Biswajit Ghosh

Bio: Biswajit Ghosh is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Staurolite. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 9 citations.

Crystallographic and spectroscopic characterization of a natural Zn-rich spinel approaching the endmember gahnite (ZnAl2O4) composition

Abstract: Crystallographic and spectroscopic characterisation of a natural Zn-rich spinel approaching the endmember gahnite (ZnAl2O4) composition

Indicator minerals as guides to base metal sulphide mineralisation in Betul Belt, central India

Abstract: Zn-bearing minerals that act as indicator minerals for base metal sulphide mineralization from the Proterozoic Betul Belt, central India with special emphasis on their genetic significance have been discussed. Sulphide mineralisation is hosted by the felsic volcanic rocks and has similarities with volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits in other parts of the world. Synvolcanic hydrothermal alteration is crudely zoned with an inner high Mg-Ca core and an outer wider envelop of Al-Fe rich mineral assemblage. Most of the prospects have strata bound, moderately to steeply dipping, multiple, sub-parallel sheet like ore bodies composed of disseminated and semi-massive to massive ores. Zn-bearing spinel, staurolite, biotite and ilmenite typically occur within the foot-wall alteration zones in close proximity to the sulphide mineralization. Zincian spinel is ubiquitous irrespective of the nature of alteration zone. Zincian staurolite is nearly absent in Mg-Ca alteration zones but commonly present in Al-Fe alteration zone along with zincian ilmenite. Zn-bearing biotite in intimate association with zincian spinel is generally found in Mg-Ca alteration zone and in the transition to Al-Fe alteration zone. Most of these indicator minerals can be considered as products of desulphidation of sphalerite during metamorphism. Mechanisms other than desulphidation like formation of gahnite by overstepping of the zinc saturation limit of biotite during retrogression to chlorite and formation of zincian staurolite at the expense of gahnite is also recorded. Field presence of these minerals has immense significance in exploration in Betul Belt as they occur in close spatial relationship with the sulphide rich zones and therefore act as direct vectors to ore.

Tectonics of the Greater India Proterozoic Fold Belt, with emphasis on the nature of curvature of the belt in west-central India

Abstract: The Greater India Proterozoic Fold Belt (GIPFOB) is a curved highly tectonized zone dominated by Early Paleoproterozoic to Early Neoproterozoic magmatic and metamorphic rocks extending from NW India (Aravalli Delhi Fold Belt, ADFB) through central India (the Satpura Mobile Belt, SMB) to eastern India (the Chottanagpur Gneiss Complex, CGC). The continuity of the crustal domains within GIPFOB is obscured by the Gondwana Formation, the Mesozoic Deccan basalts, the intertrappean Bagh Beds and the infratrappean Lameta Formations, and younger alluvium. In supercontinent reconstructions the GIPFOB is speculated to be continuous with Proterozoic mobile belts in Western Australia and the Trans North China Orogen. The NNE-striking western arm (ADFB) of the GIPFOB is flanked by the North India Block (NIB) in the east and the Marwar Craton in the west, whereas the E-striking southern arm (CGC-SMB) is sandwiched between the South India Block (SIB) and the NIB. In the Godhra-Chhota Udepur sector (west-central India) the two arms converge. We synthesize and compare existing data on mesoscale structures, U-Pb (zircon) and monazite chemical ages, and magmatic and metamorphic histories in the Precambrian crystalline rocks in the three crustal blocks to constrain the accretion dynamics in the GIPFOB with an emphasis on the origin of the curvature in the Godhra-Chhota Udepur sector. The CGC and the central and southern domains of the SMB share considerable homogeneity in chronology and regional structures. In the CGC, the early, N-striking steep-dipping tectonic fabrics in ~1.6 Ga anatectic gneisses with ~1.45 Ga and 1.05–0.9 Ga granitoids are modified into a carapace of shallowly-dipping tectonic melange of recumbently folded basement gneisses and granitoid mylonites thurst over by allochthonous supracrustal rocks at ~0.95 Ga. The central and southern domains within SMB also exhibit the shallowly-dipping foliations and the emplacement of 1.05–0.9 Ga granitoids. The unmodified basement and the overlying tectonic melange in the CGC-SMB are traversed by 1.0–0.9 Ga E-striking steep-dipping sinistral (dominant) and dextral (uncommon) shear zones that accommodated the Early Neoproterozoic transpressive deformation induced by the NIB-SIB oblique collision. The mesoscale structures in the rocks of the Godhra-Chhota Udepur sector intruded by Early Neoproterozoic granitoids and followed by oblique collision are similar to CGC-SMB. In the ADFB, by contrast, the basement rocks are older (Archean to Early Paleoproterozoic), high-grade metamorphism and felsic magmatism are older (1.8–1.7 Ga), the expansive ~1.45 Ga granitoids are absent, nappe structures are locally present, and expansive domains of the shallowly-dipping foliations are lacking. Overall, the tectonic evolution of the ADFB is incoherent with those in CGC-SMB and the GC sector. We suggest that the structures in the N/NNE-striking western accretion arm terminate against the E-striking southern arm. The Early Neoproterozoic (1.0−0.9 Ga) integration of the crustal domains within the GIPFOB resulted due to broadly contemporaneous convergence of the NIB, the SIB and the Marwar Craton (?) during the Rodinia supercontinent assembly, but the accretion along the southern arm post-dated the accretion in the western arm. [482 words]

Submarine volcanic facies and its implication as possible tracker of sulphide mineralization - a study from Jilharidev area, Betul belt, central India

Abstract: Felsic volcaniclastic rock forms part of host rock sequences in many of the base metal prospects in the Betul belt. However, the volcanic facies, fragmentation processes and depositional environments in mineralized areas are poorly understood because of the effects of synvolcanic hydrothermal alteration and subsequent regional metamorphism. A section in the Kanhan river valley, which exposes volcanics with relatively well preserved primary textures was mapped in detail to understand the disposition of the felsic volcanics namely rhyolite and to identify the various volcanic facies present within them (viz. massive, flow-banded, autobreccia and hyaloclastite). Four different facies types were distinguished based on phenocryst type, size and abundance. Presence of hyaloclastite autoclastic rocks and pillow lava and absence of pyroclastic deposits suggest a deep, submarine, passive, effusive-type volcanic setting. Autobreccia and hyaloclastite in the felsic volcanic sequence of the present study area lying within Betul Belt has similarities with well-known volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) bearing areas in other parts of the world. Proper identification of the volcanic facies within highly altered host rocks near the deposits can help in building up facies models that would establish the genetic relationship between sulphide mineralization and the host-rock facies which in turn will have important implications for base metal exploration in the area.

Multiple sulfur sources for the volcanic hosted massive sulfides in Betul Belt, Central India: Evidence from the sulfide ore chemistry and sulfur isotope geochemistry

Abstract: This work provides an overview of the geological, petrological, and geochemical data available on the three volcanic-hosted massive sulfides (VHMS) deposits (Ghisi, Biskhan, and Jangaldehri) in Betul Belt, Central Indian Tectonic Zone. Sulfur isotope geochemistry was used for the first time from the Betul Belt to constrain the source of sulfur for a better understanding of the ore genesis process. Mineralization is hosted in a felsic dominant bimodal volcano-sedimentary sequence associated with syn-genetic hydrothermal alteration, i.e., intense Mg–Ca alteration (actinolite-tremolite-anthophyllite) and Al–Fe alteration zone (gahnite-garnet-biotite-staurolite) followed by regional metamorphism. Field observations, drill core logging, and petrography studies reveal different modes of mineralization, i.e., dissemination, stringers, and semi-massive sulfides vein, comprises of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, galena with lesser pyrrhotite, are paragenetically distinct in three deposits. The petrography, SEM-EPMA studies show the presence of chalcopyrite disease in Fe-rich sphalerite at Biskhan and Jangaldehri in the east and absence of the same texture at Ghisi in the west. This difference reveals the variable physio-chemical nature of the hydrothermal fluid and partial melting of sulfides during subsequent metamorphism. Cu–Fe mineralization was deposited from high-temperature hydrothermal fluids with less sulfur activity at Biskhan-Jangaldehri. Later Zn–Cu–Pb mineralization was formed from lower temperature hydrothermal fluids with higher sulfur activity. The δ34S values of sulfides (sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite) from three deposits show a wide range of sulfur values (δ34S) from −12.87 to + 19.31‰ (n = 27), consistent with heterogeneous sourcing of S, probably combining magmatic source along with the reduction of seawater sulfate. Variation in the sulfur isotopic compositions of sulfide was the result of dilution and cooling of the metalliferous fluid at different stages after interaction with meteoric, seawater and hydrothermal fluids, which caused the deposition of base metal sulfides. Sulfides from Ghisi in the west display both +ve and −ve values (−12.88 to + 0.38‰; n = 10), suggest sulfur predominantly derived by thermochemical reduction of seawater sulfate with minor input of magmatic sulfur reduction lead to polymetallic Zn–Cu–Pb mineralization. The gradual increasing in the δ34S values (more + ve values +18.65 to +19.31‰; n = 8) from west to east at Biskhan and Jangaldehri (+ 5.01 to + 8.3‰, n = 9) may be due to involvement of both the leaching of igneous basement rocks and chemical process of seawater sulfates by thermochemical reduction (TSR) from deep water levels lead to Zn–Cu mineralization. This δ 34S variation occurs in three deposits of the Betul Belt due to modifications of the primary mineralization during subsequent stages of ore formation and metamorphism, indicating a complex fluid evolution history for VHMS deposits in Betul Belt, Central India, where S derived from a heterogeneous source by multiple geological processes. This situation is more akin to many established VHMS deposits of ancient and modern submarine hydrothermal systems.