Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rock magnetic and palaeomagnetic studies on the alkaline complexes of western Rajasthan, India

  • Published:
Journal of Earth System Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Forty-five oriented block samples were collected from 12 sites of Mundwara and Sarnu-Dandali alkaline complexes of western Rajasthan for palaeomagnetic and rock magnetic investigations to constrain the timing of the emplacement of alkaline suites in relation to the time-frame of main Deccan volcanism. The rock magnetic studies indicated (titano) magnetite as the main magnetic carrier of stable remanence. The Lowrie–Fuller (L–F) test revealed SD and PSD type magnetic carrier in samples. AF and thermal demagnetizations were piloted on the samples to isolate Characteristic Remanent Magnetisation (ChRM) directions. The samples exhibited stable remanence between 5 and 35 mT during AFD. Thermal demagnetizations unblocked remanence between 350° and 500°C. The mean ChRM directions with Declm = 342, Inclm = –35 (α95 = 4.39, K = 121, N = 9) corresponds to paleopole position at 42°N and 274°E with a palaeo-latitude of 24.5°S is coincident with the Deccan Super pole position. The comparison of ChRM in alkaline complexes with those documented in DVP implies coeval emplacement of alkaline suites with Deccan eruption. Further, the ChRM marked largely by normal polarity suggests that alkaline intrusions were accomplished within the magnetic Chron C30N, during the onset of Deccan volcanism. The results also indicate that Deccan volcanism extended far beyond the present day boundaries of the traps, especially in the north.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Basavaiah N, Satyanarayana K V V, Deenadayalan K and Prasad J N 2018 Does Deccan volcanic sequence contain more reversals than the three-Chron N–R–N flow magnetostratigraphy? – A palaeomagnetic evidence from the dyke-swarm near Mumbai; Geophys. J. Int. 213 1503–1523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basu A R, Renne P R, Das Gupta D K, Teichmann F and Poreda R J 1993 Early and late alkaline igneous pulses and a high 3He plume origin for the Deccan flood basalts; Science 261 902–906.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Besse J and Courtillot V 1991 Revised and synthetic apparent polar wander paths of the African, Eurasian, North American and Indian plates, and True Polar Wander since 200 Ma; J. Geophys. Res. 96(B3) 4029–4050.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bose M K 1980 Alkaline magmatism in the Deccan volcanic province; J. Geol. Soc. India 21 317–329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandrasekaran V, Srivastava R K and Chawade M P 1990 Geochemistry of the alkaline rocks of Sarnu-Dandali area, district Barmer, Rajasthan, India; J. Geol. Soc. India 36 365–382.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courtillot V, Gallet Y, Rocchia R, Feraud G, Robin E, Hofmann C, Bhandari N and Ghevariya Z G 2000 Cosmic markers, 40Ar/39Ar dating and paleomagnetism of the KT sections in the Anjar area of the Deccan large igneous province; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 182 137–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekkers M J 2007 Magnetic proxy parameters; In: Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Palaeomagnetism (eds) D Gubbins and E Herrero-Bervera, Springer, pp. 525–534.

  • Devey C W and Stephens W E 1992 Tholeiitic dykes in the Seychelles and the original spatial extent of the Deccan; J. Geol. Soc. London 148 979–983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop D J and Ozdemir O 1997 Rock Magnetism: Fundamentals and Frontiers; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 573p.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Evans M E and Heller F 2003 Environmental magnetism: Principles and applications of enviromagnetism; Int. Geophys. Ser. 86, Academic Press, 293p.

  • Fisher R A 1953 Dispersion on a sphere; Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Ser A 217 295–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jerram D A and Widdowson M 2005 The anatomy of continental flood basalt provinces: Geological constraints on the processes and products of flood volcanism; Lithos 79 385–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khadri S F R 1989 Flow stratigraphy, geochemistry and palaeomagnetism of a part of western Deccan basalt province, Maharashtra, India, Ph.D. thesis, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India.

  • Khadri S F R, Subbarao K V, Hooper P R and Walsh J N 1988 Stratigraphy of Thakurvadi Formation, western Deccan basalt province, India; In: Deccan Flood Basalt (ed.) K V Subbarao, Geol. Soc. India Memoir 10 281– 304.

  • Kirshvink J L 1980 The least-squares line and plane and the analysis of palaeomagnetic data; Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc. 62 699–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuiper K F, Deino A, Hilgen F J, Krijgsman W, Rennes P R and Wijbrans J R 2008 Synchronizing rock clocks of Earth history; Science 320 500–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumaravel V, Sangode S J, Siva Siddaiah N and Rohtash Kumar 2005 Rock magnetic characterization of pedogenesis under high energy depositional conditions: A case study from the Mio–Pliocene Siwalik fluvial sequence near Dehra Dun, NW Himalaya, India; Sedim. Geol. 177 229–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakshmi Narasimhan C, Patil S K and Arora B R 2008 A palaeomagnetic perspective on the flows and intrusives of Kachchh Rift Basin and its implication on Reunion plume–Indian plate interaction; Special Volume on ‘Indian Dykes’ (eds) Rajesh K Srivastava, Ch. Shivaji and N V Chalapathi Rao, Narosa Publishers, New Delhi, pp. 159–179.

  • Lowrie W and Fuller M 1971 On the alternating field demagnetization characteristics of multi-domain thermoremanent magnetization in magnetite; J. Geophys. Res. 76 6339–6349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney J J, Duncan R A, Khan W, Gnos E and McCormick G R 2002 Cretaceous volcanic rocks of the south Tethyan suture zone, Pakistan: Implications for the Reunion hotspot and Deccan traps; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 203 295–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan W J 1981 Hotspot tracks and the opening of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; In: The Sea (ed.) C Emiliani, John Wiley, New York, 7 443–487.

  • Pande K, Venkatesan T R, Gopalan K, Krishnamurthy P and Macdougall J D 1989 40Ar–39Ar ages of alkali basalts from Kutch, Deccan Volcanic Province, India; In: Deccan flood basalts (ed.) K V Subbarao, Geol. Soc. India, No. 10, pp. 145–150.

  • Patil S K and Rao D R K 2002 Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic studies on the dykes of Goa, west coast of Indian Precambrian Sheild; Phys. Earth. Planet. Inter. 133 111–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters C and Dekkers M J 2003 Selected room temperature magnetic parameters as a function of mineralogy, concentration and grain size; Phys. Chem. Earth 28 659–667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poornachandra Rao G V S, Singh S B and Mallakharjuna Rao J 2003 Magnetic character of Alkali rocks from northwest India; J. Ind. Geophys. Union 7(3) 145–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rathore S S and Venkatesan T R 1996 40Ar/39Ar age of Hawaiites from Tavidar volcanics of Jalore District, Rajasthan, India; 7th National symposium on Mass Spectometry, DRDE, Gwalior, pp. 25–28.

  • Rathore S S, Venkatesan T R and Srivastava R K 1996 Mundwara alkali igneous complex, Rajasthan, India: Chronology and Sr isotope characteristics; J. Geol. Soc. India 48 517–528.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raval U 2003 Interaction of mantle plume with Indian continental lithosphere since the Cretaceous; Geol. Soc. India Memoir 53 449–479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renne P R, Sprain C J, Richards M A, Self S, Vanderkluysen L and Pande K 2015 State shift in Deccan volcanism at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, possibly induced by impact; Science 350(6256) 76–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy A B and Jakhar S R 2002 Geology of Rajasthan: Precambrian to Recent; Scientific Publishers (India), Jodhpur, 421p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy A B 2003 Geological and geophysical manifestations of the Reunion plume–lithosphere interactions – Evidence from northwest India; Gondwana Res. 6(3) 487–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoene B, Samperton K M, Eddy M P, Keller G, Adatte T, Bowring S A, Khadri S F R and Gertsch B 2015 U–Pb geochronology of the Deccan Traps and relation to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction; Science 347(6218) 182–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonetti A, Golstein S L, Schmidberger and Viladkar S G 1998 Geochemical and Nd, Pb and Sr isotope data from Deccan alkaline complexes – Inference for mantle sources and plume–lithosphere interaction; J. Petrol. 39(11&12) 1847–1864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivasatava R K 1989 Alkaline and peralkaline rocks of Rajasthan; In: Alkaline Rocks (ed.) C Leelanandam, Geol. Soc. India Memoir 15 3–24.

  • Stacey F D 1963 The Koenigsberger ratio and the nature of thermoremanence in igneous rocks; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 2 67–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subrahmanyam N P and Leelanandam C 1991 Geochemistry and petrology of the cumulophyric layered suite of rocks from the Toa pluton of the Mundwara alkali igneous complex, Rajasthan; J. Geol. Soc. India 38 397–411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson R and Oldfield F 1986 Environmental Magnetism; Allenand Unwin Press, London, 220p.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vandamme D, Courtillot V, Besse J and Montigny R 1991 Paleomagnetism and age determination of the Deccan traps (India): Results of a Nagpur–Bombay traverse and review of earlier work; Rev. Geophys. 29 159–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Venkateshwarlu M, Pandey B, Papanna G, Pathak D B and Jai Krishna 2014 New Palaeomagnetic evidences about Deccan Trap volcanic activity from the magmatic bodies of Kachchh Basin, northwest India; J. Ind. Geophys. Union 18(1) 99–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zijderveld J D A 1967 Ac demagnetization of rocks; In: Methods in Palaeomagnetism (eds) D W Collinson, Creer K M and Runcorn S K, Elsevier, New York, pp. 256–286.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to the Director, Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Panvel, Navi Mumbai for the facilities and support provided during the work. Help provided by Prof. M K Pandit, University of Rajasthan, during field work is gratefully acknowledged. Mr K V V Satyanarayana and Mr Kishore Bhivande are thanked for their support during sample preparation and measurements. Authors acknowledge with gratitude the constructive comments from two reviewers that greatly helped presentation and interpretation of the results. Editor is thanked for his patience in extending the time for revisions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025, India

    C Lakshmi Narasimhan

  2. 36, Janakpuri, Engineer’s Enclave Phase III, GMS Road, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    B R Arora

  3. Dr. K S Krishnan Geomagnetic Research Laboratory, Jhunsi, Allahabad, 221 505, India

    S K Patil

Authors
  1. C Lakshmi Narasimhan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B R Arora
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S K Patil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C Lakshmi Narasimhan.

Additional information

Communicated by Arkoprovo Biswas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Narasimhan, C.L., Arora, B.R. & Patil, S.K. Rock magnetic and palaeomagnetic studies on the alkaline complexes of western Rajasthan, India. J Earth Syst Sci 128, 228 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1249-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1249-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation