Chemical and Magnetic Stratigraphy of Parts of Narmada Region, Deccan Basalt Province

Field investigations of a 666 m thick Deccan volcanic sequence north of the River Narmada (Khalghat-Mhow traverse; 60 km) showed the presence of 21 flows, while a 549 m thick southern section comprises of 28 flows (Mandaleswar-Pipaljopa traverse: 110 km). The lava sequences essentially consist of PI and/or Pyx phyric to aphyric basalts with glassy vesicular - amygdular tops/flow breccia.

On the basis of selected major and trace elements (Si, K, Ti, P, Ba, Sr, Zr), the Khalghat section is divided into three formations. The lowermost Narmada Formation is characterized by lower K, Ba, Sr, Ba/Ti, Ba/Sr and Ba/Zr than the succeeding Manpur Formation. The uppermost Mhow Formation is highly depleted in K, Ba, Sr compared to the two lower formations. Chemically, a four-unit informal stratigraphy has been adopted for the Mandaleswar section. The lower three may be correlated with the Narmada, Manpur and Mhow Fms of the Khalghat section and the upper one is labelled the Satpura Formation. Each formation is defined as a set of flows characterized by one or more chemical types such as 'primitive' and' evolved' ones.

The palaeomagnetic results of the Khalghat section demonstrate that the lower 254m pile of flows belongs to normal polarity (N) ('Narmada Normal Epoch') overlain by 412 m thick flows with reversed polarity (R) ('Malwa Reversed Epoch'). Interestingly, on the southern side of the river, about 21 m thick N flows are overlain by 476 m R flows, which in turn are capped by 52m thick N flows ('Satpura Normal Epoch') resulting in an unambiguous NRN sequence in the Deccan basalt province. It appears that the northern side of the Narmada River has been thrown up relative to the southern side. Based on the correlation of the magnetic reversals in the Deccan as well as marine magnetic anomalies, it seems likely that the normally magnetized older Rajmahal traps (about 100 MA) of eastern India form the base of the Deccan basalts.