Carbonatite magmatism in northeast India

Abstract

The Shillong Plateau of northeast India is identified as an alkaline province in view of the development of several carbonatite complexes e.g. the Sung Valley (Jaintia Hills), Jasra (Karbi-Anglong), Samchampi and Barpung (Mikir Hills) and lamprophyre dyke swarms (Swangkre, Garo-Khasi Hills). On the basis of limited KAr data, magmatic activity appears to have taken place over a protracted period, ranging from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The carbonatite complexes of the Shillong Plateau share several common traits: they are emplaced along rift zones, either within Archaean gneisses or Proterozoic metasediments and granites, and exhibit enrichment in the light rare-earth elements, U, Th, Nb, Zr, Ti, K and Na. The enrichment in incompatible trace elements can best be accounted for if the parental magmas were of alkali basaltic type (e.g. mela-nephelinite or carbonate-rich alkali picrite).