Magmatic and Tectonic Setting of Archean Granitoids in the Southeastern Singhbhum Craton, India: Developing constraints with major and trace element geochemistry and geochronology

Abstract

The Singhbhum craton is one of five Archean nuclei comprising Peninsular India. It is a composite Archean block that includes the Older Metamorphic Group, the Older Metamorphic Tonalite Gneisses, the Singhbhum Granite, and the Iron Ore Group as its major units. The ages of these components range from ~3.5 to ~3.1 Ga, although overlapping ages and similar rock types confound their genetic relationships. Plutonic felsic rocks from the southeastern Singhbhum craton (BK1: a foliated tonalite, KP1: a non-foliated granite, and SG14: a non-foliated granite) yield U-Pb (zircon) ages of 3321 ± 2 Ma (BK1), 3301 ± 1 Ma (KP1), and 3261 ± 1 Ma (SG14) that coincide with a pulse of Singhbhum Granite emplacement at 3.27 to 3.33 Ga. REE patterns and tectonic discrimination diagrams based on major and trace element ratios suggest a subduction zone setting for these rocks. We report major and trace element data for and compare them to previous works in order to characterize the Archean felsic plutonic history of the craton.