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Multiple episodes of tectonothermal processes in the Eastern Ghats granulite belt

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Abstract

A suite of rocks from Borra Carbonate Granulite Complex (BCGC) in the Eastern Ghats granulite belt displays superposed structures and overprinted mineral assemblages that reveal multiple episodes of tectonothermal reworking of the complex under granulite facies condition. Five distinct episodes of deformation (D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5) and four phases of metamorphism (M1, M2, M3 and M4) are recorded. The signature of the earliest tectonothermal event, D1 is a gneissic foliation (S1) denned by segregation of peak granulite facies mineral assemblages corresponding to prograde M1 metamorphism. M2 metamorphic overprint represents an episode of near-isobaric cooling of the complex under a static condition. D2 represents an episode of ductile deformation manifested by isoclinal folding (F2) and associated extensional structures, within a broad framework of coaxial bulk deformation. The present study reveals that D2 took place subsequent to M2 - Subsequent deformation, D3, produced F3 folds and also deformations of boudins formed during D2. M3, which is synchronous with F3, represents a near isothermal decompression of the BCGC. This was followed by a weak structural readjustment (D4), producing E-W cross folds. The latter was not, however, associated with any recognizable petrological reworking. In the terminal events, deformation (D5) and mineral reactions (M4) were localized along narrow intersecting shear zones. The latter acted as channelways for carbonic and still later hydrous fluid infiltration. The available thermobarometric data from BCGC and other areas of the Eastern Ghats belt reveal that reworking during M2 and M3 ensued in a thermally perturbed regime. The high thermal regime might also have persisted during carbonic fluid infiltration related to terminal reworking (M4).

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, 100 032, Calcutta, India

    Santanu Kumar Bhowmik

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Bhowmik, S.K. Multiple episodes of tectonothermal processes in the Eastern Ghats granulite belt. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Earth Planet Sci.) 106, 131–146 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02839285

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