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Extreme heterogeneity in sr isotope systematic in the himalayan leucogranites: A possible mechanism of partial melting based on thermal modeling

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Abstract

The small leucogranite plutons occurring in linear belts in the Higher Himalayas have formed due to post-collision partial melting within the Himalayan crust. Several studies have documented that the Sr isotopic ratios in the granite bodies show chaotic variation and meaningful Rb-Sr isochron ages are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. In tectonically overthickened crust, the depth-temperature profile (geotherm) remains strongly transient for the first tens of millions of years. It is proposed here that the intersecting relations between the transient geotherms and activity-dependent solidus/melting curves may generate small pods of magma at different depths and at different times. Each of these pods will have its unique Sr isotopic ratios. Coalescence of these small pods of magma without any effective homogenization due to deformation-induced fast segregation, ascent and emplacement may lead to pluton-wide extreme heterogeneity in Sr isotopic ratios.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Roorkee, Roorkee, 247667, Uttaranchal, India

    Dilip K Mukhopadhyay

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Mukhopadhyay, D.K. Extreme heterogeneity in sr isotope systematic in the himalayan leucogranites: A possible mechanism of partial melting based on thermal modeling. J Earth Syst Sci 110, 161–169 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02702215

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02702215

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