Geochemistry and petrology of the Chandarpur-Raipur sandstones: Implications for the evolution of the Chattisgarh Basin, Central India

•A multi-proxy study suggesting important constraints on the evolution of the Chattisgarh basin.•The petrology and geochemistry of individual sandstone type from each formation of the basin have been reported in details.•Petrology and geochemistry of sandstones from the basin indicate passive marginal tectonic setting, weak to intense palaeoweathering, and semi-arid to humid palaeoclimatic condition at the source, and granites and gneisses of Dongargarh Granitoids and Baya Gneissic Complex as the basin fill source.•Chattisgarh basin originated as an intracratonic rift basin that evolved into a passive margin basin during the Mesoproterozoic.•The basin is correlatable with other Mesoproterozoic basins of Peninsular India, as well as with other global basins related to the Columbia-Rodinia Supercontinent cycle. Depositional processes and stratigraphic evolution of the Chattisgarh basin exhibit a synergistic relation between sedimentation and tectonics. To interpret the sedimentation history and basin evolution, multiproxy approach including field studies, petrography, geochemical, and multivariate statistical analyses of the sandstones of Chandarpur and Raipur groups is employed. The study provides a detailed analysis of the time-connoted petrography and geochemistry of the sandstone units from each formation of the Chandarpur-Raipur sequence of Chattisgarh basin. The sandstones grade from immature wacke through submature arkose to mature quartzarenite from the bottom up the section. These sandstones are broadly characterized by felsic provenance, arid-humid palaeoclimate, and weak-intense palaeoweathering at the source. The assemblage of wacke-arkose-sublitharenite of the basal Lohardih Formation is characteristics of fan delta environment and represents initiation of rifting and basin formation stage. Subarkoses from the younging up sequence of Lohardih-Chaporadih-Kansapathar formations reflect prograding shelf environment that represents craton interior field of the continental block provenance and passive marginal tectonic setting, indicating gradual stabilization of the basin. Quartzarenites from Kansapathar Formation and stratigraphically younger Devsagar Member of Charmuria Formation also represent broadly similar provenance and tectonic setting indicating stable craton interior provenance in a passive marginal setting. Petrographic and geochemical analyses of some of the Kansapathar-Devsagar sandstones suggesting recycled orogen provenance, however,