Detrital zircon U–Pb ages, Hf isotopic constraints, and trace element analysis of Upper Cretaceous–Neogene sedimentary units in the Western Nepal Himalaya: Implications for provenance changes and India–Asia collision

Abstract

The present study integrates detrital zircon U–Pb–Hf isotopic analysis from 13 sandstone samples from an Upper Cretaceous–Miocene sedimentary sequence in Nepal Himalaya to determine their provenance. These sequences constrain a shifting of provenance from south to north. The U–Pb ages from Upper Cretaceous–Palaeocene strata (Amile Formation) mainly cluster between ~1,860 and 1,400 Ma with a peak at ~1,630 Ma and an absence of grains younger than the Palaeoproterozoic (1,400 Ma) age. The detritus yielded positive detrital zircon ƐHf (t) values (as high as +10). However, the detrital zircon U–Pb ages from Eocene–Miocene sequence cluster at ~500–650, ~700–900, ~1,600–1,850, and ~2,500 Ma, and in addition, they have both positive and negative ƐHf (t) values (+11 to −25). This finding further elucidates that the detritus in the Amile Formation was entirely sourced from India, which changed following the time of the Bhainskati Formation deposition, to a mixture of both Asian and Indian affinities (the Himalayan region). This change in source region marks the possible time of the India–Asia collision during this transition phase, that is, Late Palaeocene–Earliest Eocene.