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Petrogenesis of the Granitoid Rocks from Askot Crystallines, Kumaun Himalaya
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The Askot crystallines form a doubly plunging synformal belt and occurs as a detached crystalline belt or klippen in the vast sedimentary terrain lying between Central crystallines towards north and the Almora crystallines to the south. It is dominated by granite gneiss and augen gneiss, and also comprise of metapelites, migmatites and basic intrusives. In this paper, the geochemical studies of the granite gneiss and augen gneiss from the Askot crystallines, Kumaun Himalaya were carried out in order to understand their origin and evolution.
The granite gneiss is generally foliated, with less foliated and porphyritic variety seen in the core part. The K-feldspar shows Carlsbad twinning, while plagioclases show complex twinning. They show euhedral zircon and apatite along with titanite as accessory minerals. The granite gneiss is moderately evolved (Mg# ~50) and has granodiorite composition with metaluminous, calc-alkaline trends. They show higher concentration of Ti, Ca, Mg and low abundance of ΣREE (~165 ppm) in comparison to augen gneiss. They show volcanic arc signatures and compare well with Lateorogenic granites of Proterozoic times distributed world wide. These calc-alkaline granites appear derived from a Paleoproterozoic mafic/intermediate lower-crust reservoir probably involving arc magma underplating. Granite gneiss is also peraluminous with molar A/CNK>1.1, and the heterogeneity of granite gneiss can be explained with the precursor melts, experiencing assimilation during up-rise through crust or contamination of source itself involving sediments from the subduction zone.
The augen gneiss is more evolved (Mg# ~18) and show granite composition. They show megacrysts of perthites in a fine-to medium-grained matrix of feldspars and micas. The REE pattern of the augen gneiss shows much wide compositional variation (ΣREE ~171 ppm) than granite gneiss. It shows syn- to post-orogenic environment and derivation from the partial melting of an upper crustal source. Existing Rb-Sr isotopic data suggest that the granite gneiss defines an isochron age of ~1700-1800 Ma with a Sri ratio of ~0.71, while the augen gneiss defines an age of ~1300 Ma with much evolved Sri ratio (~1.65). The dominance of granite gneiss in the eastern Kumaun region suggests the production of heterogeneous granitic melts similar to those of Askot crystallines as an important event of crustal growth during Late Paleoproterozoic period in the region.
Keywords
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