Geochronology of the Daitari Greenstone Belt, Singhbhum Craton, India

The Singhbhum Craton in India contains well-preserved Palaeoarchaean greenstone belts that rival their Australian and South African counterparts, but their stratigraphic make-up remains to be resolved. Here we provide new SHRIMP- and LA-ICP-MS-based U–Pb and Lu-Hf data on magmatic and detrital zircons from stratigraphically resolved samples of the Daitari Greenstone Belt (DGB) in the south of the Singhbhum Craton. A minimum age for the Kalisagar Formation, the lowermost mafic–ultramafic volcanic suite of the DGB, is provided by a felsic sill dated at 3505 ± 6 Ma. Felsic volcaniclastic rocks from the overlying Talpada Formation provided a weighted mean age of 3507 ± 5 Ma. Zircon εHf_(t) indicate a juvenile source for 3.5 Ga felsic volcanic rocks. Erosion of the volcanic edifice of the Talpada Formation acted as a predominant source for the overlying turbidite sequence of the Sindurimundi Formation, having identical U-Pb detrital zircon ages of ∼ 3505 Ma. A maximum age of deposition of 3502 ± 2 Ma is proposed for the Sindurimundi Formation. Magmatic zircon ages obtained from different intrusive felsic rocks in the Daitari belt ranges from c. 3.37 to 3.35 Ga and support the notion of widespread felsic magmatism of the Singhbhum Suite in the southern part of the craton. Xenocrystic zircon crystals dated at c. 3.55 to 3.52 Ga may correspond to an earlier phase of magmatism. 3.5 Ga marks an important period in the Earth's history, when extensive felsic magmatism facilitated continental crustal growth as recorded in the Singhbhum, Kaapvaal and Pilbara cratons.