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Phased cooling of the Siang antiform, Eastern Himalaya: Insight from multi-thermochronology and thermal studies

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Abstract

The Siang antiform which forms the southern portion of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis is a massive subaerial duplex comprised of Paleogene rocks. The specifics of growth and deformation of the Siang duplex remain ambiguous due to limited studies in the region. Using multi-thermochronometry and Raman spectroscopy of carbonaceous matter (RSCM), this study place temporal depth constraints on the formation of the duplex. Results show that the cooling history of the northern part of the Siang antiform is separate from the central and proximal zone. The study utilises 09 new biotite 40Ar/39Ar and 05 zircon (U–Th)/He (ZHe) ages. The new data is complemented with our earlier published (Salvi et al. in Geomorphology 284:238–249, 2017) 09 ZHe and 11 AFT ages and 02 ZHe ages of Liebke et al. (Geol. Soc. London, Spec. Publ. 353:71–97, 2011). Biotite 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages suggest that the distal end of the MCT zone in the Siang window was active at least till ca. 11 Ma. The ZHe cooling ages ca. 10–8 Ma intimate exhumation due to Lesser Himalayan duplexing on a shallower (~7–8 km) MHT. The creation of several duplexed antiforms by the Paleogene rocks on the emplaced MBT thrust sheet led to doming up of the roof sheet. Erosion through the roof sheets exposed the Paleogene rocks presently seen in the Siang window. The peak metamorphic temperatures decrease from 650–400°C in the lower LHS to 250–300°C in the upper LHS, and < 200°C in the sub-Himalaya. The RSCM results corroborate thermochronological ages and inform that the northern part of the metamorphosed lower LHS rocks exhumed from greater depths, >20 km during early-middle Miocene. While in the central and southern regions, the rocks exhumed from comparatively shallower depths of ~7–8 km since the late Miocene. We suggest ~3–4 km of the cover rocks have been removed since Pleistocene.

Highlights

  1. 1.

    First multi-thermochrometry studies suggest distal end of MCT zone in the Siang window was active till ca. 11 Ma.

  2. 2.

    ZHe cooling ages ca. 10–8 Ma intimate exhumation due to Lesser Himalayan Duplexing on a shallower (~ 7–8 km) MHT.

  3. 3.

    The creation of several duplexed antiforms by the Paleogene rocks on the emplaced MBT thrust sheet led to doming up of the roof sheet.

  4. 4.

    RSCM peak metamorphic temperatures furnish 650–400 °C in the lower LHS to 250–300 °C in the upper LHS, and < 200 °C in the sub-Himalaya.

  5. 5.

    Average exhumation rate post Late Pliocene is ~ 1.6–3.3 mm/a in the Siang window, increases to 4.0–6.6 mm/a in the last 1.0 Ma, north of Tuting.

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Acknowledgements

DS is grateful to CSIR-HRDG and the Australian Government (ERF_RDDH_3646_2014) for helping to make this work possible. GM and KP thank MoES (MoES/P.O.(Geosci)/2/2012) and DST (IR/S4/ESF-04/2003) for funding the research project. The authors are grateful to Biraj Borgohain for his help during the fieldwork and to Shilpa Netravali and Sapna Shinde for their technical support in the Raman and 40Ar/39Ar Laboratory, respectively. This manuscript benefitted from constructive reviews from two experts and by the Handling Editor Prof Saibal Gupta. We express our deepest gratitude for their painstaking help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, 400 076, India

    Dnyanada Salvi, George Mathew & Kanchan Pande

  2. School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia

    Barry P Kohn

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  1. Dnyanada Salvi
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  2. George Mathew
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Contributions

DS and GM carried out field work, sample and data collection. DS carried out FT, U-Th/He and Raman measurements, data analysis, interpretation and initial draft of the MS. GM conceived the idea, multi-thermochronometry data interpretation and funding. Critical revisions of the MS: KP made Ar–Ar measurements and data analysis. BK helped with U–Th/He measurements and analysis. All the authors equally contributed towards the drafting of the MS.

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Correspondence to George Mathew.

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Salvi, D., Mathew, G., Pande, K. et al. Phased cooling of the Siang antiform, Eastern Himalaya: Insight from multi-thermochronology and thermal studies. J Earth Syst Sci 130, 45 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01541-7

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