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Early–Middle Eocene Exhumation of the Trans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith, and the India–Asia Convergence


Affiliations
1 Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247 667, India
2 CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee 247 667, India
3 Sri Sri University, Cuttack 754 006, India
 

Very fast Early–Middle Eocene exhumation of theTrans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith (LB) is revealedby new Rb–Sr biotite and zircon fission-track agesalong with the already published ages on these minerals.Exhumation peaked at 3.5 ± 0.9 mm/a between50–45 Ma (40Ar/39Ar hornblende ages) and 48–45 Ma(Rb–Sr biotite ages) as a consequence of the India–Asia convergence. It was followed by deceleration at arate of 1.2 ± 0.2 mm/a until 43–42 Ma (zircon FT ages),like the Deosai batholith in the west. Exhumationrates finally decreased during Oligocene to a minimumof ~0.1 mm/a before a mild late Miocene–Holocene acceleration. Lower-Middle Eocene exhumationof the LB was tectonically controlled by slabbreak-off of the Neo-Tethys oceanic lithosphere and underthrusting of the Himalayan Metamorphic Belt.

Keywords

Early–Middle Eocene Exhumation, Fission Track, Ladakh Batholith, Tectonics.
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  • Early–Middle Eocene Exhumation of the Trans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith, and the India–Asia Convergence

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Authors

Rajeev Kumar
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247 667, India
A. K. Jain
CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee 247 667, India
Nand Lal
Sri Sri University, Cuttack 754 006, India
Sandeep Singh
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247 667, India

Abstract


Very fast Early–Middle Eocene exhumation of theTrans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith (LB) is revealedby new Rb–Sr biotite and zircon fission-track agesalong with the already published ages on these minerals.Exhumation peaked at 3.5 ± 0.9 mm/a between50–45 Ma (40Ar/39Ar hornblende ages) and 48–45 Ma(Rb–Sr biotite ages) as a consequence of the India–Asia convergence. It was followed by deceleration at arate of 1.2 ± 0.2 mm/a until 43–42 Ma (zircon FT ages),like the Deosai batholith in the west. Exhumationrates finally decreased during Oligocene to a minimumof ~0.1 mm/a before a mild late Miocene–Holocene acceleration. Lower-Middle Eocene exhumationof the LB was tectonically controlled by slabbreak-off of the Neo-Tethys oceanic lithosphere and underthrusting of the Himalayan Metamorphic Belt.

Keywords


Early–Middle Eocene Exhumation, Fission Track, Ladakh Batholith, Tectonics.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv113%2Fi06%2F1090-1098