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Late Cretaceous mafic dykes in the Dharwar craton

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Abstract

Palaeomagnetic, geochemical and geochronological studies have been conducted on a set of dolerite dykes intruding the Peninsular gneisses near Huliyurdurga town, Karnataka, as a reconnaissance survey indicated a Cretaceous age for them. The dykes are mainly tholeiitic in composition with their 87Sr/86Sr ratios tightly clustered around 0·7045. Their palaeomagnetic data (D m =329°,I m =−55°) and the corresponding palaeopole coordinates (λ p = 34°S,L p =108°E) are strikingly close to those of the Deccan Traps to the north. Whole rock K-Ar ages of these dykes ranging between 69 and 84 Ma are also similar to the range of K-Ar ages of the Deccan basalts. The chemical, palaeomagnetic and temporal coherence between the dykes and the Deccan basalts indicate that they may indeed be tectonically related events.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Geophysical Research Institute, 500007, Hyderabad, India

    Anil Kumar, Y J Bhaskar Rao, V M Padma Kumari, A M Dayal & K Gopalan

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  1. Anil Kumar
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  2. Y J Bhaskar Rao
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  3. V M Padma Kumari
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  4. A M Dayal
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  5. K Gopalan
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Kumar, A., Bhaskar Rao, Y.J., Padma Kumari, V.M. et al. Late Cretaceous mafic dykes in the Dharwar craton. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Earth Planet Sci.) 97, 107–114 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02861631

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