Petrology of Charnockites from Madurai Block of Southern Granulite Terrain, South India

Authors

  • G Indu Department of Geology, University of Kerala, Kariavattom campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala695581, India.
  • E Shaji Department of Geology, University of Kerala, Kariavattom campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala695581, India.
  • R B Binojkumar Department of Geology, University of Kerala, Kariavattom campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala695581, India.
  • M Santosh School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences Beijing, 29 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China
  • T Tsunogae Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48165/

Keywords:

Charnockite, SGT, Madurai Block, Geochemistry, Enderbite

Abstract

Charnockites are the most extensively studied rocks in the Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT).  Charnockites are popularly known as hypersthene-bearing granite. Charnockite occurs as massive, foliated  and incipient varieties in different crustal blocks of SGT. This paper presents the petrology and  geochemistry of charnockite from Madurai Block. The charnockite (enderbite) studied from the Madurai  Block is a medium grained rock with a mineralogy of 30-40% of quartz, 25-35% of feldspar, 15%-20% of  ferromagnesian minerals (2-5% orthopyroxene, 2%-3% hornblende and 2%-3% biotite). Accessory  minerals include Fe-Ti oxides (dominantly ilmenite), apatite, and zircon. The charnockites are dioritic to  granitic in composition with high Al2O3 content and display both ferroan and magnesian characters. The  REE plots of charnockites show high concentration of light rare earth elements (LREEs) and relatively low  contents of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), with significant LREE/HREE fractionation. They also  show positive Eu anomalies or lack of Eu anomalies. Ba enrichment is the important characteristic of these  charnockites with distinct Nb, Ta, and Ti depletion in mantle-normalized primitive mantle multi-elements  diagrams, which has been considered to be one of the potential geochemical imprints of continental margin  magmatism in a subduction-related environment. 

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Published

2021-05-14

How to Cite

Indu, G., Shaji, E., Binojkumar, R.B., Santosh, M., & Tsunogae, T. (2021). Petrology of Charnockites from Madurai Block of Southern Granulite Terrain, South India . Bulletin of Pure and Applied Sciences-Geology , 40(1), 25–37. https://doi.org/10.48165/