Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:34:45.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evolution of Neoproterozoic Shillong Basin, Meghalaya, NE India: implications of supercontinent break-up and amalgamation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2021

Susobhan Neogi Open the ORCID record for Susobhan Neogi [Opens in a new window] ,
Apoorve Bhardwaj  and
Amitava Kundu
Susobhan Neogi*
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, 15A & B, Kyd Street, Kolkata700016, India
Apoorve Bhardwaj
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh226024, India
Amitava Kundu
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of India, Chennai, Tamil Nadu600032, India
*
Author for correspondence: Susobhan Neogi, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Fragmentation and amalgamation of supercontinents play an important role in shaping our planet. The break-up of such a widely studied supercontinent, Rodinia, has been well documented from several parts of India, especially the northwestern and eastern sector. Interestingly, being located very close to the Proterozoic tectonic margin, northeastern India is expected to have had a significant role in Neoproterozoic geodynamics, but this aspect has still not been thoroughly studied. We therefore investigate a poorly studied NE–SW-trending Shillong Basin of Meghalaya from NE India, which preserves the stratigraphic record and structural evolution spanning the Neoproterozoic Era. The low-grade metasedimentary rocks of Shillong Basin unconformably overlie the high-grade Archean–Proterozoic basement and comprise a c. 4000-m-thick platform sedimentary rock succession. In this study, we divide this succession into three formations: lower Tarso, middle Ingsaw and upper Umlapher. A NW–SE-aligned compression event later caused the thrusting of these sedimentary rocks over the basement with a tectonic contact in the western margin, resulting in NE–SW-trending fold belts. The rift-controlled Shillong Basin shows a comparable Neoproterozoic evolution with the equivalent basins of peninsular India and eastern Gondwana. The recorded Neoproterozoic rift tectonics are likely associated with Rodinia’s break-up and continent dispersion, which finally ended with the oblique collision of India with Australia and the intrusion of Cambrian granitoids during the Pan-African Orogeny, contributing to the assembly of Gondwana. This contribution is the first to present a complete litho-structural evolution of the Shillong Basin in relation to regional and global geodynamic settings.

Keywords

Shillong BasinMeghalayaRodinia break-upstratigraphystructurePan-African Orogeny
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 159 , Issue 4 , April 2022 , pp. 628 - 644
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmed, M (1981) Stratigraphic classification of the Shillong Group, Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Journal of Mines, Metals and Fuels 9, 295–7.Google Scholar
Anonymous (2009) Geology and Mineral Resources of Meghalaya, first edition. Kolkata: Geological Survey of India.Google Scholar
Arora, D, Pant, N, Pandey, M, Chattopadhyay, A, Greenbaum, J, Siegert, M and Bhandari, A (2020) Insights into geological evolution of Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica: clues for continental suturing and breakup since Rodinian time. Gondwana Research 84, 260–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barooah, BC and Goswami, ID (1972) Precambrian stratigraphy of the Assam Plateau. Journal of Mines, Metal and Fuel 20, 368–73.Google Scholar
Bhattacharjee, CC and Rahman, S (1985) Structure and lithostratigraphay of the Shillong Group of rocks of East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya. Bulletin Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Society of India 53, 90–9.Google Scholar
Bhowmik, SK (2019) The current status of orogenesis in the Central Indian Tectonic Zone: A view from its Southern Margin. Geological Journal 54, 2912–34. https://doi.org/10.1002/gj.3456 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bidyananda, M and Deomurari, MP (2007) Geochronological constraints on the evolution of Meghalaya massif, northeastern India: an ion microprobe study. Current Science 93, 1620–3.Google Scholar
Bilham, R and England, P (2001) Plateau pop-up in the great 1897 Assam Earthquake. Nature 410, 806–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borah, P, Hazarika, P, Mazumdar, AC and Rabha, M (2019) Monazite and xenotime U–Th–Pb total ages from basement rocks of the (central) Shillong–Meghalaya Gneissic Complex, Northeast India. Journal of Earth System Science 128, 68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1085-x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bose, S, Banerjee, DM, Jain, AK, Dasgupta, S and Bajpai, S (2020) Geology of the Proterozoic Eastern Ghats Belt: recent developments and outstanding issues. In Special Issue of the Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy: 36th IGC 2020 Geoscience Research in India. The Indian Report to IUGS 2016–2020, 86, 87–97.Google Scholar
Bradley, DC (2011) Secular trends in the geologic record and the supercontinent cycle. Earth-Science Reviews 108, 16–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cawood, PA, Wang, Y, Xu, Y and Zhao, Gd (2013) Locating South China in Rodinia and Gondwana: a fragment of greater India lithosphere? Geology 41, 903–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chakraborty, PP, Tandon, SK, Roy, SB, Saha, S and Paul, PP (2020) Proterozoic sedimentary basins of India. In Geodynamics of the Indian Plate, pp. 145–177. Cham: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatterjee, N, Mazumdar, AC, Bhattacharya, A and Saikia, RR (2007) Mesoproterozoic granulites of the Shillong-Meghalaya Plateau: Evidence of westward continuation of the Prydz Bay Pan-African suture into Northeastern India. Precambrian Research 152, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2006.08.011 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaudhuri, AK, Mukhopadhyay, J, Deb, SP and Chanda, SK (1999) The Neoproterozoic cratonic successions of peninsular India. Gondwana Research 2, 213–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1342-937X(05)70146-5 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, AS and Pisarevsky, SA (2005) Amalgamating eastern Gondwana: the evolution of the Circum-Indian Orogens. Earth-Science Reviews 71, 229–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Condie, KC (1993) Chemical composition and evolution of the upper continental crust: contrasting results from surface samples and shales. Chemical Geology 104, 1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Das, S and Bhardwaj, A (2017) Report on specialized thematic mapping for characterisation of Shillong Group of rocks and cover sediments, around Pynursla and Jarain, East Khasi Hills-Jaintia Hills districts, Meghalaya. Published Report. Kolkata: Geological Survey of India, 153 p.Google Scholar
Devi, NR and Sarma, KP (2010) Strain analysis and stratigraphic status of Nongkhya, Sumer and Mawmaram conglomerates of Shillong basin, Meghalaya, India. Journal of Earth System Science 119, 161–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, BG and Ray, JS (2017) Provenance of sediments in the Marwar Supergroup, Rajasthan, India: Implications for basin evolution and Neoproterozoic global events. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 147, 254–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghosh, S, Fallick, AE, Paul, DK and Potts, PJ (2005) Geochemistry and origin of Neoproterozoic granitoids of Meghalaya, northeast India: Implications for linkage with amalgamation of Gondwana supercontinent. Gondwana Research 8, 421–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodge, JW, Myrow, P, Williams, IS and Bowring, SA (2002) Age and provenance of the Beardmore Group, Antarctica: constraints on Rodinia supercontinent breakup. The Journal of Geology 110, 393–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, LC, Meert, JG, Bingen, B, Pandit, MK and Torsvik, TH (2009) Paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Malani Igneous Suite, Northwest India: implications for the configuration of Rodinia and the assembly of Gondwana. Precambrian Research 170(1–2), 13–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haokip, L, Shijoh, V, Srivastava, A and Soraisam, C (2016) Report on Specialized thematic mapping of the Gneissic Complex, Shillong Group of rocks and Kyllang pluton between Nongtumai and Mairang areas, West KhasiHill districts, Meghalaya. Published Report. Kolkata: Geological Survey of India.Google Scholar
Jing, X, Yang, Z, Evans, DA, Tong, Y, Xu, Y and Wang, H (2020) A pan-latitudinal Rodinia in the Tonian true polar wander frame. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 530, 115880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joy, S, Patranabis-Deb, S, Saha, D, Jelsma, H, Maas, R, Söderlund, U and Krishnan, U (2019) Depositional history and provenance of cratonic “Purana” basins in southern India: A multipronged geochronology approach to the Proterozoic Kaladgi and Bhima basins. Geological Journal 54, 2957–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kakati, P and Sarma, KP (2013) Porphyroblast-matrix relationships: a case study from metapelitic formation of Shillong Group, Meghalaya, India. Indian Journal of Earth Science 6, 1–13.Google Scholar
Kale, VS and Phansalkar, VG (1991) Purana basins of peninsular India: A review. Basin Research 3, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.1991.tb00133.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khonglah, MA, Khan, MA, Karim, MA, Kumar, A and Choudhury, J (2008) Geology and structure of the areas in and around Shillong, Meghalaya, North East India, revisited. Nagaland University Research Journal (ISSN 0973-0346), Special Publication, pp. 115–139.Google Scholar
Khonglah, MA, Khan, MA and Kumar, A (2002) Report on specialized thematic mapping in parts of Barapani-Tyrsad Shear Zone, East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi districts, Meghalaya, with special emphasis on the Basement and Shillong Group relationship. Published Report. Kolkata: Geological Survey of India.Google Scholar
Kim, SW, Kee, WS, Santosh, M, Cho, DL, Hong, PS, Ko, K and Jang, Y (2020) Tracing the Precambrian tectonic history of East Asia from Neoproterozoic sedimentation and magmatism in the Korean Peninsula. Earth-Science Reviews 209, 103311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kretz, R (1983) Symbols for rock-forming minerals. American Mineralogist 68, 277–9.Google Scholar
Kröner, A and Cordani, U (2003) African, southern Indian and South American cratons were not part of the Rodinia supercontinent: evidence from field relationships and geochronology. Tectonophysics 375, 325–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, N, Kumar, N, Sharma, R and Singh, AK (2020) Petrogenesis and tectonic significance of the Neoproterozoic magmatism of the Tusham Ring Complex (NW Indian Shield): insight into tectonic evolution of the Malani Igneous Suite and Rodinia Supercontinent. Geotectonics 54, 428–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, S, Rino, V, Hayasaka, Y, Kimura, K, Raju, S, Terada, K and Pathak, M (2017) Contribution of Columbia and Gondwana Supercontinent assembly- and growth-related magmatism in the evolution of the Meghalaya Plateau and the Mikir Hills, Northeast India: Constraints from U-Pb SHRIMP zircon geochronology and geochemistry. Lithos 277, 356–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lal, RK, Ackermand, D, Seifert, F and Haldar, SK (1978) Chemographic relationships in sapphirine-bearing rocks from Sonapahar, Assam, India. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 67(2), 169–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, ZX, Bogdanova, SV, Collins, AS, Davidson, A, De Waele, B, Ernst, RE and Karlstrom, KE (2008) Assembly, configuration, and breakup history of Rodinia: a synthesis. Precambrian Research 160, 179–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, JC, Blades, ML, Counts, JW, Collins, AS, Amos, KJ, Wade, BP and Drabsch, M (2020) Neoproterozoic geochronology and provenance of the Adelaide Superbasin. Precambrian Research 350, 105849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazumdar, SK (1976) A Summary of the Precambrian Geology of the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. Kolkata: Geological Survey of India, Miscellaneous Publication 23, pt 2, pp. 311–334.Google Scholar
Mazumdar, SK (1986) The Precambrian framework of part of the Khasi Hills Meghalaya. Records of the Geological Survey of India 117, 1–59.Google Scholar
McLennan, SM, Hemming, SR, McDaniel, DK and Hanson, GN (1993) Geochemical approaches to sedimentation, provenance, and tectonics. Geological Society of America Special Paper 284, 21–40. https://doi.org/10.1130/SPE284-p21 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medlicott, HB (1869) Geological sketch of the Shillong Plateau in NE Bengal. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 7(1), 151–207.Google Scholar
Mero, A, Imlishila, I, Sougrakpam, S and Praveen, S (2016) Specialized thematic mapping of the Shillong Group, Mylliem Granite around Laitkor, Mylliem and Lingkardem area, East Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya. Published Report. Kolkata: Geological Survey of India.Google Scholar
Mishra, B (2015) Precambrian metallic mineralization in India. In Precambrian Basins of India: Stratigraphic and Tectonic Context (eds R Mazumder and PG Eriksson), pp. 327–37. Geological Society of London, Memoir no. 43.Google Scholar
Mitra, SK (1998) Polydeformation of rocks of the Shillong Group around Sohiong, East Khasi Hills. Indian Journal of Geology 70, 123–31.Google Scholar
Mitra, SK and Mitra, SC (2001) Tectonic setting of the Precambrian of the northeastern India (Meghalaya Plateau) and age of the Shillong Group of rocks. Geological Survey of India Miscellaneous Publication 64, 653–58.Google Scholar
Murthy, MVN, Mazumder, SK and Bhaumik, M (1976) Significance of tectonic trends in theGeological evolution of the Meghalaya uplands since the Precambrian. Geological Survey of India Miscellaneous Publication 23, 471–81.Google Scholar
Nagarajan, R, Madhavaraju, J, Armstrong-Altrin, JS and Nagendra, R (2011) Geochemistry of neoproterozoic limestones of the Shahabad formation, Bhima basin, Karnataka, southern India. Geosciences Journal 15, 9–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naik, RR, Theunuo, K, Goswami, TK, Khonglah, MA, Pal, T and Tripathy, SK (2020) Characteristics of Mesoproterozoic felsic meta-volcanics from the Shillong Group of rocks, Meghalaya, North East India. Current Science 118(7), 00113891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nandy, DR (2001) Geodynamics of Northeastern India and the Adjoining Region. Kolkata: ABC Publications.Google Scholar
Neogi, S, Kar, S and Toshilila, (2017) Study on evolutionary history of high grade metamorphics of Sonpahar-Rambrai-Nongstoin area of West Khasi Hills District Meghalaya. Published Report. Kolkata: Geological Survey of India.Google Scholar
Neogi, S and Pal, T (2021) Metasomatically controlled sillimanite–corundum deposit: A case study from Sonapahar, Meghalaya, Northeast India. Journal of Earth System Science 130, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oldham, T (1858) On the geological structure of a portion of the Khasi, Bengal. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 1(2), 270.Google Scholar
Pant, NC and Dasgupta, S (2017) An introduction to the crustal evolution of India and Antarctica: the supercontinent connection. In Crustal Evolution of India and Antarctica: The Supercontinent Connection (eds NC Pant and S Dasgupta), pp. 1–6. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 457.Google Scholar
Patranabis-Deb, S, Bickford, ME, Hill, B, Chaudhuri, AK and Basu, A (2008) SHRIMP ages of zircon in the uppermost tuff in Chattisgarh Basin in Central India require ∼500-Ma adjustment in Indian Proterozoic stratigraphy: A reply. Journal of Geology 116, 540–2. https://doi.org/10.1086/590127 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, CM and Pisarevsky, SA (2002) Late Neoproterozoic assembly of east Gondwana. Geology 30, 3–6.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, CM, Preiss, WV, Gatehouse, CG, Krapez, B and Li, ZX (1994) South Australian record of a Rodinian epicontinental basin and its mid-Neoproterozoic breakup (∼ 700 Ma) to form the Palaeo-Pacific Ocean. Tectonophysics 237, 113–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rainbird, R, Cawood, P, Gehrels, G, Busby, C and Azor, A (2012) The great Grenvillian sedimentation episode: Record of supercontinent Rodinia’s assembly. In Recent Advances in Tectonics of Sedimentary Basins (eds C Busby and A Azor), pp. 583–601. Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, J, Saha, A, Ganguly, S, Balaram, V, Krishna, AK and Hazra, S (2011) Geochemistry and petrogenesis of Neoproterozoic Mylliem Granitoid, Meghalaya Plateau, northeastern India. Journal of Earth System Science 120(3), 459–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, J, Saha, A, Koeberl, C, Thoni, M, Ganguly, S and Hazra, S (2013) Geochemistry and petrogenesis of Proterozoic mafic rocks from East Khasi Hills, Shillong Plateau, northeastern India. Precambrian Research 230, 119–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rino, S, Kon, Y, Sato, W, Maruyama, S, Santosh, M and Zhao, D (2008) The Grenvillian and Pan-African orogens: world’s largest orogenies through geologic time, and their implications on the origin of superplume. Gondwana Research 14, 51–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roser, BP and Korsch, RJ (1988) Provenance signatures of sandstone-mudstone suites determined using discriminant function analysis of major-element data. Chemical Geology 67, 119–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saha, D and Patranabis-Deb, S (2014) Proterozoic evolution of eastern Dharwar and Bastar cratons, India - An overview of the intracratonic basins, craton margins and mobile belts. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 91, 230–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2013.09.020 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarma, KP (2014) Shillong Supergroup: a New Lithostratigraphic Unit in the Basement – Cover Precambrian Rocks of the Shillong Plateau, Northeast India. International Journal of Geology, Earth & Environmental Sciences 4(2), 158–71.Google Scholar
Schöbel, S, Sharma, KK, Hörbrand, T, Böhm, T, Donhauser, I and de Wall, H (2017) Continental rift-setting and evolution of Neoproterozoic Sindreth Basin in NW-India. Journal of Earth System Science 126, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tack, L, Wingate, MTD, Liégeois, JP, Fernandez-Alonso, M and Deblond, A (2001) Early Neoproterozoic magmatism (1000–910 Ma) of the Zadinian and Mayumbian Groups (Bas-Congo): onset of Rodinia rifting at the western edge of the Congo craton. Precambrian Research 110, 277–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdiya, KS (2016) Intracratonic Purana Basins in Peninsular India: Mesoproterozoic History. In The Making of India (ed. KS Valdiya), pp. 237–67. Switzerland: Springer, Society of Earth Scientists Series. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25029-8_8 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verma, SP and Armstrong-Altrin, JS (2013) New multi-dimensional diagrams for tectonic discrimination of siliciclastic sediments and their application to Precambrian basins. Chemical Geology 355, 117–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, MR, Veevers, JJ, Calver, CR and Grey, K (1995) Neoproterozoic stratigraphy of the Centralian superbasin, Australia. Precambrian Research 73, 173–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, J and Li, ZX (2003) History of Neoproterozoic rift basins in South China: implications for Rodinia breakup. Precambrian Research 122, 141–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, A, Dubey, CS, Webb, AAG, Kelty, TK, Grove, M, Gehrels, GE and Burgess, WP (2010) Geologic correlation of the Himalayan orogen and Indian craton: Part 1. Structural geology, U-Pb zircon geochronology, and tectonic evolution of the Shillong Plateau and its neighboring regions in NE India. Geological Society of America Bulletin 122, 336–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, JC, Wang, XL and Qiu, JS (2009) Geochronology of Neoproterozoic mafic rocks and sandstones from northeastern Guizhou, South China: coeval arc magmatism and sedimentation. Precambrian Research 170, 27–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Neogi et al. supplementary material

Neogi et al. supplementary material

Download Neogi et al. supplementary material(File)
File 27.3 KB