In the western part of the North Singhbhum fold belt near Lotapahar and Sonua the remobilized basement block of Chakradharpur Gneiss is overlain by a metasedimentary assemblage consisting of quartz arenite, conglomerate, slate-phyllite, greywacke with volcanogenic material, volcaniclastic rocks and chert. The rock assemblage suggests an association of volcanism, turbidite deposition and debris flow in the basin. The grade of metamorphism is very low, the common metamorphic minerals being muscovite, chlorite, biotite and stilpnomelane. Three phases of deformation have affected the rocks. The principal D1 structure is a penetrative planar fabric, parallel to or at low angle to bedding. No D1 major fold is observed and the regional importance of this deformation is uncertain. The D2 deformation has given rise to a number of northerly plunging major folds on E-W axial planes. These have nearly reclined geometry and theL₂lineation is mostly downdip on theS₂surface, though some variation in pitch is observed. The morphology of D2 planar fabric varies from slaty cleavage/schistosity to crenulation cleavage and solution cleavage. D3 deformation is weak and has given rise to puckers and broad warps on schistosity and bedding. The D2 major folds south of Lotapahar are second order folds in the core of the Ongarbira syncline whose easterly closure is exposed east of the mapped area. Photogeological study suggests that the easterly and westerly closing folds together form a large synclinal sheath fold. There is a continuity of structures from north to south and no mylonite belt is present, though there is attenuation and disruption along the fold limbs. Therefore, the Singhbhum shear zone cannot be extended westwards in the present area. There is no evidence that in this area a discontinuity surface separates two orogenic belts of Archaean and Proterozoic age.

The Upper Permian Bijori Formation of the Satpura Gondwana basin comprising fineto coarse-grained sandstone, carbonaceous shale/mudstone and thin coal bands was previously interpreted as the deposits of meandering rivers. The present study documents abundance of wave ripples, hummocky and swaley cross-stratification and combined flow bedforms in the Bijori Formation, suggesting that a significant part of the formation was deposited in a wave-agitated environment. Evidence of near-emergent depositional conditions provided by repeated occurrence of rootlet beds and hydromorphic paleosols, local flooding surfaces denoting rapid fluctuation of water level, occurrences of temnospondyl vertebrate fossils, and absence of tidal signatures and marine fossils suggest a lacustrine rather than marine depositional regime. Five facies associations recognised within the Bijori Formation are inferred to represent fluvial channels and associated floodplains (FA1), lake shorelines (FA2), subaqueous distributary channels and associated levees (FA3), waveand storm-affected delta front (FA4), and open lacustrine/lower shoreface (FA5) deposits. The planoconcave fluvial channel-fill sandbodies with unidirectional cross-beds are clearly distinguishable from the delta front bars that show a convexo-plan or bi-convex sandbody geometry and dominance of wave and combined flow bedforms. Some of the distributary channels record interaction of fluvial and wave-dominated basinal processes. Major distributary sandbodies show a north to northwest flow direction while wave-affected delta front sandbodies show very complex flow patterns reflecting interaction between fluvial discharge and wave processes. Wave ripple crest trends show that the lake shoreline had an overall east-northeast to west-southwest orientation. The lack of documented contemporaneous lacustrine or marine sediments in the Satpura Gondwana basin posed a major problem of basin-scale palaeogeographic reconstruction. The existence of Bijori lake solves the problem and the lake is inferred to have acted as repository for the contemporaneous alluvial drainage. Development of the large Bijori lake body implies generation of accommodation space exceeding the rate of sediment supplied and thus represents locus of high tectonic subsidence. Transition of fluvial sediments with red mudstone and calcareous soil profile in the lower part of the succession to carbonaceous shale and coal-bearing lacustrine sediments in the upper part, denote a change from a warm semi-arid climate with seasonal rainfall to a more humid one.