monazite dating of granitic gneisses and leucogranites from the kerala khondalite belt southern india implications for late proterozoic crustal evolution in east gondwana two stages of granitic magmatism occurred during the pan african evolution of the kerala khondalite belt kkb in southern india granitic gneisses were derived from porphyritic granites which intruded prior to the main stage of deformation and peak metamorphism subsequently leucogranites and leucotonalites formed during fluid absent melting and intruded the gneiss sequences monazites from granitic gneisses leucogranites and a leucotonalite were investigated by conventional u pb and electron microprobe dating in order to distinguish the different stages of magma emplacement u pb monazite dating yielded a wide range of ages between 590 520 ma which are interpreted to date high grade metamorphism rather than magma emplacement the results of this study indicate that the kkb experienced protracted heating 50 ma at temperatures above 750 800 c during the pan african orogeny the tectonometamorphic evolution of the study area is comparable to southern madagascar which underwent a similar sequence of events earlier than the kkb the results of this study further substantiate previous assertions that the timing of high grade metamorphism in east gondwana shifted from west to east during the late proterozoic

crustal evolution in south india constraints from nd isotopes nd isotope analyses from a range of lithologies including charnockites metasediments and granitoids that comprise the high grade terrain of south india define contrasting age provinces north of the palghat cauvery shear zone the karnataka craton and the granulite blocks of nilgiri and madras are characterized by model nd ages from 3 4 to 2 4 ga with significant crustal growth during the late archean south of the palghat cauvery shear zone a pan african granulite facies event resulted in sm nd fractionation as observed in several incipient charnockite localities model nd age calculations that allow for sm nd fractionation at 550 ma yield ages in the range of 2 9 to 1 3 ga this range compares closely with published model nd ages from the high grade terrain of sri lanka mid proterozoic crustal growth 1 1 ga observed in the vijayan complex of sri lanka may have provided source material for metasediments characterized by young model nd ages in southern peninsular india the palghat cauvery shear z

u pb single zircon pb evaporation and sm nd isotopic study of a granulite domain in se madagascar madagascar is a poorly known precambrian domain at the eastern border of the mozambique belt strongly affected by the pan african orogeny this large island represents a key part of gondwanaland and the accurate dating of the major metamorphic event is critical for the reconstruction of that supercontinent in the southeastern zone of the island metamorphism has reached high temperature and low pressure conditions 850 c and 5 kbar with moderate retrogression a u pb conventional multigrain single zircon stepwise pb evaporation and sm nd geochronological study on meta felsic rocks has shown that basement of at least lower proterozoic age was strongly metamorphosed around 570 580 ma this tectometamorphic event nearly obliterated any pre pan african zircon isotopic memory the granulite facies metamorphism is associated with the syn metamorphic emplacement of the anosyan charnock ites and granites a strong channelized fluid contribution at 545 ma has produced the re crystallization of biotite apatite

cordierite gneisses of southern kerala india petrology fluid inclusions and implications for crustal uplift history the cordierite bearing gneisses occurring as elongate patches in an 8 to 10 km wide zone along the achankovil fault lineament at the northern margin of the southern kerala crustal segment represent an important lithological unit in the archaean granulite terrane of south india the textural relationships in these rocks are consistent with the following main reactions 1 garnet quartz cordierite hypersthene 2 garnet sillimanite quartz cordierite 3 hypersthene sillimanite quartz cordierite 4 sillimanite spinel cordierite corundum and 5 biotite quartz sillimanite cordierite k feldspar many of the mineral associations and reaction textures including the remarkable preservation of symplectites are indicative of partial replacement of high pressure assemblages by cordierite bearing lower pressure ones during an event of rapid decompression temperature estimates from coexisting mineral phases show 710 garnet biotite 791 garnet cordierite and 788 c garnet orthopyroxene pressure estimates from mineral assemblages range from 5 4 to 7 kb detailed fluid inclusion studies in quartz associated with cordierite show high density co2 0 80 0 95 g cm3 as the dominant fluid phase with traces of probable ch4 in the sillimanite bearing rocks the isochore for the higher density fluid inclusions defines a pressure of 5 5 kb the fracture bound co2 and co2 h2o ch4 inclusions indicate simultaneous entrapment at 400 c and 1 7 kb in the cordierite hypersthene assemblage and 340 c and 1 2 kb in the cordierite sillimanite assemblage the p t path delineated from combined solid and fluid data corresponds to the piezothermic array of the gneisses and is characterized by t convex nature indicative of rapid and virtually isothermal crustal uplift probably aided by extensional tectonics

geochemistry of high grade supracrustal rocks from the kerala khondalite belt and adjacent massif charnockites south india abstract the kerala khondalite belt kkb comprises a suite of supracrustal rocks of probable proterozoic age that was metamorphosed to the granulite facies the kkb consists of an interlayered sequence of 1 garnet biotite orthopyroxene graphite gneisses 2 khondalites graphite garnet biotite sillimanite cordierite gneisses and 3 cordierite gneisses garnet biotite cordierite orthopyroxene as well as less abundant mafic granulites calc silicates and quartzites petrologic and geochemical data suggest that these rocks were originally arkosic and argillaceous sediments possibly accompanied by felsic volcanic rocks along with minor intercalations of basalts carbonates and quartz rich sandstones the ree patterns of the metasediments are typically lree enriched with large negative eu anomalies indicating a continental provenance the major and trace element compositions of some of the arkosic rocks of the kkb resemble those of the massif charnockites that bound the kkb to the north which suggests that the massif charnockites may have been the source of some of the kkb sediments modern day analogues of the pelite arkose lithologic association observed in the kkb occur in intracratonic rifts and rifted continental margins this association is clearly distinct from the graywacke mafic volcanic association found in the southern indian greenstone belts and many other lower grade archean sedimentary sequences the kkb supracrustals show both lithologic and chemical similarities to many proterozoic supracrustal successions

structural styles and decoupling in stratigraphic sequences with double decollements during thin skinned contractional tectonics insights from numerical modelling abstract six series of particle based numerical experiments were performed to simulate thin skinned contractional tectonics in stratigraphic sequences with double decollements during horizontal shortening the models were assigned with varying rock competence depth and thickness of the upper decollement which resulted in significantly different styles of deformation and decoupling characteristics above and below the upper decollement the models composed of the least competent material produced distributed sinusoidal detachment folds with many shallow structures profoundly decoupled from the deep seated folds the models composed of a more competent material are dominated by faulted box folds with minor disharmonic folds developed in their limbs in contrast the results of models composed of the most competent material are characterised by localised piggyback thrusts fault bend folds and pop up structures with tensile fractures developed in fold hinges depth of the upper decollements also plays an important role in controlling structural decoupling i e the shallower the upper decollements the higher the degree of decoupling becomes thicker upper decollements can provide sufficient mobile materials to fill fold cores and contribute to the formation of secondary disharmonic folds helping enhance structural decoupling our modelling results are comparable to the structural features exhibited in the dezful embayment of the zagros fold and thrust belt with the miocene gachsaran formation acting as the shallow upper decollement and the fars with the triassic dashtak formation as its intermediate decollement this study demonstrates that rock competence depth and thickness of the upper decollements can jointly affect the structural styles and decoupling our modelling results are instructive for structural interpretation of deep zones in fold and thrust belts that exhibit distinct structural decoupling features

electron microprobe dating of monazites from high grade gneisses and pegmatites of the kerala khondalite belt southern india monazites of five samples one leptynitic garnet biotite gneiss one khondalite one augen gneiss and two pegmatites from the central and northern part ponmudi unit of the kerala khondalite belt kkb in southern india were analyzed with the electron microprobe dating technique monazites in the augen gneiss and the pegmatites yield grain sizes between 200 800 m th abundances are rather low 10 wt and the distribution of th u and pb within single grains is fairly homogeneous contrasting to this monazites in the leptynitic gneiss and the khondalite are small 150 m they often display very complex th u pb patterns and contain high th concentrations up to 20 wt the statistical treatment of individual ages from the investigated samples revealed three populations of lower proterozoic 1 9 ga upper proterozoic 580 ma and ordovician age 470 ma as well as mid proterozoic ages between 0 8 1 7 ga which are not regarded to be of geological significance lower proterozoic ages are preserved in the cores of monazites from leptynitic gneisses and khondalites they fairly agree with sm nd model ages for similar rocks of the kkb and give a minimum age for first monazite growth or complete homogenization the prominent pan african population with mean values between 540 and 580 ma is present in the leptynitic gneiss the khondalite and the augen gneiss and in line with published isotope ages for the kkb the ordovician population finally marks the emplacement of granitic pegmatites subsequent to the pan african high grade metamorphic event there is an obvious discrepancy between khondalites and leptynitic gneisses on the one hand and augen gneisses on the other concerning the presence of lower proterozoic ages while these are abundant in the former often rimmed by upper proterozoic ages they are completely absent in the latter it appears unlikely that lower proterozoic ages were completely reset during a pan african event exclusively in the augen gneisses while they were preserved in leptynitic gneisses and khondalites it is further concluded that the augen gneisses are of magmatic origin and were derived from porphyritic granites thus the upper proterozoic age of 605 37 ma calculated for the investigated sample approximates the time of magma emplacement which slightly precedes the peak stage of pan african high grade metamorphism in the kkb and of monazite crystallization from the granitic melt a characteristic feature of the investigated monazites is the resetting of lower proterozoic and pan african ages to significantly younger values due to partial pb loss monazites not shielded by other minerals e g garnet suffered selective mobilization of pb along fractures or at their rims while th and u concentrations remained almost unchanged the results presented in this study indicate that this was mainly due to fluid rock interaction it is concluded that thermal diffusion of pb even at the suggested temperatures of 900 c only had minor influence on the th u pb composition in monazite and that the closure temperature for this system must be significantly higher than previously assumed 750 c

interpretation of monazite ages obtained via in situ analysis abstract monazite grains from nepal and vietnam were compositionally analyzed with an electron microprobe and dated th pb with an ion microprobe five sources of uncertainty explain age distributions from single samples that appear inconsistent with a single population 1 pb loss due to diffusion 2 dissolution reprecipitation reactions along a retrograde path 3 analytical uncertainties 4 analyses of overlapping age domains and 5 episodic monazite growth the influence of these factors is sample dependent but can be evaluated 1 using peak metamorphic conditions and x ray element maps to assess potential polymetamorphism or retrogression 2 obtaining other geochronologic data including previous work or dating other minerals in the sample 3 evaluating any method related uncertainty including counting statistics for electron microprobe analyses or calibration reproducibility for ion microprobe analyses and 4 ascertaining the potential growth mechanism of the monazite grain including dissolution of detrital grains or production from rare earth element ree oxide or allanite chemical contents of monazite grains analyzed in this study fail to reflect timing information or mineral growth mechanisms instead of relying on monazite chemical composition major mn fe mg ca and minor y element garnet zoning patterns and peak p t conditions should be used to facilitate age interpretation this thermobarometric data records the sample s thermal history changes in garnet growth rate and mechanisms and accessory mineral breakdown

dextral pan african shear along the southwestern edge of the achankovil shear belt south india constraints on gondwana reconstructions the achankovil shear belt of the southern indian peninsular shield is prominent on landsat images it coincides with the boundary between charnockites of the madurai block to the north and khondalites of the trivandrum block to the south and with a major change in the aeromagnetic pattern that can be traced across southern india field investigations reveal a major shear zone along the southwestern edge of the achankovil shear belt the tenmala shear zone rocks in the tenmala shear zone include charnockite garnet biotite gneiss garnet sillimanite gneiss cordierite gneiss and granite kinematic indicators include stretched and asymmetric garnet feldspar and quartz porphyroclasts shear bands asymmetric folds extensional and contractional composite structures hook folds on rotated and deformed gash veins and lineations kinematic analysis of these features along 60 km of the shear zone indicates primarily dextral shear with a minor component of reverse shear textures as well as mineral assembl

electron microprobe observations of pb diffusion in metamorphosed detrital monazites electron microprobe analyses have been made on monazite grains from paragneiss samples in the andalusite sillimanite transition 620 15 c and sillimanite orthoclase 680 15 c zones of the cretaceous ryoke metamorphic belt southwest japan monazites from pelitic gneisses are of metamorphic origin euhedral to subhedral and chronologically homogeneous giving chemical th u total pb isochron chime ages of 98 8 3 3 98 0 3 2 ma two psammitic gneisses of individual metamorphic grade contain both metamorphic monazite grains and detrital ones as old as ca 1700 ma most detrital monazite grains are heterogeneous in the tho2 and uo2 concentrations and have multiple or single rims as young as ca 100 ma several detrital monazite grains are well rounded in form exhibit homogeneous th and u distributions and show a pb diffusion profile in the margin the width of the diffusion zones is approximately constant throughout grains from each psammitic gneiss 18 22 m for 620 c and 48 58 m for 680 c assuming the isothermal diffusion of pb from homogeneous monazite spheres during a 5 ma duration of peak metamorphism we obtain diffusion coefficients of 1 9 0 3 10 21 and 1 5 0 3 10 20 cm2 s at 620 c and 680 c respectively these data derive an activation energy of 2 44 2 85 1 26 105 j mol and a frequency factor of 3 4 10 7 8 5 10 12 2 2 107 cm2 s taking account of uncertainties of 15 c in the temperatures and of 20 in the diffusion coefficients the diffusion parameters obtained from natural samples in this study provide a reliable insight into the closure temperature for pb in monazite that has been poorly understood so far

metamorphic p t conditions of the kerala south india khondalite belt a granulite facies supracrustal terrain the khondalite belt of southernmost india is an immense section of granulite facies metasediments of probable early proterozoic age dominant rock types are migmatized khondalites garnet sillimanite pm cordierite metapelites acid biotite garnet graphitic gneisses and charnockites quartzofeldspathic gneisses with orthopyroxene throughout much of southern kerala the biotite gneisses are in a state of arrested conversion to charnockite partially decrepitated co 2 inclusions in quartz at the ponmudi mixed biotite gneiss charnockite quarry have significant ch 4 and or n 2 and are texturally late the probable sequence of events in metasediments was 1 migmatization 2 charnockite formation 3 symplectitic cordierite formation and 4 late co 2 entrapment phase equilibrium diagrams of anatexis in aluminous systems and fe mg exchange between garnet and biotite indicate metamorphic temperatures of 650 850 c for the khondalites temperatures based on garnet orthopyroxene

upb geochronology of the sri lankan basement abstract u pb ages of zircons and monazites from ortho and paragneisses representing the major crystalline basement units of sri lanka establish a new geochronological framework which is consistent with previously published work on sm nd model ages rb sr whole rock ages and u pb mineral ages in the highland complex three newly dated orthogneisses one previously dated by baur et al 1991 and one dated by kroner and williams 1992 all intruded 1 85 to 1 9 ga ago this widespread intrusion event occurred soon after the end of sediment deposition which is estimated at 1 9 to 2 0 ga using upper intercept ages of zircons from metapelites in the highland complex within the boundaries of this complex established by sm nd model age mapping milisenda et al 1994 only one orthogneiss has been found which is substantially younger than 1 8 ga this is the metatonalite from polonnaruwa which intruded 670 ma ago baur et al 1991 three orthogneisses from the vijayan complex which lies to the east of the highland complex yield similarly consistent crystallization ages of 1023 8 1016 28 and 1033 121 ma in the wanni complex which lies to the west of the highland complex a sillimanite bearing gneiss which is apparently of metasedimentary origin but contains zircons of igneous appearance yields a primary crystallization age of 793 4 ma consistent with a previously dated orthogneiss from kurunegala of 770 ma baur et al 1991 in addition single zircon data by kroner et al 1994 indicate primary crystallization ages of 1 0 to 1 1 ga for orthogneisses from the vavuniya charnockite province which is considered to be part of the wanni complex these results confirm the age contrast between the highland complex on the one hand and the vijayan complex and wanni complex on the other as previously inferred from sm nd model ages milisenda et al 1988 1994 post tectonic granitoids and pegmatites intruded throughout all three complexes 550 ma ago the age of regional high grade metamorphism mostly granulite facies in the highland complex mostly amphibolite facies in the vijayan complex and both granulite and amphibolite facies in the wanni complex is constrained to be less than 670 ma the primary crystallization age of the polonnaruwa metatonalite it is more closely defined by lower intercept zircon ages which include one concordant age of 608 4 ma and one discordant but well defined age of 611 23 ma and by a nearly concordant monazite age of 592 2 ma this indicates that peak metamorphic conditions occurred 610 ma ago numerous other lower intercept ages between 590 and 550 ma and post tectonic intrusion ages of 550 ma set a lower age limit for high grade conditions and deformation the temperature history between 610 and 550 ma is not yet well resolved and it is not clear whether there was a separate thermal event 550 ma ago previously published whole rock rb sr and sm nd isochrons for gneisses from the highland complex yielding ages of 2 ga and greater and previously interpreted to date the time of granulite grade metamorphism must be reinterpreted in the light of the new data presented here as well as other recently published results e g burton and o nions 1990b baur et al 1991 and in view of the accumulated evidence for very limited element mobility during high grade metamorphism these whole rock ages are in fact identical or close to the ages of primary granitoid emplacement rather than the age of granulite facies metamorphism

precambrian tectonics and crustal evolution in south india about 3 4 ga ago voluminous calc alkaline magmas represented by the granitoid gneisses of southern india were emplaced into a now poorly preserved non continental crust unstable ensialic basins initiated at about 3 0 ga were filled with volcanic and sedimentary rocks up to about 2 6 ga this basement cover sequence was deformed at the close of the archaean first by northward accretion and thickening of several crustal slabs formerly separated by prisms of stable shelf sediments structures produced by this episode were refolded and dislocated by large n s strike slip shear belts to impart intense steep planar fabrics to large volumes of the crust fluids rich in co possibly derived from sedimentary material driven beneath the crustal slabs by the thickening mechanism purged the deep crust of h o to form granulites upward migration of hot h o rich fluids encouraged partial melting at intermediate crustal levels these late archaean tectonic and thermal events began soon after the close of basin f

arrested charnockite formation in southern india and sri lanka arrested prograde charnockite formation in quartzofeldspathic gneisses is widespread in the high grade terrains of southern india and sri lanka two major kinds of orthopyroxene producing reactions are recognized breakdown of calcic amphibole by reaction with biotite and quartz in tonalitic granitic gray gneiss produced the regional orthopyroxene isograd manifest in charnockitic mottling and veining of mixed facies exposures as at kabbal karnataka and in the kurunegala district of the sri lanka central highlands chemical and modal analyses of carefully chosen immediately adjacent amphibole gneiss and charnockite pairs show that the orthopyroxene is produced by an open system reaction involving slight losses of cao mgo and feo and gains of sio2 and na2o rb and y are depleted in the charnockite another kind of charnockitization is found in paragneisses throughout the southern high grade area and involves the reaction of biotite and quartz garnet to produce orthopyroxene and k feldspar although charnockite formation along shears and other deformation zones at such localities as ponmudi kerala is highly reminiscent of kabbal close pair analyses are not as suggestive of open system behavior this type of charnockite formation is found in granulite facies areas where no prograde amphibole bearing gneisses exist and connotes a higher grade reaction than that of the orthopyroxene isograd metamorphic conditions of both kabbaltype and ponmudi type localities were 700 800 c and 5 6 kbar lower p h2o in the ponmudi type metamorphism was probably the definitive factor

geochronology of polygenetic monazites constrained by in situ electron microprobe th u total lead determination implications for lead behaviour in monazite abstract monazite grains are generally concordant and with an electron microprobe give th u total pb isochron ages in agreement with conventional u pb data monazites from four samples of post archean migmatite from the ivory coast record two main ages an archean age at 2 80 ga partly overprinted by a late migmatization event at 2 03 ga the in situ electron microprobe determination has also shown a third event that systematically appears at 2 72 ga for all the monazites from two of the four studied rocks the three events at 2 80 2 72 and 2 03 ga recorded by the th u total pb system in monazite were each obtained on independent homogeneous parts of a single grain with no sign of pb diffusion thus the oldest monazite remained closed during a high grade resetting migmatization at a temperature estimated at around 700 c and also remained closed during the growth of secondary monazite conventional u pb data isotope dilution on monazite from the same rocks did not allow precise age determinations because the representative points were highly up to 83 discordant and did not fit well along a chord in the concordia diagram the u pb isotope dilution method gave a lower intercept age of 2029 25 ma in agreement with the electron microprobe age although with an unusually high uncertainty due to a poor fit of the data the pb evaporation method gave an old archean age at 2830 7 ma and proterozoic ages ranging from 2417 10 to 2074 7 ma thus although the oldest archean age obtained with the pb evaporation and electron microprobe methods is similar within the analytical error the proterozoic ages obtained by the pb evaporation method are significantly older than the th u total pb proterozoic age obtained with the electron microprobe this discrepancy is presumed to be due to the influence in the pb evaporation method of radiogenic lead contained within archean zones of the monazite grains in other words it means that migmatization took place later than 2074 7 ma and probably around 2030 ma the second archean event at 2 72 ga revealed by high spatial resolution of the electron microprobe could not be determined by other methods the th u total pb method appears to be an inexpensive alternative method for dating simple monazites with a precision close to 20 ma even if the u pb isotopic dilution technique remains the reference method moreover owing to the very high spatial resolution 1 m of the electron microprobe it appears to have no competitor for dating complex polygenetic monazites especially when more than two events are recorded homogeneous zones of different ages coexist in a single grain with no major indication of lead diffusion a procedure for age and error calculations is defined

mineral chemistry and isotopic composition of magmatic re equilibrated and hydrothermal biotites from darreh zar porphyry copper deposit kerman southeast of iran abstract the darreh zar porphyry copper in the southeastern part of the urumieh dokhtar magmatic belt developed as a consequence of hydrothermal alteration related to the darreh zar granodioritc porphyry stock intruded into mafic volcanic rocks hydrothermal alteration and cu mo mineralization are focused on the darreh zar porphyry pluton belonging to miocene time and the neighboring basaltic country rocks a core zone of potassic alteration is enclosed by a peripheral zone of chlorite sericite sericitic argillic and propylitic alteration judging by petrographic features as well as chemical composition the biotites studied display variable size color and shape and occur as magmatic m re equilibrated r and hydrothermal h types the m and r type biotites are found in the darreh zar porphyry and the h type formed during potassic alteration within the darreh zar porphyry and the volcanic host rocks as well the hydrothermal biotites are characterized by the highest amounts of al 2 o 3 and k 2 o whereas the magmatic types are hosted by high level of tio 2 up to 4 38 wt x mg values vary between 0 31 and 0 61 which is increased from m to r biotites then decreased toward low temperature potassic alteration zone fluorine and chlorine contents from biotite types also vary between 0 07 to 0 56 wt and 0 14 to 0 38 wt respectively these values change to 2 94 to 2 15 wt and 3 6 to 4 4 wt for iv f and iv cl respectively in all types of biotites positive correlation is observed between x mg al 2 o 3 na 2 o k 2 o bao and f but with feo and cl it is negative the tio 2 content clearly decreases from the m to r and h type average 3 98 2 9 and 2 4 wt respectively a direct relation may be noted between mg and oxygen fugacity log f h 2 o f hf and log f h 2 o f hcl values range from 6 24 to 5 46 and 4 49 to 4 12 wt respectively oxygen fugacity increases during formation of re equilibrated biotites but it decreases in the course of potassic alteration crystallization temperatures range from 600 to 650 c 550 to 600 c and 450 to 550 c for magmatic re equilibrated and hydrothermal biotites respectively the m biotites from darreh zar have the d values of 89 to 101 and the calculated d values of the aqueous fluids 66 to 78 in equilibrium with the biotites are consistent with a large component of magmatic fluid which shows similarities with the biotite originated from the primary mantle source the 18 o also varies between 7 4 to 8 2 for fluids in equilibrium with biotites the obtained m biotite data from darreh zar porphyry indicates that there is no clear correlation between d values fe and mg contents but for d values al and fe 3 fe 2 some affinities were observed the isotopic data indicate that m biotites are formed at high temperature 620 20 c from fluids with the highest 18 o h 2 o 7 8 0 4 in comparison with the biotites from some other copper porphyries

dehydration and incipient charnockite formation a phase equilibria and fluid inclusion study from south india a 3 m traverse across a charnockite lens in a biotite garnet graphite gneiss quarry from southern india has provided mineral equilibria that indicate charnockite formation occurred under fluid conditions of x h 2 o 0 2 to 0 3 at p 5 5 pm 1 9 kb and t 700 to 750 c dehydration of biotite loss of garnet and growth of orthopyroxene are related to a decrease in x h 2 o in the fluid phase within the charnockite lens isotopic analysis of the fluid entrapped in quartz from the charnockite indicates delta 13 c 8 2 0 3 0 heavier than delta 13 c values from smaller volumes of co 2 entrapped in quartz from the gneiss although the increase in fluid inclusion abundance in the charnockite can be related to oxidation of graphite without influx of co 2 an external source of co 2 is required in order to account for the shift to heavier carbon isotope values observed in both graphite and entrapped co 2 within the charnockite carbon isotope data across the gne

arrested charnockite formation at kottavattam southern india at kottavattam southern kerala india late proterozoic homogeneous leptynitic garnet biotite gneisses of granitic composition have been transformed on a decimetric scale into coarse grained massive charnockite sensu stricto along a set of conjugate fractures transecting the gneissic foliation charnockitization post dates the polyphase deformation regional high grade metamorphism and anatexis and evidently occurred at a late stage of the pan african tectonothermal history geothermobarometric and fluid inclusion data document textural and chemical equilibration of the gneiss and charnockite assemblages at similar p lith t conditions 650 700 degrees c 5 6kbar in the presence of carbonic fluids internally buffered by reaction with graphite and opaque mineral phases x co2 0 7 0 6 x h2o 0 2 0 3 x n2 0 1 logf o2 l7 5 mineralogical zonation indicates that charnockitization of the leptynitic gneiss involved first the breakdown of biotite and oxidation of graphite in narrow outward migrating transition zones adjacent to the gneiss followed by the breakdown of garnet and the neoblastesis of hypersthene in the central charnockite zone compared to the host gneiss the charnockite shows higher concentrations of k na sr ba and zn and lower concentrations of mg fe ti v y zr and the hree with a complementary pattern in the narrow transition zones of biotite breakdown the p lith t x h2o data and chemical zonation patterns indicate charnockitization through subsolidus dehydration reaction in an open system subsequent residence of the carbonic fluids in the charnockite resulted in low grade alteration causing modification of the syn charnockitic elemental distribution patterns and the properties of entrapped fluids we favour an internally controlled process of arrested charnockitization in which during near isothermal uplift the release of carbonic fluids from decrepitating inclusions in the host gneiss into simultaneously developing fracture zones led to a change in the fluid regime from fluid absent in the gneiss to fluid present in the fracture zones and to the development of an initial fluid pressure gradient triggering the dehydration reaction

dextral pan african shear along the southwestern edge of the achankovil shear belt south india constraints on gondwana reconstructions a discussion achankovil shear zone acsz figure 1a intering charnockites garnet biotite gneiss biotite gneiss calc gneiss and granite as revealed in the preted as a major nw trending strike slip shear zone of probable proterozoic age drury et al 1984 lithological mapping carried out as part of this study figure 2 a preliminary structural assesshas prominently figured in gondwana correlative studies e g windley et al 1994 although it is ment reveals the presence of a distinctive assemblage of asymmetric structures in the gneissic exclear that there is a major lithologic change across acsz figure 1b detailed studies indicating the posures indicating a consistent sinistral sense of shear gneissosity forming the secondary compoprobable sense of shear are lacking across this 10 20 km wide and 100 km long shear zone resitional banding strikes wnw ese to nw se dipping moderately toward sw with relatively rare cently sacks et al 1997 reported field observations bearing on the probable sense of shear of the ne dip and is conformable in all the rock types of the area in conformity with the general nw se acsz after combining field criteria and kinematic analysis of asymmetric features along the sw trend of the acsz structurally the terrain has undergone four phases of deformation summarized in edge of the acsz known as the tenmala shear zone they concluded that the acsz indicated prirajesh and santosh 1997 open to isoclinal intrafolial folds encountered in marily dextral shear with a minor component of reverse shear the authors illustrate their discusthe study area are invariably asymmetric fold limbs are zones of transposed gneissosity that consion with examples of kinematic indicators including shear bands asymmetric folds stretched and tain indicators of a probable sinistral sense of shear and well developed mineral elongation lineation asymmetric garnet feldspar and quartz porphyroclasts hook folds and lineations thus they appardefined by quartz ribbons trails of xenoblastic garnet grains and the alignment of the long axes of kently question the correlation of the dextral achankovil shear zone rather tenmala shear zone with feldspar augen pinch and swell structures and boudins commonly show rotation with respect to the sinistral bongolava ranotsara shear zone brsz in the india madagascar gondwana enfoliation tight s asymmetric f2 folds and synkinematic pegmatite veins are seen in the western semble we focus the present discussion on the probable part of the study area the development of a refold structure by superposed buckling is illustrated in sense of shear of acsz in the light of new data our study area falls around punalur and its adjoinfigure 3a there are smaller asymmetric sand zfolds congruent with the larger f1 with one limb ing areas within the quilon district southern kerala south india and is located between longitudes striking e w while the other strikes n50 e showing negative extension during the development of 76 55 and 76 59 e and latitudes 9 1 and 9 3 n figure 2 represented in the survey of india topo f2 on the traces of preserved axial planar cleavage the simple shear is dextral on the left limb and sisheet no 58c 16 outcrops within the study area expose a strongly deformed suite of rocks comprisnistral on the right limb asymmetrically folded veins figure 3b the bulk asymmetry of which represents a sinistral sense of shear have been found 1 manuscript received may 14 1997 in a few locations elongate quartz lenticles and 2 centre for earth science studies pb 7250 trivandrum 695 031 india garnet and biotite aggregates define penetrative lin