Bundelkhand Craton

Abstract

The Bundelkhand Craton (BuC), one of the five Archean age cratons of the peninsular India, is exposed over an area of ~29000 sq km in the north central India. The major rock types are granitoids of ~2.5 Ga age along with limited exposures of tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) gneisses (~3.6 Ga) and metasupracrustal rocks. Two pervasive and prominent litho-tectonic elements (giant quartz veins with NNE-SSW trend dissected by NW-SE oriented mafic dykes of tholeiitic affinity) of possible Paleo-Mesoproterozoic age occur within the BuC as nearly linear bodies. In recent years, studies have shown the presence of three ~E-W-trending crustal-scale tectonic zones from north to south of the BuC associated with or without Archean Greenstone Belts and Paleoarchean TTG gneisses negating the earlier concept of the BuC occurring as a monotonous “batholith”. This is also supported by the available geophysical data. New data pertaining to multiple phases of intrusive activity, deformation and imprints of high-grade metamorphism have contributed significantly to a better understanding of the evolution of BuC in space and time. Petrological, geochemical, structural and geochronological data provide evidences of Archean age plate tectonics in the BuC. Mineralization remains limited to sizable pyrophyllitediaspore and iron deposits, and incidences of gold, PGEs (platinum group elements) and molybdenite associated with or without silico-thermal fluid activity. A confirmed meteoritic impact structure at Dhala, Shivpuri district, north central India, is known to contain substantial reserve of uranium ore within impact melt breccias.