Archean granitoids of India: windows into early Earth tectonics – an introduction

Abstract

Granitoids form the dominant component of Archean cratons. They are generated by partial melting of diverse crustal and mantle sources and subsequent differentiation of the primary magmas, and are formed through a variety of geodynamic processes. Granitoids, therefore, are important archives for early Earth lithospheric evolution. Peninsular India comprises five cratonic blocks bordered by mobile belts. The cratons that stabilized during the Paleoarchean–Mesoarchean (Singhbhum and Western Dharwar) recorded mostly diapirism or sagduction tectonics. Conversely, cratons that stabilized during the late Neoarchean (Eastern Dharwar, Bundelkhand, Bastar and Aravalli) show evidence consistent with terrane accretion–collision in a convergent setting. Thus, the Indian cratons provide testimony to a transition from a dominantly pre-plate tectonic regime in the Paleoarchean–Mesoarchean to a plate-tectonic-like regime in the late Neoarchean. Despite this diversity, all five cratons had a similar petrological evolution with a long period (250–850 myr) of episodic tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite (TTG) magmatism followed by a shorter period (30–100 myr) of granitoid diversification (sanukitoid, K-rich anatectic granite and A-type granite) with signatures of input from both mantle and crust. The contributions of this Special Publication cover diverse granitoid-related themes, highlighting the potential of Indian cratons in addressing global issues of Archean crustal evolution.

Possible occurrence of Palaeoarchean ferropicrite cumulates and ferrobasalts in the Jojohatu area of North Singhbhum Craton, eastern India: Evidence for a mantle plume source

“…Crustal formation in the craton possibly started as early as in the Hadean and got subsequently remobilized till the end of the Palaeoarchean. It is characterized by extensive occurrences of Palaeoarchean to Mesoarchean TTG crust (Dey et al, 2017; Nelson et al, 2014; Pandey et al, 2019; Upadhyay et al, 2014), and almost complete record of crustal formation from Palaeoarchean to Palaeoproterozoic can be seen preserved here (Chaudhuri, 2020; Dey et al, 2019; Dey & Moyen, 2020). This includes the oldest granitoids consisting of gneisses that belong to the Older Metamorphic Tonalite Gneiss (OMTG) suite, which is currently being referred to as Champua suite (Dey et al, 2017).…”

“…It is bounded by the Sukinda Thrust zone in the south, Eastern Ghats Belt to the south‐east, the Bastar Craton to the south‐west, and the North Singhbhum Mobile Belt in the north, which is in close proximity of the Proterozoic Chotanagpur gneissic complex (Mondal, Ripley, & Robert Frei, 2006). This craton (Figure 1) has a complex history of geologic and thermogeodynamic evolution, associated with sedimentation, deformation, and sustained episodic magmatism since the Palaeoarchean (Acharya et al, 2010a, 2010b; Bose, 2009; Chatterjee, De, Ranaivoson, Mazumder, & Arima, 2013; Chaudhuri, Wan, Mazumder, Ma, & Liu, 2018; Dey et al, 2019; Dey & Moyen, 2020; Manikyamba et al, 2015; Mazumder, Bose, & Sarkar, 2000; Pandey et al, 2019; Radhakrishna & Naqvi, 1986; Ramakrishnan & Vaidyanadhan, 2008; Rekha et al, 2011; Saha, 1994; Sengupta et al, 1997; Sharma, 2009; Singh et al, 2017; Upadhyay et al, 2019). Crustal formation in the craton possibly started as early as in the Hadean and got subsequently remobilized till the end of the Palaeoarchean.…”

“…This granitic suite is primarily made up of biotite‐granodiorite, granite, trondhjemite, and tonalite and covers an area of about 8,000 km 2 in the central part of the craton. It is encircled by IOG supracrustal belts, consisting of greenschist to amphibolite facies metasedimentary rocks (banded iron formations, phyllites, chert, tuffs, shales, carbonates), interlayered with mafic/ultramafic and minor felsic volcanics (Dey & Moyen, 2020; Upadhyay et al, 2019). These supracrustals are distributed over (a) Gorumahisani–Badampahar Belt to the east, (b) Jamda–Koira Belt to the west, and (c) Tomka–Diatari Belt in the south (Mukhopadhyay et al, 2012; Saha, 1994).…”

“…A dacitic lava flow in the southern greenstone belt of Tomka–Diatari is dated at 3,507 ± 2 Ma by U–Pb zircon (Mukhopadhyay et al, 2008). The age of volcanism and sedimentation in both OMG and IOG is still debated; nevertheless, it is understood to have taken place during 3.5–3.2 Ga (Dey & Moyen, 2020; Mukhopadhyay et al, 2012; Nelson et al, 2014). Besides, A‐type granitoids, such as Mayurbhanj and Pala Lahara suites, were emplaced in north‐east (NE) and SW part of the craton during 3.1–2.8 Ga, which were subsequently followed by episodic mafic dyke emplacements (2.80–1.76 Ga), as well as the occurrence of several volcano‐sedimentary sequences during the Mesoarchean–Palaeoproterozoic (Ghosh & Bose, 2020; Mukhopadhyay & Matin, 2020).…”

“…IOG, Iron Ore Group; NSMB, North Singhbhum Mobile Belt; OMG, Older Metamorphic Group; OMTG, Older Metamorphic Tonalitic Gneiss; SSZ, Singhbhum Shear Zone. Age data of different suites are based on the studies of Misra et al (1999), Tait et al (2011), Saha, Hofmann, and Xie (2012), Nelson, Bhattacharya, Thern, and Altermann (2014), Upadhyay, Chattopadhyay, Kooijman, Mezger, and Berndt (2014); Upadhyay, Chattopadhyay, and Mezger (2019), Dey et al (2017, 2019), and Dey and Moyen (2020)…”