, but available exposures (such as on the western coast) show
that the basalt flows forming the island dip west-northwest by ~12o.
Morphologically, the Elephanta flows are small-scale compound pahoehoe
flows, with the exception of a >40 m thick flow of rubbly pahoehoe in the
southeastern part of the island. Their stratigraphic status relative to the thick
Deccan lava flow sequences exposed towards the east, on the Indian mainland
(Subbarao and Hooper 1988 and refereces therein), is as yet unknown. The
Elephanta compound pahoehoe flows constitute a 120 m exposed thickness of the
eastern hill above the rubbly pahoehoe flow, up to the 168 m summit which is
occupied by the ruins of a 10 meter-high, 2nd century B.C. Buddhist brick stupa
(mound-like structure containing holy relics). The flows are mostly highly
amygdaloidal and weathered, as seen in isolated outcrops in the jungle and in the
rather simple and crude Caves 6 and 7 on this hill (Fig. 1a). Good exposures of
compound flows are on the western coast of the island, but the best exposures are
within the main group of Elephanta Caves, carved into the western hill at ~85 m
elevation above sea level (Fig. 1b,c).

Field Stop: THE ELEPHANTA CAVES (10.30-13.00 hrs.)

The main group of the Elephanta Caves comprises five caves, all at the same
height above sea level and aligned more or less on a N-S axis alongside the
median valley of the island. The southernmost, Cave 5, is small and unfinished;
work on it was apparently abandoned due to a collapsing roof. Cave 2 is similarly
crude. Volcanological features of great interest are found in Cave 3 (pahoehoe
lobes and vesicle segregation features) and Cave 4 (a tumulus), and spectacular
flow lobes and tumuli and associated features are well displayed in the
northernmost cave, called Cave 1 or the main cave, as it is the largest and
grandest. We will examine the artistic sculptures and the geological features of
interest by visiting the Caves 3, 4 and 1, in that order.

Elephanta Cave 3: The wall of Cave 3, behind the pillars (Fig. 3a inset) exposes a
number of stacked compound flow lobes with gently convex-up tops and convex-
down bases (Fig. 3a). The central lobe is the best developed and exposed and
shows the three-tiered structure typical of inflated flow lobes (Self et al. 1997,
1998). It shows a 40 cm thick upper crust with spherical vesicles, an underlying
dense, vesicle-free core, and a lower crust with pipe vesicles (Fig. 3b). Whereas
many pipe vesicles are vertical, others pitch steeply either north or south,
suggesting later local movement of highly viscous lava (Walker 1987; but see
Philpotts and Lewis 1987). The top of the lobe is gently convex, whereas the base
is also convex downward along the middle, and as a result the lobe is thicker
along the middle than outwards. Another noteworthy aspect of this well-formed
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 9
lobe is its bilateral symmetry. This lobe was emplaced in a depression between
two older and adjacent lobes below, and then thickened by inflation.

Fig. 3, 4

The upper part of the same wall in Cave 3 shows human-size sculptures of
gandharvas (flying celestial beings) traversed by vesicle segreation features (Fig.
3c). One of these segregation veins runs nearly across the entire length of the
cave, and another one, somewhat higher, is shorter. These segreation features
represent late-stage residual differentiate after advanced solidification (e.g., Goff
1996; Costa et al. 2006). No vertical vesicle cylinders are observed here, however.

Elephanta Cave 4: Flow lobes much thicker than those exposed inside the caves
are exposed on the roof of Cave 4 (Fig. 4a) which may indicate a locally or
temporarily increased effusion rate, or longer formation times. The precise
location of the Elephanta Caves was probably chosen because of the suitability of
the small-scale lobes for carving and the suitability of the overlying thicker lobes
for a stable roof.
The outer wall of Cave 4 exposes a well-formed tumulus (Fig. 4b). Tumuli
are positive topographic features in lava flow fields that form by pressurized
injection of lava under the surface crust, causing the crust to undergo domal uplift.
They indicate localized inflation, such as can occur when a lava tube under a
solidified crust is blocked downstream (e.g., Walker 1991; Rossi and
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 10
Gudmundssson 1996). Though much of the lower part of the Cave 4 wall is
covered with plaster, the tumulus can be unambiguously identified based on its
steeply convex top, its higher aspect ratio (thickness/width) than typical for a lobe
(compare Fig. 3b), tilted vesicle banding of the upper crust, and even an axial cleft
at the centre of its top surface.
The contact of the tumulus with the overlying lava lobe is not traceable
throughout, and has to be imagined through the large idols on the southern side
(dashed black line in Fig. 4b), and much of the northern side. The approximate
dimensions (radius and height) of the tumulus can be estimated, however, and
these are 4.83 m and 2.67 m, respectively (Fig. 4b). A remarkable similarity of
this tumulus to Hawaiian tumuli is evident from Fig. 4c. The tumulus in Fig. 4c is
one of many in the recent lava flows on the coastal flats of Kilauea volcano. It has
steep flanks, a deep and wide axial inflation cleft, and well-developed banding on
the cleft walls formed by periodic downward crack propagation into viscoelastic
lava (e.g., Hon et al. 1994; Anderson et al. 1999). The convexity of ropes on its
flank, which is upslope, indicates that the lava crust was uplifted well after
formation (compare Fig. 1c of Walker 1991).

Elephanta Cave 1: The main cave is a great columned hall with entrances on three
sides, and was carved in a well-planned geometrical pattern following the cardinal
directions (Fig. 5; see Michell 2014 for details). It displays exquisite historical-
sculptural and volcanological treasures.

Fig. 5
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 11
The cave is currently entered from its northern entrance, and the immediately
adjacent panel and pillar on the right (western) side expose small flow lobes and
toes as well as the topmost part of an underlying tumulus with a summit inflation
cleft (Fig. 6a). The next lava lobe has filled this inflation cleft, and there is a
succession of several lobes and small toes well displayed in the pillar (Fig. 6a).
The adjacent recessed panel (Fig. 6b) contains a 2.7 m tall figure of dancing Shiva
in which flow lobe contacts and horizontal vesicular banding of the upper crust
can be perceived. Some of the upper lobe parts show vesicular banding, and there
are distinct thin red zones along the boundaries of most of these lobes and toes
(Fig. 6a,c,d), which we ascribe to post-eruption tropical weathering of their once-
glassy rinds.

Fig. 6

A little further into the cave, adjacent to the dancing Shiva panel, another
well-formed tumulus is exposed as vertical sections on N-S and E-W-trending
walls (Fig. 7a,b). The tumulus is overlain by many flow lobes. There is distinct
reddening at most lobe contacts, due to weathering of their chilled glassy rinds.
The poor lighting and state of preservation of the walls, as well as the plaster in
the lower part, hide many features, but inflation clefts at the summit of the
tumulus, filled by overlying lava, are distinct, as is a lava squeeze-up (Fig. 7a,b).
Squeeze-ups are the lava extrusions that often occur from the axial and transverse
clefts of tumuli (Walker 1991), and are good evidence for lava inflation. Bondre et
al. (2004) and Duraiswami et al. (2001, 2002) have illustrated squeeze-ups in
other Deccan pahoehoe flows. An interpretative sketch of the features in Fig. 7a,b
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 12
is given in Fig. 8a,b. Note that though the lobes overlying the tumulus appear to
be horizontal in the N-S face (Fig. 7a,8a), and very gently west-dipping in the E-
W face (Fig. 7b,8b), the attitude of such small lobes of fluid lava strongly depends
on the existing microtopography and has no relationship to the regional dip of the
Elephanta Island lavas, which is 10-12o west-northwest.

Fig. 7, 8

Near this location, a shivalinga (Shiva’s phallic emblem, the principal object
of worship in the cave) is enclosed within a square shrine with four doors. Each
door is guarded by two giants (dvarpalas, meaning guardians of the door),
sometimes with idols of dwarfs representing ganas, god Shiva’s servants (Fig.
9a,b). Small-scale pahoehoe lobes with vesicular banding, pipe vesicles and
reddening along contacts are well seen on these guardian idols (Fig. 9c,d,e). The
same interlobe contacts can be seen in large panels in the cave, such as the one
showing the marriage of Shiva and Parvati (Fig. 9f) and another showing Shiva
(Gangadhar Shiva) bringing the holy river Ganga (Ganges) to Earth from the
heavens via his hairlocks (Fig. 9g). Poor lighting hides some of these interlobe
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 13
contacts, but professional photography with artificial lighting, such as that by
Bharath Ramamrutham in Michell’s (2014) book, shows them very distinctly.

Fig. 9, 10

The sculptures in Cave 1, though some of them have suffered deformities (see
Fig. 6b, 9b), partly from vandalism, are still magnificent 15 centuries after they
were carved out of basalt. The sculptures depict moods of the Hindu god Shiva,
and scenes from Shiva’s life with other gods and beings participating. We have
not illustrated them all here, but only a selection. Interlobe contacts can be seen in
most of these sculptures.
The trademark sculpture of the Elephanta Caves is the justly famous bust of
Shiva called the Trimurti (literally “three idols”). This 6 m high idol carved in a
deep recess at the south end of the N-S axis of the main cave (Fig. 10) is one of
exquisite workmanship and great beauty, and leaves an immensely powerful
spiritual impression. It combines the three forms of Shiva, namely the creator (on
the right of the viewer), the maintainer (middle), and the destroyer (left of the
viewer). Interlobe contacts can be seen in most sculptures in Cave 1, including the
Trimurti. See for example the photograph on p. 19 of Michell (2014), or the wrist
level of the central figure in Fig. 10.

Summary of observations: Typical three-tiered compound pahoehoe flow lobes

and toes, with features such as upper crustal vesicular banding and pipe vesicles
along lobe bases, and tumuli with inflation clefts and squeeze-ups, are well
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 14
exposed in the Elephanta Caves. These tumuli-bearing flows are therefore
hummocky pahoehoe. Formation of these lava flows by endogenous growth
(inflation) is indicated, and simple calculations of tumulus formation indicate
magmatic overpressures comparable to those in Hawaiian and Icelandic lava flows
(Sheth et al., submitted). An interesting and important observation is that, despite
differences in flow volumes of orders of magnitude, between Hawaiian, Icelandic
and Deccan compound pahoehoe flows, their flow morphologies, internal
structures, and even the scale of these structures are identical. Sheth et al.
(submitted) interpret this as indicating similarly low effusion-rate but greatly
longer-lasting eruptions for the Deccan compared to the other two.

Field stop 2: THE RUBBLY PAHOEHOE LAVA FLOW (13.15-14.30 hrs.)

The southeastern part of Elephanta island (Fig. 11) exposes a thick (>40 m)
lava flow of rubbly pahoehoe (Duraiswami et al. 2008; Sheth et al. 2011) with
thick flow-top breccia and fans of columnar joints (Fig. 12). This flow was
quarried during the early to mid-seventies to provide construction material for the
then upcoming major port of Nhava-Sheva 1 km east of the island, but quarrying
was stopped in a few years as it was found detrimental to the historical monument.

Fig. 11, 12

We will examine the internal structure of this rubbly pahoehoe flow,

including its columnar jointing patterns, which are sometimes very complex. It
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 15
has well-developed flow-top breccia and overlies a red bole. At places it also
shows rosettes of columnar joints (radial columnar jointing), sometimes with
cores of flow-top breccia (Fig. 13, 14). How these flow-top breccias get into the
molten interior of the flow, in examples elsewhere in the Deccan Traps, has
remained enigmatic (Sheth et al. 2011) and is currently being investigated further
for the Elephanta example (Sheth et al., in preparation).

Fig. 13, 14

Field stop 3: THE FAULT ZONE (13.15-14.30 hrs.)

This beautifully developed and exposed fault zone is in the rubbly pahoehoe
flow already examined. It is significant, because unambiguous identification of
faults in the Deccan flood basalts has been difficult because of the monotonous
appearance of many basaltic sequences and the lack of marker horizons within
them. The Elephanta Island fault zone provides valuable insights into the structure
and tectonics of the Panvel flexure zone (Samant et al., in press).
The fault zone consists of two distinct faults ~70 m apart. The inner (western)
fault (Fig. 15a,b) is best observed at the southwestern top edge of the abandoned
quarry. It has an overall N25 oE trend, and a steep dip of 65o due southeast (Fig.
15a). It is marked by a spectacular development of slickensides, filled by fine-
grained white calcite and zeolites (slickenzones, Ragan 2009). The slickensided
surface is well exposed for a depth of ~10 m at the top of the quarry (Fig. 15b),
below which it stands largely destroyed by the quarrying.
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 16

Fig. 15, 16

The slickenlines are steeply inclined towards south-southwest on the fault

surface (Fig. 15b, 16a). The slickenlines are smooth to the touch in the downward
direction and rough in the upward direction. This implies that the missing block
(the eastern block now removed by quarrying) moved down relative to the block
west of the fault and forming the quarry face (Doblas 1998; Argles 2010). The
amount of downthrow is not determinable, and probably only a few meters, as the
quarry’s eastern inner wall (seen in shadow in Fig. 15a) also exposes the same
rubbly pahoehoe flow. Fractures striking N20 oE, subparallel to the fault, have
formed in the basalt adjacent to the fault and are filled by thin veins of calcite and
zeolites (Fig. 16b). A large vug, containing centimeter-size crystals of calcite and
smaller crystals of stilbite (Fig. 16c), is also seen in the fault. These are definitely
post-slip and thus indicate at least two phases of mineralization along the fault
planes.
The outer (eastern) fault is seen affecting the rubbly pahoehoe flow on a dirt
path adjacent to the coastal road. The fault surface is again easily identifiable
because of well-developed slickenlines (Fig. 17a-d). However, unlike the western
fault which can be visually continuously traced for ~150 m, most of the eastern
fault has been destroyed by quarrying and it is only exposed discontinuously. At
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 17
one place, a large landslide has produced much bouldery rubble including
boulders with slickensides.

Fig. 17

Unlike the N25oE strike of the western fault, the eastern fault has an overall
strike of N36oE (average of 32 readings ranging between N10 oE and N54oE), and
it dips very steeply (average 73o) due southeast. The slickenlines have a rake of
~68˚ on the western fault, while the rake measured on the eastern fault is ~55 o,
varying somewhat along the exposure but always due southwest (Fig. 17a-d). This
means that the movement along the outer fault was also oblique-slip. Similar to
the western fault, the slickensided faces are always smooth to the touch
downwards and rough upwards, implying that the missing (eastern) block (on
which we stood) has moved relatively down.
A few tens of meters to the north of the outcrops shown in Fig. 17a-d is the
wide entrance to the quarry. A small exposure of red bole occurs below the rubbly
pahoehoe flow at the northern end of this entrance (Fig. 15a). This red bole may
represent the chilled glassy base of the rubbly pahoehoe flow, subsequently
heavily altered (see Duraiswami et al. 2008). Fragments of the red bole also show
the development of slickensides (Fig. 17e). The outer fault therefore passes
through here (see Fig. 15a), and is untraceable further north along the coastal road
owing to dense vegetation and lack of outcrops. The amount of easterly
downthrow along the outer fault is again undeterminable, as the red bole (a
potential marker horizon) is not exposed anywhere within or outside the quarry.
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 18
Both faults may originally have been much longer than their current trace length
of ~150 m, though they are now destroyed by quarrying or hidden by the jungle.
Samant et al. (in press) carried out structural measurements in the fault zone
with the objective to determine the net slip directions on both faults. Initially, the
attitude of the western and the eastern faults were recorded at different locations.
The rake of slickenlines was recorded at a 1 m grid interval on both faults and the
lineations were plotted and contoured with a 15% contour interval on Lambert’s
equal area projection. Contour diagrams of slickenlines for the western and
eastern faults (Fig. 18a,b) show presence of maxima of >45% towards N158 o and
N195o respectively.
The rake measurements were used to calculate the plunge of the
slickenlines using the stereonet, and rose diagrams showing the plunge of these
slickenlines on an equal-area projection were prepared for both faults (Fig. 18c,d).
It is observed that the western fault striking N25oE has a dominant mode of 30%
towards N157o and N162o and a mode of 24% towards N172o. The eastern fault
striking N36oE has a dominant mode of 43% towards N192 o with subordinate
modes of 28% and 10% towards N197 o and N152o respectively. Thus the
slickenlines on the two faults are not oriented downdip, but are steeply to
moderately inclined towards south-southwest or southwest (40o to 75o), suggesting
oblique slip on both faults.

Fig. 18
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 19
Samant et al. (in press) used Fossen’s (2010) method and tangent lineation
diagram to estimate the paleostress conditions that generated these faults. The
western fault indicates a steeply plunging σ1 (70˚/226˚), a gently plunging σ2
(20˚/035˚), and a nearly horizontal σ3 (03˚/126˚). The eastern fault indicates
moderately plunging σ1 (55˚/245˚) and σ2 (32˚/047˚) and a gently plunging σ3
(08˚/142˚). The orientations of the stress axes for both the faults are thus similar.
A kinematic analysis of the fault slip data, which relies on paleostrain analysis
rather than stress (Fossen 2010), was also carried out by Samant et al. (in press).
The obtained orientations of the principal strain axes for the western fault are X
(08˚/131˚), Y (31˚/036˚) and Z (58˚/234˚), while those for the eastern fault are X
(20˚/152˚), Y (34˚/048˚) and Z (49˚/267˚). Since the rubbly pahoehoe flow lacks
structural fabric, layering or rheological variations, it can be considered
homogeneous and mechanically isotropic. Hence the obtained orientations of the
stress axes and the strain axes are consistent with each other for each fault, and the
strain axes are indicative of instantaneous stretching directions.
To summarize, slickenstructures observed on the Elephanta Island faults are
kinematic indicators signifying oblique-slip nature of the faults, with net slip
vectors oriented towards SSE (for the western fault) and SSW (for the eastern
fault). The oblique-slip nature of these faults is further supported by the
southwesterly plunging maximum principal stress for both of them (Samant et al.,
in press).
There is geophysical and geological evidence for neotectonics along the
margin (e.g., Kundu and Matam 2000; Mohan et al. 2007) including the Panvel
flexure zone (Fig. 2). Samant et al. (in press) consider the Elephanta Island fault
zone as part of a system of regional subparallel fault zones including the Alibag-
Uran, Nhava-Sheva and Belpada faults (Ghodke 1978; Dessai and Bertrand 1995).
The combined field data indicate a systematic easterly step-faulting for the Panvel
flexure zone and all faults to be late Deccan age. The Panvel flexure formed at
62.5  0.5 Ma, during the late stages of Deccan flood basalt volcanism (Sheth and
Pande 2014). Therefore the Elephanta Island fault zone arguably formed at ~62.5
Ma and is not a neotectonic feature (Samant et al. in press). The ESE-WNW and
gently plunging σ3 directions determined by Samant et al. (in press) for the
Elephanta Island faults (03˚/126˚ for the western fault and 08˚/142˚ for the eastern
fault) are consistent with an ESE-WNW σ3 direction inferred by Sheth et al.
(2014) from dyke trends in the Ghatkopar-Powai area, 18 km NNW of Elephanta.
This is additional evidence for the late-Deccan age of the Elephanta Island faults.

Field Stop: DYKES AND A SHEET INTRUSION (14.30-15.30 hrs.)

We have observed tens of basaltic and doleritic dykes on Elephanta Island

that are a part of the the coastal dyke swarm of the Deccan Traps (Vanderkluysen
et al. 2011; Sheth et al. 2014). Most have strike directions between NNW-SSE and
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 20
NNE-SSW, and are well exposed in the intertidal zone on the southwestern,
western and northeastern coastal flats. A small number is found within the island’s
interior.
One of these dykes, >2 m thick, striking N355 o and dipping 75 o E, outcrops
beside the paved road following the median gulley to the back of the Elephanta
Caves. This is an ankaramite with a beautiful porphyritic texture and phenocrysts
of clinopyroxene and olivine. Another dyke, N345o-striking, subvertical and ~35
cm wide, is exposed outside Cave 3 (Fig. 19a). The same dyke is observed cutting
the thick flow lobe forming the roof of Cave 1 above the cave’s eastern courtyard,
and on the floor of the same courtyard (Fig. 19b). This dyke can be traced from
the courtyard well into one of the large guardian figures (Fig. 19c,d), where it
forms roughly one half of the idol itself (Fig. 19d,e).

Fig. 19

There is a very good outcrop of a basalt sheet intrusion on the southern coast
(Fig. 20), though exposed only at low tide. This intrusion dips 40o E. It has very
beautiful prismatic jointing. Note that the host lava pile dips 10-12o W, so if it was
restored to a horizontal position, the intrusion would dip 50 o E and is therefore not
a dyke but an inclined sheet.
Several dykes are exposed on the southern coast during low tide, including
twin dykes of picrite (Fig. 21) with abundant olivine phenocrysts and >12 wt.%
whole-rock MgO (V. Patel et al., unpublished data). A large number of samples of
the Elephanta Island flows and dykes are currently being analyzed for major and
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 21
trace element data which, along with Nd-Sr isotopic studies and 40Ar/39Ar
geochronological work, will throw considerable light on the interplay of
volcanism, intrusion and tectonic deformation in this area (Vanit Patel, Ph.D.
thesis in preparation, IIT Bombay).

Fig. 20,21

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Walker (1971), who commented on the prolific development of compound

pahoehoe flows in the Deccan Traps, wrote that the Ajanta Caves in the central
Deccan, famous for their religious sculptures and monuments carved in basalt,
ought also to be famous for the magnificent compound flows themselves. We
have described here the small-scale (Hawaiian-type) compound pahoehoe lava
flows of the Elephanta Caves, ca. mid-6th century A.D. rock-cut caves in basalt on
Elephanta Island in the Mumbai harbour, western India. These caves with
exquisite sculptures dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva receive scores of tourists,
both Indian and international. They are important and famous for students of
history and the arts, and we show that they are important and deserve to be famous
for their geological and volcanological features as well. A large number of
primary structures of inflated compound pahoehoe flows, such as flow lobes and
toes with three-tiered structure, pipe vesicles, tumuli with inflation clefts and
squeeze-ups, and so on, are well-exposed here. The need to conserve this
monument is therefore even greater.
Unfortunately, several major issues adversely affect Elephanta Island and the
Elephanta Caves monument today. These include (i) severe pollution of the
surrounding sea by activities in the busy Mumbai and Nhava-Sheva ports and by
chemical industries that have been established all over the area, (ii) uncontrolled
proliferation of restaurants, beer bars and hawkers, (iii) a huge garbage disposal
problem, and (iv) water seepage in the Caves (see article by Tasneem Mehta,
 ACROFI VI: Field Guide to Elephanta Island, 29/11/2016 22
Convenor of the Mumbai Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and
Cultural Heritage, in the Michell 2014 book).
While the Elephanta Caves are already a protected monument of the
Archaeological Survey of India, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we believe
that the Elephanta Caves and the rest of Elephanta Island could also be developed
as a geopark. We hope that this guidebook will motivate other readers, Indian and
international volcanologists and geologists travelling to western India, as well as
non-geologists, to include the Elephanta Caves in their itinerary.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank our Ph.D. and M.Sc. students (Vanit Patel, Joseph D’Souza, Keegan Carmo
Lobo, Kyle D’Souza, Ishita Pal) for field assistance and scientific discussions.

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***
 Arrival from/Return
to Mumbai

ACROFI VI:

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Elephanta field trip

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29/11/16 es
H. Sheth, H. Samant ov
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FIELD TRAVERSE an
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Elephanta
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Compound flows

Vesicle cylinders

131 m
Squeeze-ups

Western Hill

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Nu
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sd
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es

N return
Quarry and fault zone
Rubbly
Crematorium
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Sheet intrusion flow
500 m

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