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Geochronological and geochemical constraints on the Cuonadong leucogranite, eastern Himalaya

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Abstract

First comprehensive investigations of the Cuonadong leucogranite exposed in North Himalayan gneiss dome of southern Tibet are presented in this study. The SIMS U–Pb ages of oscillatory zircon rims scatter in a wide range from 34.1 to 16.0 Ma, and the Cuonadong leucogranite probably emplaced at 16.0 Ma. High-precision 40Ar/39Ar dating on a muscovite sample yields an essentially flat age spectrum with consistent plateau and isochron ages, indicating that the Cuonadong leucogranite cooled below 450 °C at 14 Ma. Based on the youngest zircon U–Pb age and muscovite 40Ar/39Ar age, the Cuonadong leucogranite experienced rapid cooling with a rate of 119 °C/Myr from 16 to 14 Ma. The geochronological data of this undeformed leucogranite also suggest that the ductile extension of the South Tibetan Detachment System in the eastern Himalaya ceased by ca. 14 Ma. Furthermore, the initial Sr–Nd isotopic compositions and Nd model ages demonstrate that the leucogranite was derived from metapelitic source within the Greater Himalayan Crystalline Complex. The distinct Ba depletion with high Rb/Sr ratios and negative Eu anomalies make it clear that the leucogranite melts were generated by breakdown of muscovite under fluid-absent conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Yuanbao Wu and Defeng He for their constructive suggestions. We appreciate the assistance of Lin Ma for field sampling, and Xianglin Tu for trace element analyses. We also thank Yingde Jiang and Ming Xiao for their helpful discussion. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41630315, 41503053 and 41688103).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Jiajia Xie, Huaning Qiu, Wanfeng Zhang, Qiang Wang & Xiaoping Xia

  2. Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources (China University of Geosciences Wuhan), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Huaning Qiu & Xiujuan Bai

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jiajia Xie

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  1. Jiajia Xie
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Correspondence to Huaning Qiu.

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Xie, J., Qiu, H., Bai, X. et al. Geochronological and geochemical constraints on the Cuonadong leucogranite, eastern Himalaya. Acta Geochim 37, 347–359 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-018-0273-8

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