Rift-associated ultramafic lamprophyre (damtjernite) from the middle part of the Lower Cretaceous (125 Ma) succession of Kutch, northwestern India: Tectonomagmatic implications

Mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic (Sr and Nd) studies on the recently reported ca. 124 Ma ‘anorogenic lamproite’ dyke from the Palanpur area, Kutch seismogenic rift zone, northwestern India, are presented. We propose a new classification for the dyke as a damtjernite (ultramafic lamprophyre; UML) based on its porphyritic-panidiomorphic texture, abundance of phlogopite, presence of nepheline in the groundmass, and the composition of liquidus phases such as olivine, phlogopite, magnetite, and clinopyroxene (diopside). The Palanpur UML is primitive (Mg# = 74–77), silica-undersaturated (SiO2 <40 wt.%), potassic to slightly sodic in nature, and is strikingly similar to the ∼69 Ma UML dykes and sills of the Tethyan Indus suture zone, which are considered as the earliest yet known manifestations of the Deccan Large Igneous Province (LIP). Bulk-rock (87Sr/86Sr)i (0.70460–0.70461) and ɛNd(t) (+2.56 to −0.69) of the Palanpur UML signify derivation from a slightly depleted mantle source similar to that of asthenospheric magmas such as OIB. This is further attested to by the high incompatible trace element ratios (viz., La/Ba, Nb/U, Nb/La and Ta/Yb) that are typical of plume-type magmas. However, the Neoproterozoic TDM depleted mantle Nd model ages (∼655–919 Ma) also necessitate some involvement of a lithospheric mantle component in its genesis. High bulk-rock Fe2O3t and TiO2 contents require the involvement of a fertile peridotitic mantle source, whereas high La/Yb (60–80) implies a control by residual garnet. Higher Rb/Sr and lower Ba/Rb suggest phlogopite as a residual phase and high Nb and lower La/Sm favour carbonatite, rather than silicate melt as metasomatising agent. Low degrees of partial melting of a primitive garnet lherzolite mantle can account for the observed REE patterns in the Palanpur UML. The Palanpur UML shares a temporal similarity to the Kerguelen plume-derived Rajmahal basalts and associated alkaline rocks from the eastern India. The tectonomagmatic significance of its emplacement during the mid-Cretaceous vis-à-vis various models involving the timing of eruption of the Deccan and the Rahmahal Traps and the rifting in the Kutch basin induced by far-field plate reorganization is evaluated.