Age and origin of post collision Baltoro granites, south Karakoram, North Pakistan: Insights from in-situ U-Pb, Hf and oxygen isotopic record of zircons

Origin of post collision plutonism is critical to understand the tectonothermal evolution of the over thickened continental crust in collision zones. This has proven difficult to reconcile with the conventional whole rock geochemical and field based studies alone. We report in-situ study of zircon U-Pb, Hf and O isotopes from five samples of the Baltoro Plutonic Unit (BPU) in south Karakoram. The plutonic unit is the western part of the southern Asian margin of the India-Asia convergent zone. Baltoro granites and a biotite-rich enclave yielded similar and overlapping U-Pb ages ranging from 26 to 15 Ma. Hafnium isotopic composition (epsilon Hf (0)) is very heterogeneous ranging from -17.1 to +4.4 while the oxygen isotopic composition of the granites is homogeneous with mean 5180 ranging from 72 to 9.4 parts per thousand. Based on U-Pb geochronology and Hf-O isotopic composition, the involvement of two main sources is suggested (1) Cretaceous calc-alkaline Karakoram crust and (2) Karakoram gneisses. Moreover, possible involvement of metasomatized Asian lithospheric mantle is supported by elevated oxygen composition of granites and identical Hf composition of biotite-rich enclave to the mantle derived Baltoro lamprophyre. However, direct contribution from juvenile pristine mantle is unlikely as no juvenile mantle type Hf and oxygen values were obtained. This also precludes the involvement of southward juvenile arc related component of Kohistan-Ladakh batholith. Our new U-Pb and Hf data are comparable to the Mesozoic Karakoram batholith, Miocene two-mica leucogranites in the Pangong Range and magmatism from the Lhasa terrane in south Tibet, suggesting a genetic link between the Karakoram and the rocks to the east. This magmatic event is best explained by lower crust partial melting promoted by both thermal equilibration following crustal thickening and heat advection by ultrapotassic magmas associated with the breakoff of the Indian continental margin. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved