Himalayan Metamorphic Core Research Articles

Reactivated normal-sense shear zones in the core of the Greater Himalayan Sequence, Solukhumbu District, Nepal

We present preliminary observations from the Solukhumbu region of Nepal, coupled with structures described in the literature, to suggest the importance of structural and metamorphic discontinuities within the Himalayan metamorphic core (Greater Himalayan Sequence) and reactivation of at least one of these thrust discontinuities with a normal (down-to-the-north) sense of displacement. Based on preliminary geochronologic data, development of these discontinuities may have evolved over time. In the Dudh Kosi Valley near Ghat, gneissic rocks and pegmatites exhibit tectonized fabrics and yield argon cooling ages of ~4 Ma for K-feldspar and ~9 Ma for biotite. Just north of Khumjung there is a prominent topographic break from which sheared gneissic rocks indicate a top-to-the-north, or normal, sense of shear. Near Pangboche, a repeated section of kyanitebearing rocks interleaved with sillimanite-muscovite schist suggests structural imbrication and/or interleaved retrograde metamorphism. Below the peaks of Nuptse and Lhotse, the Khumbu thrust (Searle 1999) appears to form the floor of a thick succession of leucogranite sills. We suggest that these discontinuities were formed over time, possibly from early MCT and STDS deformation at ~21 Ma to as recent as ~4 Ma, and need to be considered in kinematic models that combine channel flow with critical taper and tectonic denudation. Moreover, orogenic collapse in the Himalayan core may be migrating southward through time as the orogenic wedge continues to uplift in response to underthrusting of India and southward propagation of the Main Frontal Thrust system.

The P–T–t evolution of the exhumed Himalayan metamorphic core in the Likhu Khola region, East Central Nepal

ABSTRACTThe recent identification of multiple strike‐parallel discontinuities within the exhumed Himalayan metamorphic core has helped revise the understanding of convergence accommodation processes within the former mid‐crust exposed in the Himalaya. Whilst the significance of these discontinuities to the overall development of the mountain belt is still being investigated, their identification and characterization has become important for potential correlations across regions, and for constraining the kinematic framework of the mid‐crust. The result of new phase equilibria modelling, trace element analysis and high‐precision Lu–Hf garnet dating of the metapelites from the Likhu Khola region in east central Nepal, combined with the previously published monazite petrochronology data confirms the presence of one of such cryptic thrust‐sense tectonometamorphic discontinuities within the lower portion of the exhumed metamorphic core and provides new constraints on the P–T estimates for that region. The location of the discontinuity is marked by an abrupt change in the nature of P–T–t paths of the rocks across it. The rocks in the footwall are characterized by a prograde burial P–T path with peak metamorphic conditions of ~660°C and ~9.5 kbar likely in the mid‐to‐late Miocene, which are overlain by the hanging wall rocks, that preserve retrograde P–T paths with P–T conditions of >700°C and ~7 kbar in the early Miocene. The occurrence of this thrust‐sense structure that separates rock units with unique metamorphic histories is compatible with orogenic models that identify a spatial and temporal transition from early midcrustal deformation and metamorphism in the deeper hinterland to later deformation and metamorphism towards the shallower foreland of the orogen. Moreover, these observations are comparable with those made across other discontinuities at similar structural levels along the Himalaya, confirming their importance as important orogen‐scale structures.

Northern Provenance of the Gondwana Formation in the Lesser Himalayan Sequence: Constraints From 40Ar/39Ar Dating of Detrital Muscovite in Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Single-grain 40Ar/39Ar dates are reported for detrital white mica from low-grade meta-arkose samples from the Gondwana Formation in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya. The majority (61%) of single grains from five samples yielded dates of ~480 Ma. The remaining grains yielded dates between ~590 and 1700 Ma, and a few grains were younger than 480 Ma. These data suggest that the source of the Gondwana sedimentary rocks in the Himalaya lay to the north, in contrast to the previously held view that it was in the south. This also indicates that the Cambro-Ordovician granites, extensively present in the Himalayan metamorphic core, the Greater Himalayan Sequence, were exposed at the surface in the Permian in a mountain range to the north of the Permian continental rifts. Preservation of the original muscovite ages and the absence of evidence of a thermal overprint during the Himalayan orogenesis indicate that the burial temperatures of the Gondwanan sedimentary rocks, located at the base of the Lesser Himalayan Sequence, did not exceed 400 °C.

Geology and tectono‐metamorphic evolution of the Himalayan metamorphic core: insights from the Mugu Karnali transect, Western Nepal (Central Himalaya)

AbstractNew structural and tectono‐metamorphic data are presented from a geological transect along the Mugu Karnali valley, in Western Nepal (Central Himalaya), where an almost continuous cross‐section from the Lesser Himalaya Sequence to the Everest Series through the medium‐high‐grade Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) is exposed. Detailed meso‐ and micro‐structural analyses were carried out along the transect. Pressure (P)–temperature (T) conditions and P–T–deformation paths for samples from different structural units were derived by calculating pseudosections in the MnNKCFMASHT system. Systematic increase of P–T conditions, from ~0.75 GPa to 560 °C up to ≥1.0 GPa–750 °C, has been detected starting from the garnet zone up to the K‐feldspar + aluminosilicate zone. Our investigation reveals how these units are characterized by different P–T evolutions and well‐developed tectonic boundaries. Integrating our meso‐ and micro‐structural data with those of metamorphism and geochronology, a diachronism in deformation and metamorphism can be highlighted along the transect, where different crustal slices were underthrust, metamorphosed and exhumed at different times. The GHS is not a single tectonic unit, but it is composed of (at least) three different crustal slices, in agreement with a model of in‐sequence shearing by accretion of material from the Indian plate, where coeval activity of basal thrusting at the bottom with normal shearing at the top of the GHS is not strictly required for its exhumation.

Anatexis, cooling, and kinematics during orogenesis: Miocene development of the Himalayan metamorphic core, east-central Nepal

The exposed mid-crustal rocks of the Himalayan orogen provide a ­natural laboratory for constructing the kinematic evolution of the mid-crust during a large-scale continental collision. Kinematic models provide testable, geometrically valid, internally consistent, integrated solutions for diverse geological data from deformed regions. We investigated the Tama Kosi region of east-central Nepal with structural, geochemical, and geo­chrono­logical methods to refine a detailed kinematic model for the Miocene Epoch, during which the mid-crust was pervasively deformed, translated southward, and progressively stacked via basal accretion. Geochemical and U-Pb zircon data demonstrate that two similar orthogneiss bodies were derived from different protoliths, one formed through vapor-absent melting at 1940 ± 16 Ma and the other via vapor-present melting at 1863 ± 14 Ma, respectively, indicating that they do not reflect structural repetition. In situ Th-Pb monazite petrochronology from the Mahabharat Range links the orogenic foreland to the exposed mid-crust of the High Himalaya via a coeval, protracted metamorphic growth–crystallization and/or recrystallization record spanning late Eocene or early Oligocene to early Miocene. Differential cooling of white mica, evidenced by 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages across the studied area, may outline a previously unrecognized out-of-sequence thrust, the occurrence of which is coincident with the location of a sharp break previously recognized from quartz crystallographic fabric deformation temperatures. Together with previous work, these data form the basis for a new, internally consistent kinematic model for rocks of the Tama Kosi region during the Miocene Epoch that tracks the transition from distributed ductile deformation in the mid-crust to deformation along discrete surfaces during their exhumation.

Diachronous deformation along the base of the Himalayan metamorphic core, west-central Nepal

Geologic mapping combined with microstructural and geochronologic analyses from the lower Himalayan metamorphic core in west-central Nepal record along-strike similarity in flow style despite variability in the timing of metamorphism and deformation. The Main Central thrust zone at the base of the Himalayan metamorphic core varies in thickness, tectonostratigraphy, and metamorphic gradient along the 250 km of strike length studied. In situ U-Th/Pb geochronology of monazite sampled from an along-strike transect at the top of the high-strain zone records Eocene−Oligocene prograde metamorphism followed by Miocene retrograde metamorphism. The timing of prograde and retrograde metamorphism and the muscovite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates gradually decrease along strike from northwest to southeast. This age trend is punctuated by an abrupt ∼3−8 m.y. decrease in the age of prograde and retrograde metamorphism and muscovite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates near the Marsyandi River in central Nepal. Quartz crystallographic preferred orientation fabrics from a parallel transect along the base of the high-strain zone document similar flow style at ∼440 °C in central Nepal. Muscovite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages, interpreted to approximate the age of deformation at this structural level, decrease from ca. 7 to 4 Ma along strike from northwest to southeast. Diachronous deformation and metamorphism along strike in west-central Nepal demonstrate the necessity of incorporating more than a single transect into tectonic models. Along-strike tectonometamorphic variability in west-central Nepal spatially corresponds to faults in the Indian basement bounding the subsurface Faizabad ridge, highlighting the possible influence of inherited basement faults on the geometry of the basal Himalayan detachment, the Main Himalayan thrust, as well as the tectonic evolution of the structurally overlying Himalayan metamorphic core. This study highlights the potential influence of inherited structures on the overlying orogenic wedge and the probability of along-strike diachroneity of deformation in the Himalaya.

Reconciling Himalayan midcrustal discontinuities: The Main Central thrust system

The occurrence of thrust-sense tectonometamorphic discontinuities within the exhumed Himalayan metamorphic core can be explained as part of the Main Central thrust system. This imbricate thrust structure, which significantly thickened the orogenic midcrustal core, comprises a series of thrust-sense faults that all merge into a single detachment. The existence of these various structures, and their potential for complex overprinting along the main detachment, may help explain the contention surrounding the definition, mapping, and interpretation of the Main Central thrust. The unique evolution of specific segments of the Main Central thrust system along the orogen is interpreted to be a reflection of the inherent basement structure and ramp position, and structural level of exposure of the mid-crust. This helps explain the variation in the timing and structural position of tectonometamorphic discontinuities along the length of the mountain belt.

Lateral extrusion, underplating, and out-of-sequence thrusting within the Himalayan metamorphic core, Kanchenjunga, Nepal

Integrated pseudosection modeling and monazite petrochronology of paragneiss from the Kanchenjunga region of northeastern Nepal reveal the presence of cryptic tectonometamorphic discontinuities within the Himalayan metamorphic core. These new data outline a series of thrust-sense structures that juxtapose rocks that generally record a protracted history of early Eocene to latest Oligocene–early Miocene (ca. 41–23 Ma) prograde metamorphism and lateral extrusion against others that typically record short prograde (between 2 and 7 m.y.) and retrograde (between 3 and 6 m.y.) histories variably spanning the middle Oligocene to the middle Miocene (ca. 31–12 Ma). Retrograde metamorphism in the hanging wall of the thrust faults is typically coeval with prograde metamorphism in the footwall, indicating that overthrusting/underthrusting accommodated crustal shortening and drove metamorphic processes. The structures and juxtaposed panels were cut by early Miocene (ca. 20–18 Ma) out-of-sequence thrusting coincident with the previously mapped High Himal thrust. The resulting kinematic model for the evolution of the Himalayan metamorphic core in the Kanchenjunga area demonstrates that the Himalayan metamorphic core was dominated by underplating from at least the Oligocene through to present, and that the internal structure of the exhumed metamorphic core is significantly more complex than has been documented previously.

Characterising the metamorphic discontinuity across the Main Central Thrust Zone of eastern-central Nepal

The Main Central Thrust Zone (MCTZ) is a top-to-south shear zone that has exhumed the high-grade Himalayan metamorphic core during the orogeny. Identifying the location of the MCTZ is a major challenge and the characteristics of the metamorphic discontinuity remain under debate. To clarify this issue, petrologic and thermobarometric studies were carried out on metapelites and metapsammites that were collected from the basal Nyalam transect in eastern-central Nepal. Results reveal that the metamorphic discontinuity across the MCTZ is characterised by a continuous increase in peak P–T conditions toward higher structural levels, a relatively high field temperature gradient (25–50°Ckm−1) and different types of P–T paths. Specifically, representative rocks in the MCTZ record sub-solidus peak conditions (637±16°C and 9.2±1.0kbar) and a hairpin-type P–T path. The lower GHC rocks record supra-solidus peak conditions (690±32°C and 10.3+1.1/−1.4kbar) and a prograde loading path with a small segment of decompression. The presence of a high field pressure gradient across the MCTZ is debatable in the Nyalam transect due to the large uncertainties in pressure estimates. Comparison between obtained P–T results and model predictions indicates that a multiple thrusting process dominated exhumation of the MCTZ and lower GHC rocks, while crustal flow contributed partly to exhumation of the lower GHC rocks.

Flattening the Bhutan Himalaya

A detailed thermobarometric transect of 35 samples across the Greater and Tethyan Himalayan sequences in central Bhutan demonstrates a tectonostratigraphically-intact section with uniform apparent thermal and baric field gradients of 20±2°C/km and 0.57±0.08kbar/km. Pressure–temperature paths determined from chemically-zoned garnets in 6 samples demonstrate that these P–T conditions correspond with maximum pressures. The super-lithostatic baric gradient cannot be explained by pre- to syn-metamorphic tectonic processes, or by extension within an inclined slab. Instead the data imply 50% post-peak-metamorphic flattening of the Himalayan metamorphic core, accommodated by distributed, top-to-the-north shear, consistent with microstructural analysis. Orogenic flattening best explains the development of the South Tibetan Detachment System as a strain incompatibility feature rather than a structure bounding the top of a tectonically-inserted wedge, and helps reconcile debate attributing first-order Himalayan structural features to either wedge failure (“critical taper”) or pipe-flow (“channel flow”).

The metamorphism and exhumation of the Himalayan metamorphic core, eastern Garhwal region, India

Geothermobarometric together with micro‐ and macro‐structural data indicate ductile flow in the metamorphic core of the Himalaya in the Garhwal region of India. Peak metamorphic pressure and temperature increase dramatically across the Main Central Thrust (MCT) from ∼5 kbar and ∼550°C in the Lesser Himalayan Crystalline Sequence (LHCS) to ∼14 kbar and ∼850°C at ∼3 km above the MCT in the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS). Pressures within the GHS then decrease upsection to ∼8 kbar while temperatures remain nearly constant at ∼850°C up to the structurally overlying South Tibetan Detachment (STD). The GHS exhibits sheath fold geometries are indicative of high degrees of ductile flow. Overprinting ductile structures are two populations of extensional conjugate fractures and normal faults oriented both parallel and perpendicular to the orogen. These fractures crosscut major tectonic boundaries in the region such as the MCT and STD, and are found throughout the LHCS, GHS, and Tethyan Sedimentary Sequence (TSS). The thermobarometric and metamorphic observations are consistent with a form of channel flow. However, channel flow does not account for exhumational structures that formed above the brittle‐ductile transition. To explain all of the features seen in the metamorphic core of the Garhwal region of the Himalaya, both the theories of channel flow and critical taper must be taken into account. Channel flow can explain the exhumation of the GHS from the middle crust to the brittle‐ductile transition. The most recent extensional deformation is consistent with a supercritical wedge.

Depositional provenance of the Himalayan metamorphic core of Garhwal region, India: Constrained by U–Pb and Hf isotopes in zircons

U–Pb and Hf isotopes in zircon from the highly metamorphosed core of the Himalaya in the Garhwal region of India indicate that the ortho- and paragneiss units of the Greater Himalayan Sequence (oGHS and pGHS, respectively) are geochemical distinct from the older Lesser Himalayan Crystalline Sequence (LHCS). Zircon grains from Paleoproterozoic metasediment of the LHCS yield U–Pb crystallization ages from 1614±14Ma to 2679±14Ma with a single distinct peak in the age spectra at 1870Ma. εHf values from zircon in the LHCS range from 1 to −8. In contrast, zircon grains from the Neoproterozoic pGHS yield U–Pb crystallization ages from 481±10Ma to 2560±8Ma with a single distinct peak at 860Ma. εHf values from these zircons range from 13 to −21. The oGHS yields zircon grains with U–Pb crystallization ages from 416±2Ma to 2740±2Ma with a single distinct peak at 472Ma. These grains often exhibit older inherited cores ranging from ~800Ma to ~2740Ma with Ordovician rims (416Ma to 510Ma). The εHf values of zircon grains in the oGHS have two distinct modes: the ~860Ma inherited zircon cores have a similar range to the ~860Ma zircons from the pGHS (13 to −21), whereas the ~480Ma rims range from −7 to −11.The detrital zircon U–Pb age spectra from the pGHS in the Garhwal region differs significantly from the U–Pb age spectra in other parts of the range (Nepal and Bhutan). These differences indicate wide lateral variations in provenance for the various source regions of the pGHS.Comparisons of the U–Pb and Hf data from the Garhwal region with potential ~1800Ma source regions show overlap with metasediments of the Aravalli shield of India. In the pGHS the most juvenile εHf values overlap with those of the northern Arabian Nubian Shield in Israel. However, these rocks show little crustal contamination at ~800Ma, whereas the pGHS has significant crustal contamination at ~860Ma. The Ordovician oGHS has εHf values that match the average εHf values of the paragneiss implying that it was sourced from the paragneiss. Although the nature of this Ordovician igneous event is still poorly understood, it is clear that the Hf isotopes can provide further insight into the petrogenesis of the magmatic rocks associated with it.

Thermal history of a pebble in the Indus Molasse at the margin of a Himalayan metamorphic core complex

Thermal history of a pebble in the Indus Molasse at the margin of a Himalayan metamorphic core complex

A synthesis of the Channel Flow-Extrusion hypothesis as developed for the Himalayan-Tibetan orogenic system

Abstract Surface and subsurface geological features of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogenic system may be explained by three sets of processes: those related to plate convergence, those related to the gravitational spreading of a fluid middle crust beneath the Tibetan Plateau, and those related to aggressive erosion along the southern margin of the plateau. In this paper, the possible relationships among the last two of these—and their tectonic manifestations—are presented in the form of a ‘Channel Flow-Extrusion’ hypothesis. This hypothesis, deriving from a series of ideas advanced by many geologists and geophysicists over the past two decades, suggests the definition of three phases in the Early Miocene-Recent history of the orogenic system. During Phase I (Early Miocene), the crust of southern Tibet was sufficiently hot and thick to enable lateral flow of a weak middle crust. To the north and east, this flow resulted in the expansion of the Tibetan Plateau. To the south, erosion at the Himalayan front permitted the mid-crustal channel to breach the surface; this process is recorded in the deformational history of the Himalayan metamorphic core and the Main Central and South Tibetan fault systems that bound it. While the lateral expansion of the plateau by mid-crustal flow has continued throughout Neogene time, some evidence suggests that extrusion across the Himalayan front waned substantially during the Middle Miocene-Early Pliocene interval (Phase II). In Middle Miocene time, large magnitude extension of the decoupled upper crust of southern Tibet led to the development of a subsidiary channel; its extrusion explains the existence of the North Himalayan gneiss domes. Phase III (Late Pliocene-Recent) has involved renewed southward extrusion of the main channel due to climatically induced increases in the erosion rate at the Himalayan range front.

The Chako antiform: A folded segment of the Greater Himalayan sequence, Nar valley, Central Nepal Himalaya

Recent and previously published mapping in the Nar valley, north of the Annapurna massif in central Nepal, recognised an enigmatic metamorphic culmination of the Greater Himalayan sequence, surrounded by rocks correlated with the Tethyan sedimentary sequence. The map area is re-interpreted as two structural levels within the Greater Himalayan sequence. The Lower Level is correlated to the well-studied Greater Himalayan sequence of the Annapurna region, based on characteristic rock types, high-strain zones with south-verging shear-sense indicators, and high-grade metamorphism. The rocks of the Upper Level, previously mapped as the sub-greenschist or zeolite facies Tethyan sedimentary sequence, are garnet-bearing schists. Petrography and garnet-biotite thermometry suggest the Upper Level equilibrated at amphibolite facies (500–650 °C). These results support the recent contention that the Upper Level rocks are a component of the Greater Himalayan sequence, and thus indicate that components of the Himalayan metamorphic core vary considerably along strike. Structural, metamorphic and age constraints are integrated into a cohesive regional tectonometamorphic model. The Lower and Upper Levels both experienced D 1 deformation and peak metamorphism before ∼20 Ma. The Lower and Upper Levels were juxtaposed along the synmetamorphic Chame detachment after 20 Ma during retrograde metamorphism. After ∼19 Ma, the Phu detachment placed the unmetamorphosed Tethyan sedimentary sequence above the Lower and Upper Levels. The entire package was then subsequently folded, after 19 Ma, by a non-cylindrical antiform-synform pair with a ∼25 km wavelength creating an apparent dome. The proposed tectonometamorphic model reconciles previously contradictory interpretations of the transition between metamorphic core and overlying sediments in the Nar valley.

Five generations of monazite in Langtang gneisses: implications for chronology of the Himalayan metamorphic core

AbstractMonazite grains from Greater Himalayan Sequence gneisses, Langtang valley, Nepal, were chemically mapped and then dated in situ via Th–Pb ion‐microprobe analysis. Correlation of ages and chemistry reveals at least five different generations of monazite, ranging from c. 9 to >300 Ma. Petrological models of monazite chemistry provide a link between these generations and the thermal evolution of these rocks, yielding an age for the melting of Greater Himalayan rocks within the Main Central Thrust sheet (c. 16 Ma), and for the timing of thrust sheet emplacement that are younger than commonly viewed. Chemical characterization of monazite is vital prior to chronological microanalysis, and many ages previously reported for monazite from the Greater Himalayan Sequence are interpretationally ambiguous.

Timescales of melt generation and the thermal evolution of the Himalayan metamorphic core, Everest region, eastern Nepal

In the Everest region of the Nepalese Himalaya, 40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb geochronology provide evidence for a complex thermal history marked by multiple episodes of granite intrusion. The oldest mobilized melt formed syn-deformational granitic sills that have U-Pb crystallization ages of 21.33±0.03 and 21.80±0.05 Ma. Preserved in these same granites is a record of earlier magmatic crystallization of xenotime, zircon and monazite between ca. 26 Ma and ca. 23 Ma. This pattern of accessory phase crystallization is interpreted to reflect incremental melting and crystallization in the source region of the sills before ultimate melt migration, and provides the earliest evidence for anatexis in the Everest region. The beginning of crustal melting in the Everest region predates the earliest known movement on both the Main Central Thrust and the South Tibetan fault systems, but is temporally associated with the implied pressure decrease between “Eohimalayan” and “Neohimalayan” metamorphism.

Crustal thickening leading to exhumation of the Himalayan Metamorphic core of central Nepal: Insight from U‐Pb Geochronology and 40Ar/39Ar Thermochronology

New and published U‐Pb geochronology and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology from footwall and hanging wall rocks of a segment of the South Tibetan detachment system exposed in the Annapurna area of central Nepal Himalaya bring additional constraints on the timing of metamorphism, crustal thickening, and normal faulting resulting in exhumation of the Himalayan metamorphic core. Early Oligocene crustal thickening led to Eohimalayan kyanite‐grade metamorphism between 35 Ma and 32 Ma. The resulting thermal event affected the Early Ordovician augen gneiss (Formation III) and produced kyanite‐bearing leucosomes in the upper part of the metamorphic core. This event is linked with underthrusting of the Greater Himalayan metamorphic sequence below the Tethyan sedimentary sequence and the growth of an Oligocene fan structure that has thickened the Tethyan sedimentary sequence to 25 km, thus provoking kyanite‐grade melting at deeper structural levels. Early Paleozoic monazite and zircon populations indicate that part of the metamorphism affecting the Himalayan metamorphic core could be pre‐Cenozoic. Regional correlations indicate that the Annapurna detachment was active during early Miocene time. A weakly deformed leucogranitic dike intruding into the immediate hanging wall yielded reversely discordant monazite ages between 23 and 22.5 Ma, which suggest that the ductile strain in the Annapurna detachment zone terminated at ca. 22 Ma. On the basis of a 40Ar/39Ar muscovite age, renewed southwest verging deformation (D4) is interpreted to occur at ca. 18 Ma. Rapid exhumation resulting from extensional faulting cooled the entire metamorphic core through the muscovite Ar closure temperature (330°–430°C) between 15 and 13 Ma. Muscovites from the immediate hanging wall of the Annapurna detachment yielded slightly younger ages, between 13 and 11 Ma, testifying to late hydrothermal activity in the Annapurna detachment zone that could be linked with the initiation of brittle faulting associated with the late Neogene Thakkhola graben system.

Monazite–xenotime thermochronometry: methodology and an example from the Nepalese Himalaya

Monazite–xenotime thermochronometry involves the integration of petrographic, geochronological, and geochemical techniques to explore the thermal evolution of igneous and metamorphic rocks containing these accessory minerals. The method is illustrated in this paper by application to an orthogneiss sample from the Everest region of the Nepalese Himalaya that contains leucogranitic segregations produced by in-situ anatexis. Observations of phase relationships and the internal structure of accessory minerals made using both transmitted light and electron microscopy revealed the existence of multiple generations of monazite and xenotime and guided microsampling efforts to isolate grain fragments of Himalayan (Tertiary) and pre-Himalayan age. Nearly concordant U–Pb isotopic ratios for 13 single monazite and xenotime grains ranged in age from 28.37 to 17.598 Ma, making determination of the timing of anatexis difficult without additional information. Presuming that monazite and xenotime were in equilibrium over that entire interval, temperatures estimated from the yttrium contents of dated monazites range from 677–535 °C. Only the highest temperatures are consistent with experimental constraints on the conditions necessary to produce anatectic melts of appropriate composition, implying that the ~25.4–24.8 Ma dates for the grains with high apparent equilibration temperatures provide the best estimates for the age of anatexis. Two monazite crystals yielded 207Pb/235U dates that are statistically indistinguishable from the 207Pb/235U dates of coexisting xenotime crystals, permitting the application of both quantitative Y-partitioning and semi-quantitative Nd-partitioning thermometers as a cross-check for internal consistency. One of these sub-populations of accessory minerals, with a mean 207Pb/235U date of 22.364±0.097 Ma, provides inconsistent Y-partitioning (641±39 °C) and Nd-partitioning (515–560 °C) temperatures. We suspect the discrepancy may be caused by the high Th concentration (6.12 wt% ThO2) in this subpopulation's monazite. The Y-partitioning thermometer was derived from experimental data for the (Ce, Y)PO4 binary and may be inappropriate for application to high-Th monazites. For the other subpopulation (mean 207Pb/235U date=22.11±0.22 Ma), the Y- and Nd-partitioning temperatures are indistinguishable: 535±49 and 525–550 °C, respectively. This consistency strongly suggests that the sample experienced a temperature of ~535 °C at 22.11 Ma. This finding is tectonically important because temperatures at higher structural levels were much higher (by ~100 °C) at the same time, lending support to earlier suggestions of a major structural discontinuity within the upper part of the Himalayan metamorphic core at this longitude. An additional finding of uncertain importance is that inherited monazite and xenotime yielded U–Pb discordia with indistinguishable upper intercept ages (465.5±8.7 and 470±11 Ma, respectively) and application of the Y-partitioning thermometer to the inherited monazites produced a restricted range of model temperatures averaging 470 °C. Whether or not these temperatures are geologically meaningful is unclear without independent corroboration of the assumption of equilibrium between the inherited monazites and xenotimes, but it appears that monazite–xenotime thermochronometry may be useful for "seeing through" high-grade metamorphism to extract temperature-time information about inherited mineral suites.

Shisha Pangma Leucogranite, South Tibetan Himalaya: Field Relations, Geochemistry, Age, Origin, and Emplacement

The Shisha Pangma pluton forming most of the Xixabangma (8027 m) massif in south Tibet is one of the 20+ larger leucogranite intrusives that mark the highest structural levels of the Himalayan metamorphic core. The pluton occurs immediately below the Shisha Pangma Detachment, a strand of the South Tibetan Detachment (STD) system, a low angle (30°) north‐dipping normal fault placing Paleozoic black slates atop sillimanite‐grade pelites and calc‐silicate rocks. K‐feldspar augen gneisses containing fibrolite and sillimanite paragneisses along the footwall show strong internal S‐C fabrics indicative of down‐to‐the‐north extension. The Shisha Pangma leucogranite is a heterogeneous, polyphase intrusion with an earlier, foliated biotite‐rich phase and a later, tourmaline + muscovite rich phase typically containing the assemblage: Kfs + Pl + Qtz + Ms + Tur ± Gt ± Bt ± Sil ± Ap. The highly peraluminous granites have high 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.738‐0.750) typical of pelite‐derived anatectites. Nd‐depleted mantle model...