Meso-Neoproterozoic mid-crustal metamorphic record from the Ajmer–Shrinagar section, Rajasthan, India and its implication to the assembly of the Greater Indian Landmass during the Grenvillian-age orogenesis

The Shrinagar–Ajmer section of the South Delhi Fold Belt exposes a package of medium-grade metasedimentary rocks intruded by synkinematic granite, and the entire package was thrust on top of the basement gneisses occurring further east. The metamorphic history is best developed in the staurolite schist that shows an overall increase in modal abundance of staurolite towards the east. Textural analyses, garnet zoning profiles, thermobarometric data and phase equilibria analyses show an increase in metamorphic pressure and temperature, reaching peak conditions of 592±12°C and 7.7±0.11 kbar. In situ monazite dating of a staurolite schist sample yields a pooled age of 980±22 Ma, which is assumed to be close to the age of the peak metamorphism. The Shrinagar granite was possibly emplaced close to the orogeny occurring at approximately 980 Ma and deformed by later events. The style and timing of metamorphism in the Shrinagar–Ajmer section match with the granulite-facies reworking of the basement rocks of the Aravalli–Delhi Mobile Belt. We envisage that the Grenvillian-age orogeny with its characteristic collisional style involved deep- to mid-crustal sections of the Aravalli–Delhi Mobile Belt. Our results further indicate that the Greater Indian Landmass was assembled during the formation of the supercontinent Rodinia.