Dating the Indian continental subduction and collisional thickening in thenorthwest Himalaya: Multichronology of the Tso Morari eclogites

Multichronometric studies of the low-temperature eclogitic Tso Morari unit (Ladakh, India) place timing constraints on the early evolution of the nort hwest Himalayan belt. Several isotopic systems have been used to date the e clogitization and the exhumation of the Tso Morari unit: Lu-Hf, Sm-Nd, Rb-S r, and Ar-Ar. A ca. 55 Ma age for the eclogitization has been obtained by L u-Hf on garnet, omphacite, and whole rock from mafic eclogite and by Sm-Nd on garnet, glaucophane, and whole rock from high-pressure metapelites. Thes e results agree with a previously reported U-Pb age on allanite, and togeth er these ages constrain the subduction of the Indian continental margin at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. During exhumation, the Tso Morari rocks unde rwent thermal relaxation at about 9 +/- 3 kbar, characterized by partial re crystallization under amphibolite facies conditions ca. 47 Ma, as dated by Sm-Nd on garnet, calcic amphibole, and whole rock from metabasalt, Rb-Sr on phengite, apatite, and whole rock, and Ar-Ar on medium-Si phengite from me tapelites. Ar-Ar analyses of biotite and low-Si muscovite from metapelites, which recrystallized at <5 kbar toward the end of the exhumation, show tha t the Tso Morari unit was at upper crustal levels ca. 30 Ma. These results indicate variable exhumation rates for the Tso Morari unit, beginning with rapid exhumation while the Indian margin subduction was still active, and l ater proceeding at a slower pace during the crustal thickening associated w ith the Himalayan collision.