Mazeno Pass Pluton and Jutial Pluton, Pakistan Himalaya: age and implications for entrapment mechanisms of two granites in the Himalaya

Abstract

Zircon and monazite U-(Th)-Pb ion microprobe analysis were performed on the Mazeno Pass pluton and the Jutial pluton, two leucogranite bodies within the Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif (NPHM), Pakistan Himalaya. Zircon rim ages and monazite ages indicate the Mazeno Pass pluton in southwest NPHM intruded at 1.40 ± 0.05 Ma; the Jutial pluton, to the north, similarly yields concordant zircon and monazite ages suggesting crystallization at 9.45 ± 0.06 Ma. The Jutial pluton was subsequently intruded by leucogranite dikes at 5.3 Ma, as revealed by monazite ages. Concordancy of U-Pb and Th-Pb accessory mineral ages demonstrates the robustness of the technique on young rocks. Both plutons, some of the youngest in the Himalaya, have a general association with nearby shear zones that we interpret to have played an integral role in granite evolution and emplacement setting (`deformation enhanced ascent'). Together with new field observations, these results provide an insight on the spatial and temporal relationship between plutonism and deformation relating to the development of the massif.