A Palaeoproterozoic dolomite (Vempalle Formation, Cuddapah Basin, India) showing Phanerozoic-type dolomitisation

© 2019 The Palaeoproterozoic Vempalle Formation of the Cuddapah Basin, India, significantly adds to our understanding of the evolution of Precambrian marine carbonate systems and the redox state of the Earth's early oceans. A facies-microfacies-diagenetic-geochemical examination of samples from a ∼1000-m long exposure in a freshly-cut canal section shows that 10–15% of precursor limestone is still preserved in the Vempalle Formation in the form of remnant patches of calcimicrite and ooids with calcite spar cement. The ooids, preserving primary radial and concentric fabrics and radial fractures, are considered to have been originally precipitated as calcite, which may have been low-Mg. In places the preserved calcite spar, that is partially replaced by fabric-destructive dolomite, shows Type I calcite twin lamellae. Petrographic observations demonstrate that Vempalle Formation dolomite formed through very early precipitation, which in stromatolites preserved microbial filaments, as well as through fabric-destructive dolomitization during shallow to moderate burial. Vempalle Formation dolomite is characterized by micritic dolomite crystals which suggest rapid early dolomitization of lime mud and micritic calcite from a supersaturated Mg-Ca-rich solution, probably near-surface or during shallow burial. Depletion of Na and Sr contents of Vempalle Formation dolomite along with negative δ18O values indicate dolomite recrystallisation during burial and further replacement. Dolomite δ13C values of −0.5 to 2‰ are likely inherited original marine values. Geochemical proxies (trace elements and rare earths) imply that Cuddapah Basin seawater and dolomitizing fluids were anoxic and ferruginous but not euxinic. Geochemical analyses also indicate that the burial diagenetic fluids evolved from Eu-enriched seawater that probably resulted from continental rifting around 1.9–2.0 Ga. This probable ocean chemistry is in contrast with the anoxic, ferruginous and extremely high Mg/Ca “dolomite oceans” that prevailed during Proterozoic time. The Vempalle dolomite shows more similarities with dolomitised Phanerozoic platform carbonates than typical Precambrian dolomite with its well-preserved textures and burial dolospar cements

Evolving provenance in the Proterozoic Pranhita-Godavari Basin, India

The Pranhita-Godavari Basin in central eastern India is one of the Proterozoic “Purāna” basins of cratonic India. New geochronology demonstrates that it has a vast depositional history of repeated basin reactivation from the Palaeoproterozoic to the Mesozoic. U-Pb laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry dating of detrital zircons from two samples of the Somanpalli Group—a member of the oldest sedimentary cycle in the valley—constrains its depositional age to ∼1620 Ma and demonstrates a tripartite age provenance with peaks at ∼3500 Ma, ∼2480 Ma and ∼1620 Ma, with minor age peaks in the Eoarchaean (∼3.8 Ga) and at ∼2750 Ma. These ages are consistent with palaeocurrent data suggesting a southerly source from the Krishna Province and Enderby Land in East Antarctica. The similarity in the maximum depositional age with previously published authigenic glauconite ages suggest that the origin of the Pranhita-Godvari Graben originated as a rift that formed at a high angle to the coeval evolving late Meosproterozoic Krishna Province as Enderby Land collided with the Dharwar craton of India. In contrast, detrital zircons from the Cycle III Sullavai Group red sandstones yielded a maximum depositional age of 970 ± 20 Ma and had age peaks of ∼2550 Ma, ∼1600 Ma and then a number of Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons terminating in three analyses at ∼970 Ma. The provenance of these is again consistent with a southerly source from the Eastern Ghats Orogen and Antarctica. Later cycles of deposition include the overlying Albaka/Usur Formations and finally the late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic Gondwana Supergroup

Depositional history and provenance of cratonic “Purana” basins in southern India : A multipronged geochronology approach to the Proterozoic Kaladgi and Bhima basins

Peninsular India is a collage of Archaean cratonic domains separated by Proterozoic mobile belts. A number of cratonic basins, known as “Purana basins” in the Indian literature, formed in different parts of the Indian Peninsula during extensional tectonic events, from Paleoproterozoic through Neoproterozoic times. In this contribution, we present a diversity of new geochronological data for different units within the Kaladgi and the Bhima basins, which overlie the western and eastern Dharwar cratons, respectively. The new geochronology data are discussed in terms of depositional history and provenance of these poorly understood Proterozoic intracratonic basins. For the Kaladgi Group, a U–Pb baddeleyite age of 1,861 ± 4 Ma obtained for a dolerite dyke intruding the Yendigere Formation is used to constrain the minimum age of deposition of the lower Kaladgi Group. This result demonstrates that this part of the succession is comparable in age to the Papaghni Group of the Cuddapah Basin, heralding onset of Purana sedimentation at ~1,900 Ma. The detrital zircon populations from the clastic rocks of the Kaladgi and Bhima basins show unique and distinct age patterns indicating different source of sediments for these two basins. Palaeocurrent analysis indicates a change in provenance from south or southeast to west or northwest between the Kaladgi and Bhima clastic sedimentation. New U–Th–Pb and Rb–Sr radiometric dates of limestones and glauconite-bearing sandstones of the Bhima Group (Bhima Basin) and the Badami Group (Kaladgi Basin) indicate deposition at around 800–900 Ma, suggesting contemporaneity for the two successions. Thus, the unconformity between the Kaladgi Group and the overlying Badami Group represents a time gap of up to 1,000 Myr. These new results demonstrate the complex multistage burial and unroofing history of the Archaean Dharwar Craton throughout the Proterozoic, with important implications for exploration of metal deposits and diamonds in Peninsular India