The Stratigraphy and Structure of the Dharwar Supergroup Adjacent to the Honnali Dome: Implications for Late Archaean Basin Development and Regional Structure in the Western Part of Karnataka

The Dharwar sedimentary and volcanic rocks adjacent to their basement granodiorites and gneisses in the Honnali dome can be interpreted in terms of three principal lithostratigraphic units. Each unit represents a distinct stage of basin development. The lowest unit is formed by the mainly shallow marine metabasite-orthoquartzite association of the Bababudan Group. It marks an early extensional phase of basin development. The group in the Honnali area has been subdivided into the Kudrekonda and Kalva Rangan Durga Formations. The second unit comprises mainly shallow marine sedimentary rocks, including polymict conglomerates and limestones, with intercalations of basic to acid volcanic rocks. The lithological association indicates unstable depositional and volcanic conditions with variable uplift and subsidence during the second stage of basin development. The unit is equivalent to the lower part of the Chitradurga Group and it has heen subdivided into the Musinhal, Adrihalli, Aleshpur, Medur and Daginkatte Formations. The acid volcanic rocks forming the Daginkatte Formation were formerly regarded as rhyolitic flows, but they are reinterpreted as ash flow deposits on the grounds of their textures. The third unit corresponds to the upper part of the Chitradurga Group. It begins with the thin, but persistent Basavapatna Formation of banded ferruginous cherts and interbedded carbonaceous phyllites. This formation is overlain by the re-defined Ranibennur Formation of greywackes and local volcanic intercalations. Whilst a marine setting with initial widespread quiescent conditions is indicated by the third unit, its significance is uncertain because of the lack of data from the large, but poorly exposed tract of greywackes.

The Dharwar rocks are dominated by ductile structures in the form of south or southwesterly verging inclined folds with superimposed, steep north-trending folds. In contrast, the basement rocks in the Honnali dome deformed cataclastically on myriad fractures and retrograde shear zones. The dome has a faulted southern boundary, whilst a steepened unconfonnity forms the remaining parts of the boundary. The contrasting structures in the cover and the basement may be modelled in terms of crustal shortening propagating from the north ornortheast on listric faults dipping northeast through the basement into a deep detachment. Later strike-slip displacements on steep NS faults and shear zones modified the south-verging structures. Alternatively, the structure may be interpreted in terms of jostling of basement blocks within a zone of transpression related to sub-horizontal displacements on NS faults and shear zones.