40Ar-39Ar age of the St. Mary's Islands volcanics, southern India: record of India-Madagascar break-up on the Indian subcontinent

Computer Science

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

3

Scientific paper

The felsic volcanics (rhyolites and rhyodacites) of the St. Mary's Islands (SMI), southern India (~13°N), were originally interpreted as a distant outlier of the ~65 Ma Deccan volcanic province of west-central India, comprising dominantly flood basalts. Later the SMI volcanics were dated at ~93 Ma by the K-Ar technique. However, this K-Ar `age' was dubious, being merely an average of five out of six widely varying dates and arbitrary data selectivity being involved in this averaging. Our first 40Ar-39Ar dating of the SMI volcanics yields excellent plateau and isochron ages, and their weighted mean isochron age is 85.6+/-0.9 Ma (2σ). Interestingly, the southern Indian Precambrian terrain is intruded by numerous mafic-doleritic dyke swarms ranging in age from Proterozoic to the latest Cretaceous (69-65 Ma, Deccan-related), and indeed, two regional dykes (a leucograbbro and a felsite) from the Kerala region of southwestern India remain previously dated at ~85 Ma, but again with the K-Ar technique. However, this age for the SMI volcanics also corresponds excellently with 40Ar-39Ar ages of ~89-85 Ma (weighted mean isochron age 87.6+/-1.2 Ma, 2σ: equivalent to 88.1+/-1.2 Ma corresponding to MMhb-1 age of 523.1+/-2.6 Ma) for the Madagascar flood basalt province. Together, therefore, the Madagascar flood basalt province, the SMI volcanics, and possibly the Kerala dykes could represent volcanic activity associated with the break-up of Greater India (India plus Seychelles) and Madagascar, thought to have occurred in the Upper Cretaceous at ~88 Ma.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

40Ar-39Ar age of the St. Mary's Islands volcanics, southern India: record of India-Madagascar break-up on the Indian subcontinent does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with 40Ar-39Ar age of the St. Mary's Islands volcanics, southern India: record of India-Madagascar break-up on the Indian subcontinent, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and 40Ar-39Ar age of the St. Mary's Islands volcanics, southern India: record of India-Madagascar break-up on the Indian subcontinent will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1239588

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.