Zoned (Cretaceous and Cenozoic) garnet and the timing of high grade metamorphism, Southern Alps, New Zealand

New (garnet Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf) and existing (Rb–Sr, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar, U–Pb and Sm–Nd) ages and data on deformational fabrics and mineral compositions show for the first time that the garnet growth and ductile deformation in the Alpine Schist belt and Southern Alps orogen, New Zealand are diachronous and partly Cenozoic in age. The dominant metamorphic isograds in the Alpine Schist formed during crustal thickening at a previously unsuspected time, at c. 86 Ma, immediately prior to the opening of the Tasman Sea at c. 84–82 Ma. Obvious changes in the textures and compositional zoning patterns of garnet are not always reliable indicators of polymetamorphism, and fabric elements can be highly diachronous. A detailed timing history for the growth of a single garnet is recorded by a Sm–Nd garnet–whole rock age of 97.8 ± 8.1 Ma for the inmost garnet core (zone 1), Lu–Hf ages of 86.2 ± 0.2 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.2 Ma for overgrowth zones 2 and 3, a step‐leach Sm–Nd age of 12 ± 37 Ma for zone 4, and growth of the garnet rim (zone 5) over the Alpine Fault mylonite foliation during the modern phase of oblique collision that began at c. 5–6 Ma. Plate convergence along the New Zealand portion of the Gondwana margin continued after c. 105 Ma, almost certainly culminating in the oblique collision of a large oceanic plateau (Hikurangi Plateau). The metamorphism of the Alpine Schist at c. 86 Ma is evidence of that hit. The mid‐ to late‐Cretaceous extension that is widespread elsewhere in the New Zealand region is attributed to upper plate extension and slab roll‐back. The effects of the collision with the Hikurangi Plateau may have contributed to the changing plate motions in the region leading up to the opening of the Tasman Sea at c. 82 Ma.