Sedimentation history of the Palaeoproterozoic Dhanjori Formation, Singhbhum, eastern India

Abstract

Abstract The Palaeoproterozoic Dhanjori Formation, eastern India is a terrestrial (dominantly fluvial) volcano-sedimentary succession. Basal conglomerate, coarse-grained sandstone, and shale rests directly on the granite basement and represents the distal fringe of an alluvial fan complex. Sieve, sheet flood, mass flow and alluvial channel and overbank deposits comprise the fan segment. The rest of the formation is entirely constituted by fining upward fluvial cycles. An event of basin tilting and volcanic eruption intervened and resulted a second phase of Dhanjori sedimentation, although the general fluvial depositional framework remained unaltered. The two members of the Dhanjori Formation display different paleocurrent trends related to fluvial response to basin tilting. In the lower member spatial variability in paleocurrent directions occurs as a consequence of fan development. Unlike the first phase, the second phase of fluvial deposition incorporates profuse volcanics and accompanying volcaniclastic deposits. These volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks might have locally blocked the river courses resulting in short-lived lacustrine deposition. Composition of the volcanics varies upward from ultramafic to mafic. The Dhanjori volcanism took place in an intracontinental rift setting as is evident from the interbedded terrestrial deposits. Interbedded volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks in different stratigraphic levels suggest episodic volcanic eruption. A semiarid paleoclimate is proposed and is consistent with development of an alluvial fan comprised of coarse clastic deposits.