Insoluble Residue Analysis of Limestone in Kolhan Group: Tectonic Implications

Abstract

The data from the insoluble residue analysis of nearly ninety eight samples collected from different horizons fully corroborate the petrogenetic evidences obtained from the petrographic and field features of the Kolhan Limestone. High grade limestones containing nearly 10% of insolubles constitute about half of the limestone samples. Only in ten samples, the silt-clay portion dominates over the sand portion and such very high grade pockets (containing at times about 95% CaCO3) on chemical analysis should show almost equal distribution of SiO3 and Al2O3, both together totaling to 5 to 10%. In the remaining forty samples the sand fraction clearly outweighs the silt-clay fraction and these varieties of equally high grade pockets should analyze SiO2 content distinctly greater than the percentage of Al2O3 [1]. The sedimentation history in the Kolhans indicates a change from braided fluvial-ephemeral pattern to a fan delta lacustrine type. Repeated fault-controlled uplift of the source, followed by subsidence, generated multiple fining-upward cycles and a retrograding fan-delta system. The marked variations in thickness of the delta succession and the stacking pattern in different measured profiles reflect the overriding tectonic controls on fan-delta evolution. The accumulated fault displacement in active sectors created higher accommodation and thicker delta sequences. Intermittent uplift of fault blocks exposed fresh bedrock to mechanical weathering, generated a large amount of detritus, and resulted in forced closure of the land locked basin, repeatedly disrupting the fining upward pattern [2]. The controls of source rock lithology or climate were of secondary importance to tectonic effects. Such a retrograding fan delta are rarely reported and may be a stratigraphic response of connected rift basins at the early stage of extension.