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    Dharwar Craton Brief Geology

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    kailashpadhi74

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    Dharwar Craton Brief Geology

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    Dharwar Craton Brief Geology

    Uploaded by

    kailashpadhi74

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 6

    Dharwar Craton

    Geological Map

    Introduction
     Northern part of South Indian Shield; Archean age
     Made up of GGG trinity: granite-gneiss-greenstone belt. Dominant lithologies: TTG gneiss+ Greenstone/Schist
    Belts+ Sedimentary rocks. Many NNW-SSE trending shear zones.
     WDC-EDC boundary not sharp, transition zone: btwn chitradurga shear zone and closepet granite (2.5Ga;
    Potassic granite)

    Cross Section
    Stratigraphy

    Swami Nath et al (1976) divided Dharwar Craton


    into 2 tectonic blocks: WDC-EDC on the basis of

    1. Character of schist belt


    2. Inter-relationship with surrounding grey
    gneiss
    3. Grade of metamorphism
    4. Temporal Evolution
    WDC vs EDC

    Western Dharwar Craton


     Grouped into 2 orogenic cycles: Sargur Group (3100-3300) and Dharwar SG (2600-2800 Ma)
     WDC mainly consists of Sargur group which acts as basement to DSD. The unconformity is marked by QPC
     Sargur occurs in numerous narrow enclaves towards south of WDC
     PGC occurs in 2 belts: Bababudan-Shimoga belt and Chittradurga-Gadag belt
     Greenstone belts of WDC= supracrustals of mature sediments with subordinate volcanism
     Undergone Barrovian metamorphism
     Western margin= QPC and platformal sed; Eastern margin= tectonised, mylonitised SZ

    Eastern Dharwar Craton


     Characterised by volcanic dominated and sediment poor; Au rich greenstone belt (eg. Kolar belt is considered to
    be type area of EDC greenstone belts).
     Greenstone belts engulfed by younger granites, Granitic intrusion occurs in 2 phases. 1. Syntectonic porphyrytic
    Kavitaal Granitoids (2.5Ga) and 2. Post tectonic fine grained Yellagatti Granite (2.2Ga)
     Preserved as linear arcuate belts
     3 major lithologies of Neoarchean age: Greenstone belts, TTG, Granitoids
     Unlike WDC, basement cover unconformity not present and distinctive stratigraphic divisions not evident
     Linear arrays of greenstone belts; correlated to Chitradurga Group of WDC
     Upper greenschist to amphibolites grade metamorphism
     Eastern margin of schist belts are extremely sheared and basement to these schist belts not recognized as these
    are engulfed on all 3 sides by younger granites.
     Schist belt trends II other granites in EDC II Closepet granite. These parallel plutons are designated as Dharwar
    Batholith. PGC sparsely exposed in EDC.
     TTG suite in EDC: LREE enriched, negative Eu anomaly
     Oceanic depositional environment.
     Buchean (low pressure metamorphism)

    Litho-geochemistry
     Sargur Group
    o Narrow linear belts
    o Type area: Holenarsipur
    o Age: 3300-3100 Ma
    o Amphibolites showing tholeiitic trends. Low K with normative olivine and hypersthene
     Peninsular Gneiss
    o TTG gneiss, aka Fundamental Gneiss. Constitute both ortho and paragneiss
    o Age: 3400-3000Ma
    o Formed by hydrous melting of mafic crust, indicates last stage differentiation of mantle
    o Highly heterogeneous, indicates repeated remobilization and migmatised nature.
    o Contains enclaves of older metavol-sed rocks characterized as Sargur Group (3.2-3.0Ga)
    o PGC+ Sargur=Basement for WDC
    o Metamorphism= Amphibolite Facies
    o Na2O/K2O>1. Fractionated HREE indicates residual garnet/hornblende.
     Greenstone aka Schist Belts
    o Voluminous basalts with subordinate fine clastics (shallow water clastics) and chemical sediments (shelf)
    o Associated with sedimentary rocks like cong, qtzt and lmst

    o Regional Trend: NNW-SSE


    o Grade of metamorphism increases from NS, younging direction towards N
    o Dharwar SG schist belts have evolced in ensialic intracratonic basins (Shimoga, Bababudan, Chitradurga,
    Gadag). High grade supracrustals in this zone: dominated by charnockite and enderbite.
     Dharwar Supergroup: 2 subgroups
    o Bababudan Group/Schist Belt
     Crescent shape
     Rest on basement PGC. Contact is QPC
     Mainly basaltic volcanic, detrital and chemical sediments
     shallow marine environment
     Metabasalts: Low K tholeiite, Flat HREE, moderate LREE enriched indicating mantle source;
    negative Eu anomaly indicating plagioclase fractionation
     Braided fluvial and aerial volcanic deposits
    o Chitradurga Group
     Volcano sedimentary sequence
     Extends from Gadag (N) to Mysore (S)
     Bimodal Volcanism, Pillow Basalts, Greywacke-Argillite suites
     Intruded by chitradurga granite (2600Ma) which completed cratonisation of WDC
     Active Continental Margins or micro-continental arc
     Marine mixed clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks and subaqueous volcanic

    Nellore Khammam Schist belt


     Transitional schist belt at margin of Dharwar craton and EGMB
     oldest greenstone belts in Peninsular India, and is bounded by Proterozoic Eastern Ghats terrain on the east and
    the Proterozoic Cuddapah Supergroup overlying the Archean Dharwar-Bastar craton on the west.
     The NKSB has been divided into upper and lower structural units. The former is dominated by low-grade
    metamorphic rocks, derived from sedimentary rocks, occurring in southwestern part of the belt; the latter
    consists mainly of high-grade metabasaltic rocks distributed in the eastern part.
     Represents a subduction zone (a continent-continent collision zone or a terrain accretion zone)
     Because it has been considered that the Eastern Ghats terrain accreted to the Dharwar-Bastar craton from late
    Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic, the high-pressure Nellore-Khammam metamorphism was probably
    related to the terrain accretion at this period.

    Tectonics
    Life

    Evolution of Dharwar Craton

    A speculative tectonic model for the evolution of Neoarchean granitoids of the EDC in a continental collisional regime
    (not to scale). Among the four variants, TTGs were formed relatively early, followed by sanukiotids, the biotite and
    two-mica granites, and the hybrid granites. (b) & (c) With the available age data, it is not possible to differentiate the
    time lag between the three variants but together they were emplaced between c. 2.56 and 2.52 Ga. Abbreviations: R-
    H Terrain, Ramagiri–Hungund Terrain; Kl-Ht Terrain, Kolar–Hutti Terrain; Kd-Rc Terrain, Kadiri–Raichur Terrain.

    Economic Significance
     Kolar schist belt is tightly folded and Au occurs at hinge
    loads in quartz reefs associated with amphibolites.

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