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• Lineament trends become WNW-ESE in the northern Eastern Ghats Province (EGP). • D 1 and D 2 granulite facies fabrics in the EGP are generally parallel to lineaments. • D 3 extensional deformation in amphibolite facies rotated early fabrics. • D 4 dextral shearing along Mahanadi Shear Zone operated in greenschist facies. • D 3 extension operated between 730 and 680 Ma. South of the MSZ that cuts across the Eastern Ghats Province (EGP) of India, lineament trends and early granulite facies fabrics rotate from NNE-SSW in the south towards the WNW-ESE striking, northerly dipping Mahanadi Shear Zone (MSZ) in the north. Using field, microstructural and EBSD techniques, we demonstrate that D 1 and D 2 planar fabrics are reoriented by an E-W trending, northerly dipping D 3 extensional shear zone that has a subordinate sinistral, strike-slip component. D 3 microstructures are pervasive, with quartz and feldspar microstructures characteristic of amphibolite facies metamorphism. Monazite chemical ages from the D 3 shear zone yield ages in the range 730–680 Ma. The MSZ, representing D 4 deformation in the area, is a predominantly dextral strike-slip deformation. During D 4 , microstructures evolve exclusively through plastic deformation of quartz and culminates in S 4 mylonitic fabric formation in high D 4 strains zones under greenschist facies conditions. These microstructures are restricted to the MSZ and localized high D 4 strain zones, unlike the D 3 microstructures. We conclude that the earlier, post-granulite extensional deformation D 3 , and not the MSZ, was responsible for the swing in lineament and fabric trends in the northern EGP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]