Late Precambrian alkaline plutons in southwest India: Geochronologic and rare-earth element constraints on Pan-African magmatism

Abstract

The Precambrian granulite facies terrain of southwestern India is intruded by a suite of alkali granite and syenite plutons. RbSr whole-rock isotope data for the Angadimogar syenite (AM) and the Peralimala alkali granite (PM), belonging to this suite, define isochron ages of 638 ± 28 and 750 ± 40 Ma, respectively, with initial 87 Sr 86 Sr ratios of 0.7032 ± 0.0008 and 0.7031 ± 0.0008, respectively. These age data, together with data from previous studies, demonstrate long-lived magmatic activity in the time span from the late Proterozoic to the early Palaeozoic, broadly contemporaneous with Pan-African events in other fragments of the Gondwana supercontinent. REE patterns are reported for four plutons of this Pan-African alkali granite-syenite suite: Chengannoor (CR), Vellingiri (VL) and the two dated intrusions (AM and PM). CR and AM are characterised by high total REE, strongly LREE-enriched patterns with no Eu anomaly, associated with low Sr, Rb, U and Th. K 2O, K 2O Na 2O , K 2O MgO and the agpaitic index are lower for these plutons as compared to the other two. The PM and VL intrusions have lower total REE and less strongly fractionated REE patterns, associated with high K 2O, K 2O Na 2O and K 2O MgO ratios, high Sr and Rb levels, but low U and Th. The geochemical patterns in these rocks compare them well with A-type granites and their tectonic relations assign affinities to magmatism of within-plate type. The alkaline magmatism manifests an extensional phase associated with the pre-rift tectonics of the Indian continent within the Gondwana assemblage. A petrogenetic model is development for these plutons, involving decompression-induced melting of deep crustal source materials characterised by low initial 87 Sr 86 Sr and high K Rb ratios.