Khondalite
Khondalite is a foliated metamorphic rock. In India, it is also called Bezwada Gneiss and Kailasa Gneiss.[1] It was named after the Khond tribe[2][1] of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh because well-formed examples of the rock were found in the inhabited hills of these regions of eastern India.
Distribution
Khondalite is found in the Eastern Ghats between Vijayawada and Cuttack in India.[2] but the term khondalite is also used to describe other rocks of similar composition found elsewhere in India as well as in Burma, Sri Lanka[3] and the Inner Mongolia region of China.[4]
Composition
Khondalite is quartz–manganese-rich garnet–rhodonite schist.[2] It may also contain sillimanite and graphite. Feldspar may occur in some cases.[1]
Formation
Khondalites are considered to be metasedimentary rocks formed during Archaean era. According to Lewis Leigh Fermor, the khondalite and the related charnockite of the Eastern Ghat region were formed when the Eastern Ghat belt was faulted and buried. It was uplifted later, bringing these metamorphic rocks to the surface.[1]
Use
Khondalites weather easily but still have been used in buildings and temples, for example, the Konark Sun Temple and Jagannath Temple.[1]
See also
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khondalite. |
- Kesavulu (1 February 2009). Textbook of Engineering Geology. Macmillan Publishers India Limited. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-230-63870-9. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- P. C. Varghese (November 2012). Engineering Geology for Civil Engineers. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. p. 126. ISBN 978-81-203-4495-2. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- Dash, B. (1990). "Khondalite". In Bowes, Donald (ed.). Petrology. Encyclopedia of Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Berlin: Springer. pp. 263–264. doi:10.1007/0-387-30845-8_111. ISBN 978-0387335643.
- Jiao, Shujuan; Guo, Jinghui; Harley, Simon L.; Windley, Brian F. (2013). "New Constraints from Garnetite on the P–T Path of the Khondalite Belt: Implications for the Tectonic Evolution of the North China Craton". Journal of Petrology. 54 (9): 1725–1758. Bibcode:2013JPet...54.1725J. doi:10.1093/petrology/egt029.