U-Pb geochronology and petrogenesis of peraluminous granitoids from northern Indian plate in NW Pakistan: Andean type orogenic signatures from the early Paleozoic along the northern Gondwana

Abstract

The pre-Himalayan peraluminous magmatic event along the northern margin of Indian plate in north-western Pakistan has been investigated leading to a correlation with the magmatic evolution in other Himalayan and northern Gondwana regions. The two mica granites from Utla and Mansehra regions of NW Pakistan are dominantly megacrystic, strongly peraluminous (A/CNK > 1.1) and intruded by aplitic dykes and quartz rich veins. U-Pb zircon dating by SIMS reveals their emplacement during the early Paleozoic, ranging from 476 Ma to 480 Ma. These granites are enriched in light rare-earth elements (LREEs) and show similar REE patterns with negative Eu anomalies. Geochemical modelling indicates that these granites were derived mainly from the partial melting of pelitic sources followed by the evolution of melt via fractional crystallization of feldspars, biotite, muscovite, apatite, and/or zircon, with the aplite dykes representing the very last fractionation product. Based on their compositions, source rock characteristics and U-Pb geochronology, we assign these to the regional association of other Cambro-Ordovician granitoids from the Himalayas and northern Gondwana terranes. Due to these similarities alongside other metamorphic, stratigraphic and geochemical evidence, an early Paleozoic Andean-type orogenic event is proposed for the genesis of these granitoids where the process could have been initiated by the subduction of the Proto-Tethys oceanic lithosphere beneath the northern Gondwana continental margin.