Micropalaeontological and Geochemical Evidence of the Late Jurassic Radiolarians Cherts of Naga Ophiolite Hill, Nagaland, Northeast-India

Abstract

We analyzed the radiolarian assemblages (pelagic sediments) and geochemical studies of 15 samples collected from Meluri district Nagaland, Naga Hills Ophiolite belt (NHO) and it consists of the Flysch Naga-Arakan-Yoma trough beyond the Indo-Myanmar border. It reflects one of the many components of the Himalayan Orogenic systems of Tethyan oceanic crust discovered in Nagaland at Meluri district of India and they have very well-preserved studies and can be identified to Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-mid-Tithonian). As well as a continuous sequence of Kimmeridgian-mid-Tithonian, five radiolarian assemblages have been identified in this study. This is so far the first recovery of pelagic sediment assemblages (Radiolarians) from the Naga Hills Ophiolite complex. Samples of Naga Hills Ophiolite belts fell in the Sublitharenite, Litharenite, and Fe-shale Fe-sand area, and the A-CN-K diagram indicates that these sediments in the source region were exposed deep to moderate weathering conditions. In the discriminant plot, the Naga Hill-Ophiolite-Chert samples occupy the field of origin of the sediment quartzose, and the log (K2O/Na2O) versus SiO2 samples fall into the active continental marginal field, and only one sample falls into an island arch, suggesting that the tectonic framework of the Naga Hills-Chert samples was deposited in the active continental margin and the diagrams K2O/Al2O3 and MgO/Al2O3 illustrated the tectonic setting of the marine environment from Naga Hill Ophiolite Chert. Such findings have been consistent with the current geology of Naga Hills in the province of Nagaland.