The geotectonic position of the Madurai block (south India) within Gondwana: its formation and tectono-metamorphic evolution reconstructed with SHRIMP zircon analyses, EPMA-monazite dating, and petrology

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Volker Schenk
• Subject Area: Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: from 2006 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 16092485

The project is a cooperation between the universities of Kiel, Bonn, Köln and Mysore and part of the ILP-project "LEGENDS". It is supplementary to a seismic profile, which runs north-south through the Indian peninsula towards Sri Lanka. This profile intersects major shear zones and possible suture zones separating distinct crustal terrains of the Pan-African East African - Antarctic Orogen formed during the assembly of Gondwana. The aim of this petrological-structural-geochronological project is to unravel the formation and tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Madurai Block of the Southern Granulate Terrain of India, which is bounded by the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone (a possible suture) in the north and by the Achankovil shear zone in the south. The results will help to understand the geodynamic evolutions that affected the Madurai block during the formation of the supercontinent Gondwana and possibly that of Rodinia. The definition and recognition of specific crustal domains and the knowledge of their tectono-metamorphic evolution will contribute to the interpretation of seismic data along the profile. In addition, the results will help to correlate crustal domains in the now dispersed crustal fragments of the Gondwana supercontinent.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: India
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Michael Raith; Professor Dr. C. Srikantappa