Work

Reversal of drainage patterns related to the Late Cretaceous topographic doming: a case study from eastern Gondwana basins of India

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Mantle plume upwelling and associated topographic doming may affect sedimentation systems over large areas of the Earth’s crust, including drainage basins. An integrated provenance study, including petrography, palaeocurrent data, heavy mineral chemistry, and detrital monazite dating of the Palaeo-Mesozoic Gondwana sandstones in the Mahanadi Basin in eastern India, tracks sediment sources, reconstructs the palaeogeography of eastern Gondwanaland, and records the effects of doming on drainage pattern. The sandstones are mostly arkosic to quartz arenite, sourced from transitional continental to craton interior regions. Garnet chemistry from Permian sandstones suggests a dominant contribution from source rocks metamorphosed under amphibolite to granulite facies conditions. Tourmaline chemistry of the Late Carboniferous to the Late Triassic sandstones links its source primarily to metapelites and metapsammites rocks, while the same indicates predominant Li-poor granitoid sources for the Early Cretaceous sandstones. The spectrum of monazite detrital ages of the Mahanadi sandstones reveals four major clusters: (1) 2385–2249 Ma, (2) 1627–1547 Ma, (3) 1146–662 Ma, and (4) 571–410 Ma. The integration of heavy mineral chemistry, petrography, monazite geochronology, and palaeocurrent data, from the Permo-Carboniferous to the Late Triassic sandstones, establishes sediment sources within the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt and the Singhbhum Mobile Belt of India, and East Antarctica. In contrast, the southerly palaeocurrent record of the Early Cretaceous deposit indicates sediment supply from the Rengali province of the Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (EGMB) and the Chhotanagpur Gneissic Complex. Therefore, Early Cretaceous sandstones attest to a change in source rock, primarily controlled by the south-easterly tilting of the basin, linked to the mantle plume-related domal uplift. This study also highlights that before the breakup of Gondwanaland, East Antarctica and EGMB existed as a single landmass. • Sedimentary provenance study reveals a major drainage reversal occurred in the Lower Cretaceous in the Mahanadi Basin. • Detrital Monazite ages 2385–2249 Ma, 1627–1547 Ma, 1146–662 Ma, and 571–410 Ma indicate sediment comes from multiple directions. • Mineral chemistry of the Mahanadi Basin infers the dominance of metamorphic source rocks. • EGMB of India and Antarctica are primarily contribute sediments to the Mahanadi Basin till the Triassic. • In the Early Cretaceous, the Mahanadi Basin received sediments only from rocks of India. • Southeast India was linked to the eastern part of the Antarctic margin during the East Gondwana assembly.

Source: Journal of Palaeogeography

DOI: 10.1016/j.jop.2025.100294

Authors: Sankar Kumar Nahak, N. Prabhakar, Santanu Banerjee, Shreerup Goswami

Institutions: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Utkal University

Language: English

Topic: Geological and Geochemical Analysis

Subfield: Geophysics

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,500

Funders: Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India, University Grants Commission, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Science and Engineering Research Board