Petrology and geochemistry of diamondiferous Mesoproterozoic kimberlites from Wajrakarur kimberlite field, Eastern Dharwar craton, southern India: genesis and constraints on mantle source regions

Abstract

The petrology and geochemistry of some new occurrences of Mesoproterozoic diamondiferous hypabyssal-facies kimberlites from the Chigicherla, Wajrakarur-Lattavaram and Kalyandurg clusters of the Wajrakarur kimberlite field (WKF), Eastern Dharwar craton (EDC), southern India, are reported. The kimberlites contain two generations of olivine, and multiple groundmass phases including phlogopite, spinel, calcite, dolomite, apatite, perovskite, apatite and rare titanite, and xenocrysts of eclogitic garnet and picro-ilmenite. Since many of the silicate minerals in these kimberlites have been subjected to carbonisation and alteration, the compositions of the groundmass oxide minerals play a crucial role in their characterisation and in understanding melt compositions. While there is no evidence for significant crustal contamination in these kimberlites, some limited effects of ilmenite entrainment are evident in samples from the Kalyandurg cluster. Geochemical studies reveal that the WKF kimberlites are less differentiated and more primitive than those from the Narayanpet kimberlite field (NKF), Eastern Dharwar craton. Highly fractionated (La/Yb = 108–145) chondrite-normalised distribution patterns with La abundances of 500–1,000 × chondrite and low heavy rare earth elements (HREE) abundances of 5–10 × chondrite are characteristic of these rocks. Metasomatism by percolating melts from the convecting mantle, rather than by subduction-related processes, is inferred to have occurred in their source regions based on incompatible element signatures. While the majority of the Eastern Dharwar craton kimberlites are similar to the Group I kimberlites of southern Africa in terms of petrology, geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotope systematics, others show the geochemical traits of Group II kimberlites or an overlap between Group I and II kimberlites. Rare earth element (REE)-based semi-quantitative forward modelling of batch melting of southern African Group I and II kimberlite source compositions involving a metasomatised garnet lherzolite and very low degrees of partial melting demonstrate that (1) WKF and NKF kimberlites display a relatively far greater range in the degree of melting than those from the on-craton occurrences from southern Africa and are similar to that of world-wide melilitites, (2) different degrees of partial melting of a common source cannot account for the genesis of all the EDC kimberlites, (3) multiple and highly heterogeneous kimberlite sources involve in the sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) in the Eastern Dharwar craton and (4) WKF and NKF kimberlites generation is a resultant of complex interplay between the heterogeneous sources and their different degrees of partial melting. These observations are consistent with the recent results obtained from inversion modelling of REE concentrations from EDC kimberlites in that both the forward as wells as inverse melting models necessitate a dominantly lithospheric, and not asthenospheric, mantle source regions. The invading metasomatic (enriching) melts percolating from the convecting (asthenosphere) mantle impart an OIB-like isotopic signature to the final melt products.