RESEARCH ARTICLES

Tectonic history and occurrence of 2.4 Ga mafic dyke swarms adjacent to Godavari Basin, Karimnagar, India
J. Mallikharjuna Rao1,*, G. V. S. Poornachandra Rao1, M. Widdowson2, T. Yellappa1 and S. P. Kelley2
1 2

National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad 500 007, India Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

Proterozoic dyke swarms are exposed partly in granulitic terrain and partly in gneissic terrain and extend in a NESW direction near the Godavari Basin, Karimnagar area, Central India. The Karimnagar dyke swarm petrographically exhibits two groups such as fresh plagioclase and pyroxene phenocrystic dolerite dykes and altered non-phenocrystic gabbros. Dolerites show ophitic to subophitic textures and gabbros are non-porphyritic and more altered. Geochemical data suggests that these dykes are tholeiitic in nature, range from basalt to basaltic andesite in composition. The rare earth element patterns show enrichment of light rare earth elements (2560 times) and heavy rare earth elements show flat patterns (410 times) supporting the presence of two varieties within the dyke swarm. A laser probe 40Ar/39Ar study and Ar isotopic analyses suggest two magmatic emplacement ages at 2400 Ma and 2200 Ma which are present within the dyke swarm. Palaeomagnetic results reveal a characteristics remnant magnetization vector of Dm = 52.5, Im = 24.5 (K = 21.81, 95 = 8.65, N = 12) and supports the presence of two phases of dyke activity in the region. Keywords: Geochemistry, geochronology, Karimnagar, mafic dykes, palaeomagnetism. MAFIC dyke swarms are one of the remnants of mafic magmatism related to the breakup of 2.5 Ga supercontinent1, which are so abundant and extensive that they reasonably constitute large igneous provinces24. The huge number of mafic dykes and associated igneous rocks worldwide intruded during 2.452.1 Ga probably resulted from episodic, semi-continuous attempts at subsequent continental breakup. The mafic dykes are considered as manifestation of extensional tectonics and intraplate magmatism. The numerous dykes and dyke swarms in the south Indian peninsular shield indicate periodic crustal dilation during early-late Proterozoic period5,6. Global periodicity of dyke emplacements at 2400, 1800, 1000
*For correspondence. (e-mail: mallikharjun_ngri@yahoo.co.in) 1472

and 600 Ma is well preserved in the Indian shield5,7,8. The Karimnagar area, north of the Cuddapah Basin located in the central part of the Indian peninsula, consists of a variety of rock types of different ages and lithologies occurring along flanks of the PranhitaGodavari rift basin shown in Figure 1. The area lies between the Archaean low-grade terrane of the eastern block of Dharwar craton (EDC) to the southwest and the PakhalSullavai (middlelate Proterozoic) and Gondwana (PalaeozoicMesozoic) formations of the PranhitaGodavari Graben to the northeast. An overview of the geochronological and tectonic aspects of the Karimnagar Granulite Belt (KGB), Bhopalapatnam Granulite Belt (BGB) and surrounding geological domains was given by Santosh9. The Karimnagar dyke swarm extends in a NESW direction adjacent to the Mesoproterozoic Pakhal Basin and Godavari Basin for about 125 km with many of the dyke segments showing local variation from NESW, ENESWS, EW and rarely NS directions10. The Archaean basement of Karimnagar area consists of a variety of rock types such as gneisses, metasediments, granites, acid and basic dykes

Figure 1. Geological map of Karimnagar area showing dykes and sampling sites for palaeomagnetic and other studies. CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 98, NO. 11, 10 JUNE 2010

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and newly discovered granulite terrain11,12. In the northeastern part of the study area, Mesoproterozoic Pakhal and Sullavai formations of the Purana Group consisting of orthoquartzites, banded magnetite quartzite, sandstone, shale and limestone are exposed. The dyke/dyke swarm is exposed partly in granulitic region and partly in basement gneissic terrain. The two types of dykes present in the area namely porphyritic and gabbroic dykes do not show marked differences in field outcrops and are mostly oriented in NESW direction. phenocrysts in the rock and more mafic enriched sample in the dyke swarm. Rare earth elements (REE) are moderately enriched (REE = 2263.5 ppm) and light REE show enriched patterns (LaN/SmN = 3.510.1) and heavy REE show flat trends (GdN/YbN = 0.71.2) as evident from Figure 3. Most of the samples show negative Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu* = 0.670.98) which may be due to early removal of plagioclase from the melt. REE patterns clearly indicate two groups and correspond to olivine normative and quartz normative types. Primitive mantle normalized multielemental spidergram is of olivine normative type showing distinct negative Nb, Sr, P and Ta troughs suggesting that they are contaminated by crustal materials whereas quartz normative types show relatively flat trends suggesting that they have less interaction with crustal materials (Figure 4). Tectonic discriminant diagrams show that these dykes exhibit mid-oceanic ridge basalt characteristics and progressive enrichment of iron during crystallization7.

Petrography and geochemistry

The Karimnagar dyke swarm is represented by two varieties of rocks namely fine-grained, fresh, porphyritic dolerites and altered non-porphyritic gabbros. Dolerites generally show ophitic to subophitic textures. In porphyritic types, orthopyroxene of hypersthene composition is rarely present and augite and plagioclases are the phenocrysts (1015 vol%). The essential minerals are plagioclase (3542 vol%, oligoclase to labradorite) with oscillatory compositional zoning, clinopyroxene (32 35 vol%) of augite composition and with or without hypersthene and secondary minerals (5 vol%) like hornblende, calcite and chlorite are seen as partly developed rims over pyroxenes. The opaque minerals are ilmenite and magnetite (45 vol%). Ilmenite is seen altered to sphene. Granophyric intergrowths are present as interstitial grains in these rocks. Dolerites exposed in the granulite terrain show differences in terms of strong clouding, bent twin lamellae in plagioclase and undulatory extinction in pyroxenes. Absence of such features in dolerites and gabbros of non-granulitic terrain is clear. The granulite metamorphism in the region and upliftment of deeper parts to the present level reflects in clouding, strong undulatory extinction, bent twin lamellae in minerals of deformation. They also show relict igneous textures. The gabbroic samples are non-porphyritic and show plagioclase (4045 vol%, labradorite), titaniferous augite (3540 vol%) and altered minerals (1012 vol%) along the grain boundaries and conspicuous absence of granophyric intergrowths. The opaque minerals are magnetite (23 vol%) and ilmenite (12 vol%) that occur as small discrete grains or needles distributed throughout the rock. All the dykes are tholeiite in composition and range from basalt to basaltic andesite in composition (Figure 2) and are either quartz normative or olivine normative in nature. Total alkaliesironmagnesium ternary plot indicates that the quartz normative types are less enriched in iron than the olivine normative types and show a calcalkaline trend of differentiation. Geochemical data (Table 1) of one sample (KR65) shows higher MgO (11.98%), FeO (11.06%) and lower Al2O3 (11.67%), SiO2 (49.7%) and CaO (5%) compared to the other group of samples; we infer it may be due to rare presence of hypersthene
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Radiometric ages
Ar/39Ar ages of dolerite dykes were estimated by laser ablation technique at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. The GA 1550 biotite standard with an age of 98.79 0.96 Ma was used to monitor the fast-neutron flux and the calculated J value is 0.01047 0.000055. The samples were irradiated at the McMaster Reactor in Canada. Noble gases were equilibrated into a high sensitivity MAP 215-50 noble gas mass spectrometer and extracted argon 35Ar to 41Ar isotopes were measured. Representative 10 min extraction system blank measurements obtained during the experiments were 40Ar = 9 1012; 39Ar = 2 1014; 38Ar = 3 1014; 37Ar = 7 1013
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Figure 2. Total alkalies and silica diagram showing classification of different rock types. Demarcation fields are from refs 23 and 24. Solid circle olivine normative dykes and solid square quartz normative dykes. 1473

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Table 1. KR51 SiO2 TiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 FeO MnO MgO CaO Na2O K2O P 2 O5 Total 52.19 0.51 13.71 2.28 7.80 0.10 8.87 10.38 2.05 0.40 0.13 98.42 KR52 52.92 0.52 13.28 2.45 7.96 0.16 8.64 10.75 2.00 0.62 0.03 99.33 KR53 53.93 0.58 14.87 2.69 7.08 0.08 7.72 8.23 1.75 1.11 0.01 98.05 KR54 53.90 0.52 14.05 2.42 6.89 0.1 7.89 9.24 1.98 0.65 0.09 97.73 Chemical data of Karimnagar dykes KR57 53.50 0.50 14.14 1.76 8.20 0.16 8.83 10.46 2.25 0.49 0.04 100.33 KR60 49.09 0.92 13.03 3.53 10.08 0.18 8.72 9.96 2.87 0.69 0.01 99.08 KR61 50.08 0.92 13.30 2.98 10.48 0.18 9.73 10.37 2.62 0.55 0.26 101.47 KR63 50.55 1.00 13.70 3.12 10.20 0.22 8.19 10.05 2.75 0.62 0.14 100.54 KR65 49.68 1.65 11.67 4.30 11.06 0.14 11.98 4.94 2.00 0.43 97.85 KR66 51.99 0.53 13.67 2.18 8.36 0.15 8.98 10.98 2.87 0.43 0.06 100.20 KR68 51.33 1.04 12.63 3.98 8.78 0.17 8.76 9.32 3.00 0.88 0.09 99.98 KR69 50.81 1.00 12.96 3.62 10.05 0.17 6.97 9.84 3.37 0.69 0.05 99.53

KR56 52.06 0.41 12.61 2.79 8.20 8.64 10.08 1.87 0.47 0.10 97.23

Trace elements (ppm) Sc 21 V 172 Cr 382 Co 67 Ni 200 Cu 80 Zn 79 Ga 5 Rb 18 Sr 61 Y 9 Zr 38 Nb 29 Cs Ba 118 Hf 1.38 Ta 0.32 La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu REE Eu/Eu* (La/Sm)N (Gd/Yb)N (La/Yb)N 14.19 12.32 1.23 4.20 0.91 0.28 0.99 0.14 0.95 0.22 0.60 0.09 0.70 0.12 36.94 0.90 10.07 1.17 14.54

18 156 461 66 130 88 76 2 16 69 7 24 39 162 0.32 0.09 14.21 11.58 1.51 4.43 0.89 0.30 0.99 0.16 0.95 0.22 0.66 0.08 0.65 0.12 36.75 0.98 10.31 1.26 15.68

16 139 332 67 149 86 82 8 25 56 11 49 42 221 2.18 0.30 18.31 28.16 2.20 9.00 1.63 0.28 0.99 0.12 0.92 0.22 0.64 0.11 0.80 0.14 63.52 0.67 7.25 1.02 16.42

17 145 392 62 162 78 81 6 13 56 10 39 32 181 1.40 0.20 12.17 12.91 1.87 5.15 1.43 0.46 1.68 0.31 2.40 0.56 1.22 0.29 1.51 0.21 42.17 0.91 5.49 0.92 5.78

28 174 645 81 209 99 82 5 6 51 9 28 40 114 0.80 0.11 10.56 13.20 1.57 4.80 0.72 0.24 0.95 0.19 1.11 0.21 0.60 0.09 0.60 0.11 34.95 0.89 9.47 1.31 12.62

21 179 391 66 152 98 80 4 8 60 10 21 42 121 0.53 0.06 8.91 10.56 1.12 3.60 0.85 0.24 0.87 0.17 1.05 0.22 0.66 0.10 0.64 0.11 29.10 0.85 6.77 1.12 9.99

20 224 119 83 132 190 119 9 9 81 15 41 40 169 0.74 0.06 11.22 21.12 1.79 6.60 1.48 0.52 2.24 0.39 2.92 0.67 1.80 0.30 2.00 0.31 53.36 0.87 4.89 0.93 4.02

20 243 143 82 131 184 116 8 6 71 14 36 1 169 1.11 0.11 11.22 17.60 2.02 6.60 1.45 0.45 1.99 0.33 2.38 0.55 1.40 0.21 1.52 0.27 47.99 0.81 5.00 1.08 5.29

23 262 56 86 108 188 131 10 8 65 16 34 1 159 1.11 0.04 8.91 15.84 1.74 7.20 1.63 0.48 2.22 0.37 2.54 0.49 1.40 0.21 1.60 0.27 44.90 0.77 3.53 1.15 3.99

19 265 60 96 77 1 136 6 9 7 20 45 3 25 1.27 0.41 9.88 18.38 2.36 9.14 2.10 0.78 2.66 0.54 4.01 0.90 1.81 0.33 2.98 0.43 56.30 1.01 3.04 0.74 2.38

22 192 329 96 143 115 80 4 5 56 7 21 1 96 0.27 0.04 3.63 9.33 1.01 3.60 0.70 0.21 0.99 0.19 1.01 0.21 0.60 0.09 0.80 0.12 22.49 0.77 3.35 1.02 3.25

22 264 129 90 131 201 117 9 14 92 16 43 1 168 1.11 0.02 8.91 14.96 1.79 7.20 1.54 0.54 2.24 0.37 2.54 0.49 1.30 0.20 1.42 0.25 43.75 0.89 3.74 1.30 4.50

21 256 129 83 125 191 110 10 9 84 15 40 2 151 0.96 0.06 7.59 14.08 1.46 6.60 1.18 0.39 1.74 0.28 1.94 0.46 1.20 0.21 1.32 0.21 38.66 0.83 4.15 1.09 4.12

and 36Ar = 2 1013 cm3 STP. The Ar data was corrected for blanks, mass spectrometer discrimination and nuclearinduced interferences (36/37Ca = 0.000255; 39/37Ca = 0.00076; 40/39K = 0.0085). ArAr analyses measured on three dykes, i.e. porphyritic dolerite dyke (KD29, trend N80E), gabbroic dyke (KD41, trend N60E) and dolerite dyke (KD16, orientation N50E) indicate two distinct periods of magmatic
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activity separated by at least 200 Ma. Isotopic ratios and age data of the dykes presented in Table 2 clearly indicate the best estimation of intrusion age (mean ages) and subsequent thermal histories recorded by minerals and matrix. The first group of the two phases magmatic emplacement yields a mean age of 2219 111 Ma and 2203 168 Ma for two different samples and the second group gives a mean age of 2397 74 Ma (range from
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Table 2. Sample KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 KD16 Mean KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 KD41 Mean KD29 A1 white milky field 2 KD29 A1 white field 2 KD29 A1 grey field 1 KD29 A1 white cloudy field 3 KD29 A1 mafic 1 KD29 A1 orange yellow field 3 KD29 A1 orange yellow field 4 KD29 A1 orange yellow field 5 KD29 A1 orange yellow field 2 KD29 A1 orange yellow field 1 KD29 A1 orange yellow field 6 Mean 0.021 0.023 0.061 0.012 0.049 n.d. 0.017 0.017 0.022 0.031 0.022 1.61 3.27 0.90 2.01 30.98 32.27 17.61 14.09 15.44 17.43 8.46 0.015 0.014 0.023 0.012 n.d. 0.007 0.042 0.017 0.000 n.d. 0.019 50.2 63.9 78.6 80.6 149.0 217.7 227.4 245.3 279.2 283.1 280.9 3.16 2.50 4.15 2.55 0.22 0.24 0.34 0.36 0.49 0.48 0.31 44.04 57.18 60.48 76.99 134.46 220.13 222.24 240.23 272.70 274.05 274.42 0.505 0.286 0.014 0.011 0.110 0.014 0.059 n.d. n.d. 0.073 0.017 0.011 0.083 0.036 0.010 0.007 0.080 0.000 0.184 0.034 0.016 0.042 0.040 93.45 49.77 1.50 0.90 22.76 5.85 9.76 0.77 0.36 8.48 0.73 0.22 11.99 11.43 0.68 0.17 5.80 1.83 6.83 3.60 1.68 3.45 3.90 0.134 0.018 0.014 0.016 0.148 0.004 0.023 0.018 0.008 0.005 0.003 0.015 0.025 0.076 0.008 0.013 0.027 0.016 n.d. 0.021 0.014 0.030 0.018 209.4 147.2 89.5 91.1 162.3 147.2 171.1 156.8 155.4 182.1 173.5 174.4 203.9 194.4 184.8 188.5 210.5 187.1 246.3 217.8 223.1 276.1 279.7 0.05 0.10 1.69 2.66 0.10 0.50 0.22 2.06 2.72 0.38 2.16 4.35 0.21 0.24 2.27 4.89 0.56 1.42 0.23 0.94 1.44 0.66 0.59 60.34 62.74 85.30 87.96 129.86 143.11 153.68 157.27 158.93 160.39 168.51 171.06 179.43 181.85 182.02 186.41 186.93 186.98 191.92 207.78 218.19 263.58 267.79
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Argon isotope and age data for Karimnagar mafic dyke samples Ar/39Ar 7.487 1.848 0.007 0.019 0.241 0.097 0.425 0.015 0.037 0.023 0.020 0.565 n.d.
37

Ar/39Ar

38

Ar/39Ar n.d. 0.300 0.015 0.017 0.047 0.036 n.d. 0.023 0.051 0.015 0.023 0.109 n.d.

40

Ar/39Ar

39

Ar

40

Ar/39Ar* n.d. 17.85 137.44 154.19 165.55 165.80 185.07 205.67 229.12 229.81 262.90 308.24 431.42

Age (Ma) 0 309 1609 1734 1814 1816 1944 2072 2207 2211 2386 2601 3081 2219 883 911 1151 1178 1549 1652 1730 1756 1768 1778 1834 1852 1907 1923 1924 1953 1956 1956 1988 2085 2145 2389 2410 2203 684 846 885 1067 1585 2157 2169 2268 2434 2441 2443 2397

(2) 2180 11697 26 33 312 134 1281 79 197 120 96 612 6325 111 1373 760 43 26 517 77 151 35 19 109 38 15 231 111 29 17 86 43 144 58 37 56 61 168 11 14 11 13 104 78 55 50 34 32 64 74

284.52 188.38 1.29 1.86 43.59 4.77 77.69 10.01 6.70 4.21 14.40 107.75 n.d.

657.2 563.9 139.6 159.7 236.9 194.4 310.8 210.0 240.0 236.5 268.8 475.3 836.9

0.01 0.01 3.82 2.86 0.17 0.34 0.04 0.73 0.24 0.53 0.52 0.07 0.00

2268 50 Ma to 2443 64 Ma, Table 2) for their emplacement periods. Younger thermal events around 1585, 1050 and 800 Ma are recorded by mineral and matrix. The younger thermal events recorded at 1585 Ma may be related to mafic mineral resetting, 1050 Ma may be related to granulite metamorphic event and younger event
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800 Ma may be resetting of milky white and grey feldspars in the rock. To confirm the results obtained, an integrated approach in terms of field relationships, petrography, geochemical and palaeomagnetic studies clearly supports two phases of dyke activity in the region. The present mafic dyke emplacement coincides with the
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ages reported (2.42 0.08 Ga and 2.47 0.03 Ga) by monazites and uranitites from Karimnagar belt9. Apart from the magmatic emplacements within the dykes, there are younger thermal events recorded by different minerals like milky white feldspars (684 11 Ma), white feldspar (846 14 Ma) and grey feldspar (855 11 Ma). Metamorphic events represented by clouded feldspar (1067 13 Ma) and mafic minerals (1585 104 Ma) suggest that granulite metamorphism which occurred at 1600 Ma is similar to Eastern Ghats metamorphism or collision related to upliftment/tectonics in the area. These mineral reset ages clearly demonstrate that the area has been subjected to deformation subsequent to the emplacements. dolerite dykes. However, there is good grouping of specimen vectors in each sample. Characteristic remnant magnetic (ChRM) vectors in these dykes have been investigated by the alternating magnetic field (AF) demagnetization method (Figure 5). Specimens from sites 10 and 13 with east southeast and downward declination with upward and downward pointing inclinations respectively, mostly retain their NRM vectors throughout the magnetization treatment. With the help of pilot demagnetization behaviour of these specimens shown in Figure 6 (ref. 13), peak alternating fields for each site were selected and all the specimens from them were AF demagnetized to recover their characteristic component. Specimen and sample vectors were averaged to obtain sample and site mean vectors by using Fisher statistical methods14. The relevant palaeomagnetic parameters for the Karimnagar dyke swarm are listed in Table 3 and the site mean ChRM vectors shown in Figure 7. The palaeomagnetic results of Karimnagar dykes suggest that three ChRM directions of magnetization are evident: one in northeastern quadrant with shallow negative inclination from 12 sites with a mean direction of Dm = 52.5, Im = 24.5, a second ChRM vector in the eastsoutheastern quadrant with a mean direction of Dm = 126.2, Im = 54.7 at site 10 and a third ChRM vector with a mean direction of Dm = 186.6,

Palaeomagnetism
In the palaeomagnetic studies of 264 cylindrical specimens from 53 samples representing 15 sites, the natural remnant magnetization (NRM) directions of dykes are highly scattered, as is generally the case with several

Figure 3. Chondrite normalized rare earth element patterns of Karimnagar dykes.

Figure 4. Primitive mantle normalized multielemental spidergram showing nature of two different types of patterns. 1476

Figure 5. Response of Karimnagar dykes to AF demagnetization. Normalized intensity decay and vector migration for few typical specimens. Open (closed) circles denote upward (downward) inclinations. AF fields are in mT. CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 98, NO. 11, 10 JUNE 2010

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Table 3. Remnant magnetic data for the Karimnagar dyke swarm VGP K 38.72 24.72 240.96 4.41 3.08 3.05 14.51 6.53 15.87 27.78 13.04 11.67 10.19 16.78 14.01 21.81

Remnant magnetic vector Strike N50E N45E N05E N50E N55E N50E N50E N80E N80E N50E N40E N63E N60E N55E Mean (12 sites) N (n ) 6(1) 3 5 (2) 3 3 2 3(1) 2(1) 3(1) 2 3 (1) 10 (1) 4 (1) 5 (1) Dm 42.3 55.8 50.6 61.8 70.8 65.6 32.0 37.9 86.2 126.2 3.5 43.9 43.9 186.6 37.1 52.5 Im 19.1 20.1 17.9 44.5 21.4 17.7 21.0 17.8 34.9 54.7 37.2 +19.5 9.2 +49.4 24.9 24.5

95
10.06 16.26 5.21 8.51 46.07 56.67 25.98 31.64 24.85 18.78 27.42 16.68 25.32 19.73 18.70 8.65

P
39.8N 28.0N 33.1N 15.4N 14.3N 19.8N 47.0N 43.6N 2.6S 39.8N 24.5N 46.7N 40.9N 40.7N 41.6N 31.9N

LP 199.1E 191.6E 193.2E 203.1E 185.8E 186.2E 09.3E 202.3E 188.5E 160.1E 203.5E 174.1E 193.2E 251.8E 207.3E 197.1E

N = No. of samples; K = Precision parameter; n = No. of samples excluded; 95 = Radius of 95% confidence circle; Dm = Mean declination; P = Latitude of VGP; Im = Mean inclination; LP = Longitude of VGP.

Figure 7. Stereographic projection showing site mean remnant magnetic vectors for Karimnagar dykes. Open (closed) circles denote upward (downward) inclinations. Mean (12 sites) is shown with horns.

Discussion
Mafic dykes are important features of the Proterozoic period and act as potential time markers in parts of stabilized Archaean cratons. During the Proterozoic time, growth of continents took place by the addition of mantle derived juvenile material to pre-existing continental blocks. This accretion took place largely within three tectonic environments within the supercontinents or large continental blocks that underwent rifting and breakup giving rise to continental flood basalts and mafic dyke swarms16, and the examples are giant mafic dyke swarms worldwide at 2.42.0 Ga17,18 including the Karimnagar dyke swarms19, mafic dykes of southeast Mysore6,2022, Cuddapah dyke/dyke swarms8 and other Indian dyke swarms. In the Karimnagar area, fault/lineament is controlled in NEENE and NWWNW directions, parallel to
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Figure 6. Zijderveld plot of AF demagnetization characteristics of dykes. Closed (open) circles denote end point of remnant vector on horizontal (vertical) planes. Intensities are of mA/m order.

Im = + 49.4 from site 13. Thus, three different ChRM vectors observed along this dyke swarm may represent multiple igneous activities as recorded by earlier workers15.
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the dyke swarms and GodavariPranhita rift axis respectively. None of the dykes is seen cutting the Gondwana Formation of CarboniferousJurassic age. The age data from Karimnagar belt and Bhopalpatnam granulite belts are considered to be a single terrain and the mid-Archaean to early Proterozoic signature recognized in KGB is totally missing9. The possibility of extension of these mafic dykes under the sedimentary cover through the BGB may be checked and if present, then the linking of these two terrains of KGB and BGB to Godavari Granulite Belt will be interesting. The petrographic and geochemical results suggest at least two distinct groups of dykes among the Karimnagar dyke swarm namely quartz normative and olivine normative tholeiites. The higher Cr and Ni and more calcic plagioclase in quartz normative types suggest that they belong to early intrusive phase (2400 Ma) than the olivine normative type (2200 Ma). Exact demarcation cannot be drawn in the field between the two types of dolerite and gabbro dykes present in granulite and nongranulite terrain, but they show distinct petrographic and geochemical signatures between them. The orientation of the dyke swarm and its orthogonality to the Godavari Pranhita rift suggests that the dykes were emplaced along the older Precambrian crustal fractures which may be related to Palaeoproterozoic breakup of the supercontinent. Recently a large number of 2.52 Ga magmatic, detrital and xenocratic ages have been reported from all the cratonic blocks of Indian Shield, Zimbabwe, Kaapvaal and Pilbara cratons21. A common remnant magnetic vector of Dm = 52.5, Im = 24.5 (K = 21.81, 95 = 8.65 and N = 12) was achieved along with two other minor vectors in the ESE and S quadrants with steep upward and downward inclinations respectively. Thus this integrated geochronological, petrological, geochemical and palaeomagnetic studies clearly support a minimum of two intrusive phases of magmatism along with two more minor phases of dyke activity in the Karimnagar region dykes. Mafic dyke swarms represent short-lived magmatic events that carry important and chemical constraints for the evolution of the lithospheric mantle.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. J.M.R. and G.V.S.P.R. thank the Director, NGRI, Hyderabad, for his interest in these studies and permission to publish the results. M.W. acknowledges the financial support of NERC grant during the course of research work. Received 12 August 2009; revised accepted 23 April 2010 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 98, NO. 11, 10 JUNE 2010