Rocks of unusual chemistry in the charnockitic terrains of India, and their geological significance

Abstract

SummaryThe paper reports the occurrence in the 2.9–3.1 B.Y. old charnockitic terrains of Southern India of some basic charnockites that are strikingly similar, chemically, to basaltic komatiite from the 3.4 B.Y. old Barberton greenstone belt of Southern Africa, and suggests that the pre-metamorphic evolution of Archaean charnockitic terrains followed the same trends that characterized the development of Archaean greenstone belts. The main events in the evolution of one such terrain, the ‘Madras granulite belt’, before it was subjected to granulite facies meamorphism some 2.6 B.Y. ago, is outlined in Table 2.