Early Neoproterozoic Deformation Kinematics in the Chottanagpur Gneiss Complex (Eastern India): Evidence from the Curvilinear Hundru Falls Shear ZoneAnalysis

Abstract Curvilinear steep shear zones originate in different tectonic environments. In the Chottanagpur Gneiss Complex (CGC), the steeply dipping, left-lateral and transpressive Early Neoproterozoic Hundru Falls Shear Zone (HFSZ) with predominantly north-down kinematics comprises two domains, e.g., an arcuate NW-striking (in the west) to W-striking (in the east) domain with gently plunging stretching lineation that curves into a W-striking straight-walled domain with down-dip lineation. The basement-piercing HFSZ truncates a carapace of flat-lying amphibolite facies paraschist and granitoid mylonites, and recumbently folded anatectic gneisses. The carapace—inferred to be a midcrustal regional-scale low-angle detachment zone—structurally overlies an older basement of Early Mesoproterozoic anatectic gneisses intruded by Mid-Mesoproterozoic/Early Neoproterozoic granitoids unaffected by the Early Neoproterozoic extensional tectonics. The mean kinematic vorticity values in the steep HFSZ-hosted granitoids computed using the porphyroclast aspect ratio method are 0.74–0.83 and 0.51–0.65 in domains with shallow and steep lineations, respectively. The granitoid mylonites show a chessboard subgrain microstructure, but lack evidence for suprasolidus deformation. The timing relationship between the two domains is unclear. If the two HFSZ domains were contemporaneous, the domain of steep lineations with greater coaxial strain relative to the curvilinear domain formed due to strain partitioning induced by variations in mineralogy and/or temperature of the cooling granitoid plutons. Alternately, the domain of gently plunging lineations in the HFSZ was a distinct shear zone that curved into a subsequent straight-walled shear zone with steeply plunging lineation due to a northward shift in the convergence direction during deformation contemporaneous with the Early Neoproterozoic accretion of the CGC and the Singhbhum Craton.