The sediments from three stratigraphic levels in the Bababudan schist belt of Dharwar craton exhibit great diversity in major, trace and rare earth element (REE) geochemistry and thus interpreted to represent significant compositional variation in the source rocks. Detailed geological and geochemical studies have been carried out on clastic rocks constituting the Archaean Sargur supracrustals and the Bababudan belt of Dharwar craton (DC), southern India for understanding the geochemical characteristics and to define the Archaean-Proterozoic Boundary (APB/QPC) in southern India. There is significant contrast in the geochemical signatures for the sediments from these stratigraphic levles. The Sargur enclave population is characterised by slight LREE enrichment with (La/Sm) N ranging from 1.45 to 3.58, almost flat HREE with (Gd/Yb) N ranging from 0.65 to 1.29 with Eu/Eu* ranging from 0.49 to 0.91 suggesting mafic-ultramafic source rocks in the provenance. On the other hand, the Post QPC (PQPC) rocks are characterised by LREE enrichment with (La/Sm) N ranging from 2.66 to 7.07, nearly flat HREE with (Gd/Yb) N ranging from 0.58 to 0.95 and significant depletion of Eu with Eu/Eu* ranging from 0.34 to 0.85, indicating felsic province in the source area. The conglomerates and quartzites representing the QPC are showing mixed nature of these, reflecting the transitional character in depositional environment. Increase in abundance of REE, K 2 O/Na 2 O, Th/Sc, La/Sc, Th/U, Hf/Ta and Zr/Y ratios are characteristic of the QPC. The PQPC sediments are enriched in Th, U and HFSE like Hf, Nb, Zr and Y, and depleted in Co and Eu than their older counterparts. These geochemical signatures signify the dominance of mafic-ultramafic rocks in the source area for Sargur rocks and the existence of granite-granodiorite for PQPC clastics. Thus, the unconformity related oligomictic quartz pebble conglomerates (QPC) and quartzites at the base of Bababudan Group resembling the QPC of Witswaterand, South Africa signifies that a stable continental crust had already developed in southern India prior to ~3.0Ga.

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PGE mineralisation of significant grade and extent is reported from Bangur chromite mining area, Kendujhar district, Odisha, located to the south of the well known Baula-Nuasahi ultramafic complex. The hitherto unknown PGE mineralisation is established in a ferritchromit rich breccia zone occurring within Bangur litho-mélange. The mineralized breccia zone is traced for about 550m with a mean width of 12m in NW-SE direction. Chemical analysis of drill core samples by ICP-MS indicates an average ΣPGE content of 3.2 ppm dominated by Pt and Rh. Occurrence of discrete grains of PGM in sizes up to 45 microns is confirmed by SEM-EDX and EPMA study. Delineation of this PGE bearing zone stresses the need for preservation of gangue/matrix of the breccia zone, along with ferritchromit clasts, in the ongoing selective mining of chromite in Bangur.