Secular evolution of continental crust: recorded from massif-type charnockites of Eastern Ghats belt, India

摘要

It is reasonably well established that the Earth has substantially cooled from the Archean to the pre-sent and hence the sites, rates and pro- cesses of crust formation must have changed through geo-logic time. Archean and Proterozoic granitic rocks are the principal record of such changes. Massif-type charnockites in the Eastern Ghats granulite belt, India, of Archean and Proterozoic ages mirror the changing conditions and/or processes of continental crust for- mation. Though both can be explained by dehydration melting of mafic rocks, the conditions differ. Potasium and rubidium rich Proterozoic charnockites have significant negative Eu ano- maly indicating melting at shallow depths in the stability field of plagioclase. In contrast, sodium and strontium rich Archean charnockites with less LREE enrichment and less depletion in Eu indicate melting at greater depths in the stability field of garnet or amphibole.