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Mineralogy, geochemistry and petrogenesis of the Khopoli mafic intrusion, Deccan Traps, India

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Abstract

The Khopoli intrusion, exposed at the base of the Thakurvadi Formation of the Deccan Traps in the Western Ghats, India, is composed of olivine gabbro with 50–55 % modal olivine, 20–25 % plagioclase, 10–15 % clinopyroxene, 5–10 % low-Ca pyroxene, and <5 % Fe-Ti oxides. It represents a cumulate rock from which trapped interstitial liquid was almost completely expelled. The Khopoli olivine gabbros have high MgO (23.5–26.9 wt.%), Ni (733–883 ppm) and Cr (1,432–1,048 ppm), and low concentrations of incompatible elements including the rare earth elements (REE). The compositions of the most primitive cumulus olivine and clinopyroxene indicate that the parental magma of the Khopoli intrusion was an evolved basaltic melt (Mg# 49–58). Calculated parental melt compositions in equilibrium with clinopyroxene are moderately enriched in the light REE and show many similarities with Deccan tholeiitic basalts of the Bushe, Khandala and Thakurvadi Formations. Nd-Sr isotopic compositions of Khopoli olivine gabbros (εNdt = −9.0 to −12.7; 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7088–0.7285) indicate crustal contamination. AFC modelling suggests that the Khopoli olivine gabbros were derived from a Thakurvadi or Khandala-like basaltic melt with variable degrees of crustal contamination. Unlike the commonly alkalic, pre- and post-volcanic intrusions known in the Deccan Traps, the Khopoli intrusion provides a window to the shallow subvolcanic architecture and magmatic processes associated with the main tholeiitic flood basalt sequence. Measured true density values of the Khopoli olivine gabbros are as high as 3.06 g/cm3, and such high-level olivine-rich intrusions in flood basalt provinces can also explain geophysical observations such as high gravity anomalies and high seismic velocity crustal horizons.

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Acknowledgements

Funds for EPMA and LA-ICPMS analyses by Cucciniello were provided by Italian MIUR (PRIN Grants 2008 to Leone Melluso). We thank Ron Fodor, Nilanjan Chatterjee and Leone Melluso for helpful critical reviews of an earlier version of the manuscript. The present version greatly benefited from the constructive, critical reviews of Loÿc Vanderkluysen and an anonymous reviewer, and comments and suggestions by the Editor Johann G. Raith. Their contributions are much appreciated. Leone Melluso and Sam Sethna are thanked for providing the sample BU6 as well as many unpublished mineral analyses from the Deccan Traps. We will always gratefully remember the late John Mahoney for his enthusiasm, encouragement, and friendship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse (DiSTAR), Università di Napoli Federico II, Via Mezzocannone 8, 80134, Naples, Italy

    Ciro Cucciniello

  2. Institute Instrumentation Center, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR), Roorkee, 247 667, India

    Ashwini Kumar Choudhary

  3. CNR-Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse (IGG), Sezione di Pavia, Pavia, 27100, Italy

    Alberto Zanetti

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Powai, Mumbai, 400 076, India

    Hetu C. Sheth, Shreyas Vichare & Rohan Pereira

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  1. Ciro Cucciniello
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Correspondence to Ciro Cucciniello.

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Editorial handling: L. G. Gwalani

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Supplementary Figure 1

Photomicrographs of the Khopoli olivine gabbro samples investigated with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). The locations of laser pits are also shown. (JPEG 297 kb)

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Cucciniello, C., Choudhary, A.K., Zanetti, A. et al. Mineralogy, geochemistry and petrogenesis of the Khopoli mafic intrusion, Deccan Traps, India. Miner Petrol 108, 333–351 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-013-0309-z

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