Deep crustal structure of the Indian shield from joint inversion of P wave receiver functions and Rayleigh wave group velocities: Implications for Precambrian crustal evolution

Abstract

The S wave velocity structure of the crust and uppermost mantle of the Indian shield has been investigated by jointly inverting P wave receiver functions and Rayleigh wave group velocities at 38 broadband stations in the subcontinent. The Indian shield is an amalgamation of several terranes of Archean and Proterozoic age that were partly flooded by Deccan Trap volcanism during Cenozoic times and that make up a natural laboratory for assessing models of Precambrian crustal evolution. Our results reveal significant variations in crustal thickness and deep crustal velocities: 45–50 km thick under the Archean West Dharwar craton and Southern Granulite Terrane, with lower crustal velocities around 4.1 km/s; 32–35 km thick beneath the Archean East Dharwar and Bundelkhand cratons, with lower crustal velocities around 3.8–3.9 km/s; 50–65 km thick under the Proterozoic Bhandara craton, with lower crustal velocities around 4.2–4.3 km/s; and ∼55 km thick under the Proterozoic Aravalli‐Delhi belt, with lower crustal velocities around 4.2 km/s. S velocities in the 4.1–4.3 km/s range in the deep crust can be attributed to mafic lithologies, suggesting there has been no secular change in the Precambrian evolution of the south Indian shield. Moreover, pervasive mafic dike swarming throughout the Indian shield suggests that the layer of mafic cumulates is 2.5–1.6 Ga old and that it delaminated from some Archean terranes. Our interpretation is that mafic underplating of the terranes making up the Indian shield occurred in Proterozoic times and that a refractory root developed under the Archean terranes after the Proterozoic event.