PALEOMAGNETIC STUDY OF PROTEROZOIC DIKES IN INDIA

In the 2005-2006 field season, we collected more than 2000 core samples from dikes intruding the Dharwar and Bastar cratons in central and southern India. Dike swarms were sampled for both paleomagnetic and geochronologic investigation with the goal of establishing a more robust Proterozoic apparent polar wander path for the Indian continent. Dike swarms that were sampled include the Bastar, Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, Keskal, Harohalli, Anantapur and Tiptur dikes. These studies are complimented by a study of the thick sedimentary Proterozoic Vindhyanchal basin (reported at this meeting by Malone et al.). We will report preliminary paleomagnetic and rock magnetic results from several of these dike swarms. We will also report new geochronologic data on several of the dike swarms. Resultant paleogeographic reconstructions from these studies will document India's place in Proterozoic supercontinental assemblies such as Rodinia and Columbia.