Origin of the Paleoproterozoic basaltic dikes from the central and eastern Dharwar Craton and sills and volcanics from the adjoining Cuddapah Basin, southern India

Abstract

Abstract Reverse fractionation modeling considering energy-constrained assimilation-fractional crystallization is performed to estimate primary magma compositions, degree of crustal contamination, pressure–temperature of equilibrium with mantle, and potential temperatures for the origin of the Paleoproterozoic (~ 2.37–1.88 Ga) basaltic dikes in central and eastern Dharwar Craton and sills and volcanics in the adjoining Cuddapah Basin, southern India. Mineral thermobarometry indicates that the dikes crystallized at upper crustal conditions (~ 1–6 kbar/ ~ 1120–1210 °C). Hence, the reverse fractionation calculations are performed at low pressures by adding olivine + plagioclase + clinopyroxene, olivine + plagioclase and only olivine in equilibrium with melt, and simultaneously subtracting an upper crustal partial melt in small steps until the melt is multiply saturated with lherzolite at a high pressure. The results indicate that the basalts are 5–30% contaminated, and their enriched light rare earth element (REE) patterns can be attributed to upper crustal assimilation. The upper crust was pre-heated to 665–808 °C during dike emplacement. The primary magmas of all basalts were last equilibrated with spinel lherzolite at 10–16.5 kbar/1291–1366 °C, and they resemble pooled polybaric incremental melts generated along a ~ 1450 °C adiabat. The estimated mantle potential temperatures (1293–1515 °C) are similar to Paleoproterozoic ambient mantle temperatures. All basalts and their primary magmas show lower chondrite-normalized DyN/YbN ratios than the plume-derived mid-Proterozoic Mackenzie dikes of Canadian Shield, and the primary magmas show flat REE patterns indicating spinel lherzolite melting. The low estimated potential temperatures, low DyN/YbN ratios, and a spinel-bearing mantle source are at odds with an origin of the basalts from mantle plumes.