The onset of India–Asia continental collision: Early, steep subduction required by the timing of UHP metamorphism in the western Himalaya

Abstract

Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks in the NW Himalaya are some of the youngest on Earth, and allow testing of critical questions of UHP formation and exhumation and the timing of the India–Asia collision. Initial collision of India with Asia is widely cited as being at 55 ± 1 Ma based on a paleomagnetically determined slowdown of India's plate velocity, and as being at ca. 51 Ma based on the termination of marine carbonate deposition. Even relatively small changes in this collision age force large changes in tectonic reconstructions because of the rapid India–Asia convergence rate of 134 mm/a at the time of collision. New U–Pb SHRIMP dating of zircon shows that Indian rocks of the Tso Morari Complex reached UHP depths at 53.3 ± 0.7 Ma. Given the high rate of Indian subduction, this dating implies that Indian continental crust arrived at the Asian trench no later than 57 ± 1 Ma, providing a metamorphic age for comparison with previous paleomagnetic and stratigraphic estimates. India's collision with Asia may be compared to modern processes in the Timor region in which initiation of collision precedes both the slowing of the convergence rate and the termination of marine carbonate deposition. The Indian UHP rocks must have traveled rapidly along a short, hence steep, path into the mantle. Early continental subduction was at a steep angle, probably vertical, comparable to modern continental subduction in the Hindu Kush, despite evidence for modern-day low-angle subduction of India beneath Tibet. Oceanic slab break-off likely coincided with exhumation of UHP terranes in the western Himalaya and led to the initiation of low-angle subduction and leucogranite generation.