Amiya K. Samal

Geochemical characteristics and petrogenesis of four Palaeoproterozoic mafic dike swarms and associated large igneous provinces from the eastern Dharwar craton, India

Palaeoproterozoic mafic dike swarms of different ages are well exposed in the eastern Dharwar craton of India. Available U-Pb mineral ages on these dikes indicate four discrete episodes, viz. (1) ~2.37 Ga Bangalore swarm, (2) ~2.21 Ga Kunigal swarm, (3) ~2.18 Ga Mahbubnagar swarm, and (4) ~1.89 Ga Bastar-Dharwar swarm. These are mostly sub-alkaline tholeiitic suites, with ~1.89 Ga samples having a slightly higher concentration of high-field strength elements than other swarms with a similar MgO contents. Mg number (Mg#) in the four swarms suggest that the two older swarms were derived from primary mantle melts, whereas the two younger swarms were derived from slightly evolved mantle melt. Trace element petrogenetic models suggest that magmas of the ~2.37 Ga swarm were generated within the spinel stability field by ~15–20% melting of a depleted mantle source, whereas magmas of the other three swarms may have been generated within the garnet stability field with percentage of melting lowering from the ~2.21 Ga swarm (~25%), ~2.18 Ga swarm (~15–20%), to ~1.89 Ga swarm (~10–12%). These observations indicate that the melting depth increased with time for mafic dike magmas. Large igneous province (LIP) records of the eastern Dharwar craton are compared to those of similar mafic events observed from other shield areas. The Dharwar and the North Atlantic cratons were probably together at ~2.37 Ga, although such an episode is not found in any other craton. The ~2.21 Ga mafic magmatic event is reported from the Dharwar, Superior, North Atlantic, and Slave cratons, suggesting the presence of a supercontinent, ‘Superia’. It is difficult to find any match for the ~2.18 Ga mafic dikes of the eastern Dharwar craton, except in the Superior Province. The ~1.88–1.90 Ga mafic magmatic event is reported from many different blocks, and therefore may not be very useful for supercontinent reconstructions.

ArcGIS studies and field relationships of Paleoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms from the south of Devarakonda area, Eastern Dharwar Craton, southern India: Implications for their relative ages

Google Earth Image and cross-cutting field relationships of distinct Paleoproterozoic mafic dykes from south of Devarakonda area in the Eastern Dharwar Craton has been studied to establish relative emplacement ages. The Devarakonda, covering an area of ∼700 km2, shows spectacular cross-cutting field relationships between different generations of mafic dykes, and is therefore selected for the present study. Although some recent radiometric age data are available for distinct Paleoproterozoic mafic dykes from the Eastern Dharwar Craton, there is no analogous age data available for the study area. Therefore, relative age relationships of distinct mafic dykes have been established for the study area using cross-cutting field relationships and GIS techniques, which shows slightly different picture than other parts of the Eastern Dharwar Craton. It is suggested that NE–SW trending mafic dykes are youngest in age (probably belong to ∼1.89 Ga dyke swarm), whereas NNW–SSE trending mafic dykes have oldest emplacement age. Further, the NNW–SSE mafic dykes are older to the other two identified mafic dyke swarms, i.e., WNW–ESE (∼2.18 Ga) and N–S trending (∼2.21 Ga) mafic dyke swarms, as dykes of these two swarms cross-cut a NNW–SSE dyke. It provides an evidence for existence of a new set of mafic dykes that is older to the ∼2.21 Ga and probably younger to the ∼2.37 Ga swarm. Present study also supports existence of two mafic dyke swarms having similar trend (ENE–WSW to NE–SW) but emplaced in two different ages (one is ∼2.37 Ga and other ∼1.89 Ga).