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High radiogenic heat production in the Kerala Khondalite Block, Southern Granulite Province, India

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Abstract

In situ radioelemental (K, U and Th) analysis and heat production estimates have been made at 59 sites in the Kerala Khondalite Block (KKB) of the Southern Granulite Province (SGP) of India. Together with the in situ analyses on granulites and gneisses previously reported from 28 sites, and heat production estimated from the published geochemical analyses on granites and syenites of the KKB, the new data set allows good characterization of heat production for the major granulite facies rocks and granitoids of the KKB. Garnet biotite gneisses are characterized by high levels of Th and U, with mean values of 60 and 3 ppm, respectively. Khondalites, leptynites and charnockites have slightly lower levels of Th (23, 20 and 22 ppm, respectively) and U (2.9, 2.4 and 0.9 ppm, respectively). The mean K, U, Th abundances for the granites, leucogranites and granitic gneisses ranges from 3.9 to 4.3%, 2.6 to 4.3 ppm, 22 to 50 ppm respectively, and for the syenites 4.8%, 2 ppm and 5.7 ppm. Mean radiogenic heat production values for garnet–biotite gneiss, khondalite, leptynite and charnockite are 5.5, 2.7, 2.4 and 2.2 μW m−3, respectively. For the granites, leucogranites, granitic gneisses and syenites it is 2.6, 3.4, 4.6 and 1.4 μW m−3, respectively. Heat production of granulite facies rocks, which are the most abundant rocks in KKB, correlate well with Th, but less with U, suggesting that variation is caused by Th and U bearing accessory minerals such as monazite and zircon. The high heat production of the KKB granulites are in contrast to the low heat production of the Late Archaean granulites of the Northern Block (NB) of the SGP which are highly depleted in radioelements and also the granulites of Madurai Block (MB) that have higher radioelemental abundances than in the granulites of the NB. The high heat production of the KKB granulites could be due to the nature of protoliths and/or metasomatism associated with Neoproteroic- to- Pan African alkaline magmatic activity represented by alkali granite and syenite–carbonatite emplacements and emplacement of pegmatites.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, for funding systematic heat flow and heat production studies in south India (ESS/16/085/97 and ESS/16/148/2001). G.K. Reddy helped in data acquisition during the early part of the work. SR benefited from the International Heat Flow Commission and the Czech Academy of Sciences during the Sixth International Heat Flow Meeting (2006) held at Bykov, Czech Republic. We are indebted to R.U.M. Rao for help and encouragement during data acquisition, processing and interpretation. We thank T.M. Mahadevan, Richard Ketcham and Paul Gettings for constructive and helpful reviews. The study was supported by V.P. Dimri, Director, NGRI.

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  1. R. Srinivasan

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  1. National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500 007, India

    Labani Ray, Sukanta Roy & R. Srinivasan

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Ray, L., Roy, S. & Srinivasan, R. High radiogenic heat production in the Kerala Khondalite Block, Southern Granulite Province, India. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 97, 257–267 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-007-0278-8

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