DHARWAR CRATON

BY-
NIRANKAR MISHRA
DEPT. OF EARTH SCIENCES,
IIT ROORKEE.
 Craton,Mobile belts and shield
CRATON:-They are broad central areas of continents
that have remained tectonically stable for prolonged
periods and are affected only by younger epeirogenic
movements.They have a Palaeoarchaean nucleus(3310-
3560Ma).
Eg-Dharwar Craton,Singhbhum Craton.

MOBILE BELTS:-The cratonic nucleus is surrounded

by a younger zone which has suffered from later
deformational episodes and granitic activity.They are
characterized by medium to high grade
metamorphism.They are of Early Proterozoic evolution.
Eg-Eastern Ghat Mobile Belt.

SHIELD:-The cratons and the mobile belts together

constitute the shield.They are the stable parts of the
earths crust composed of basement gneiss.
Eg-Peninsular Indian shield,Canadian Shield.
 The indian shield
Indian shield consists of five major Archaean
cratons
viz.,Dharwar,Bastar,Singhbhum,Bundelk
hand and Aravalli.
There are three prominent Proterozoic mobile
belts, viz. Eastern Ghats mobile belt,Pandyan
mobile belt and Satpura mobile belt.
The Himalayan orogenic belt bounding the
Indian shield to the north is largely a Tertiary
mountain belt that has a Proterozoic
foundation.
 Indian shield

.
 Dharwar craton
INTRODUCTION
The Archaean Dharwar craton covers an area of about 4.5
lakh(0.45 million) sq. km.It extends from coast to
coast,covering a vast geographic expanse of
Goa,Karnataka,northwestern Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh.
It is one of the best-studied terrains of Peninsular
India,and is renowned for its greenstone/schist belts,grey
gneisses,charnockites and younger granites.
The temporal range of these rocks is ~3300 Ma to 2550
Ma.
These rocks experienced regional deformation and
metamorphism,whose intensity increases progressively
from green schist-lower amphibolite grade in the north to
The craton derives its name from the township
Dharwar in northwestern Karnataka,where it was first
studied by R.B. Foote in 1882.

BOUNDARIES
The craton is bounded to the south by the Pandyan
mobile belt(PMB);
to the north by the end Cretaceous Deccan Trap;
to the north-east by the Archaean Karimnagar
granulite belt(KGB) adjacent to Godavari basin;
to the east by the Neoproterozoic Eastern Ghats
mobile belt(EGMB);
and to the west by the Arabian Sea.
 Wdc &edc
The craton is divided into two tectonic blocks after
Swami Nath et al. (1976), as the WESTERN
DHARWAR CRATON(WDC) and EASTERN DHARWAR
CRATON(EDC).

The WDC and EDC are separated by the Chitradurga

Shear Zone,towards the western margin of Closepet
Granite.

The contact between WDC and EDC is not sharp,and

there is a transition zone between the Chitradurga
Shear Zone and Closepet Granite.
Differences between wdc and edc
 lithostratigraphy
The main lithotectonic units that are recognizable in the Dharwar craton
are given below in the table.All of them are highly metamorphosed and
the grade of metamorphism increases from north to south.
Western dharwar craton
 Western dharwar craton
GORUR GNEISS(3300-3400 Ma)
The oldest gneiss in WDC is a tonalite-
trondhjemite-gneiss known as Gorur
gneiss.These migmatitic gneisses are
believed to have originated by low
degree of partial melting of basaltic rocks
in the lower crust.Fresh outcrops of Gorur
gneiss are exposed in the stone quarries
on either side of Gorur-Hassan road.
 SARGUR GROUP(3100-3300 Ma)
This group is represented by minor linear
belts and enclaves of basic-ultrabasic
magmatic rocks and quartzite-carbonate-
pelite(QCP) alongwith Banded Iron
Formation(BIF).
They are massively invaded by the
granitic rocks of Peninsular Gneiss.
The principal igneous components are
peridotites,pyroxenites and komatites.
They have undergone upper amphibolite-
grade metamorphism at 70030C and
8.60.8 kbar,and converted to a shistose
assemblage.
 PENINSULAR GNEISS(>3000 Ma)
West of the Chitradurga Boundary
Fault,the larger part of the western block
of the Dharwar Craton is made up of
gneisses of TTG composition,called the
Peninsular Gneiss.
It is a complex assemblage of granitic
rocks.Some workers consider the Gorur
Gneiss as a part of the Peninsular Gneiss.
It is characterized by elongate belts and
enclaves of schistose rocks.These schists
exhibit shallow to steeply dipping
schistosity and lineation.
 DHARWAR SUPERGROUP(2600-2800 Ma)
Dharwar Supergroup is developed in

force in WDC and exposed in two large

schist belts
(1)-Bababudan-Western Ghats-Shimoga,
and
(2)-Chitradurga-Gadag
It is divided into the Bababudan Group
and the Chitradurga Group.The two are
separated by an unconformity.
 BABABUDAN GROUP
It comprises basal oligomictic
conglomerate,overlain by cross bedded
quartz arenites,stromatolitic carbonates
and banded ferrugious chert(BIF).
The clastic sediments of the Bababudan
represent a shallow-water platform
deposit.
The group can be divided into four
formations,namely-
Kalasapura,Allampura,Santaveri and
Mulaingiri.
 CHITRADURGA GROUP
It is made up of 1000m thick succession of
polymictic conglomerate at the base;
limestones and dolomites and banded
ferruginous chert with manganese ore
formation in the middle; and
greywackes,carbonaceous phyllite and
alteration of chert and ferruginous silica in
the upper part of the sequence.
Associated with predominant volcanics
with some ultrabasics,the Chitradurga
succession represents deposit of deep
water basin.
 YOUNGER INTRUSIONS IN WDC
Late to post-tectonic Dharwar
granites(~2600 Ma) occur as isolated
discrete intrusions cutting across the
foliation and banding of Peninsular
Gneiss.
Some of them are Chitradurga
granite,Jampalnaikankote(J.N. Kote)
granite,Hosadurga granite,Chamundi
granite.
 Eastern dharwar craton
The diffuse zone divides the EDC and
WDC,which is about 200 km wide,starting
from northeast sheared margin of
Shimoga belt to the Closepet granite.
The gneisses of diffuse zone have TTG
composition like those of theWDC,but are
mainly 2500-2700 Ma old like those of
EDC.
Eastern dharwar craton
GREENSTONE BELTS OF DHARWAR SUPERGROUP
The EDC is characterized by volcanics-
dominated,sediment-poor and gold-rich belts,in
contrast to those of WDC.
Unlike WDC,division of EDC into distinct groups is
not
possible due the volcanic ensembles forming the
bulk.
Only the Yashwantanagar formation of Sandur belt
has similarities with Bababudan group.
 The greenstone belts of EDC form linear
arrays of what may be called as
superbelts or composite belts.
The linear arrays of superbelts in the EDC

are the following:-

(1)-Ramagiri-Hungund superbelt
(2)-Kolar-Kadiri-Jonnagiri-Hutti superbelt
(3)-Veligallu-Raichur-Gadwal superbelt
 CLOSEPET GRANITE(2400-2500 Ma)
Typically exposed at Closepet,the Closepet
Granite forms a 400 km long and 20-30 km
wide linear hill range.
It extends from Kabbaldurga in the south to
beyond Bellary in the north.It shows no
substantial effects of deformation and
metamorphism.
It is a potash-rich ademellite,quartz
monzonite and granite.
It is believed that the Closepet batholith was
emplaced along a crustal-scale shear zone
during the Late Archaean time.
REGIONAL METAMORPHISM AND
CHARNOCKITES
Progressive regional metamorphism from
greenschist in the north to granulite facies in the
south is well documented in Dharwar Craton,and
more spectacularly in WDC.
The P-T conditions graduate from 500C/4-5kb in
the north to 600C/5-7kb in the middle and
700C/7-8kb in the south.The regional
metamorphism of WDC belongs to the classical
Barrovian type.
The amphibolite-granulite facies transition is
marked by the development of incipient or
arrested charnockite patches and veins.
 Charnockites are products of deep-seated
metamorphism of gneisses and granites.
They are intercalated with subordinate
sediments and basic-ultrabasic
intrusives.The metamorphism took place
under strong influence of CO2 rich
fluids,derived from the mantle or the
sedimentary material thrusted beneath the
crustal slabs,and removing H2O from the
deep crust,leading to pervasive dehydration
and formation of granulites.Metamorphism
of these granulites gave rise to charnockites
at around 250050 Ma.
 The regional metamorphism of EDC
ocurred on similar lines ,but it is of low-
pressure facies series.
P-T conditions of EDC range from
670C/3kb in the north ,through 710C/4-
5kb in the middle to 750C/6-7kb in the
south.
 Tectonic evolution
Formation of Gorur Gneiss,representing the
earliest Palaeoarchaean sialic crust.
The ultrabasic- basic magmatic rocks,with
intercalations of peletic-silicious sediments
formed the Sargur Group,which is a product of
intracratonic rift basin or an oceanic trench.
The Gorur Gneiss and the Sargur Group together
formed the 3400-3200 m.y. old nucleus of the
Dharwar Craton.
Invasion of many phases of gneissic magmas-
Peninsular Gneiss around 3000 Ma.
Sagging and rifting of the craton due to
extension,formation of elongate basins of
Dharwar volcanism and sedimentation-Dharwar
Supergroup
 Oblique,westward convergence of the crustal
blocks towards the end of the Neoarchaean
era,resulting in E-W to NE-SW shortening of the
basin leading to thrusting and transpression.The
transpression along the N-S line is represented
by the Chitradurga Boundary Fault.
Possible activation of mantle plumes towards the
end of the Neoarchaean time,upwelling of mantle
material,resulting in emplacement of the
Closepet Granite and the Dharwar Batholith in
the larger northern part of the Dharwar province.
 The granitic activity induced high-
temperature-pressure granulite
metamorphism,leading to formation of
charnockites in the southern part of the
Dharwar domain.
Later,subhorizontal displacement on the
N-S and NNW-SSE trending faults and
shear zones aggravated the structural
complexity of the Dharwar Craton.
 ECONOMIC ASPECT OF
DHARWAR SUPERGROUP
The Dharwar system carries the principal ore
deposits of the country, e.g., those of gold,
manganese, iron, chromium, copper, tungsten,
lead, etc.

These with their associated rocks are also rich in

such industrially useful products as mica,
corundum, lithium minerals, titanium and thorium
minerals, etc.

Rare valuable minerals like pitchblende, monazite

and columbite, etc are also found in them as well
as a few gems and semi-precious stones like ruby,
sapphire, emerald, aquamarine, beryl, zircon,
spinels, garnets, tourmalines, amethyst, rock
crystals and some others.
 Iron ore
Two types of iron ore mainly found
(1)--Lateritoid concentrations, essentially of
haematite with minor limonite and
goethite.
Ores are mainly massive and often show

pisolitic and oolitic structure.

(2)-Magnetite mainly occur in the
Bababudan Group as lenses or as beds in
the banded magnetite quartzite.
 Gold deposits
Two types of gold loads mainly occur
(1)-gold-quartz lodes represented mainly by the
Champion lode.
(2)- gold-quartz sulphide lodes represented by the
Oriental and McTaggert lodes.
In type-1 lodes, sulphides, viz., arsenopyrite,
pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite and
galena are subordinate varying from traces to
2% of volume of Rock.
In type-2 lodes, sulphides viz., pyrrhotite,
pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and
rare galena are in the order of 10-12% of volume
of rock.
Eg-Kolar gold field, Hutti mines
 references
Geology Of India-
M. Ramakrishnan
R. Vaidyanadhan

The Making Of India-

(Geodynamic Evolution)

K.S. Valdiya
Thank you!