Abstract
The Palampur metavolcanics (PV) in the northwest Himalaya are part of the Late Archaean (2.5 Ga) Rampur flood basalt province (RFBP) which represents one of the oldest manifestation of worldwide mafic magmatism. The volcanics occur as mafic lava flows with evidence of two phases of deformation. The first phase resulted in recrystallisation which almost completely obliterated the primary mineralogy, and the second phase was of weak cataclasis. Immobile trace element ratios as well as cation percent Al - (Fe - Ti) - Mg indicate that the volcanics are tholeiitic in composition. The chemical characteristics, such as the decoupling between HFS and LIL elements i.e., distinct negative Sr, Nb and Ti anomalies in the double normalisation ratios spiderdiagram together with low Ti/Y and Zr/Y ratios, testify the rocks as low-Ti continental flood basalts. The chemical variations in the volcanics can be related to varying extents of partial melting of the mantle source(s), followed by fractional crystallisation (predominantly olivine and clinopyroxene over plagioclase). Positive correlation between LREE and Fe abundances, Ce-Nd and Y/Nd-Zr/Y data preclude any significant role of crustal contamination in the evolution of their bulk chemistry. The REE data and [Mg]-[Fe] relations rather suggest that the parental magma of the PV derived from non-pyrolitic source(s) which was heterogeneous with respect to enrichment in Zr, LREE and Fe/Mg ratios. Mantle metasomatism appears to be the main process of such source enrichment, possibly caused by the addition of a volatilerich silicate melt phase.[/ p]
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