Eocene deep crust at Ama Drime, Tibet: Early evolution of the Himalayan orogen

Abstract

Granulitized eclogite-facies rocks exposed in the Ama Drime Massif, south Tibet, were dated by Lu-Hf garnet geochronology. Garnet from the three samples analyzed yielded Lu-Hf ages of 37.5 ± 0.8 Ma, 36.0 ± 1.9 Ma, and 33.9 ± 0.8 Ma. Eclogitic garnet growth is estimated at ca. 38 Ma, the oldest age for burial of the lower Indian crust beneath Tibet reported from the central-eastern Himalaya. Granulite-facies overprinting followed at ca. 15–13 Ma, as indicated by U-Pb zircon ages. Unlike ultrahigh-pressure eclogites of the northwest Himalaya, the Ama Drime eclogites are not characteristic of rapid burial and exhumation of a cold subducted slab. The rocks instead resulted from crustal thickening during the early stages of continental collision, and resided in the lower-middle crust for >20 m.y. before they were exhumed and reheated. These new data provide solid evidence for the Indian crust having already reached at least ∼60 km thickness by the late Eocene.