Petrography and major element geochemistry of the Permo-Triassic sandstones, central India: Implications for provenance in an intracratonic pull-apart basin

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Abstract

Detrital mode, composition of feldspars and heavy minerals, and major element chemistry of sandstones from the Permo-Triassic succession in the intracratonic Satpura Gondwana basin, central India have been used to investigate provenance. The Talchir Formation, the lowermost unit of the succession, comprises glacio-marine and glacio-fluvial deposits. The rest of the succession (base to top) comprising the Barakar, Motur, Bijori, Pachmarhi and Denwa formations, largely represent variety of fluvial depositional systems with minor fluvio-deltaic and fluvio-lacustrine sedimentation under a variety of climatic conditions including cold, warm, arid, sub-humid and semi-arid. QFL compositions of the sandstones indicate a predominantly continental block provenance and stable cratonic to fault-bounded basement uplift tectonic setting. Compositional maturity of sandstones gradually increases upwards from the Early Permian Talchir to the Middle Triassic Denwa but is punctuated by a sharp peak of increased maturity in the Barakar sandstones. This temporal change in maturity was primarily controlled by temporal variation in fault-induced basement uplift in the craton and was also influenced by climatic factors. Plots of different quartz types suggest plutonic source rocks for the Talchir sandstones and medium-to high-rank metamorphic plus plutonic source rocks for the younger sandstones. Composition of alkali feldspars in the Permo-Triassic sandstones and in different Precambrian rocks suggests sediment derivation from felsic igneous and metasedimentary rocks. Compositions of plagioclase in the Talchir and Bijori sandstones are comparable with those of granite, acid volcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Precambrian basement suggesting the latter as possible source. Rare presence of high-K plagioclase in the Talchir sandstones, however, indicates minor contribution from volcanic source rock. Exclusively plagioclase-bearing metasedimentary rock, tonalite gneiss and mafic rocks are the probable sources of plagioclase in the Upper Denwa sandstones. Quartz-rich nature of the sandstones, predominance of K-feldspar over plagioclase and albite rich character of plagioclase in the sandstones is consistent with deposition in an intracratonic, pull-apart basin like the Satpura Gondwana basin. Composition of garnet and its comparison with that from the Precambrian basement rocks suggests mica-schist and amphibolite as possible sources. Predominance of dravite variety of tourmaline in the Permian sandstones suggests sediment supply from metasedimentary rocks. Presence of both dravite and schorl variety of tourmaline in subequal amount in the Triassic sandstones indicates sediment derivation from granitic and metasedimentary rocks. However, schorl-bearing rocks are absent in the basement complex of the study area. A–CN–K plot suggests granites, acid volcanic rock and meta-sediments of the basement as possible sources of the Talchir sandstones and metasedimentary rocks for the Barakar to Pachmarhi sandstones. The Denwa sandstones were possibly derived from K-feldspar-free, plagioclase-bearing metasediments, mafic rocks and tonalite gneiss. Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) values suggest low intensity source rock weathering for the Talchir sandstones and higher intensity source rock weathering for the others. Various bivariate plots of major oxides composition of the sandstones suggest passive to active continental margin setting and even arc tectonic setting for a few samples.

Introduction

Sandstone composition mostly depends on lithology of the source area, which in turn is strongly controlled by the tectonic setting (Dickinson and Suczek, 1979, Dickinson et al., 1983, Lee and Sheen, 1998, Rieser et al., 2005). Other controlling factors include prevailing climate, sediment transport process, depositional environment and diagenesis (Johnsson, 1993).

The present work deals with petrographic characters, mineral composition and geochemistry of the Permo-Triassic sandstones from the intracratonic Satpura Gondwana basin, central India (Fig. 1) to investigate their provenance. In this basin, Late Paleozoic to Late Mesozoic sedimentary succession (∼5 km thick) unconformably overlies the Precambrian basement. Sediment dispersal data from the Permo-Triassic succession indicate that the sediments were mostly derived from the Precambrian basement rocks lying to the south of the basin (Chakraborty and Ghosh, 2005). This is why petrographic, mineralogic and geochemical characteristics of the probable source rocks from the Precambrian basement were also investigated to constrain the provenance interpretations.

To date, provenance studies of Indian Gondwana successions were underemphasized except for the study in the Raniganj basin of eastern India by Suttner and Dutta (1986). The purpose of the present study is to (1) identify the source rock character, and (2) to evaluate the relative role of tectonics and climate in determining the sandstone composition.

Provenance studies of strike-slip basin fills are conspicuously underrepresented in the literature (Ridgway and DeCelles, 1993). The outcome of this study may have important bearing on the general understanding of the role of relief, climate and source rock in influencing petrogenesis of siliciclastic sediments deposited in an intracratonic, pull-apart basin.

Section snippets

Satpura Gondwana basin

The Gondwana deposits mark the resumption of sedimentation in peninsular India after a long hiatus since the Proterozoic. Gondwana sedimentary successions occur in several discrete, intracratonic basins of Peninsular India. The Satpura basin is the westernmost of the series, occurring along the ENE-WSW trending Narmada-Son-Damodar valley (Fig. 1). The basin is rhomb shaped and elongate in an ENE-WSW direction (200 km long, 60 km wide). Based on the shape of the basin, its disposition, and

Methods

A total of 131 medium to coarse grained sandstone samples were collected from six formations of the Permo-Triassic succession (Table 1) in the eastern part of the basin mainly along important river, nala (rivulet) and road sections (Fig. 2). Thin sections, perpendicular to bedding planes were prepared for petrographic studies. All thin sections were stained with sodium cobaltinitrite solution for identification of K-feldspars (Carver, 1971). For QFR and QFL plots, we have followed the point

Talchir Formation

The Talchir sandstones are generally coarse (pebbly) to medium grained, texturally and mineralogically immature (Fig. 4A), arkose and subarkose (Fig. 5A). Sandstones from lower part of the Talchir Formation are generally poorly sorted while those from upper part are moderately to well sorted. Dominant framework grains include subangular to rounded grains of quartz, plagiclase, K-feldspar, mica and various rock fragments (Q53−69F17−46R1−17, Fig. 4A). Feldspars are almost fresh except a few

Petrographic data

In both QtFL and QmFLt diagrams, all the sandstone samples plot in the continental block provenance (Fig. 9, Table 3). The Talchir sandstones plot in the subfield of transitional continental provenance, whereas the Pachmarhi and Denwa samples plot mostly in the craton interior subfield. Samples from all the other formations are scattered over the subfields of transitional continental to craton interior provenances.

Characteristics of quartz types in sandstones have been used by many in

Conclusions

  • 1.

    A distinct trend of increasing upwards compositional maturity is noticeable from the basal Early Permian sandstones to Triassic sandstones with a sharp peak of increased maturity in the coal-bearing Barakar sandstones. Such changes in the sandstone composition were primarily controlled by temporal variation in fault-induced basement uplift in the craton, and were further modulated by changes in climate.

  • 2.

    Major framework mineral compositions of the sandstones indicate a predominantly continental

Acknowledgments

This study is a part of an integrated research program of the Geological Studies Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata in the Satpura Gondwana basin, central India. The Institute provided financial support and infrastructure for this study. Constructive suggestions from two journal reviewers Ian Metcalfe and R.N. Hota helped substantial improvement of an earlier version of the manuscript. Journal editor Bor-min Jahn also provided valuable advice for improvement. Thanks are due to S.

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