P a g e | 18

Mer Mundwara Igneous Complex

Coulson (1933) first reported the occurrences of the very interesting magmatic suite developed near Mundwara village located at 24 0
0

district of Rajasthan in north- western India. The petrographic and mineralogical characters of the alkali syenites of Mundwara through occurring within extensively developed Precambrian granites are conspicuously different from associated with Precambrian belts of India. Sharma (1969) published an account of petrography of the suite, outlining the possible trend of differentiation within it. Detailed studies on the mineralogy and geochemistry of the complex are, however still lacking and particularly, no systematic efforts has been made to explore the possible connection of this apparently isolated occurrence of alkali rocks with similar assemblages reported from parts Deccan Volcanic Province in western India. Bose and Dasgupta (1973) described the Mundwara syenites briefly, emphasizing on the chemical and mineralogical aspects of the Musala syenites only. Chakroborti (1974) carried out detailed petrological studies on the sub volvanics of Jua, Mer and the Musala intrusions.

Fig. 4 Map of northwestern India, exhibiting the major tectonic features. Star indicates alkaline intrusive at Mer Mundwara (M). Inset map of India shows the shaded outcrop of the Deccan Volcanic Province. The dashed lines indicate the east-west deep seismic

P a g e | 19

sounding profile Navibunder (N) to Amreli (A) in the northwestern Deccan Volcanic Province and a north-south profile Mehmadabad (M) to Billimora (B) in the cambay rift. NWDVP- northwestern Deccan Volcanic Province. SCDVP-south-central Deccan Volcanic Province

Occurrences and Association

The topographic expression of Mundwara igneous suite breaks the monotony of undulating Erinpura granite terrain. The Mundwara igneous complex is a veritable museum of rock types both alkaline calc alkaline characters. This complex is situated 24 differentiates of a comagmatic rock series that encompasses a whole spectrum of compositional variation from ultramafic types such as picrites, pyroxenites and ankaramites at one end, through a group of alkaline basic rocks including therapies, shonkinites and the olivine gabbros, to felspatoidal syenites and leucosyenites at the other end. These petrological types are distributed among the three physiographic units of the complex , viz. Joa (maximum height 436 m) Mer (maximum height584 m) and Musala (maximum height 509 m) hills, occurring in that order of N to S and located to the west and NW of Mundwara hills. While Joa and Mer are circular chains of hills, Musala is an isolated hill of conical shape rising precipitously from the plains. The surrounding country which is almost flat or slightly undulating is underlain by extensive stretches of Erinpura granite of Precambrian age. The alkali syenites occur in the part of Musala hill and on the outer flanks of Mer ring. No syenite is found to occur in the Joa ring, which is composed exclusively of mafic and ultramafic rocks. The syenites occur in close spatial association with more basic differentiates such as shonkinites, theralites and pyroxenites, which are exposed at different levels of the hill. The syenite forms composite bodies within which the mineralogy and texture of the rocks register variations. The syenites are closely associated with, and sometimes cut across by, a host of minor intrusions such as microsyenites, lamprophyres and tinguaites. Dykes of dolerite and basalt traversing the Musala hill in a pronounced radial fashion are exceedingly numerous, and intrude almost all the rock types making up the hill mass. The syenites at or near their contacts with the Erinpura granite have produced hybrid zones marked by characteristic mineralogical transformations.

P a g e | 20

Alkali syenites similar to those of Mundwara have been reported from scattered areas within the Deccan Volcanic Province, where they are intrusive into the basalts. Such occurrences include those of Mount Girnar (Mathur, Dubey and Sharma, 1926; Krishnan, 1926; Thinngran, 1954; Subbarao, 1964; Bose 1971) and Phenai Mata (Sukheswala, Avasia, 1966) of Bombay, Maharashtra. It is significant that in these areas the alkali syenites are associated, as in Mundwara, with basic ultrabasic differentiates. In fact, the petrographic and mineralogic identity of the Mundwara alkali syenites and its associates with comparable assemblages of the spatial extension of the Deccan Volcanic Province is very striking and indicative of a greater spatial extension of the Deccan province beyond the present day boundaries of the traps. This seems to derive support from the generally accepted view that magma differentiation took on a distinct alkaline trend towards the closing phase of volcanicity (West, 1958; Bose, 1972).

Petrography
Mundwara displays several distinct petrographic variations, possibly representing different stages of magmatic crystallization. The most abundant type, occurring half way of the Musala hill on its eastern, southeastern and north western flanks, is a nepheline-sodalite syenite, having almost equal volumes of nepheline and sodalite, with alkali feldspar predominating over the feldspathoids. The other conspicuous varieties include a barkevikite nepheline microsyenite, occurring at a slightly higher level of Musala hill than the first and texturally much finer grained. The third variety is a leucosyenite vey much enriched in feldspars and correspondingly depleted in feldspathoids. This type is found to occur at the uppermost level of the Musala. The Mer comprises of a nepheline rich variety with minor sodalite. The Mundwara shows occurrence of perthitic alkali feldspar, green aegirine-augite and reddish brown biotite, together with accessory sphene, calcite and opaque Fe-Ti oxides. Megascopically, the nepheline- sodalite syenites are coarse grained, hypidiomorphic granular rocks, characterized by tabular or the elongated lath shaped alkali feldspar (which sometimes reaches phenocrystal size), shiny greenish black pyroxene prisms, flaky dark brown biotite, oily anhedral nepheline and flesh coloured glassy sodalite. Under the microscope, the principal mineral is found to be a perthitic alkali. Feldspar, showing different degrees of unmixing, and somewhat cloudy due to kaolinization. The mineral occurs mostly as large subhedral tabular plates, or as euhedral lath

P a g e | 21

shaped grains. Nepheline, which is nearly fresh or shows incipient alteration, occurs as equant grains of euhedral or subhedral nature. The chief mafic mineral is a zoned aegirine-augite of grass green color, frequently with colorless or pale green care with diopsidic characters. It forms good crystals of prismatic habit, sometimes with acute termination. Reddish brown biotite tends to occur in clusters while magnetite is scattered unevenly. Sphene and calcite are almost always present. The second variety a nepheline microsyenite which has only minor amounts of sodalite, is characterized by development of a calciferous brown amphibole barkevikite, occurring as euhedral laths and prism, and coexisting with aegirine-augite. In the uppermost levels syenites are enriched in feldspars at the expense of feldspathoids and the rock grades to leucosyenites. The proportion of mafic silicates in these rocks is lower and the mafic minerals are found to have been altered with release of Fe-Ti oxides.

Mineralogy
The alkali feldspar is identified as orthoclase from optical properties and unresolved 131/1 -31 reflections in x ray powder photographs. It is always perthitic, showing a variable degree of exsolution, parallel alignment of albite stringers is conspicuous, but with advancing unmixing of alkali feldspar, the regularity of arrangement is lost to considerable extent, and patch perthitic is the result. Discrete grains of albite, the product of final unmixing are sometimes present. Twinning is frequently observed in feldspar, that of Carlsbad type being the commonest. Partial chemical analysis (K2O 8.23%; Na2O 6.03%; CaO 0.06%) yields a composition Or48.7 Ab51.0 An0.3 that is near to soda orthoclase. Kaolinisation has affected the alkali feldspars to a varying degree, being most marked in the leucosyenites. Nepheline in syenite is colorless with oily luster. While sodalite has distinctly pink tint, especially when seen on a freshly fractured surface of the rock. The brown amphibole which is primarily developed in microsyenites of Musala is a calciferous variety belonging to kaersutite-barkevikite series as revealed by chemical and optical properties. Accessory minerals present in the syenites include sphene, calcite and opaque Fe-Ti oxides. The opaque oxides are of two varieties: 1. The oxide mineral in nepheline-sodalite syenites is an

P a g e | 22

almost homogeneous magnetite devoid of significant exsolution lamellae of ilmenite; this is accompanied by some discrete ilmenite, pyrhotite, pyrite and minor hematite; 2. An ilmenomagnetite chiefly in microsyenites with a frequent lamellae of ilmenite; the magnetite is martitized in places. Discrete grains of ilmenite and a little pyrite are occasionally present. The differentiated dyke of rocks of Mer Mundwara complex comprises a sub alkaline series which includes basalts and dolerites, and an alkaline series which includes theralites, porphyritic alkali syenites. These intrude into the coarse grained Precambrian granites which in their turned, are subjacent bodies in the Aravalli System of metamorphic complex of Archean age. Absolute age of basic volcanics is 568 m.a., thus relating their emplacement to Deccan Trap volcanism in the Cretaceo-Eocene times in central and western India. Petrochemical characteristics of the basic rocks exemplify an alkaline character and so indicate that the basaltic magma of Mer Mundwara is tectonically and genetically different from the Deccan basalts are in the main theolitic. The geological setting, petrography and major and minor element chemistry (Na>K and abundance of Nb, Co, Sn and V) relegate the dyke rock suite to the alkali gabbroic formations of Borodin (1974) The alkaline igneous rocks of Mer Mundwara strongling suggest a possible occurrence of rare earths, niobium, zirconium and fluorine in industrial concentrations and also the thorium and phosphorus

Economic Geology
Jhamarkotra Region The Jhamarkotra region is characterised by a Proterozoic meta-sedimentary sequence lying unconformably over Archean basement rocks that include granites gneisses, amphibolites and mica-schists. Evidence of the angular discontinuity between basement rocks and the overlying Aravalli formation has been noted in former studies in the southern and western parts of the region.