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Age and sedimentary provenance of the Southern Granulites, South India: U-Th-Pb SHRIMP secondary ion mass spectrometry
Alan S. Collins a, , M. Santosh b , I. Braun c , C. Clark a
a

Continental Evolution Research Group, Geology & Geophysics, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia b Faculty of Science, Kochi University, Akebono-cho 2-5-1, Kochi 780-8520, Japan c Mineralogisch-Petrologisches Institut, Universit at Bonn, Poppelsdorfer Schlo, 53115 Bonn, Germany Received 4 August 2006; received in revised form 17 January 2007; accepted 29 January 2007

Abstract Southern India lies at a junction in the Gondwana-forming orogenic belts, between the East African Orogen and the Kuunga Orogen. It contains voluminous high-grade metasedimentary gneisses that make up an important component of the record of collision and amalgamation of Gondwana. Here we present U-Pb Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) isotopic data from detrital zircon cores from throughout southern India that demonstrate dominant Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic age components that are incompatible with the known ages of potential southern and central Indian source regions. The original sediments to the Trivandrum Block gneisses were deposited between 1900 and 515 Ma, whereas a sample from the Achancovil Unit, and possible also a sample from the Madurai Block, were deposited in Neoproterozoic times. We speculate that these rocks broadly correlate with southern and western Malagasy metasedimentary rocks (including the Itremo and Molo Groups) and formed an extensive basin (or basins) that lay on the west side (present orientation) of the Neoproterozoic continent Azania. In addition, metamorphic zircon from four samples yielded an age of 513 6 Ma that is interpreted as dating high-grade metamorphism throughout much of the Southern Granulite Terrane. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Gondwana; SIMS U-Pb geochronology; Zircon; Southern India; Provenance; Metamorphic age

1. Introduction The Ediacaran-Cambrian assembly of Gondwana occurred by the collision and amalgamation of numerous continental blocks along a number of disparate orogenic belts (see Collins and Pisarevsky, 2005). In recent Neoproterozoic palaeogeographic reconstructions, India did not amalgamate with the other Gondwanan continents

Corresponding author. Fax: +61 8 8303 3174. E-mail address: alan.collins@adelaide.edu.au (A.S. Collins).

until latest Neoproterozoic or Cambrian times (Torsvik et al., 2001; Powell and Pisarevsky, 2002; Meert, 2003; Boger and Miller, 2004; Collins and Pisarevsky, 2005). In these reconstructions, southern India and adjacent regions of Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Antarctica are located at the meeting point of a number of separate orogenic belts that formed as India, Australia, Azania, Kalahari and Antarctica terranes collided to form Gondwana (Fig. 1). Despite this key location within the Gondwana coalition, and the potential of the protoliths to the high-grade metasedimentary rocks of southern India to delineate

0301-9268/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2007.01.006

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Fig. 1. (a) Reconstruction of part of central Gondwana at 530 Ma (present continental outlines reconstructed for Gondwana using the reconstruction of Reeves and de Wit, 2000). The details of southern India summarised from Geological Survey of India (1994). (b) Palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Neoproterozoic continents in the Gondwana t of Reeves and de Wit (2000) highlighting the location of the present study (after Collins and Pisarevsky, 2005). Achan: Achancovil shear zone; Az: Azania; Congo: Congo/Tanzania/Bangweulu Block; Ir: Irumide Belt; KKPT: KarurKamban-Painavu-Trichur isotopic boundary after Ghosh et al. (2004); MB: Madurai Block; PCSS: Palghat-Cauvery shear zone system after Chetty et al. (2003); Ruker: Ruker Terrane of the southern Prince Charles mountains, Antarctica; Tanz: Tanzania craton; TB: Trivandrum Block; Ubende: Ubende belt; Us: Usagaran belt. Locations of samples discussed in this paper are illustrated.

the shapes of the colliding continents and constrain the collisional history, very little is known about their age, or provenance. Recent work on metasedimentary rocks from southern and central Madagascar (adjacent to southern India in GondwanaFig. 1a) has shown how the U-Pb isotopic information locked up in the

cores of detrital zircon grains can not only constrain the age of metasedimentary rocks, but can also help unravel the locations of sediment source regions and the sites of suture zones (Collins et al., 2003b; Cox et al., 2004; Fitzsimons and Hulscher, 2005). In this contribution we examine the U-Th-Pb isotopic record

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preserved in detrital zircon grains from metasedimentary rocks of the Indian Southern Granulite Belt to constrain the age of deposition of the protoliths and examine the age-provenance record preserved in the zircon cores.

3. Analytical techniques Zircon grains were separated from crushed rock samples by conventional magnetic and methylene iodide liquid separation. Grains were handpicked and mounted in epoxy resin discs that were coated with a thin membrane of gold that produced a resistively of 1020 across the disc. The mounts were then imaged using a CL detector tted to a Phillips XL30 scanning electron microscope at a working distance of 15 mm and using an accelerating voltage of 10 kV. The resulting images (Fig. 2) highlight distortions in the crystal lattice (Stevens Kalceff et al., 2000) that are related to trace-element distribution and/or radiation damage (e.g. Rubatto and Gebauer, 2000; Nasdala et al., 2003). Zircon U-Th-Pb isotopic data were collected using the Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe Mass Spectrometer (SHRIMP II) based in the John de Laeter Centre of Mass Spectrometry, Perth, Western Australia. The sensitivity for Pb isotopes in zircon using SHRIMP II was 18 cps/ppm/nA, the primary beam current was 2.53.0 nA and mass resolution was 5000. Correction of measured isotopic ratios for common Pb was based on the measured 204 Pb in each sample and often represented a <1% correction to the 206 Pb counts (see %common 206 Pb in Table 1). The common Pb component, being largely surface contaminant, was modelled on the composition of Broken Hill ore Pb. Pb/U isotopic ratios were corrected for instrumental inter-element discrimination using the observed covariation between Pb+ /U+ and UO+ /U+ (Hinthorne et al., 1979; Compston et al., 1984) determined from interspersed analyses of the Perth standard zircon CZ3. CZ3 is a single zircon megacryst from Sri Lanka with an age of 564 Ma and a 206 Pb/238 U = 0.0914 (Nelson, 1997). 4. Sample descriptions 4.1. Samples from the Trivandrum block (south of the Achancovil lineament) 4.1.1. I04-01 This sample is of biotite gneiss from Malyanakil Quarry, at Manali (N08 3028 E77 0257). The outcrop has many garnet + feldspar + quartz leucosomes that represent in-situ melt generation (Braun et al., 1996). Orthopyroxene-bearing charnockite patches overgrow the gneiss fabric, completely masking the pre-existing foliation. Zircon grains have heterogeneous forms varying from equant to having elongate ovoid cross-sections. All grains are rounded. Under CL, most zircon grains poorly luminesce, although some grains

2. Geological framework Southern India (Fig. 1a), south of the Archaean/ Palaeoproterozoic Dharwar craton, consists of Palaeoproterozoic (Peucat et al., 1993) orthogneisses, metasedimentary rocks, and charnockites that continue as far south as the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone system (Drury and Holt, 1980; Drury et al., 1984; Chetty, 1996; Chetty et al., 2003). The >100 km wide, crust-cutting (Reddy et al., 2003a), Palghat-Cauvery system of anastomosing shear zones, also known as the Cauvery shear zone (Chetty et al., 2003; Chetty and Bhaskar Rao, 2006), cuts migmatitic mac gneisses, and high-pressure granulites (Bhaskar Rao et al., 1996; Srikantappa et al., 2003; Shimpo et al., 2006; Collins et al., in press). The Madurai and Trivandrum Blocks (Harris et al., 1994) lie south of the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone system, separated from each other by the Achancovil shear zone, an enigmatic structure with a pronounced magnetic (Rajaram et al., 2003) and seismic anomaly (Rajendra Prasad et al., 2006). Both the Madurai and Trivandrum Blocks were extensively deformed and metamorphosed to granulite-facies during the Neoproterozoic (Bartlett et al., 1998; Braun et al., 1998; Braun and Kriegsman, 2003; Santosh et al., 2003, 2005a; Braun and Br ocker, 2004). Geochronological information from the Madurai and Trivandrum Blocks of southern India consist of separate studies using Sm/Nd data (Harris et al., 1994, 1996; Jayananda et al., 1995; Bhaskar Rao et al., 1996, 2003; Meiner et al., 2002), Rb/Sr data (Bhaskar Rao et al., 1996, 2003), electron-probe U-Th-Pb data (Braun et al., 1998; Santosh et al., 2003, 2005a,b, 2006a,b), single zircon 207 Pb-206 Pb data (Jayananda et al., 1995; Bartlett et al., 1998; Ghosh et al., 2004) and reconnaissance thermal ionisation U-Pb zircon data (Soman et al., 1995). To date, the only ion microprobe studies have been undertaken by Ghosh et al. (2004). These data have broadly indicated the age of igneous protoliths and highlighted the Neoproterozoic age of high-grade metamorphism, but have not shed much light on the age of the protoliths to the extensive metasedimentary rocks found throughout the region. Here, we present new U-Th-Pb ion-probe data, obtained using the Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe (SHRIMP), from both the Trivandrum and Madurai Blocks.

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Fig. 2. Cathodoluminescence images of selected zircon grains. Ages presented as 206 Pb/238 U ages or, if indicated by an asterisk, 207 Pb/206 Pb ages. All errors quoted at the 1 level. (A) Sample I04-01. Poorly cathodoluminescent grains with rarely preserved oscillatory-zoned detrital cores. (B) Sample I03-18. Subhedral zircon with partial oscillatory-zoned discordant Mesoproterozoic core mantled with low Th and U brightly cathodoluminescent Cambrian rim. (C) Sample I03-18. Three subhedral to anhedral detrital zircon grains. (D) Sample I04-04. Multiple detrital zircon grains. (E) Sample K1/2. Detrital zircon grains with oscillatory-zoned cores partially reset during the Neoproterozoic/Cambrian. (F) Sample I03-20. Euhedral zircon with a series of rims around a poorly cathodoluminescent Palaeoproterozoic core. The luminescent zones in the core are parallel with those in the rims, suggesting that the rims may have formed by solid-state recrystalisation or an originally prismatic crystal. (G) Sample I03-20. Bright cathodoluminescent Archaean oscillatory-zoned core mantled by a poorly luminescent inner rim that irregularly truncates the core. This inner rim is in turn mantled by an oscillatory-zoned Cambrian rim. (H) Sample I03-21. Subhedral zircon with oscillatory-zoned Archaean core surrounded by a poorly luminescent irregular metamict inner rim that is mantled with a homogenous brightly luminescent rim. (I) Sample I03-21. Late Archaean sector zoned core mantled with a brightly luminescent homogenously luminescent rim.

preserve oscillatory zoning with bright centres and dark margins (Fig. 2A). 4.1.2. I03-18 I03-18 is a garnet + biotite gneiss sample from a sunken quarry directly south of the Ovari to Nanguneri road 30 km south of Tirunelveli (N08 2818.6, E77 4022.2) (Fig. 1a). The rock is compositional banded and folded into open folds. Dark nebulous orthopyroxene + quartz bearing veins and pods occur that resemble incipient charnockite veins reported by Santosh et al. (1990). These veins and pods commonly follow cross-cutting felsic veins and locally inter-nger along foliation planes. Graphite veins cut the outcrop.

Cathodoluminescent images of sectioned zircon grains show a diverse series of morphologies and luminescence responses (Fig. 2B and C). Zircon grains range from subhedral prismatic morphologies with aspect ratios of 5:1 to nearly equant squat anhedral ovoids. Many zircon grains have distinct cathodoluminescent cores that preserve oscillatory zoning (Fig. 2B) and are mantled with more homogenous rims that show up as bright (Fig. 2B) or dark (Fig. 2C) luminescent zones. Many grains, and grain cores, display truncated cathodoluminescent zones that, along with the rounded nature of the grains, are interpreted here as resulting from sedimentary abrasion.

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4.1.3. I04-04 This sample is of a garnet + biotite + sillimanite + cordierite metapelite and was collected from a small hill near the village of Thalavapuram, 1 km southwest of Eruvadi (N08 2444 E77 3634). The rock is boudinaged and shows evidence of in-situ charnockitization (Chetty and Bhaskar Rao, 2004). Braun (in Chetty and Bhaskar Rao, 2004) described how this charnockitization grades into massive garnet-bearing and garnet-poor enderbites in adjacent outcrops. Zircon grains from this sample are rounded and preserve complex CL patterns (Fig. 2D). Relatively bright CL cores grade outwards into dark margins. Distinct rims are uncommon, but where they exist, they are thin and luminesce brightly (Fig. 2D). 4.1.4. K1-2 K1-2 is a garnet-biotite gneiss from Mannanthala, very close to Trivandrum. Zircon grains from this sample are rounded and commonly preserve oscillatory-zoned cores under CL. These zones are often truncated by the grain margins, probably due to sedimentary abrasion (Fig. 2E). Nebulous, homogenous, poorly luminescent rims to some grains invade the cores forming concave and linear salients (Fig. 2E). 4.2. Sample from the Madurai block (between the Achancovil lineament and the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone system) 4.2.1. I03-20 I03-20 is a quartzite sample from the hills directly north of Ganguvarpatti village (N10 1030.8, E77 4146.3) (Fig. 1a). The quartzite forms a prominent 15 m thick ridge dipping 70 towards the south-east. The ridge can be traced at least 2 km across the landscape. Below the quartzite band are leucocratic gneisses with biotite pseudomorphs after garnet. Above the quartzite are sapphirine-bearing pelites that record peak-thermal metamorphic temperatures of >1000 C (Mohan and Windley, 1993; Raith et al., 1997). Zircon grains from I03-20 have a variety of morphologies ranging from euhedral prismatic crystals with aspect ratios of 3:1 (Fig. 2F) to anhedral equant rounded grains. Many crystals preserve cores, when imaged using cathodoluminescence, with complex multiple rim textures (Fig. 2F and G). In some grains, ne luminescent zones appear to transgress rim boundaries (e.g. ghost zoning passing from bright inner rim to dark outer rim in Fig. 2F). These crystals also preserve similar crystal faces in the core as in the rim (Fig. 2F). Similar features have been used to argue for a solid-state recrystallisation mechanism of rim formation (Hoskin and Black,

2000; Collins et al., 2004; Love et al., 2004). In many cases the rims preserve oscillatory zoning that commonly indicates zircon crystallisation from a melt (Corfu et al., 2003). No granitic veins were seen in the outcrop making it unclear whether these textures represent either: (1) zircon crystallisation from a melt that has subsequently migrated out of the rock; (2) zircon crystallisation from a low-volume metamorphic uid that uncharacteristically resulted in oscillatory zoning; or, (3) relict ghost zoning of the original detrital grain that is still preserved although isotopic and Th and U abundances have been reset. 5. Secondary ion microscopy results (SIMS) SIMS data are presented in Appendix B available from the on-line version of this paper, geochronological interpretations are presented in Figs. 35 whereas Th and U geochemical results are presented in Fig. 6. 5.1. I04-01 Fourteen zircon cores were analysed from sample I04-01. Four analyses were <10% discordant and range in 207 Pb-206 Pb age between 2019 31 and 1830 90 Ma (Figs. 3 and 5). Three of these yield a weighted mean of 1997 31 Ma (2 , MSWD = 0.42). The discordant analyses form an array that tends towards an Ediacaran/Cambrian lower intercept with the concordia (Fig. 4). 5.2. I03-18 Zircon analyses of cores and earlier-formed rims (67 analyses) plot in a broad discordant array with <10% discordant analyses yielding 207 Pb/206 Pb ages between 1971 53 and 672 35 Ma (Figs. 3 and 5). Eighty two percent of the analyses are >10% discordant, which are interpreted as partial Pb loss due to the high temperatures of metamorphism experienced by the samples. Caution must be exercised when interpreting the youngest <10% discordant analysis (672 35 Ma) because the lack of precision inherent in the SIMS technique means that it is impossible to be sure whether this analysis is truly concordant and reects a 670 Ma detrital grain, or in reality lies along a discordia linking a concordant 730 Ma age recorded by analysis I18.36.1 (728 21 Ma 206 Pb/238 U agesee Fig. 4) and the Cambrian age of metamorphism (see below). A weighted mean of 13 near concordant 206 Pb/238 U ages from these analyses yields an age of 516 47 Ma (2 , MSWD = 0.0039). When an additional discordant

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Fig. 3. U-Pb concordia plots of pre-latest Neoproterozoic analyses.

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Fig. 4. U-Pb concordia plots of Neoproterozoic-Cambrian analyses.

analysis is included, the resulting discordia curve has an upper intercept of 529 18 Ma (2 , MSWD = 1.02) and a zero lower intercept (Fig. 4). The observation that these analyses are predominantly low Th/U rims (Fig. 6) lead to our interpretation that these ages date new zircon growth during high-grade metamorphism. The detrital cores from this sample dominantly yield Mesoproterozoic and Palaeoproterozoic ages (Figs. 3 and 4), but the presence of a number of <1000 Ma cores indicate that these rocks are Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks and were deposited after 730 Ma (the age of the youngest concordant core) and before 529 18 Ma (the upper intercept of the young rim ages). 5.3. I04-04 The majority of analyses (80%) from I04-04 yield >10% discordant data that are interpreted as reecting Late Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic sources for the

protolith zircon grains (Figs. 3 and 5). Core analyses that are <10% discordant yield 207 Pb/206 Pb ages between 1955 29 and 2530 29 Ma (Appendix B). Four concordant analyses from I04-03 yield an age of 514 10 Ma (2 , MSWD = 0.54, Fig. 4), which is close to the 565 37 Ma lower intercept of the discordant array of detrital zircon analyses (Fig. 4). The low Th/U ratio of these analyses (Fig. 6) and co-incidence of these analyses with the lower intercept of the discordant array of older analyses (Fig. 4) leads to an interpretation of these analyses as dating metamorphism. 5.4. K1-2 Seven <10% discordant analyses (22% of those grains analysed) yield 207 Pb/206 Pb ages between 2190 27 Ma and 1905 28 Ma (Figs. 3 and 5). A weighted mean of the three youngest <10% discordant 207 Pb/206 Pb analyses yields an age of 1907 40 Ma (2 , MSWD = 0.026, Fig. 3). A weighted mean of a second cluster of

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Fig. 5. Probability density distribution plots.

three analyses yields an age of 2005 24 Ma (2 , MSWD = 0.51, Fig. 3). Along with the lone analyses of 2190 27 Ma, three Palaeoproterozoic source components appear to be present. The >10% discordant analyses also have a similar trimodal 207 Pb/206 Pb age distribution (Fig. 5) that strengthens the suggestion that

these 1907, 2005 and 2190 Ma ages are signicant components of the source region. A weighted mean of three concordant analyses from sample K1-2 gives an age of 514 16 Ma (2 , MSWD = 2.7, Fig. 4) that is identical to the lower intercept of a discordant array of detrital core analyses

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Fig. 6. Thorium and uranium geochemistry of analysed zircon grains.

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(518 32 Ma, Fig. 4). These zircons are homogenous in CL. The coincidence of the lower intercept of the detrital discordant array with new zircon growth (with Th/U ratios <0.2) is interpreted as dating metamorphism at 514 16 Ma. 5.5. I03-20 The Ganguvarpatti quartzite analyses are predominantly >10% concordant (67%) and show that the protolith to the sample contains zircon grains sourced from Late Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic rocks with major age components at 2700, 2260, 2100 and 1997 Ma (Figs. 3 and 5). One detrital core yields and age of 695 16 Ma, which may indicate that this rock was deposited in Neoproterozoic times. A distinct population of concordant zircon rims is interpreted to date high-grade metamorphism at 508.3 9.0 Ma (2 , MSWD = 1.7, Fig. 4). 6. Discussion 6.1. Th-U geochemistry of zircon grains and processes of rim formation The concentrations of thorium and uranium, and the ratio of these cations, commonly vary between protolith zircon cores and zircon that formed, or was highly altered, during a subsequent metamorphic event (Maas et al., 1992; Hoskin and Schaltegger, 2003; Collins et al., 2004). In the samples analysed here, three relationships between protolith zircon composition and interpreted metamorphic zircon (either rims or homogenous zircon interpreted as completely recrystallised pre-existing zircon) are seen (Fig. 6). Samples I03-18, K1-2 and I04-04 show decreased Th/U ratios from pre-metamorphic to metamorphic zircon caused by an increase in U in the syn-metamorphic zircon. In sample I03-20, the concentration of U and Th values from core to rim does not change dramatically, but instead covers a much more restricted range of values. These analyses still maintain a reasonable spread of Th/U ratios (0.6-0.1). A decrease in Th/U ratio is predicted during solidstate recrystallisation (Hoskin and Black, 2000) of pre-existing zircon due to greater incompatibility of the Th ion in the zircon lattice than the smaller U ion (Maas et al., 1992; Hoskin and Schaltegger, 2003). All samples show a broad trend of decreasing 232 Th/238 U with age with distinct CL rims and unassigned analyses in all samples except I04-01 showing lower Th232 /U238 values than core analyses (Fig. 6). The analysed samples show that this decrease in Th232 /U238 ratio was largely due

to an absolute decrease in Th and increase in U in the metamorphically-altered analyses (Fig. 6). 6.2. Age of metamorphism A number of different samples have yielded data that we interpret as providing estimates for the age of high-grade metamorphism in the Southern Granulite Terrane. These data are from: (1) concordant analyses that approximate the lower intercepts of discordant arrays of partially reset detrital cores (I04-03 and K1-2); (2) a discrete, concordant, population of zircon rims (sample I03-20); and (3) the upper intercept of a slightly discordant array of zircon rim analyses (I03-18). A weighted mean of these results from individual samples yields an age of 513 6 Ma (2 , MSWD = 1.4), which is our best estimate of the time of high-grade metamorphism. We note that the estimates from individual samples collected from throughout the Trivandrum and Madurai Blocks do not differ in age, and therefore, there is no diachroneity in the timing of high-grade metamorphism between the Trivandrum and Madurai Blocks. Ediacaran-Cambrian U-Th-Pb Electron Probe MicroAnalysis (EPMA) monazite ages from the region have been interpreted by a number of authors as estimates of the timing of metamorphism. The results of the present study are broadly consistent with the EPMA ages that range from 610 to 470 Ma (Cenki et al., 2002; Braun and Br ocker, 2004; Santosh et al., 2005a, 2006a,b)note that the EMPA technique can not investigate the presence of common Pb or discordance in the analyses and therefore has more inherent uncertainties than isotopic techniques such as SIMS. The presented zircon data do not contain evidence of an earlier Neoproterozoic highgrade event that has been reported from EMPA monazite studies (e.g. Braun and Appel, 2006). This may be a consequence of sampling bias during preparation and in the future could be addressed with an in-situ isotopic zircon analytical campaign. 6.3. Age constraints of deposition All samples contain evidence for a considerable Palaeoproterozoic detrital input into their original sedimentary make up (Figs. 3 and 5), with the youngest <10% discordant core analyses in samples K1-2, I04-01 and I04-04 being 1905 28, 1830 90 and 1955 29 Ma, respectively. The depositional age for the protoliths to these samples is constrained very loosely to between 1900 and 515 Ma (between the youngest reliable detrital zircon and the age of metamorphism). Samples I03-20 and I03-18 both yielded Neoproterozoic

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analyses interpreted as constraining the age of deposition to younger than 695 16 Ma, in the case of I03-20 from the Madurai Block, and 728 21 Ma, in the case of I03-18 from the Achancovil unit of Braun and Kriegsman (2003). The samples analysed here were collected from a large area of high-grade metasedimentary rocks and therefore there is no necessity that the protoliths to these rocks were deposited within the same sedimentary system. Three samples from south of the Achancovil shear zone (I04-01, I04-04 and K1-2) are conceivably Palaeoproterozoic in age. Whereas the protoliths to I0318, from the Achancovil Unit close to the Achancovil shear zone, and I03-20, from the central Madurai Block, are likely to have been deposited in Neoproterozoic times. The Achancovil Unit has younger Nd model ages than the surrounding terranes (Nd TDm model ages of 1.4 1.3 Ga, Harris et al., 1994; Bartlett et al., 1998) that support the detrital zircon evidence that the protoliths to these metasedimentary rocks were deposited in Neoproterozoic times. 6.4. Provenance implications There are possible Indian sources for some of the detrital zircon grains. For example, rocks dated between 1880 and 1700 Ma are found in the Krishna province of the Eastern Ghats (Dobmeier and Raith, 2003), zircon xenocrysts date back to 2431 Ma and a detrital grain has been recorded as having a 207 Pb/206 Pb age of 2747 Ma (Shaw et al., 1997). However, no source in the Eastern Ghats is known for the prominent 23001990 Ma peaks in the age spectra from many of the samples (Fig. 5). The Mesoarchaean to Neoarchaean Dharwar craton lies directly north of the Southern Granulite Terrane and provided >3.0 Ga detritus into Dharwar-derived sediments throughout the Proterozoic (Collins et al., 2003b). No pre-3.0 Ga zircon ages were obtained from any samples analysed in this study. This lack of zircon detritus that can be ngerprinted to southern India as well as the missing Indian sources for the Palaeoproterozoic detrital zircon grains suggests that the protoliths of these Southern Granulite Terrane metasedimentary rocks may be sourced from non-Indian terranes. Madagascar lay directly west (present direction) of India in Gondwana (Fig. 1) and contains similar highgrade metasedimentary rocks in the south and west of the island (Nicollet, 1983; Windley et al., 1994; Collins et al., 2003a; Fernandez et al., 2003; Cox et al., 2004; Fitzsimons and Hulscher, 2005; Collins, 2006). These metasedimentary rocks comprise of two successions; one succession of probable Palaeoproterozoic age,

known as the Itremo Group (Cox et al., 1998), which contains Palaeoproterozoic and Neoarchaean detrital zircon grains; a second succession of Neoproterozoic age (the Molo Group) with Neoarchaean, Palaeoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic detrital zircon grains (Cox et al., 2004; Fitzsimons and Hulscher, 2005). These successions lay adjacent to each other in Gondwana (Fig. 1a) and have broadly similar detrital zircon recordsdominated by Palaeoproterozoic sources that are not easily attributed to India and have an absence of >3.0 Ga detritus. We here suggest that Malagasy and southern Indian sequences represent parts of the same sedimentary basins. Both Cox et al. (2004) and Fitzsimons and Hulscher (2005) suggested that the Itremo and Molo Groups were sourced from eastern Africa. Eastern Africa has potential source rocks for all the age peaks derived from southern India in this study. The Tanzanian craton and Usagaran/Ubende and Irumide orogens contain numerous 2.7, 2.3 1.8 Ga granitoid rocks (Lenoir et al., 1994; Borg and Krogh, 1999; Reddy et al., 2003b; Sommer et al., 2003; Collins et al., 2004; Johnson et al., 2005; de Waele et al., 2007). Mesoproterozoic rocks dated at 1.4 Ga are found in the Kibaran belt (Kokonyangi et al., 2004) and early/mid Neoproterozoic magmatic rocks occur in central Madagascar (Handke et al., 1999; Kr oner et al., 2000) and the Mozambique belt (Kr oner et al., 2003). In the palaeogeographic interpretation presented here, the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone represents a Neoproterozoic suture zone delineating the southern margin of Neoproterozoic India and separating it from a southern microcontinent represented by the Neoarchaean metagranitoids exposed in the northern Madurai Block (Fig. 1, Bhaskar Rao et al., 2003; Ghosh et al., 2004) that is correlated with Azania. 7. Conclusions Granulite-facies metasedimentary rocks from southern India preserve detrital zircon cores that indicate that these rocks were sourced from a predominantly Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic source region more compatible with eastern Africa than with Peninsula India. Two samples preserve near-concordant Neoproterozoic zircon cores that suggest that the Achancovil unit, at least, was deposited between 728 21 Ma and the age of metamorphismthe best estimate of which comes from zircon rims that yield an age of 513 6 Ma. This 515 Ma age appears consistent across the Southern Granulite Terrane. The metasedimentary rocks for the Southern Granulite Terrane are correlated with the metasedimentary

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A.S. Collins et al. / Precambrian Research xxx (2007) xxxxxx Borg, G., Krogh, T., 1999. Isotopic data of single zircons from the Archaean Sukumaland Greenstone Belt, Tanzania. J. African Earth Sci. 29, 310312. Braun, I., Appel, P., 2006. U-Th-total Pb dating of monazite from orthogneisses and their ultra-high temperature metapelitic enclaves: implication for the multistage tectonic evolution of the Madurai Block, southern India. Eur. J. Mineral. 18, 415427. Braun, I., Br ocker, M., 2004. Monazite dating of granitic gneisses and leucogranties from the Kerala Khondalite Belt, southern India: implications for Late Proterozoic crustal evolution in East Gondwana. Int. J. Earth Sci. 93, 1322. Braun, I., Kriegsman, L.M., 2003. Proterozoic crustal evolution of southernmost India and Sri Lanka. In: Yoshida, M., Windley, B., Dasgupta, S. (Eds.), Proterozoic East Gondwana: Supercontinent Assembly and Breakup. Special Publication of the Geological Society, London, pp. 169202. Braun, I., Montel, J.M., Nicollet, C., 1998. Electron microprobe dating monazites from high-grade gneisses and pegmatites of the Kerala Khondalite Belt, southern India. Chem. Geol. 146, 6585. Braun, I., Raith, M., Ravindra Kumar, G.R., 1996. Dehydrationmelting phenomena in leptynitic gneisses and the generation of leucogranites: a case study from the Kerala Khondalite Belt, southern India. J. Petrol. 37, 12851305. Cenki, B., Kriegsman, L.M., Braun, I., 2002. Melt producing and melt consuming reations in the Achankovil cordierite gneisses, South India. J. Metamorphic Geol. 20, 543561. Chetty, T.R.K., 1996. Proterozoic shear zones in southern granulite terrain, India. In: Santosh, M., Yoshida, M. (Eds.), Gondwana Research Group Memoir3: The Archaean and Proterozoic Terrains in Southern India within East Gondwana, pp. 7789. Chetty, T.R.K., Bhaskar Rao, Y.J. (Eds.), 2004. Tectonics and Evolution of the Precambrian Southern Granulite Terrain, India & Gondwanaian Correlations. International Workshop (IFW-SGT, 2004). National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India. Chetty, T.R.K., Bhaskar Rao, Y.J., 2006. Constrictive deformation in transpressional regime: eld evidence from the Cauvery Shear Zonem Southern Granulite Terrain, India. J. Struct. Geol. 28, 713720. Chetty, T.R.K., Bhaskar Rao, Y.J., Narayana, B.L., 2003. A structural cross section along Krishnagiri-Palani Corridor, Southern Granulite Terrain of India. In: Ramakrishnan, M. (Ed.), Tectonics of Southern Granulite Terrain. Geological Society of India, Memoir 50, pp. 255278. Collins, A.S., 2006. Madagascar and the amalgamation of Central Gondwana. Gondwana Res. (GR Focus) 9, 316. Collins, A.S., Clark, C., Sajeev, K., Santosh, M., Kelsey, D.E., Hand, M. Passage through India: the Mozambique Ocean Suture, high pressure granulites and the Palghat-Cauvery shear system. Terra Nova, in press. Collins, A.S., Johnson, S., Fitzsimons, I.C.W., Powell, C.M., Hulscher, B., Abello, J., Razakamanana, T., 2003a. Neoproterozoic deformation in central Madagascar: a structural section through part of the East African Orogen. In: Yoshida, M., Windley, B., Dasgupta, S. (Eds.), Proterozoic East Gondwana: Supercontinent Assembly and Breakup, vol. 206. Special Publication of the Geological Society, London, pp. 363379. Collins, A.S., Kr oner, A., Fitzsimons, I.C.W., Razakamanana, T., 2003b. Detrital footprint of the Mozambique ocean: U/Pb SHRIMP and Pb evaporation zircon geochronology of Metasedimentary Gneisses in Eastern Madagascar. Tectonophysics 375, 7799.

rocks of southern and western Madagascar in particular, the Itremo and Molo groups and are interpreted as a southern fragment of the Neoproterozoic continent Azania (Collins and Pisarevsky, 2005). Acknowledgements The zircon analyses were carried out on the Sensitive High-mass Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP II) at the John de Laeter Centre for Mass Spectrometry, Perth and operated by a consortium consisting of Curtin University of Technology, the Geological Survey of Western Australia, and the University of Western Australia with the support of the Australian Research Council. We appreciate the assistance of Ian Fitzsimons, Peter Kinny, Sasha Nemchin and Allen Kennedy during SHRIMP analysis and data reduction. This manuscript contributes to IGCP project 509 (Palaeoproterozoic Supercontinents and Global Evolution). This is a contribution to Grant-inaid No. 17403013 to M. Santosh from the Japan Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science and Technology. The authors thank two anonymous reviewers and the editorial assistance of Peter Cawood for suggesting substantial improvements to the manuscript. Appendix A. Supplementary data Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.precamres. 2007.01.006. References
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