ArcGIS studies and field relationships of Paleoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms from the south of Devarakonda area, Eastern Dharwar Craton, southern India: Implications for their relative ages

Google Earth Image and cross-cutting field relationships of distinct Paleoproterozoic mafic dykes from south of Devarakonda area in the Eastern Dharwar Craton has been studied to establish relative emplacement ages. The Devarakonda, covering an area of ∼700 km2, shows spectacular cross-cutting field relationships between different generations of mafic dykes, and is therefore selected for the present study. Although some recent radiometric age data are available for distinct Paleoproterozoic mafic dykes from the Eastern Dharwar Craton, there is no analogous age data available for the study area. Therefore, relative age relationships of distinct mafic dykes have been established for the study area using cross-cutting field relationships and GIS techniques, which shows slightly different picture than other parts of the Eastern Dharwar Craton. It is suggested that NE–SW trending mafic dykes are youngest in age (probably belong to ∼1.89 Ga dyke swarm), whereas NNW–SSE trending mafic dykes have oldest emplacement age. Further, the NNW–SSE mafic dykes are older to the other two identified mafic dyke swarms, i.e., WNW–ESE (∼2.18 Ga) and N–S trending (∼2.21 Ga) mafic dyke swarms, as dykes of these two swarms cross-cut a NNW–SSE dyke. It provides an evidence for existence of a new set of mafic dykes that is older to the ∼2.21 Ga and probably younger to the ∼2.37 Ga swarm. Present study also supports existence of two mafic dyke swarms having similar trend (ENE–WSW to NE–SW) but emplaced in two different ages (one is ∼2.37 Ga and other ∼1.89 Ga).