Tectono-metamorphic and geochronologic studies from Sandmata complex,northwest Indian shield: Implications on exhumation of late-palaeoproterozoic granulites in an archaean-early palaeoproterozoic granite-gneiss terrane

Several bodies of granulites comprising charnockite, charno-enderbite, pelitic and calc-silicate rocks occur within an assemblage of granite gneiss/granitoid, amphibolite and metasediments (henceforth described as banded gneisses) in the central part of the Aravalli Mountains, northwestern India. The combined rock assemblage was thought to constitute an Archaean basement (BGC-II) onto which the successive Proterozoic cover rocks were deposited. Recent field studies reveal the occurrence of several bodies of late-Palaeoproterozoic (1725 and 1621 Ma) granulites within the banded gneisses, which locally show evidence of migmatization at c. 1900 Ma coeval with the Aravalli Orogeny. We report single zircon ‘evaporation’ ages together with information from LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon datings to confirm an Archaean (2905 — ca. 2500 Ma) age for the banded gneisses hosting the granulites. The new geochronological data, therefore, suggest a polycyclic evolution for the BGC-II terrane for which the new term Sandmata Complex is proposed. The zircon ages suggest that the different rock formations in the Sandmata Complex are neither entirely Palaeoproterozoic in age, as claimed in some studies nor are they exclusively Archaean as was initially thought. Apart from distinct differences in the age of rocks, tectono-metamorphic breaks are observed in the field between the Archaean banded gneisses and the Palaeoproterozoic granulites. Collating the data on granulite ages with the known tectono-stratigraphic framework of the Aravalli Mountains, we conclude that the evolution and exhumation of granulites in the Sandmata Complex occurred during a tectono-magmatic/metamorphic event, which cannot be linked to known orogenic cycles that shaped this ancient mountain belt. We present some field and geochronologic evidence to elucidate the exhumation history and tectonic emplacement of the late Palaeoproterozoic, high P-T granulites into the Archaean banded gneisses. The granulite-facies metamorphism has been correlated with the thermal perturbation during the asymmetric opening of Delhi basins at around 1700 Ma.