TWO EPISODES OF MONAZITE CRYSTALLIZATION DURING METAMORPHISM AND CRUSTAL MELTING IN THE EVEREST REGION OF THE NEPALESE HIMALAYA

TWO EPISODES OF MONAZITE CRYSTALLIZATION DURING METAMORPHISM AND CRUSTAL MELTING IN THE EVEREST REGION OF THE NEPALESE HIMALAYA     

Combined thermobarometry and geochronology of peraluminous metapelites from the Karakoram metamorphic complex,North Pakistan; New insight into the tectonothermal evolution of the Baltoro and Hunza Valley regions

Petrographic analysis of peraluminous metapelites from two separate regions of the Karakoram metamorphic complex, North Pakistan, has produced new insights into the P–T–t evolution of the deep crust along the south Asian margin before and after the India‐Asia collision. Average P–T estimates and pseudosection construction in the MnO–Na₂O–CaO–K₂O–FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂–H₂O–TiO₂–Fe₂O₃ (MnNCKFMASHTO) system using THERMOCALC have provided prograde and peak metamorphic conditions and U–Pb geochronology of metamorphic monazite has provided age constraints. Two new events in the tectonothermal evolution of the Hunza Valley have been documented; an andalusite‐grade contact metamorphic event at 105.5 ± 0.8 Ma, at unknown P–T conditions, associated with the widespread subduction‐related granite magmatism before the India‐Asia collision, and a kyanite‐grade overprint of sillimanite‐grade rocks with peak P–T conditions of ～7.8 kbar, 645 °C at 28.2 ± 0.8 Ma associated with the ongoing India‐Asia collision. A kyanite‐grade event observed in the Baltoro region with similar peak P–T conditions (～7.4–8.0 kbar, ～640–660 °C) is interpreted to have occurred sometime after 21.8 ± 0.6 Ma, however, previous studies have suggested that this event commenced in the Baltoro as early as c. 28 Ma. A calculated prograde P–T path for this kyanite‐grade event in the Baltoro indicates that garnet first nucleated on an initially high geothermal gradient (～30 °C km^?1) and grew during a significant increase in pressure of ～2.6 kbar over a temperature increase of ～100 °C. This event is thought to represent evidence for conductive heating of the middle crust during early stages of intrusion and lateral migration of the Baltoro batholith, with thermal conditions comparable with tectonic models of magmatic over‐accretion.     

LARGEST ALTYN TAGH LITHOSPHERIC SHEAR FAULT IN CENTRAL ASIA

LARGEST ALTYN TAGH LITHOSPHERIC SHEAR FAULT IN CENTRAL ASIA     

TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE EOCENE DROSH-VOLCANO-SEDIMENTARY BASIN IN NW-KOHISTAN ISLAND ARC TERRANE, HINDUKUSH, N. PAKISTAN

In NW Himalayas, the suture zone between the collided Indian and the Karakoram plates is occupied by crust of the Cretaceous Kohistan Island\|Arc Terrane [1] . Late Cretaceous (about 90Ma) accretion with the southern margin of the Karakoram Plate at the site of the Shyok Suture Zone turned Kohistan to become an Andean\|type margin. The Neotethys was completely subducted at the southern margin of Kohistan by Early Tertiary, leading to collision between Kohistan and continental crust of the Indian plate at the site of the Main mantle thrust.More than 80% of the Kohistan terrane comprises plutonic rocks of (1) ultramafic to gabbroic composition forming the basal crust of the intra\|oceanic stage of the island arc, and (2) tonalite\|granodiorite\|granite composition belong to the Kohistan Batholith occupying much of the intermediate to shallow crust of the terrane mostly intruded in the Andean\|type margin stage [2] . Both these stages of subduction\|related magmatism were associated with volcanic and sedimentary rocks formed in Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary basins. This study addresses tectonic configuration of Early Tertiary Drosh basin exposed in NW parts of the Kohistan terrane, immediately to the south of the Shyok Suture Zone.     

Timing of metamorphism,melting and exhumation of the Leo Pargil dome,northwest India

The Leo Pargil dome, northwest India, is a 30 km‐wide, northeast‐trending structure that is cored by gneiss and mantled by amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks that are intruded by a leucogranite injection complex. Oppositely dipping, normal‐sense shear zones that accommodated orogen‐parallel extension within a convergent orogen bound the dome. The broadly distributed Leo Pargil shear zone defines the southwest flank of the dome and separates the dome from the metasedimentary and sedimentary rocks in the hanging wall to the west and south. Thermobarometry and in‐situ U–Th–Pb monazite geochronology were conducted on metamorphic rocks from within the dome and in the hanging wall. These data were combined with U–Th–Pb monazite geochronology of leucogranites from the injection complex to evaluate the relationship between metamorphism, crustal melting, and the onset of exhumation. Rocks within the dome and in the hanging wall contain garnet, kyanite, and staurolite porphyroblasts that record prograde Barrovian metamorphism during crustal thickening that reached ～530–630 °C and ～7–8 kbar, ending by c. 30 Ma. Cordierite and sillimanite overgrowths on Barrovian assemblages within the dome record dominantly top‐down‐to‐the‐west shearing during near‐isothermal decompression of the footwall rocks to ～4 kbar by 23 Ma during an exhumation rate of 1.3 mm year^?1. Monazite growth accompanied Barrovian metamorphism and decompression. The leucogranite injection complex within the dome initiated at 23 Ma and continued to 18 Ma. These data show that orogen‐parallel extension in this part of the Himalaya occurred earlier than previously documented (>16 Ma). Contemporaneous onset of near‐isothermal decompression, top‐down‐to‐the‐west shearing, and injection of the decompression‐driven leucogranite complex suggests that early crustal melting may have created a weakened crust that was proceeded by localization of strain and shear zone development. Exhumation along the shear zone accommodated decompression by 23 Ma in a kinematic setting that favoured orogen‐parallel extension.     

柴北缘前寒武纪岩体（地层）变质年龄及其对早古生代造山作用的指示

柴北缘前寒武纪岩体（地层）分布广泛。为确定柴北缘地区前寒武纪岩体（地层）受早古生代碰撞造山作用的影响,采用LA—ICP—MS技术．对大柴旦地区前寒武纪黑云斜长片麻岩、斜长角闪岩及石榴子石斜长角闪岩中的锆石进行了u—Pb同位素定年。黑云斜长片麻岩获得479-472Ma的变质年龄,斜长角闪岩获得440Ma和470Ma2个变质年龄,石榴子石斜长角闪岩获得418．8Ma±3．0Ma的变质年龄。初步确定,柴北缘早古生代造山作用对前寒武纪岩体构成了3次强度不等的变质作用叠加,分别为大洋俯7中末期阶段（495-467Ma）岛弧花岗岩弱热烘烤变质作用、大陆碰撞造山阶段（467-423Ma）区域变质作用、S型花岗岩热动力变质作用和大陆后碰撞造山阶段（423-371Ma）I型花岗岩强烈接触热变质作用。     

柴北缘前寒武纪岩体（地层）变质年龄 及其对早古生代造山作用的指示

柴北缘前寒武纪岩体（地层）分布广泛。为确定柴北缘地区前寒武纪岩体（地层）受早古生代碰撞造山作用的影响,采用LA-ICP-MS技术,对大柴旦地区前寒武纪黑云斜长片麻岩、斜长角闪岩及石榴子石斜长角闪岩中的锆石进行了U-Pb同位素定年。黑云斜长片麻岩获得479~472Ma的变质年龄,斜长角闪岩获得440Ma和470Ma 2个变质年龄,石榴子石斜长角闪岩获得418.8Ma±3.0Ma的变质年龄。初步确定,柴北缘早古生代造山作用对前寒武纪岩体构成了3次强度不等的变质作用叠加,分别为大洋俯冲末期阶段(495~467Ma)岛弧花岗岩弱热烘烤变质作用、大陆碰撞造山阶段(467~423Ma)区域变质作用、S型花岗岩热动力变质作用和大陆后碰撞造山阶段(423~371Ma) I型花岗岩强烈接触热变质作用。     

Building the Hindu Kush: monazite records of terrane accretion,plutonism and the evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram–Tibet orogen

In situ U‐Th/Pb (LA‐ICP‐MS) monazite ages from the Hindu Kush of NW Pakistan provide new petrochronologic constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram–Tibet orogen. Monazites from two adjacent garnet + staurolite schist specimens yield multiple age populations that record the major Mesozoic and Cenozoic deformational, magmatic and metamorphic events along the southern margin of Eurasia. These include the accretion of the Hindu Kush–SW Pamir to Eurasia during the Late Triassic, followed by the accretion of the Karakoram terrane in the Early Jurassic. Younger Jurassic and Cretaceous ages record the development of an Andean‐style volcanic arc along the southern Eurasian margin, which ended with the docking of the Kohistan island arc and the emplacement of the Kohistan–Ladakh batholith during the Late Cretaceous. The initial Eocene collision of India with Eurasia was followed by widespread high‐temperature metamorphism and anatexis associated with crustal thickening within the Himalaya system in the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene.     

PETROLOGY AND AGE OF THE KINNAR KAILAS GRANITE:EVIDENCES FOR AN ORDOVICIAN POST-OROGENIC EXTENSION IN THE HIGHER HIMALAYAN CRYSTALLINE, SUTLEJ, INDIA.

PETROLOGY AND AGE OF THE KINNAR KAILAS GRANITE:EVIDENCES FOR AN ORDOVICIAN POST-OROGENIC EXTENSION IN THE HIGHER HIMALAYAN CRYSTALLINE, SUTLEJ, INDIA     

Initiation of crustal shortening in the Himalaya

New monazite U/Th‐Pb petrochronological data from the Annapurna region of central Nepal outline a protracted thermal history spanning ~ 30 Ma from the early Eocene (c. 48 Ma) to the early Miocene (c. 18 Ma). Rare earth element data collected concomitant with the isotopic analyses are consistent with prograde metamorphism and crustal thickening between ~ 48 and 30 Ma and anatexis between ~ 28 and 18 Ma. The timing of metamorphism recorded in these rocks is consistent with records of crustal shortening derived from ultrahigh‐pressure rocks in the western Himalaya and exhumed metamorphic rocks in southern Tibet. Although previous records of early shortening/metamorphism related to the initial collision of India with Asia are spatially associated with the northern margin of the Indian plate, the ages presented in this study extend that early record south into the main Himalayan range. These new data provide important geological constraints on this early, poorly documented history.     

Mesozoic to Cenozoic tectono‐metamorphic history of the South Pamir–Hindu Kush (Chitral,NW Pakistan): Insights from phase equilibria modelling,and garnet–monazite petrochronology

The Karakoram–Hindu Kush–Pamir and adjacent Tibetan plateau belt comprise a series of Gondwana‐derived crustal fragments that successively accreted to the Eurasian margin in the Mesozoic as the result of the progressive Tethys ocean closure. These domains provide unique insights into the thermal and structural history of the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Eurasian plate margin, which are critical to inform the initial boundary conditions (e.g. crustal thickness, structure and thermo‐mechanical properties) for the subsequent development of the large and hot Tibetan–Himalaya orogen, and the associated crustal deformation processes. Using a combination of microstructural analyses, thermobarometry modelling and U–Th–Pb monazite and Lu–Hf garnet geochronology, the study reappraises the metamorphic history of exposed mid‐crustal metapelites in the Chitral region of the South Pamir–Hindu Kush (NW Pakistan). This study also demonstrates that trace elements in monazite (especially Y and Dy), combined with thermodynamical modelling and Lu–Hf garnet dating, provides a powerful integrated toolbox for constraining long‐lived and polyphased tectono‐metamorphic histories in all their spatial and temporal complexity. Rocks from the Chitral region were progressively deformed and metamorphosed at sub‐ and supra‐solidus conditions through at least four distinct episodes from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic. Rocks were first metamorphosed at ~400–500°C and ~0.3 GPa in the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic (210–185 Ma), likely in response to the accretion of the Karakoram during the Cimmerian orogeny. Pressure and temperature subsequently increased by ~0.3 GPa and 100°C in the Early‐ to Mid Cretaceous (140–80 Ma), coinciding with the intrusion of calcalkaline granitic plutons across the Karakoram and Pamir regions. This event is interpreted as the record of crustal thickening and the development of a proto‐plateau within the Eurasian margin due to a long‐lived episode of slab flattening in an Andean‐type margin. Peak metamorphism was reached in the Late Eocene–Early Oligocene (40–30 Ma) at conditions of 580–600°C and ~0.6 GPa and 700–750°C and 0.7–0.8 GPa for the investigated staurolite schists and sillimanite migmatites respectively. This crustal heating up to moderate anatexis likely resulted in the underthrusting of the Indian plate after a NeoTethyan slab‐break off or to the Tethyan Himalaya–Lhasa microcontinent collision and subsequent oceanic slab flattening. Near‐isothermal decompression/exhumation followed in the Late Oligocene (28–23 Ma) as marked by a pressure decrease in excess of ~0.1 GPa. This event was coeval with the intrusion of the 24 Ma Garam Chasma leucogranite. This rapid exhumation is interpreted to be related to the reactivation of the South Pamir–Karakoram suture zone during the ongoing collision with India. The findings of this study confirm that significant crustal shortening and thickening of the south Eurasian margin occurred during the Mesozoic in an accretionary‐type tectonic setting through successive episodes of terrane accretions and probably slab flattening, transiently increasing the coupling at the plate interface. Moreover, they indicate that the south Eurasian margin was already hot and thickened prior to Cenozoic collision with India, which has important implications for orogen‐scale strain‐accommodation mechanisms.     

THE CENTRAL PAMIR—AN ALPINE COLLISION ZONE

THE CENTRAL PAMIR—AN ALPINE COLLISION ZONE     

Petrological and geochronological constraints on regional metamorphism along the northern border of the Bitterroot batholith

Quantitative thermobarometry in pelites and garnet amphibolites from the Bitterroot metamorphic core complex, combined with U–Pb dating of metamorphic monazite and zircon from footwall rocks, provide new constraints on the P – T  – t evolution of footwall rocks. The thermobarometric and geochronological results, when correlated with observations from other regions bordering the Bitterroot batholith, define a regional metamorphic history for the northern margin of the Bitterroot batholith consisting of three distinct events beginning with early prograde metamorphism (M1) coincident with arc-related magmatism and crustal shortening at c .  100–80 Ma. Magmatism and crustal thickening led to regional upper-amphibolite facies metamorphism (M2) and anatectic melting between 64 and 56 Ma. Mineral textures related to high-temperature isothermal decompression (M3), coincident with late stages of magmatism in the Bitterroot complex footwall (56–48 Ma), are only preserved in areas adjacent to extensional structures. The close temporal relationship between peak metamorphism and the onset of footwall decompression indicates that thermal weakening was an important factor in the initiation of Early Eocene regional extension and tectonic denudation of the Bitterroot complex and possibly the Boehls Butte metamorphic terrane. The morphology of the decompressional P – T  – t path derived for Bitterroot footwall rocks is similar to other trajectories reported for Cordilleran core complexes and may represent a transition in the deformational style of core-bunding detachments responsible for exhumation.     

Tectonics of the southern Asian Plate margin along the Karakoram Shear Zone: Constraints from field observations and U–Pb SHRIMP ages

New geological observations, recent published data and U–Pb SHRIMP zircon dating from the Karakoram Mountains along the Nubra and Shyok Rivers reveal that the initial subduction of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere took place ~ 110 Ma beneath the Paleozoic–Mesozoic platform of the southern edge of the Asian Plate. This has produced the I-type plutons within the Karakoram Batholith Complex, well before the juxtaposition of the Asian Plate along the Karakoram Shear Zone. Within this shear zone, U–Pb zircon crystallisation ages of ~ 75 Ma from mylonitised granitoids and 68 Ma from undeformed Tirit granodiorite constrain the timing of suturing of the Karakoram terrain with the Trans-Himalaya between 75 and 68 Ma. Post-shearing leucogranite was episodically generated within frontal migmatised Karakoram Metamorphic Belt and emplaced between 20 and 13 Ma within the shear zone. Presence of a low resistivity zone as a possible indication of mid-crustal partial molten crust underneath the Higher Himalaya–Ladakh–Karakoram terrains manifests the impingement of the Indian Plate along the Main Himalayan Thrust at depth.

Physical continuity of the Baltoro granite belt into the Karakoram Batholith is established as well as the continuity of the Shyok suture as the Shiquanhe Suture Zone in western Tibet through the Chushul–Dungti sector. The Karakoram Shear Zone, therefore, displays a complex geological history of movements since ~ 75 Ma and plays a very significant role in the overall India–Asia convergence, rather than merely being a strike-slip fault for eastward extrusion of a segment of Asia in Tibet.     

SHRIMP monazite and zircon geochronology of high-grade metamorphism in New Zealand

Ion microprobe dating of zircon and monazite from high-grade gneisses has been used to (1) determine the timing of metamorphism in the Western Province of New Zealand, and (2) constrain the age of the protoliths from which the metamorphic rocks were derived. The Western Province comprises Westland, where mainly upper crustal rocks are exposed, and Fiordland, where middle to lower crustal levels crop out. In Westland, the oldest recognisable metamorphic event occurred at 360–370 Ma, penecontemporaneously with intrusion of the mid-Palaeozoic Karamea Batholith (c. 375 Ma). Metamorphism took place under low-pressure/high-temperature conditions, resulting in upper-amphibolite sillimanite-grade metamorphism of Lower Palaeozoic pelites (Greenland Group). Orthogneisses of younger (Cretaceous) age formed during emplacement of the Rahu Suite granite intrusives (c. 110 Ma) and were derived from protoliths including Cretaceous Separation Point suite and Devonian Karamea suite granites. In Fiordland, high-grade paragneisses with Greenland Group zircon age patterns were metamorphosed (M1) to sillimanite grade at 360 Ma. Concomitant with crustal thickening and further granite emplacement, M1 mineral assemblages were overprinted by higher-pressure kyanite-grade metamorphism (M2) at 330 Ma. It remains unclear whether the M2 event in Fiordland was primarily due to tectonic burial, as suggested by regional recumbent isoclinal folding, or whether it was due to magmatic loading, in keeping with the significant volumes of granite magma intruded at higher structural levels in the formerly contiguous Westland region. Metamorphism in Fiordland accompanied and outlasted emplacement of the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO) at 110–125 Ma. The WFO equilibrated under granulite facies conditions, whereas cover rocks underwent more limited recrystallization except for high-strain shear zones where conditions of lower to middle amphibolite facies were met. The juxtaposition of Palaeozoic kyanite-grade rocks against Cretaceous WFO granulites resulted from late Mesozoic extensional deformation and development of metamorphic core complexes in the Western Province.     

Granites of western Karakorum and northern Kohistan (Pakistan): A composite mid-cretaceous to upper cenozoic magmatism

The petrography, the chemical-mineralogical typology and the ages of six plutonic units, four from the Karakorum axial batholith (Darkot Pass, Ghamu Bar, Batura and Hunza units) and two of northern Kohistan (Gindai and Nomal plutons) are defined and compared based on field data and analyses of up to 78 samples (major elements, REE, Rb-S.sbnd;Sr and KAr isotopes). The Karakorum axial batholith is a composite body. Three major intrusive stages occurred: (1) around Mid-Cretaceous times (ca. 110-95 Ma) with the emplacement of subalkaline, i.e. monzonitic (Darkot Pass) and calc-alkaline (Hunza, ?Ghamu Bar) units; (2) during Palaeogene, maybe up to 43 Ma (Batura subalkaline unit). A strong tectonommetamorphic event, recorded in the gneissification of the Cretaceous intrusives, occurred between these two stages; it may be of Palaeocene age. P-T estimates of the highest metamorphic grade rocks of the Hunza unit have yielded values of 580–640°C and 5 ± 0.5 kbar; and (3) during Upper Miocene (ca. 9 Ma; Baltoro subalkaline unit; Debon et al., 1986c). In addition, a conspicuous network of aplo-pegmatitic dykes emplaced into the Hunza area, possibly from the Eocene up to the Upper Cenozoic with a maximum during the Middle Miocene (ca. 15 Ma). Most of these major magmatic stages are met again among the acidic intrusives and dykes of northern Kohistan: the first one as blastomylonitic tholeiitic plutons (Nomal; ca. 102 Ma; Petterson and Windley, 1985), the second one as subalkaline plutons (Gindai; ca. 59 Ma), and a third one as leucocratic dykes, of Oligocene age (ca. 30 Ma; Petterson and Windley, 1985).These data may be related to the geodynamic evolution of the NW part of the India-Eurasia suture zone, thus allowing better constraints on the major steps of this evolution. The partly synchronous closures, by N-dipping subduction, of the two Tethys branches which are assumed to have encircled the Kohistan arc in Upper Mesozoic times, may have generated both the Karakorum and the Kohistan intrusives of Cretaceous and Palaeogene ages. The northern branch very likely closed before the southern one. At the time of the second intrusive stage (Palaeogene): (a) Kohistan and Karakorum had already collided, were welded and had suffered the same major tectonometamorphic event; (b) subduction of the southern Tethys floor beneath the welded Kohistan-Karakorum was still active; (c) however, collision between India and Kohistan-Karakorum may have already begun, particularly at the level of the Nanga Parbat promontory. Finally, it is emphasized that the intrusive processes continued in the Karakorum long after the collision (e.g., Baltoro granite).     

SUBDUCTION AND ACCRETION TECTONICS OF HIMALAYAN AND KARAKORAM TERRANES AND THEIR PALAEOGEOLOGIC CONFIGURATION

he 2500km long Indus\|Tsangpo Suture has been recognized as one of the best examples of continent to continent collisional Suture Zone. It has come into existence as a result of subduction followed by continental collision (55～60Ma) between Indian (Sinha, 1989, 1997; Sinha et al., 1999) and Eurasian plates. While considering the recent palaeogeographic reconstruction of Pangea during late Palaeozoic it appears that a southern belt of Asian microcontinents stretching from Iran and Afghanistan through southern Tibet to western Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra, comprise several continental blocks and numerous fragments that have coalesced since the Mid\|Palaeozoic along with the closure of Tethys. The origin, migration, assembly and timing of accretion of all these blocks to their present geotectonic position is not well known and there is no Permo—Triassic crust left in the present day Indian Ocean. The oldest ocean crust adjacent to the west African and Antarctic margin is of early or middle Cretaceous age (approximately 140～100Ma) (Searle, 1991). The Karakoram\|Hindukush microplate in the west and the Qiangtang\|Lhasa block in the central and eastern segment of South Asia margin are among those blocks already welded with Asian plates around 120～130Ma ago, before the collision of India (55～60Ma) with the collage of plates forming Peri\|Gondwanian microcontinents. But the reconstruction of palaeogeographic configuration remain incomplete due to paucity of authentic geologic information available from Karakoram, Pamir and Western Tibet. Prior to our discovery no early Permian plant remains and palynomorphs were ever reported from Karakoram terrane. Our discovery of Early Permian remains and late Asselian (about 280～275Ma) palynomorphs provides crucial clue regarding the palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Karakoram\|Himalayan block in the Permian time.     

Geochronological constraints on the timing of granitoid magmatism, metamorphism and post-metamorphic cooling in the Hercynian crustal cross-section of Calabria

Exposed cross‐sections of the continental crust are a unique geological situation for crustal evolution studies, providing the possibility of deciphering the time relationships between magmatic and metamorphic events at all levels of the crust. In the cross‐section of southern and northern Calabria, U–Pb, Rb–Sr and K–Ar mineral ages of granulite facies metapelitic migmatites, peraluminous granites and amphibolite facies upper crustal gneisses provide constraints on the late‐Hercynian peak metamorphism and granitoid magmatism as well as on the post‐metamorphic cooling. Monazite from upper crustal amphibolite facies paragneisses from southern Calabria yields similar U–Pb ages (295–293±4 Ma) to those of granulite facies metamorphism in the lower crust and of intrusions of calcalkaline and metaluminous granitoids in the middle crust (300±10 Ma). Monazite and xenotime from peraluminous granites in the middle to upper crust of the same crustal section provide slightly older intrusion ages of 303–302±0.6 Ma. Zircon from a mafic to intermediate sill in the lower crust yields a lower concordia intercept age of 290±2 Ma, which may be interpreted as the minimum age for metamorphism or intrusion. U–Pb monazite ages from granulite facies migmatites and peraluminous granites of the lower and middle crust from northern Calabria (Sila) also point to a near‐synchronism of peak metamorphism and intrusion at 304–300±0.4 Ma. At the end of the granulite facies metamorphism, the lower crustal rocks were uplifted into mid‐crustal levels (10–15 km) followed by nearly isobaric slow cooling (c. 3 °C Ma^?1) as indicated by muscovite and biotite K–Ar and Rb–Sr data between 210±4 and 123±1 Ma. The thermal history is therefore similar to that of the lower crust of southern Calabria. In combination with previous petrological studies addressing metamorphic textures and P–T conditions of rocks from all crustal levels, the new geochronological results are used to suggest that the thermal evolution and heat distribution in the Calabrian crust were mainly controlled by advective heat input through magmatic intrusions into all crustal levels during the late‐Hercynian orogeny.     

GENESIS OF COPPER MINERALIZATION IN THE WESTERN KOHISTAN ISLAND ARC TERRANE,NW HIMALAYA—HINDUKUSH, N. PAKISTAN

GENESIS OF COPPER MINERALIZATION IN THE WESTERN KOHISTAN ISLAND ARC TERRANE,NW HIMALAYA—HINDUKUSH, N. PAKISTAN     

Monazite behaviour during isothermal decompression in pelitic granulites: a case study from Dinggye,Tibetan Himalaya

Monazite is a key accessory mineral for metamorphic geochronology, but interpretation of its complex chemical and age zoning acquired during high-temperature metamorphism and anatexis remains a challenge. We investigate the petrology, pressure–temperature and timing of metamorphism in pelitic and psammitic granulites that contain monazite from the Greater Himalayan Crystalline Complex (GHC) in Dinggye, southern Tibet. These rocks underwent isothermal decompression from pressure of >10 kbar to ~5 kbar at temperatures of 750–830 °C, and recorded three metamorphic stages at kyanite (M₁), sillimanite (M₂) and cordierite-spinel grade (M₃). Monazite and zircon crystals were dated by microbeam techniques either as grain separates or in thin sections. U–Th–Pb ages are linked to specific conditions of mineral growth on the basis of zoning patterns, trace element signatures, index mineral inclusions (melt inclusions, sillimanite and K-feldspar) in dated domains and textural relationships with co-existing minerals. The results show that inherited domains (500–400 Ma) are preserved in monazite even at granulite-facies conditions. Few monazites or zircon yield ages related to the M₁-stage (~30–29 Ma), possibly corresponding to prograde melting by muscovite dehydration. During the early stage of isothermal decompression, inherited or prograde monazites in most samples were dissolved in the melt produced by biotite dehydration-melting. Most monazite grains crystallized from melt toward the end of decompression (M₃-stage, 21–19 Ma) and are chemically related to garnet breakdown reactions. Another peak of monazite growth occurred at final melt crystallization (~15 Ma), and these monazite grains are unzoned and are homogeneous in composition. In a regional context, our pressure–temperature–time data constrains peak high-pressure metamorphism within the GHC to ~30–29 Ma in Dinggye Himalaya. Our results are in line with a melt-assisted exhumation of the GHC rocks.