The Manamedu Complex: Geochemical constraints on Neoproterozoic suprasubduction zone ophiolite formation within the Gondwana suture in southern India

Abstract

Abstract Ophiolites provide important clues on the role of subduction and have been widely investigated to reconstruct the history of development and closure of ocean basins in the geological past. The Manamedu Complex within the Palghat-Cauvery Suture Zone in southern India comprises metamorphosed equivalents of the following lithological units: (1) an ultramafic group comprising dominantly of pyroxenite and highly altered dunite, locally preserving cumulate textures; (2) a gabbroic suite consisting of gabbro, gabbro norite, and anorthosite; (3) sheeted mafic dykes of amphibolite to meta-andesite categories, (4) plagiogranite veins and pools; and (5) a thin layer of ferruginous cherts. Cr vs. Y, V vs. Cr, Ti vs. Zr, TiO 2 –MnO–P 2 O 5 and Fe 2 O 3 –Na 2 O + K 2 O–MgO plots of the gabbros and mafic dyke assemblages show that these are related to island arc tholeiite (IAT) group with tholeiitic to calcalkaline signatures. Chondrite normalized REE patterns of mafic dykes do not show any pronounced fractionation and display slight positive Eu anomalies. The normalized MORB plots of the mafic dykes show depletion of HFSE (negative Nb, Ti, Ta, Hf anomalies) and enrichment of LFSE (positive K, Ba, Rb, Th). The petrological and geochemical characteristics of the major lithological units in Manamedu Complex suggest that these rocks represent the remnants of an oceanic crust, developed from mantle-derived arc magmas probably within a suprasubduction zone tectonic setting. From the geological set up and our field observations, we infer that these rocks were obducted on to the continental margin with the closure of an ocean basin during the Neoproterozoic. The Manamedu Complex may represent the remnants of the Mozambique Ocean crust developed during Rodinia breakup and which was destroyed during the amalgamation of the Gondwana supercontinent in the Latest Neoproterozoic-Cambrian.