Tso Morari coesite eclogite: pseudosection predictions v. the preserved record and implications for tectonometamorphic models

Ultrahigh-pressure eclogites of the Tso Morari area, NW Himalaya (Ladakh, India), have been intensively investigated petrographically and petrologically with surprisingly different results. Metamorphic subduction paths based on mineral isopleths in pressure–temperature pseudosections in some studies claim concave (to the temperature axis) pressure–temperature paths predicting significant Ca–Mg–Fe garnet growth in the lawsonite and glaucophane fields: a prediction at odds with abundant epidote/clinozoisite and sodic-calcic amphibole inclusions in garnet interiors more probable along a convex path. One study deduced strong heating still at high pressures and proposed a felsic diapir rising through the mantle wedge: an explanation strongly at odds with well-documented glaucophane cores to barroisite replacing matrix omphacite requiring a cold exhumation most likely back up the subduction channel. In addition, matrix magnesite rimmed by dolomite suggests pressures well into the coesite (if not diamond) stability field: something neglected in most studies. Despite the application of modern analytical and thermodynamic modelling tools, the peak conditions attained by Tso Morari ultrahigh-pressure rocks are often poorly deduced and at odds with simple observations. Is this problem perhaps hindering the reliable identification of new ultrahigh-pressure terranes?