Geochemistry, Petrogenesis and Tectonic Setting of mafic and Ultramafic rocks in parts of the Bhavani Complex- South India

K. Anbarasu1, Ali Mohammed Dar1, V.Balaram2, M. Satyanarayanan2, D.V Subba Rao2, S.N. Charan2
* 2

Department of Geology, Periyar University, Salem, Tamilnadu-636011, India.

National Geophysical Research Institute, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, Uppal Road, Hyderabad-500606, India.

Abstract The southern granulite terrain (SGT) consists of a series of crustal blocks delineated by crust penetrating shear zones. One among them is the east-west trending Bhavani shear zone (BSZ) which is located between Moyar-Bhavani lineament (M-B) in the north and the Palghat-Cauvery lineament (P-Ca) in the south. The Bhavani complex, emplaced in to the rocks of Sathyamangalam group contains the numerous gabbroic bodies in association with the pyroxenites. The gabbroic rocks exhibit banded structures with alternating leucocratic and melanocratic bands. The ultramafic-mafic association of Bhavani Complex occurs as dismembered sequence. Major, trace, and rare earth element (REE) geochemistry of the gabbro and pyroxenites collected from well exposed outcrops near Odhimalai and Thenkalmalai areas of this complex are presented and their petrogenetic significance is discussed. The geochemical signatures of the gabbro and pyroxenites show a significant variation in major and trace element concentration. The pyroxenites show SiO2 composition ranging from 49.6-55.5%, Al2O3 from 6-13.6%, MgO from 3.6-14.3%, CaO from 8.4-15.5% and TiO2 from 0.24-1.7% while average composition of SiO2, Al2O3, MgO, CaO and TiO2 in gabbro varies (in %) from 49.9-58, 9.4-13, 7.4-13.1, 9-13.4 and 0.26-0.54 respectively. The CaO-Al2O3 relationship of both pyroxenites and gabbros shows their trend towards primordial mantle. Bulk composition/whole rock analyses indicate that the magma type is tholeiitic but trending towards a calc-alkaline. Total rare earth element (REE) content varies in a limited range and exhibits limited REE fractionation in both LREE and HREE. The pyroxenite sample shows Negative Euanomalies with slight enrichment of HREE. The studied samples are enriched in large ion lithophile elements with depleted high field strength (HFS) elements. (La/Yb)cn and (La/Sm)cn values, suggest the arc setting environment for the studied samples. PMnormalized Th/Nb and Rb/Nb ratios of the studied samples supports their derivation from non plume source. Key words: Bhavani, LREE, LILE, Petrogenesis