Proterozoic Rock Suites along South Purulia Shear Zone, Eastern India: Evidence for Rift-Related Setting

Abstract

Abstract The South Purulia Shear Zone (SPSZ) is a part of the conspicuous ~E-W to ~ESE-WNW trending Tamar-Porapahar lineament This borders the Meso-Proterozoic greenschist facies lithopackage of the Singhbhum Group (SG) comprising metasedimentanes, felsic volcanics, mafites/ultramafites, granitoids, and alkalme/carbonatite suite of rocks bounded by the Chhotanagpur Gneissic Complex (CGC) attaining amphibolite to granulite facies in the north CGC presumably had certain loci of crustal weakness where pre-rift crustal sagging led to the deposition of supracrustal rocks Intracratonic rifting had then initiated in those pre-existing zones of crustal weakness and troughs of the resident crust The intracratonic basin was covered by huge volume of the felsic volcanics represented by layered tuffaceous volcaniclastic, felsic ignimbrites, crystal-vitric tuff and tuffaceous phyllite Meta-greywacke has been considered as epiclastic deposit derived from felsic volcanics The nature of welding, absence of phenocrysts typical of lava flows, parallel aligned lenticular pumice fragments exhibiting pumice-lenticle foliation, fiamme and eutaxitic fabric and petrochemistry could imply that the felsic ignimbrite was close to welded pumiceous ash-flow tuff having dacitic to rhyodacitic composition Mafic-ultramafic suites of rocks in close proximity to felsic volcanics suggest abimodal character of magmatic episode in the area Bands and lenses of tourmalmite disposed along the contact of the CGC and the SG, argued to be of volcanogenic sedimentary origin, possibly demarcates the rupture locales of a rift The alkali-feldspar granite (± richterite, ± aeginne-augite), syenite and carbonatites suggest tapping of deeper fractures in the rifted basin This was coupled with the presence of granite plutonism in the setting Geochemical signatures imply that felsic volcanics are chiefly of dacitic composition with strong LREE enrichment and narrow range of fractionation while the metabasic rock chemistry scatter in basalt to basaltic andesite field Trace element data further corroborate ‘volcanic arc granite’, ‘within plate granite’ and ‘continental arc granite’ composition for the felsic volcanics The basin was then subscribed to compressional regime where ductile shear zones developed syn to post kinematic to Fl with the northern block (CGC) thrusting over the southern block (SG) on northerly dipping planes Thus, an entire sequence of rifting, tourmalmite emplacement, felsic volcanism, mafic extrusion, granite plutonism, syenite/carbonatite emplacement and sedimentation of pelites/ epiclastics during and after opening of the basin in an intracratonic setting is demonstrated Subsequently, development of the shear zone (SPSZ) took place over the area at the close of the basin