Upload
armani-mitchelson
View
219
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
The Deccan beyond the plume hypothesisHetu Sheth, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay
Structure of India
India-Seychelles break-up
Basic geology
The Dediapada dyke swarm
Bouguer anomaly map
16-24-km-thick igneous layer under the region
Heat flow, thermal springs,
high gravity
anomalies
Normal crustal thickness – 35 to 41 km
P-wave velocity anomaly
Hotspot tracks
India and Indian Ocean
Must consider:
1. Palaeolatitudes
2. Vishnu FZ
3. 60-61 Ma volcanism
4. Age data questioned
5. Deccan plume died at 30 Ma?
Late-stage Deccan
volcanism
The pre-volcanic uplift issue: The pre-volcanic uplift issue: regional vs. localregional vs. local
The plume head model predicts broad lithospheric uplift of 1 to few km, a few m.y. before flood volcanism.
Small local vertical motions not diagnostic; indicate local tectonics
Local uplift and subsidenceLocal uplift and subsidence
Locality - picrites underlain by tilted sediments and conglomerate
Basement and basalt clasts in conglomerate
Uplift before and also after eruption Bagh beds in western India are marine –
subsidence over plume head centre
Physio-graphy of India
Regional pre-volcanic uplift? (1)Regional pre-volcanic uplift? (1)
The 1500-km-long Western Ghats are very youthful, and form the precipitous edge of an elevated, tilted plateau.
The plateau has a mature topography (flat, ancient land surface getting dissected again).
The highest peaks of the Ghats (up to 2,695 m) are in the charnockite region of southern India
Regional pre-volcanic uplift? (2)Regional pre-volcanic uplift? (2)
Abundant evidence for major post-Deccan uplift of the Western Ghats
Prominent easterly drainage not a result of plume-head-caused pre-volcanic doming
Easterly drainage is antecedent
Regional pre-volcanic uplift? (3)Regional pre-volcanic uplift? (3)Base of Deccan lavas is not exposed
over much of the provinceIn most cases where base is exposed,
no evidence for basin shallowing, no basement-derived conglomerates
Flat-lying lavas cover extensive flat erosion surfaces cut across varied rocks (e.g., central India)
Thin, local Lameta sediments
The basement:
Archaean crystallines, the great Vindhyan Basin (Mid-Late Proterozoic), the Gondwana basin (Permo-Carboniferous to Upper Jurassic)
Pachmarhi: planation surfaces on Mid-Triassic Gondwana sandstone, covered by Deccan lavas
Spectacular post-Deccan uplift
Pachmarhi
Patalkot
Jabalpur
ConclusionsConclusionsCircular outcrop – intersecting riftsCrust and lithosphere unaffected by volcanism;
normal thickness8-9 m.y. total duration of volcanismPre-volcanic regional doming: absence of
evidence, evidence of absenceMajor (~1-2 km) post-volcanic upliftContinental rifting and break-up is a good and
sufficient explanation