Precambrian mafic magmatism in the Indian shield: Retrospect and prospect

Abstract

B.P. Radhakrishna (2008) has rightly pointed out that India compared to its size presents a variety of magmatic rocks ranging from the most ancient up to the most recent but these have not been studied in adequate detail for a complete picture of magmatism in India. Amongst these magmatic manifestations, the mafic magmatism manifested during the Precambrian time is most demanding. But before going to any consequential approach to study such rocks it is essential to have a full background of the subject. Considering these aspects it is planned to bring out a distinctive volume on the Precambrian mafic magmatism in the Indian shield. We are extremely thankful to the Geological Society of India for considering this topic suitable for publication as a special issue of the Journal of the Geological Society of India. It was not possible to cover all the individual Precambrian mafic magmatism reported from the different parts of the Indian shield (cratonic) areas and the Himalayan region in one issue, hence two special volumes of the Journal of the Geological Society of India (JGSI) have been planned. Total of fifteen papers were accepted for these two volumes. These accepted papers are divided into three sections: Section I: Overview on the Precambrian mafic magmatism in the Indian shield ‐ contains three papers. Section II: Precambrian mafic magmatism in the northern part of the Indian shield and the Himalaya‐ contains four papers. Section III: Precambrian mafic magmatism in the central, eastern and southern parts of the Indian shield ‐ contains eight papers. Sections I and II are already published as Part ‐ I in the July 2008 issue (Volume 72, Number 1) of the JGSI. This is the second part of these two special issues presenting section III. This section has eight papers describing