Carbonate xenoliths hosted by the Mesoproterozoic Siddanpalli Kimberlite Cluster (Eastern Dharwar craton): implications for the geodynamic evolution of southern India and its diamond and uranium metallogenesis

A number of limestone and metasomatised carbonate xenoliths occur in the 1,090 Ma Siddanpalli kimberlite cluster, Raichur kimberlite Field, Eastern Dharwar craton, southern India. These xenoliths are inferred to have been derived from the carbonate horizons of the Kurnool (Palnad) and Bhima Proterozoic basins and provide evidence for a connection between these basins in the geological past. A revised Mesoproterozoic age is proposed for the Bhima and Kurnool (Palnad) basins based on this kimberlite association and is in agreement with similar proposals made recently for the Chattisgarh and Upper Vindhyan sediments in Central India. The observed Bhima–Kurnool interbasinal uplift may have been caused by: (1) extension- or plume-related mafic alkaline magmatism that included the emplacement of the southern Indian kimberlites at ~1.1 Ga, (2) mantle plume-related doming of the peninsular India during the Cretaceous, or (3) Quaternary differential uplift in this region. It is not possible, with the currently available geological information to constrain the exact timing of this uplift. The deep erosion of primary diamond sources in the Raichur kimberlite Field in the upper reaches of the Krishna River caused by this uplift could be the elusive source of the alluvial diamonds of the Krishna valley. Mesoproterozoic sedimentary basins can host world class unconformity-type uranium deposits. In light of its inferred Mesoproterozoic age, a more detailed stratigraphic and metallogenic analysis of the Kurnool basin is suggested for uranium exploration.