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Geochemistry of detrital zinc-rich chromite in conglomerates from eastern India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2022

Dipak C Pal Open the ORCID record for Dipak C Pal [Opens in a new window] ,
Biplab Chandra Sarkar ,
Sarthak Ghosh ,
Rahul Sen ,
Ashim Jana ,
Soumik Mukhopadhyay  and
Deepak K Sinha
Dipak C Pal*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Biplab Chandra Sarkar
Affiliation:
Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, West Block VII, Sector-1, R K Puram, New Delhi 110066
Sarthak Ghosh
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Rahul Sen
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Ashim Jana
Affiliation:
Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, AMD Complex, Khasmahal, Jamshedpur 831002
Soumik Mukhopadhyay
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Deepak K Sinha
Affiliation:
Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, AMD Complex, Begumpet, Hyderabad 500016
*
*Author for correspondence: Dipak C Pal, Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract

On the western part of the eastern Indian shield, Archaean basement (Bonai granite) is overlain by radioactive conglomerate. The conglomerate contains well-rounded, fractured Mg-poor (<0.18 wt.% MgO), Al-rich (up to 21.14 wt.% Al2O3) Zn-rich chromite (>35.0 wt.% Cr2O3) containing up to 15.5 wt.% ZnO. This is the first reported occurrence of detrital zinc-rich chromite having such unusually high ZnO from India, and to our knowledge, the third reported occurrence in radioactive quartz-pebble conglomerate after Witwatersrand, South Africa and Tarkwa, Ghana. Zinc-rich chromite grains are either clean or contain exsolution blebs/lamella of rutile. The conglomerates show evidence for post-depositional hydrothermal fluid influx and fluid-induced mineral alteration. The strong negative correlation between Zn and Fe2+, Al and Cr, and Al and Fe3+, and strong positive correlation between Zn and Al suggest secondary incorporation of Zn and Al by substitution of Fe2+ and Cr (and Fe3+), respectively, leading to partial transformation of (Fe)(Cr,Al,Fe3+)2O4 towards ZnAl2O4 composition. The chromite grains were possibly derived from komatiite. The timing of Zn enrichment, either at the provenance prior to sedimentation, or at the depositional site post-dating sedimentation, remains unresolved.

Keywords

zinc-rich chromitedetritalconglomerategeochemistryalterationoriginIndia
Type
Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 214 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

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Footnotes

Associate Editor: Katharina Pfaff

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