Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tectono-thermal evolution of the India-Asia collision zone based on40Ar-39Ar thermochronology in Ladakh, India

  • Published:
Journal of Earth System Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

New40Ar-39Ar thermochronological results from the Ladakh region in the India-Asia collision zone provide a tectono-thermal evolutionary scenario. The characteristic granodiorite of the Ladakh batholith near Leh yielded a plateau age of 46.3 ± 0.6 Ma (2σ). Biotite from the same rock yielded a plateau age of 44.6 ± 0.3 Ma (2σ). The youngest phase of the Ladakh batholith, the leucogranite near Himya, yielded a cooling pattern with a plateau-like age of ∼ 36 Ma. The plateau age of muscovite from the same rock is 29.8 ±0.2 Ma (2σ). These ages indicate post-collision tectono-thermal activity, which may have been responsible for partial melting within the Ladakh batholith. Two basalt samples from Sumdo Nala have also recorded the post-collision tectono-thermal event, which lasted at least for 8 MY in the suture zone since the collision, whereas in the western part of the Indus Suture, pillow lava of Chiktan showed no effect of this event and yielded an age of emplacement of 128.2 ±2.6 Ma (2σ). The available data indicate that post-collision deformation led to the crustal thickening causing an increase in temperature, which may have caused partial melting at the base of the thickened crust. The high thermal regime propagated away from the suture with time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmad T, Thakur V C, Islam R, Khanna P P and Mukherjee P K 1998 Geochemistry and geodynamic implications of magmatic rocks from the Trans-Himalayan arc;Geochem. J. 32 383–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahmad T, Tanaka T, Sachan H K, Asahara Y, Islam R and Khanna P P 2003 Geochemical and isotopic constraints on the age and origin of the Nidar Ophiolitic Complex, Indus Suture Zone, Ladakh India, Abstracts; 18thHim. Kara. Tibet workshop 15

  • Beck R A, Burbank D W, Sercombe W J, Riley G W, Bery J R, Afzal J, Khan A M, Jurgen H, Cheema A, Shafique N A, Lawrence R D and Khan M A 1995 Stratigraphic evidence for an early collision between northwest India and Asia;Nature 373 55–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhutani R, Pande K and Desai N 2003 Age of the Karakoram fault activation: an40Ar-39Ar geochronological study of Shyok suture zone in northern Ladakh, India;Curr. Sci. 84 1454–1458

    Google Scholar 

  • Brookfield M E and Reynolds P H 1981 Late Cretaceous emplacement of Indus Suture Zone, ophiolitic mélange and an Eocene-Oligocene magmatic arc on the northern edge of the Indian plate;Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 55 157–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clift P D, Carter A, Krol M and Kirby E 2002 Constraints on India-Eurasia collision in the Arabian sea region taken from the Indus group, Ladakh Himalaya, India; In:The tectonic and climate evolution of the Arabian sea region (ed) Clift P Det al, Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 195

  • Colchen M, Mascle G and Van Haver T 1986 Some aspects of collision tectonics in the Indus Suture Zone, Ladakh; In:Collision Tectonics, (eds) Coward M P and RiesSpec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 19 173–184

  • de Sigoyer J, Chavagnac V, Villa I M, Luais B, Guillot S, Cosca M and Mascle G 2000 Dating the Indian continental subduction and collisional thickening in the Northwest Himalaya: Multichronology of the Tso Morari eclogites;Geology 28 487–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Sigoyer J, Guillot S and Dick P 2004 Exhumation of the ultrahigh-pressure Tso Morari unit in eastern Ladakh (NW Himalaya): A case study;Tectonics 23 1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewey J F and Burk K C A 1973 Tibetan, Variscan and Precambrian basement reactivation: products of continental collision;J. Geol. 81 683–692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewey J F, Cande S and Pitman W C 1989 Tectonic evolution of the India/Eurasia collision zone;Eclogae. Geol. Helve. 82 717–734

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubey A K 2004 Structural evolution of Himalaya: field studies, experimental models, and implications for seismicity;Him. Geol. 25 33–50

    Google Scholar 

  • George M T, Harris N and Butler R W H 1993 The tectonic implications of contrasting granite magmatism between the Kohistan island arc and the Nanga Parbat-Harmosh massif, Pakistan Himalaya; In:Himalayan tectonics, (eds) Treloar P J and Searle M PSpec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 74 173–191

  • Guillot S, Garzanti E, Baratoux D, Marquer D, Maheo G and de Sigoyer J 2003 Reconstructing the total shortening history of the NW Himalaya;Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst. 7 1–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebert R, Beaudoin G, Varfalvy V, Huot F, Wang C S and Liu Z F 2000 Yarlung Zangbo ophiolites, Southern Tibet revisited;Earth Sci. Front. 7 124–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Honegger K, Dietrich V, Frank W, Ganser A, Thoni M and Trommsdrof V 1982 Magmatism and metamorphism in the Ladakh Himalayas (the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone);Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 60 253–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn M J and Parkinson C D 2002 Petrologic case for Eocene slab break off during the India-Asian collision;Geology 30 591–594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krol M A, Zeitler P K and Copeland P 1996 Episodic unroofing of the Kohistan Batholith, Pakistan: Implications from K-feldspar thermochronology;J. Geophys. Res. 101 28, 149–28, 164

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Fort P 1986 Metamorphism and magmatism during Himalayan Collision. In:Collision tectonics (eds) Coward M P and Ries A CSpec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 19 159–172

  • Lovera O M, Grove M and Harrison T M 1989 The40Ar/39Ar thermochronometry for slowly cooled samples having a distribution of diffusion domain sizes;J. Geophys. Res. 94 17,917–17,935

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovera O M, Heizler M T and Harrison T M 1993 Argon diffusion domains in K-feldspar, II: Kinetic properties of MH-10;Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 113 381–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maheo G, Bertrand H, Guillot S, Villa I M, Keller F and Capiez P 2004 The south Ladakh ophiolites (NW Himalaya, India): an intra-oceanic tholeiitic arc origin with implication for the closure of the Neo-Tethys;Chem. Geol. 203 273–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDougall I and Harrison T M 1999Geochronology and Thermochronology by 40Ar/39 Ar method (Oxford University Press)

  • Parrish R R and Tirrul R 1989 U-Pb age of the Baltoro granite, northwest Himalaya, and implications for zircon inheritance and monazite U-Pb systematics;Geology 17 1076–1079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patriat P and Achache J 1984 India-Eurasia collision chronology has implications for crustal shortening and driving mechanism of plates;Nature 311 615–621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petterson M G and Windley B F 1985 Rb-Sr dating of the Kohistan arc-batholith in the Trans-Himalaya of north Pakistan, and tectonic implications;Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 74 45–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reuber I 1986 Geometry of accretion and oceanic thrusting of the Spongtang ophiolite, Ladakh Himalaya;Nature 321 592–596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reuber I 1989 The Dras Arc: two successive volcanic events on eroded oceanic crust;Tectonophysics 161 93–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds P H, Brookfield M E, Halifex G and McNutt R H 1983 The age and nature of Mesozoic-Tertiary magmatism across the Indus Suture Zone, in Kashmir and Ladakh (NW India and Pakistan);Geol. Rund. 72 981–1004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowley D B 1996 Age of initiation of collision between India and Asia: A review of stratigraphic data;Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 145 1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scharer U, Copeland P, Harrison T M and Searle M P 1990 Age cooling history and origin of post-collisional leucogranites in the Karakoram batholith: A multisystem isotope study, N. Pakistan;J. Geol. 98 233–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searle M, Corfield R I, Stephenson B and McCarron J 1997 Structure of the North Indian continental margin in the Ladakh-Zanskar Himalayas: Implications for the timing of obduction of the Spongtang ophiolite, India-Asia collision and deformation events in the Himalaya;Geol. Mag. 134 297–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searle M P, Khan M A, Fraser J E, Gough S J and Jan M Q 1999 The tectonic evolution of the Kohistan-Karakoram collision belt along the Karakoram Highway transect, north Pakistan;Tectonics 18 929–949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma K K and Gupta K R 1978 Some observations on the geology of Indus and Shyok valleys between Leh and Panamik, District Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India;Recent Researches in Geology 7 133–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma K K and Choubey V M 1983 Petrology, geochemistry and geochronology of the southern margin of the Ladakh batholith between Upshi and Chumathang; In:Geology of the Indus Suture Zone of Ladakh (eds) Thakur V C and Sharma K K 41–60

  • Sharma K K 1990 Petrology, Geochemistry and Geochronology of the Ladakh Batholith and its role in the evolution of Ladakh magmatic arc; In: Geology and Geodynamic Evolution of the Himalayan Collision Zone; (ed) Sharma K KPhysics and Chemistry of the Earth 17 173–193

  • Sinha A K and Upadhyay R 1993 Mesozoic Neo-Tethyn pre-orogenic deep marine sediments along Indus-Yarlung Suture Himalaya;Terra Nova 5 461–473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorkhabi R B, Jain A K, Nishimura S, Itaya T, Lal N, Manickavasagam R M and Tagami T 1994 New age constraints on cooling and unroofing history of the Trans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith (Kargil area), NW India;Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Earth Planet. Sci.) 103 83

    Google Scholar 

  • Thakur V C and Bhat M I 1983 Interpretation of Tectonic Environment of Nidar Ophiolite: A Geochemical approach; In:Geology of Indus Suture Zone of Ladakh (eds) Sharma K K and Thakur V C 21–31

  • Thakur V C and Misra D K 1983 Ophiolitic mélanges in the Indus suture zone: lithological descriptions and structural features; In: Geology of Indus Suture Zone of Ladakh (ed) Sharma K K and Thakur V C 79–91

  • Treloar P J, Rex D C, Guise P G, Coward M P, Searle M P, Windley B F, Petterson M G, Jan M Q and Luff IW 1989 K/Ar and Ar/Ar geochronology of the Himalayan collision in NW Pakistan: constraints on the timing of suturing, deformation, metamorphism and uplift;Tectonics 8 881–909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Upadhyay R 2002 Straitigraphy and tectonics of Ladakh, eastern Karakoram, western Tibet and western Kunlun;J. Geol. Soc. India 59 447–467

    Google Scholar 

  • Venketesan T R, Pande K and Gopalan K 1993 Did Deccan volcanism pre-date the Cretacious/Tertiary transition?;Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 119 181–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virdi N S 1987 Northern margin of the Indian Plate—some litho-tectonic constraints;Tectonophysics 134 29–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg R F and Dunlap W J 2000 Growth and deformation of the Ladakh Batholith, northwest Himalayas: Implications for timing of continental collision and origin of calc-alkaline batholith;J. Geol. 108 303–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyllie P J 1984 Constraints imposed by experimental petrology on possible and impossible magma sources and products;Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London A310 439–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeitler P K and Fitz Gerald J D 1986 Saddle shaped40Ar/39 age spectra from Young, microstructurally complex potassium feldspars;Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 50 1185–1199

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Pondicherry University, 605 014, Pondicherry, India

    Rajneesh Bhutani

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, 400 076, Mumbai, India

    Kanchan Pande

  3. A2, Anand flats, 40, 2nd main road, Gandhinagar, Adyar, 600 020, Chennai, India

    T. R. Venkatesan

Authors
  1. Rajneesh Bhutani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kanchan Pande
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. T. R. Venkatesan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bhutani, R., Pande, K. & Venkatesan, T.R. Tectono-thermal evolution of the India-Asia collision zone based on40Ar-39Ar thermochronology in Ladakh, India. J Earth Syst Sci 113, 737–754 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02704033

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02704033

Keywords

Search

Navigation