Generation of leucogranites in the Kerala Khondalite belt,Southern India

Psammitic and pelitic gneisses of the Kerala Khondalite belt in southern India were subjected to granulite-facies metamorphism and migmatisation through fluid-absent biotite dehydration-melting which led to the generation of garnet-bearing leucogranites. Geochemical investigations provide support that the leucogranites were generated from gneisses compositionally similar to those into which they were emplaced.The intrusion of apatite-rich granites subsequent to the garnet-bearing leucogranites is recognized predominantly in leptynitic gneisses. A comparison of the chemical composition of both garnet- and apatite-bearing varieties displays a systematic shift to intermediate compositions (increase in CaO, FeO, LREE, Zr, Y; decrease in SiO₂ and δ¹⁸O) which coincides with higher modal abundances of apatite, garnet and biotite and decreasing contents of quartz and alkalifeldspar. The observation that apatite occurs in aggregates together with biotite and/or garnet as well as the extreme concentrations of FeO, LREE and Zr in some of the apatite-beraing granites which clearly exceed the maximum solubility values for these elements in granitic melts indicates that dehydration-melting alone, as it has been proposed for the generation of garnet-bearing leucogranites, cannot have been responsable for generation of apatite-rich leucogranites but that additional processes like crystal entrainment and accumulation or liquid removal must also have played a role.