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Mantle-derived fluids in the basement of the Deccan Trap: evidence from stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of carbonates from the Killari borehole basement, Maharashtra, India

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Abstract

We report here for the first time geochemical, mineralogical and stable carbon and oxygen isotopic data on the crystalline basement rocks of the 1993 Killari earthquake region of Maharashtra (India), which is covered by a thick suite of Deccan volcanics. Our results revealed the hitherto unknown amphibolite–granulite nature of the 2.5 Ga basement, which contains 2.00–2.28 wt% of CO2. The stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopic measurements on carbonates separated from two basement samples KIL-13 (440.5 m depth) and KIL-20 (499.6 m depth) collected from the KLR-1 borehole drilled in the epicentral region showed the respective values of −6.23 and −6.22‰ versus PDB for δ13C and 7.94 and 8.11‰ versus SMOW for δ18O. The samples plot in the primary igneous carbonatite field, indicating the mantle origin of the carbonates, derived through the process of mantle metasomatism from the deep mantle carbon reservoir. This would suggest large-scale crust-mantle thermal fluid interaction beneath the Killari seismogenic region, which is characterized by massive upwarping of the high-velocity mafic crust and retrograde metamorphism.

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Acknowledgments

We are most grateful to Prof. Surendra P. Verma, centro de Investigacion en Energia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, for his valuable comments and providing more useful references in improving the manuscript. We are extremely grateful to Dr Kasturi Chakravarty of Gelogical Survey of India (Hyderabad) for looking at thin sections and useful discussions. We also thank Drs. Kesav Krishna, S. S. Sawant and M. V. M. S. Rao for their help in data acquisition and K. S. V. Subramanyam, Parijat Roy and U. Raval for useful discussions. We are also grateful to Director, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad for their encouragement and providing analytical support. Dr. G. Koti Reddy provided the basement samples from the Killari borehole. To him, we extend our sincere thanks. Without his support, this study would not have been possible. The permission accorded to publish this paper by Director NGRI is also gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. National Geophysical Research Institute (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research), Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500 606, India

    Priyanka Tripathi, G. Parthasarathy, S. Masood Ahmad & O. P. Pandey

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  1. Priyanka Tripathi
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  2. G. Parthasarathy
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Tripathi, P., Parthasarathy, G., Ahmad, S.M. et al. Mantle-derived fluids in the basement of the Deccan Trap: evidence from stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of carbonates from the Killari borehole basement, Maharashtra, India. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 101, 1385–1395 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-011-0723-6

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