Geochemical signatures of Mesoproterozoic siliciclastic rocks of the Kaimur Group of the Vindhyan Supergroup, Central India

Abstract

The Upper Kaimur Group of the Vindhyan Supergroup in Central India, primarily consists of three rock types-DhandraulSandstone, Scarp Sandstone and Bijaigarh Shale. Mineralogically and geochemically, they are quartz arenite, sublitharenite to litharenite and litharenite to shale in composition, respectively. The A-CN-K ternary plot and CIA and ICV values suggest that the similar source rocks suffered severe chemical weathering, under a hot-humid climate in an acidic environment with higher PCO2, which facilitated high sediment influx in the absence of land plants. Various geochemical discriminants, elemental ratios like K2O/Na2O, Al2O3/TiO2, SiO2/MgO, La/Sc, Th/Sc, Th/Cr, GdN/YbN and pronounced negative Eu anomalies indicate the rocks to be of post-Archean Proterozoic granitic source, with a minor contribution of granodioritic input, in a passive margin setting. The sediments of the Upper Kaimur Group were probably deposited in the interglacial period in between the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic glacial epochs.