The geology of the manganese ore deposits of talwara, district Banswara, Rajasthan

Abstract

Talwara (23° 34′: 74° 22′) is a small Manganese-producing locality in the district of Banswara, Rajasthan. From the Banswara Town, Talwara can be reached by a motorable road. In the past, the Manganese ores of the locality have drawn very little attention of the geologists.

The ores of Manganese, being associated exclusively with the Aravalli limestone of Rajasthan, occur in the form of scattered masses occupying solution cavities, fissures, etc., in limestone. Aravalli quartzites, conglomerates, phyllites and slates also occur in the vicinity of Talwara.

The white limestone with a mosaic structure is of common occurrence and is composed of calcite and dolomite with some magnetite. The impurer varieties of limestone are characterised by the presence of tremolite, hornblende and quartz with a little of biotite. Schistosity is developed only in a calc-amphibole rock having alternating bands of hornblende and limestone. Crush-breccia is noticed occurring in association with manganiferous limestone at a distance of about 2 miles west of Talwara. This breccia might have originated due to severe local crushing of the country-rock. The limestones seemed to be a product of low-grade metamorphism of a calcareous sediment.

Fresh ores are generally hard and cavernous but on weathering they become softer and soily. Fragments of unreplaced limestone are occasionally present in the ore-bodies. This limestone has also been replaced by the Manganese ores to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the structural characters of the host rock.

The ores are composed largely of massive and colloform cryptomelane. Pyrolusite forms an insignificant part of the ores. There are two generations of cryptomelane, of which, the earlier colloform one is veined by the later generation of cryptomelane.

There are also examples of pseudomorphous replacement of limestone by cryptomelane. Most of the pyrolusite was derived from the supergene alteration of cryptomelane. From their nature and mode of occurrence the Manganese ores are classified as outcrop secondary ores formed in cavities in crystalline limestones belonging to the less metamorphosed type of Dharwar.