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Tectonic implications of new U–Pb zircon ages of the Ladakh batholith, Indus suture zone, northwest Himalaya, India
Author(s) -
Upadhyay Rajeev,
Frisch Wolfgang,
Siebel Wolfgang
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00822.x
Subject(s) - batholith , pluton , geology , zircon , plutonism , fibrous joint , geochemistry , subduction , magma , tectonics , seismology , medicine , anatomy , volcano
We determined U–Pb ages on zircons from Ladakh granitoid samples of three previously undated plutons and deduced four distinct age groups between c. 67 and c. 45 Ma (66.6 ± 2.1, 57.6 ± 1.4, 53.4 ± 1.8, 52.50 ± 0.53 and 45.27 ± 0.56 Ma). This suggests that the Ladakh batholith grew by addition of at least four distinct subduction‐related magma pulses at c . 67, 58, 53 and 45 Ma, thus indicating that the belt was continuously active throughout the Palaeocene and the Middle Eocene (Lutetian). The 45.27 ± 0.56 Ma pluton at Daah‐Hanu is the last major calcalkaline arc magmatic pulse in the Ladakh batholith. Thereafter, the subduction‐related major plutonism gradually waned. The earlier estimate for the youngest pluton within the Ladakh batholith is 49.8 ± 0.8 Ma for the Leh pluton ( J. Geol ., 2000, 108 , 303).