Paleomagnetism of Bhander sediments from Bhopal Inlier, Vindhyan Supergroup

Paleomagnetic investigations have been carried out on poorly determined radiometric age controls of Bhander sandstones within the vicinity of Bhopal Inlier of the Upper Vindhyan Supergroup. Available ages assigned to the Upper Vindhyan sequence range from Cambrian to the Mesoproterozoic and are derived from a variety of sources and methods. Paleomagnetic data generated from the Bhander Group of Bhopal Inlier yielded a mean declination of 357° and mean inclination of 58° (k=17.69, α₉₅ = 16.38) with a Virtual Geomagnetic Pole (VGP) at 74° N, 69.0° E. This pole position is falling close to the Malani Igneous Suite (MIS) mean palaeomagnetic pole of 67.8° N and 72.5° E (A₉₅=8.8°) by Gregory et al. (2009). The results obtained from this study and previous work on the 1073 Ma Majhgawan kimberlite, as well as detrital zircon geochronology of the Upper Bhander sandstone suggest that the Upper Vindhyan sequence may be older than is commonly thought earlier.