Proterozoic Basic Dyke Activity in Kerala Along the Western Continental Margin of India

Abstract

Palaeomagnetic data on the basic dyke rocks of Palachal (Cannanore district) and Agali (Palghat district) regions of Kerala in the southwestern part of India are presented. Palachal dyke has obtained stable vectors of D and I at 200Oe and possesses a single thermally discrete component with blocking temperatures at the Curie temperature of magnetite, whereas the Agali dyke has shown unstable behaviour to the AF and thermal demagnetisation tests. The Palachal dyke possesses a southwest negative NRM remanence (D = 225.5°; 1 = 48.5°; K = 48.52; α 95 = 7.24) and a pole position (44°N; 135°E) which is closer to that of Gwalior Traps (1830 ± 200m.y.) or Group IV dykes of Proterozoic age. K-Ar ages of 1668 ± 31 m.y. and 1660 ± 25m.y. have been obtained for the Palachal dyke and it is compatible with the Palaeomagnetic results. The basic dyke activity jn the southwest is not solely related to the rifting of western continental margin of India as earlier suggested but is in part of Proterozoic age.