Deep Crustal Electrical Signatures of Eastern Dharwar Craton, India

Abstract

Wide band magnetotelluric (MT) investigations were carried out along a profile from Kavali in the east to Anantapur towards west across the Eastern Ghat Granulite Terrain (EGGT), Eastern Dhanvar Craton (EDC) and a Proterozoic Cuddapah Basin. This 300 km long profile was covered with 20 stations at an interval of 12–18 km. The MT data is subjected to robust processing, decomposition and static shift correction before deriving a 2-D model. The model shows a resistive crust (−10,000–30,000 ohm-m) to a depth of 8–10 km towards west of the Cuddapah basin. The mid crust is less resistive (about 500 ohm-m) and the lower crust with a slight increase in resistivity (about 1,500 ohm-m) in the depth range of 20–22 km. The resistivity picture to the east of the Cuddapah basin also showed a different deep crustal structure. The resistivity of upper crust is about 5,000 ohm-m and about 200 ohm-m for mid and lower crust. The sediment resistivity of Cuddapah basin is of the order of 15–20 ohm-m. MT model has shown good correlation with results from other geophysical studies like deep seismic sounding (DSS), gravity and magnetics. The results indicate that the lower crustal layers are of intermediate type showing hydrous composition in Eastern Dhanvar Craton.