Neodymium isotope constraints on the tectonic evolution of East Gondwana

Abstract

East Gondwana incorporates a collage of polymetamorphic terrains with long-lived tectonic histories from the Early Archaean to the Neoproterozoic. The oldest cratonic areas have been identified in South India (north of the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone) and East Antarctica (the Napier Complex). These terrains are remnants of an East Gondwana craton that underwent initial crustal growth during the Early Archaean and granulite-facies metamorphism at ∼2.5 Ga. Both were virtually unaffected by the Pan-African orogeny (1.1-0.5 Ga). In contrast, Proterozoic terrains were subject to high-grade metamorphism during the Pan-African event. On the basis of published Nd model ages, a direct correlation can be made between southern Madagascar (south of the Ranotsara shear zone), southern India (the Madurai Block and Kerala Khondalite Belt) and the Highland/Southwestern Complex of Sri Lanka, which comprise a Later Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic (3.2-2.0 Ga) mobile belt that may extend eastwards into East Antarctica. The youngest period of crustal growth in East Gondwana has been recognised at 1.5-0.8 Ga from isotopic studies of the Mozambique Belt of East Africa, the Vijayan Complex of Sri Lanka and the Yamato-Belgica Complex/Sør Rondane Mountains of East Antarctica. Small slivers of terrain of intermediate age (1.9-1.2 Ga) have been recognised in South India (Achankovil metasediments) and Sri Lanka (Wanni Complex) that may represent mixed-age contributions to clastic sedimentary basins.