Geochemistry, Age and Origin of Alkaline and Ultramafic Rocks of Salem, Tamil Nadu, South India

Alkaline rocks spatially associated with magnesite bearing dunites occur in the vicinity of Salem, Tamil Nadu. This association occurs with in the gneiss-charnockite terrain and is confined to the intersection of two deep seated lineaments. Based on mineralogy the alkaline rocks are recognised as missourite, shonkinite and syenite.

The alkaline rocks have high Mg numbers and are enriched both in compatible and incompatible trace elements. Majority of the samples show ultrapotassic character and are enriched in REE (30-200 ppm) with LREE enrichment and no Euanarnoly. The Rb-Sr isochron gives an age of 808 ± 18 Ma and shows fairly high Sr initial ratio of 0.7051 ± 1. The unusual chemistry of these rocks suggests that they are derived, from an enriched mantle source, with the dunite representing the mantle residua.