Geochemical signatures of Mesoproterozoic siliciclastic rocks of the Kaimur Group of the Vindhyan Supergroup, Central India

Abstract

The Upper Kaimur Group of the Vindhyan Supergroup in Central India, primarily consists of three rock types-DhandraulSandstone, Scarp Sandstone and Bijaigarh Shale. Mineralogically and geochemically, they are quartz arenite, sublitharenite to litharenite and litharenite to shale in composition, respectively. The A-CN-K ternary plot and CIA and ICV values suggest that the similar source rocks suffered severe chemical weathering, under a hot-humid climate in an acidic environment with higher P CO 2 , which facilitated high sediment influx in the absence of land plants. Various geochemical discriminants, elemental ratios like K pronounced negative Eu anomalies indicate the rocks to be of post-Archean Proterozoic granitic source, with a minor contribution of granodioritic input, in a passive margin setting. The sediments of the Upper Kaimur Group were probably deposited in the interglacial period in between the Paleoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic glacial epochs.

Source rock composition of Kaimur Group siliciclastics from Vindhyan Supergroup, Central India: A response to thermal events associated with Bundelkhand Craton and Chhotanagpur Gneissic Complex at ~1.1 Ga

“…Based on field and petrographic observations and geochemical data Kaimur Group comprises two cycles of deposition—fining‐upward sequence followed by the coarsening‐upward cycle. However, all the other major oxides (TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , MnO, MgO, K 2 O, and CaO) follows a complementary relationship to SiO 2 , i.e., their values increase from Sasaram Sandstone till Bijaigarh Shale reaching maximum and then follow a reverse decreasing trend upto Dhandraul Sandstone (Mishra & Sen, ). Al 2 O 3 is the dominant constituent of clay minerals shows increase in its wt% in the fine‐grained sediments whereas SiO 2 (present in quartz) dominates the coarser fraction.…”

“…Kaimur Group silciclastics of Son Valley have been studied for more than a decade now, but there are still speculations on their origin and source. There are primarily two school of thoughts, one group considers the source to be the Bundelkhand Craton (Gupta, Jain, Srivastava, & Mehrotra, ; Misra, ; Prasad & Verma, ; Srivastava & Mehrotra, ) while the other opines of Chhotanagpur Gneissic Complex (Bhattacharya & Morad, ; Bose et al, , ; Chakrabarti, Basu, & Chakrabarti, ; Chakraborty & Bose, ; Chanda & Bhattacharya, ; Mishra & Sen, , ; Paikaray, Banerjee, & Mukherji, ) as the provenance for Kaimur siliciclastics. The Bundelkhand Craton lies in the north and Chhotanagpur Gneissic Complex is present in the south of the Vindhyan Basin and both of them also form the basement for the Vindhyan rocks.…”

Statistical Correlation between Petrographical and Physico-Mechanical Properties of Kaimur Sandstone

“…Kaimur is the oldest Group in tectonically undisturbed Upper Vindhyan succession. It consists of sub-horizontal to gently dipping rocks of arenaceous sandstones and argillaceous shales (Mishra and Sen, 2010). Kaimur Group has two subdivisions: Lower Kaimur and Upper Kaimur.…”

Application of geo-electrical data to evaluate groundwater potential zone and assessment of overburden protective capacity in part of Sonebhadra district, Uttar Pradesh

“…The Kaimur Group of the Vindhyan Supergroup is of special significance because it consists dominantly of siliciclastic rocks lying unconformably over the carbonate-rich Semri Group. Therefore, the rocks from the Kaimur Group hold strong evidence regarding changing environment of deposition, climatic conditions, tectonics and weathering conditions, during Mesoproterozoic (Mishra and Sen 2010).…”