Petrochemistry and Tectonic Significance of the Peralimala Alkali Granite, Cannanore District, Kerala

Abstract

The E-W elongated pluton of Peralimala, Cannanore district, Kerala, which is classified here as an alkali granite, occurs along the Bavali lineament, spatially associated with the late Proterozoic anorthosite-gabbro-granite-granophyre suite of the Ezhimala Igneous Complex. Perthitic K-feldspar, plagioclase of albite-oligoclase composition, quartz alkali amphibole, aegirine and sphene constitute the main mineralogy of the alkali granite. Chemically, the rock shows high content of alkalies with K₂O values ranging up to 10.96 wt. percent. The extremely high levels of K, AI, Ba and Ba/Sr suggest the existence of a phlogopite-rich pocket in the mantle beneath the Bavali lineament from where the melt equilibrated. As peralkaline plutonism is a keynote of pre-rift tectonics, the occurrence of the alkali granite along the Bavali lineament is a manifestation of rift-related alkaline magmatism in this part of the western continental margin of India.