Petrology and zircon U–Pb dating of well‐preserved eclogites from the Thongmön area in central Himalaya and their tectonic implications

Abstract

The discovery of eclogites are reported within the Great Himalayan Crystalline Complex (GHC) in the Thongmön area, central Himalaya, and their metamorphic evolution is deciphered by petrographic studies, pseudosection modelling and zircon dating. For the first time, omphacite has been found in the matrix of eclogites taken from a metamorphic mafic lens. Two groups of garnet have been identified in the Thongmön eclogites on the basis of major and rare earth elements and mineral inclusions. Core and intermediate sections of garnet represent Grt I, in which the major elements (Ca, Mg, and Fe) show a nearly homogenous distribution with little or weak zonation. This Grt I displays an almost flat chondrite-normalized HREE pattern, and the main inclusions are amphibole, apatite, quartz, and abundant omphacite. Grt II, forms thin rims on large garnet grains, and is characterized by rimward Ca decrease and Mg increase and MREE enrichment relative to HREE and A cc ep te d A rt ic le This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. LREE. No amphibole inclusions are found in Grt II, indicating the decomposition of amphibole contributed to its MREE enrichment. Two metamorphic stages, recorded by matrix minerals and inclusions in garnet and zircon, outline the burial of the Thongmön eclogites and progressive metamorphic processes to the pressure peak: (1) the assemblage of amphibole-garnet-omphacite-phengite-rutile-quartz, with the phengite interpreted as having been replaced by Bt+Pl symplectites, represents the prograde amphibole eclogite facies stage M1(1), (2) in the peak eclogite facies [stage M1(2)], amphibole was lost and melting started. Based on the compositions of garnet and omphacite inclusions, M1(1) is constrained to 19–20 kbar and 640–660 °C and M1(2) occurred at > 21 kbar, > 750 °C, with appearance of melt and its entrapment in metamorphic zircon. SHRIMP U–Pb dating of zircon from two eclogite samples yielded consistent metamorphic ages of 16.7 ± 0.6 Ma, and 17.1 ± 0.4 Ma, respectively. The metamorphic zircon grew concurrently with Grt II in the peak eclogite facies. Thongmön eclogites characterized by the prograde metamorphism from amphibolite facies to eclogite facies were formed by the continuing continental subduction of Indian plate beneath the Euro-Asian continent in the Miocene.