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Volcanic facies as a guide to the palaeodepth and palaeotectonic setting of ancient oceanic crust: the case of the Nidar ophiolite, Ladakh, Indian Trans-Himalaya

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Abstract

Ophiolites, found in orogenic belts, are slices of ancient oceanic lithosphere obducted on land during continental collision and ocean closure. They provide valuable insights into submarine volcanological and petrological processes. Palaeotectonic interpretations of ophiolites have heavily depended on geochemical data, despite the considerable submarine alteration and even metamorphism commonly observed in ophiolites. No independent checks on the geochemistry-based inferences are usually provided or sought. Here, we present a hitherto unavailable volcanic facies perspective on the ~ 140 Ma Nidar ophiolite, exposed > 4100 m above sea level in the Ladakh region of the Indian Trans-Himalaya. We describe features of pillow lavas and hyaloclastite forming the oceanic crust and of peperite and silicic volcanic ash layers in the overlying sedimentary cover (mainly radiolarian cherts, dated at 132–112 Ma). The whole volcanosedimentary sequence is inconsistent with a mid-ocean ridge setting. We interpret it as having formed in a shallow (~ 2.5 km) submarine environment, with ongoing explosive silicic eruptions, in an Early Cretaceous, compositionally bimodal, intra-oceanic island arc in the Neo-Tethys Ocean. Geochemical-isotopic data on the Nidar ophiolite have previously been used to argue for an intra-oceanic arc origin. We suggest that a volcanic facies approach to the study of ophiolites can be a valuable guide to their palaeodepths and palaeotectonic settings.

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Acknowledgements

Prasenjit Barman and Mohd Ibrahim express their gratitude to the Additional Director General and Head of Department, Geological Survey of India, Northern Region, Lucknow, for giving the opportunity to carry out their annual field programme in Ladakh. We thank the officials of the Public Works Department in Nyoma and Leh for logistical support, Mr. Rajan of Hotel Munshi Continental, Leh, for hospitality and support, and Rigzin and Tsewang for field assistance. We are grateful to James D. L. White and P. K. Saraswati for valuable discussions and publications. The manuscript was considerably improved by the constructive reviews of Martin Jutzeler, Isobel Yeo and the Associate Editor Richard J. Brown.

Funding

Field work was supported by Research start-up seed grant no. F.30-470/2019 (Basic Scientific Research, BSR) dated 18/06/2019 (BHU project no. M-14/64) to Alok Kumar from the University Grants Commission (UGC).

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  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, 221005, India

    Alok Kumar & Prasenjit Barman

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, 400076, India

    Hetu Sheth

  3. Geological Survey of India (GSI), Northern Region, Aliganj, Lucknow, 226024, India

    Prasenjit Barman & Mohd Ibrahim

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Kumar, A., Sheth, H., Barman, P. et al. Volcanic facies as a guide to the palaeodepth and palaeotectonic setting of ancient oceanic crust: the case of the Nidar ophiolite, Ladakh, Indian Trans-Himalaya. Bull Volcanol 83, 5 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-020-01429-w

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