Eocene Metamorphism and Anatexis in the Kathmandu Klippe, Central Nepal: Implications for Early Crustal Thickening and Initial Rise of the Himalaya

Abstract

AbstractThe continental collision between India and Asia has been ongoing since early Eocene time, but the orogenic record is typically dominated by Miocene and younger deformation and metamorphism that largely overprinted earlier Eocene‐Oligocene events. This hinders our understanding of how crustal thickening responds to initial collision and when the Himalayan mountains initially rise. The advancement of spatially precise petrochronology techniques, however, has provided the means to see through the Miocene overprint and enabled the characterization of Eocene metamorphism in different parts of the Himalaya. The current study presents new monazite petrochronology and paired thermobarometry from the Kathmandu klippe in the central Nepalese Himalaya. These data reveal Eocene prograde metamorphism (44‐38 Ma) and partial melting (38‐35 Ma) under peak P‐T conditions of 730 °C–760 °C and up to 10.5 kbar. The migmatites within the Kathmandu klippe is equivalent to the Upper or Uppermost Greater Himalayan Crystallines and should have been exhumed during Eocene‐Oligocene. The new evidence of Eocene metamorphism and anatexis presented herein adds to a growing body of data detailing initial crustal thickening during the early continent collision. The mid‐Eocene crustal thickening event indicates that the Himalayan felsic crust was thickened to a depth of ∼35 km shortly within 10–20 Myr of the initial collision, which was probably responsible for the initial topographic rise of the Himalayan proto‐mountains. Characterizing the effects of this early orogenesis is critical in understanding the Himalayan architecture prior to the better‐preserved Miocene metamorphism and anatexis record and how the orogen may have been preconditioned for the younger stage.