Cordierite gneisses in Munnar granite, south-western India: implications for

isothermal decompression history

S, Rajesh and A. P. Pradeepkumar

Department of Geology, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, India

E-mail: georajeshmunnar@gmail.com

Abstract

The Munnar (N10°05'00";E77°05'00") granite is an E-W trending irregular body emplaced

within the migmatite and apophyses extend into the surrounding gneisses. The granite dated
to be 740 ±30 m.y (Odom, 1982) is traversed by pegmatite, aplite and quartz veins. Gneissic
layering and foliation are apparent in all but the least deformed granitic rocks in the study
area. Field investigations reveal that the rocks in Munnar include granite, hornblende biotite
gneiss, cordierite gneiss, granite gneiss, carbonatite, syenite and migmatite. In Munnar
cordierite-bearing gneisses occurring as elongate patches in a 10- to 15-km-wide zone along
the southeastern part of Munnar town. Cordierite (Al3(Mg,Fe)2[Si5AlO18]) which usually
occurs in aluminous rocks that have been subjected to thermal or regional metamorphism.
Generally cordierite in gneisses is associated with minerals like andalusite, spinel, quartz, and
biotite. The textural relationship of this rock is consistent with the following main reactions:
garnet + quartz = cordierite + hypersthene + biotite. Munnar granite intrusion can be noticed
as the country rock. In some areas around Munnar small patches of charnockite are found
within the migmatitic/cordierite gneiss which is having relict pyroxenes and appearance of
newly formed hornblende. Near Devimalai (17 km from Munnar) cordierite develops at the
contact between granite and calc-granulite and it has been suggested that the cordierite
develops at the expense of garnet (Thampi et al. 1979), indicating the possibility of these
being Type 2 Magmatic (a) Peritectic type of Clarke (1995). Numerous petrologic studies
have been done on rocks of Achankovil shear zone especially in relation to the formation of
cordierite (Sinha-Roy et al. 1984; Srikantappa et al. 1985; Ravindra Kumar and Chacko
1986; Santosh 1987; Soman et al. 1995a, 1995b, Shaji 2009). Most of these studies conclude
that granulite formation, including the development of the cordierite gneiss, occurred under
conditions of isothermal decompression, possibly related to crustal thinning and extension
following earlier collision-related thickening and also suggest a history of isothermal
decompression accompanied by the flow of CO2-rich fluids for the formation of the
cordierite gneiss. The presence of this little studied cordierite gneiss in the Munnar area of
Madurai block suggests that isothermal decompression was a component in the evolutionary
history of the Munnar area and Madurai block.

Key words: cordierite gneiss, granulite, isothermal decompression