SHORT COMMUNlCATION

2.0 Ga Granite of the Lower Package of the Higher Himalayan

Crystallines, Maglad Khad, Sutlej Valley, Himachal Pradesh

SANDEEP
SINGHI*, STEFAN G. GEE^, P.G. AND RE ASS ON^
CLAESSON~,A.K. JAIN', DAVID
and RM. MANICKAVASAGAM~
' ~ e ~ a r t r n eof
n tEarth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee - 247 667
taboratory for Isotope Geology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, SE- 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
3~epa~-trnent of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavagen 16, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden
4~epartment of Lithosphere and Biosphere Science, Solvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden
'~nstituteJnstrumentation Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247 667
'Emaii: sandpfesOiitr.ernet.in and hirnalfes@iitr.ernet.in

Abstract: Along the Sutlej valley, the lower package of the Higher Himalayan Crystallines (HHC) exposes a small
concordant to discordant intrusive grey granite -The Maglad Khad Granite, within garnet mica schisthanded gneiss of
the Jeori Formation. This body is fine grained and foliated along the margins, whereas the central part is relatively
undeforrned. This body along with aplites and pegmatites intrudes the country rock during early to syn-D, deformation.
This is later affected by the most pervasive D,-deformation producing gneissosity within the granite. U-Pb dating of
zircons by conventional isotopic dilution technique yield an upper intercept age of 2068k5 Ma ( 2 0 ) from 6 zircon-
fractions with MSWD=0.93, constraining the age of crystallization in the basal parts of the HHC during Early Proterozoic
as well as the constraining pre-Himalayan fabric development.

Keywords: Higher ~irnala~an~~r~stallines.

Maglad Khad granite, Geochronology, U-Pb Zircon dating, Sutlej valley,
H imachal Pradesh.

The Cenozoic Himalayan orogenic belt provides a et al. 1977; Sharma, 1977; B hargava, 1980;Bhargava et al.
unique opportunity to investigate the collision-related crustal 1991). The hanging walls of these thrusts incorporate
shortening and remobilization of the Proterozoic basement pelite, psammite, and quartzite sequences, which are rneta-
and cover sediments within a major intracontinental ductile rnorphosed to upper greenschist to almandine-amphibolite
shear zone (Bouchez and Pecher, 1981; Brunel, 1986; LR facies during main Himalayan phase (Pilgrim and West,
Fort, 1986; Jain and Anand, 1988; Jain et al. 2002). The 1928; Berthelscn, 195 1; Roy and Mukherjee, 1976;
ages from the Himalayan granitoids indicate a broad division Sharma, 1977, Chakrabarti, 1976; Bhargava, 1980, 1982).
into two main categories: (i) Pre-Himalayan and (ii) Syn-to In Himachal Pradesh, the Lesser and Higher Himalayan
Post-Himalayan (Singh, 2001 ; Singh and Jain, 2003). The morphotectonic domains reveal extensive allochthonous
processes responsible for these intrusions are important for folded metamorphic nappes, which are thrust over the Lesser
modeling the pre-collisional history of the Himalayan Himalayan Proterozoic sedimentary foreland, now exposed
segment. as tectonic windows and linear belts in the frontal parts
The Higher Himalayan metamorphic Belt (HHMB), (Sharma, 1977; B hargava, 1980; Bhargava et al. 1991). An
exposed in the Lesser and Higher Himalaya exhibit intervening sub-nappe between the two main units is made
polyphase Barrovian metamorphism throughout the orogenic up of a 800 m-thick, dismembered mylonite of the Kulu-
belt (Windley, 1983; Sandhu, 1985; Das, 1987; Pecher, Bajura Nappe and is bounded by the Kulu Thrust at its base
1989; Staubli, 1989). This belt constitutes large Higher and MCTIJutogh Thrust at its top (Frank et al. 1977;
Himalayan nappes, which are thrust southward over the Bhargava et al. 1991; Sjngh, 1993).
Lesser Himalayan Proterozoic sedimentary foreland along The Jakhri-Wangtu region along the Sutlej valley
the Main Central Thrust (MCT) and its splay like the Jwtoghl provides a good cross-section of the Higher Himalayan
Vaikri ta Thrust (Auden, 1948; Bertehlsen, 1951 ; Frank Crystallines (HHC) -forming a part of the HHMB. A thick

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296 SHORT COMMUNICATION

to discordant igneous bodies along the metamorphic banding

of Jeori Formation (Fig.2). Grey granite, aplite and pegmatite
intrude the country rock during early to syn-D, deformation
and later affected by the most pervasive D, deformation
producing gneissosity within the granite (Singh, 1993;Singh
and Jain, 1993).The body is fine grained and foliated along
the margins, whereas the central part is relativeIy
undefonned.
In the northeastern parts of the area, the overlying
Wangtu granite gneiss, which is a monotonous medium to
coarse, porphyroclastic granitic gneiss, is thrust over the
Jeori Formation along the Chaura Thrust. The gneiss
imperceptibly grades into the undeformed granitoid of about
1.8 Ga near Wangtu (Singh, 1993; Singh et al. 1994).These
gneisses contain numerous xenoliths of strongly foliated
metamorphics. The Wangtu granite gneiss is overrriden by
gametiferous mica schist, staurolite-kyanite schistlgneiss,
sillimanite schist/gneiss, calc-silicate, augen gneiss and
Kullu-Ramour Window Hiaher HimalaVan C~stallines!HHCl migmatiteSo f ~ i g h eHimalayn
r ~ ~jnes (HHC)
~ (vajkita
~ ~ l
E-1 -
, :

. . -.
. -. , IL
- Carbonaceous
phyllitelslate
r q yrnetiferous mica schist Group of Sharma, 1977; and Karcham Group of Kakkar,
1988) and leucogranite along the Vaikrita Thrust. These
a.....
~. .a .n i k a r s Quartzite
.. n J-L.,,,+. Quartz mica schist metamorphic packages along with Ieucogranite are seperated
from the Tethyan Sedimentary zone by the Zanskar Shear
~ ~ R a r n p~olcanico
u r Arnphiboliae
Zone (Herren, 1987; Patel et al. 1993), the Martoli Fault,
Kullu-Baiura Naqpe
Grey granite
............ (Magladkhad granite)
the Trans-Himadri Fault (Valdiya, 1989) or Sangia
Detachment (Vannay and Grassemann, 1998).
m ~ u g e mylonite
n
r"l
+ + + Wangtu granite gneiss Grey granite is fine-grained and contains mainly quartz
and albite with less amount of K-feldspar (quartz >
Fig.1. Geological map of the Rampur-Wangtu region along the
Sutlej valley, Himachal Pradesh. MCT = Main Central plagioclase > orthoclase > microcline). Coarse- to fine-
Thrust. KT = Kulu Thrust. ChT = Chaura thrust. Sample grained muscovite and biotite are present in significant
locations for U-Pb zircon dating: Grey granite (RR 17/21- amounts along poorly-developed foliation. Feldspar shows
90056). Based on our own mapping. minor alteration to sericite. Major elements indicate that
the body is peralurninous and peralkaline in character, having
AI,O,/Na,O+~O+CaO ratio > I and Na,O/K,O c 1 with
stack of about 15 to 20 km of the HHC is exposed along the SiO, varying between 63-73%. The body contains high silica
NE flank of the KuIu-Rampur window beyond Jakhri along and alkalis, low FeO, CPO and TiO, contents.'~nthe
the Sutlej valley section (Fig. 1). The HHC belt includes the Nomenclature Diagram (cJ,Debon and Le Fort, 1982), the
Jeori Formation near its base between the MCT and the suite occupies granite and quartz-syenite fields. This body
newly recognized Chaura Thrust (Singh, 1993; Singh and also shows distinct lower abundances of trace element along
Jain, 1993; Jain et al. 2000). Metapelitic sequence of this with very low LREE and HREE abundances. The REE
formation is made up of predominantly well foliated, normalized to C1 Chondl-ite patterns reveal that the grey
medium grained garnetiferous mica schist with very thin granite has a very gentle slope, possibly due to unfractionated
alternating bands of quartzo-feldspathic mica-rich gneiss nature of the parent material (Singh, 1993).
on cm-scale, Fine to medium grained, dark coloured and To provide geochronological constraints, the U-Pb
highly foliated amphibolite bodies are occasionally exposed zircon age determination was carried out at the Laboratory
within the Jeori Formation.These are mostly 1to 10 m thick, for Isotope Geology, Swedish Museum of Natural History,
except for a mappable band of about 300 m thickness near Stockholm, Sweden. Fresh, unaltered, and undeformed
Jeori along the National Highway 22. Near Jeori along the samples with original textures were very carefully selected
Maglad khad, discordant fine grained grey granite gneiss, in the field (RK 17/2 1; Fig. 1).The sample RR 17/22 (90056
aplite and pegmatite intrude the metapelite as concordant is the reference of sample kept at Swedish Museum of

JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA,VOL.67, MARCH 2006

 SHORT COMMUNICATION 207

Fig.2. Photograph and sketch of the grey granite body showing intrusion within the dark coloured biotite parirgrleiss during early- to
syn-D, deformational phase, subsequently affected by main deformational event D,. Note slight penetrative displacement along
gentk dipping S, - foliation towards to-to-left (southwestward). Also cutting across S , foliation are northeasterly dipping.
Crenulation foliation, S,, pliines, which also indicate dispjacernent. BC/BS - Biotite granite gneiss1Biotite Schist. GR - grey
granite gneiss.

Natural History) weighing approximately 30 kg was treated grains, and crystals having fluid inclusions. The zircons
for concentration and purification of zircon crystals by with internal structures, which could be interpreted as cores
Wilfley table, heavy liquid and magnetic seperations. Heavy were avoided during the handpicking of the analysed
mineral concentrates were purified by handpicking under fractions.
microscope to obtain clean homogeneous zircon fractions Chemical preparation following modification of the
for the analysis. Air abrasion technique was used on certain techniques, described by Krogh (1973) and Manhes et al.
fractions in order to increase the degree of soncordancy of ~ was added to
(1978) were used. A mixed 2 0 8 ~ b / ' ' 5spike
ages (cJI Krogh, 1973). each sample, assuming a U content of 400 ppm and a Pb
Zircons from the grey granite are euhedral prisms of content of 100 ppm. U and Pb were seperated in anionic
variable length with average 1ength:width ratio of 4: 1. Most resin column, filled up with analytical grade cation exchange
crystals are transparent with sharp crystal edges and pointed resin AG I-XS 100-200 mesh in chloride form.
pyramidal terminations. Some of these contain opaque All isotopic measurements were made on a Finnigan
inclusions, and others are strongly zoned. A few crystals MAT 26 1 mass-spectrometer. Pb was loaded with H,PO,
have dark etlhedral centres, oriented parallel to the c-axis and silica gel on a single Re-filament. U was run as U,O,
of crystals, and indicate a magmatic zonation pattern. Other on a single W-filament with Ta and H,PO,. The isotopic
zircon varieties include subrounded and rounded cloudy ratios were corrected for mass-fractions with precision of

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298 SHORT COMMUNICATION

Table 2. Conventtondl TIMS U-Pb zlrcon analyt~caldata of the undeformed gley granlte form MaghlddKhad, Sutlej valley, H~rnachalPradesh
Sample Concentration ~n ppm Atomlc ratloshnd model ages
(Fract~ons) U Pbmd 2 0 4 ~ b 2 0 ( , ~'04pb
/ 208~b/20'~b 206~b/2'8~ 207pb/235~ 207~b/20~b

(a) 2 0 b ~ b / 2 N ~corrected
b for blank and mass d~scr~mlndtlon,
all other dtomlc ratlos also corrected for 1nktla1lead
Errors are glven as least slgntfrcant digits at the 95%confidence level
Discrim~nation U 0 05% / AMU Pb 0 12% / AMU
Blank UO5ng Pb 0 2 ng
Common lead 2 0 b ~ b / 2 0 4 ~ b1 5.1 2 0 7 ~ b / 1 0 4 ~ b15 2
2 0 8 ~ b / 2 0 4 ~34.8
b
(Stacey and Kramer (1995) growth curve), ab - abraded as described by Krogh (1973)

20.05% AMU (atomic mass unit) for U and +0.12% AMU between 106-150 pm moves close to the upper intercept.
for Pb. The U blank is 0.5 ng and the Pb blank vanes from There is no indication of any ~nheritedPb component or
0.1 ng to 0.3 ng. The initial Pb-corrections corresponding any disturbance In this gran~toidbody.
to ages were made, according to model of Stacey and Kramer The U-Pb zircon data y~eldgood-fit discordia line. The
(1975) growth curve. All ages were calculated using the discordancy general1y increases with decreasing grain slze,
conventional decay constants, as recommended by the IUGS and one abraded fractlon is slightly less discordant than the
(Steiger and Jager, 1977). Linear regression and concordia other fract~ons.The upper intercept age is 2068k5 Ma
tntercept ages were determined, according to Ludwig (1980). have been interpreted to be the best estimate for the primary
All errors are given as least significant digits at the 95% crystall~sationage of this body, The Paleo-Proterozoic age
confidence IeveI (Table I). of this body suggests that the rocks occurring in the basal
The regression llne for the grey granite, based on part of the Higher Himalayan Crystalline are not a part of
6-zircon fractions, yields an upper intercept age of the Lesser Himalayan Metamorphic sequences and a part
2068+5 Ma (20) and a lower intercept age of 379k18 Ma of the Kulu-Rampur Window rock as suggested by other
(20) having MSWD of value 0.93 (Fjg.3). The finer fractions workers (Vannay and Grassemann, 1998; Miller et al. 2000)
< 74 pm are more discordant, whereas abraded fraction They suggested that Jeorj-Wangtu Granitoid gneiss Complex
(JWGC) probably represents the basement for the Rampur
Formation. The remarkably similar age of Bandal Granitoid
and JWGC comptex led them to think of them as an integraI
Grey Granite /-I part of the Larji-Kullu-Rampur window. The obtained age
2068 +/- 5 M a (upper)
379 +I- I8 M a (lower)
MSWD=O 93
of 2.0 Ga should prompt workers to have a re-look into the
tectonic evolution of the area3long Sutlej valley.

Acknowledgements: This work forms a part of the

research project funded by the Department of Science and
Technology (DST), New Delhl and has resulted from
collobaratjve research between the then University of
Roorkee, India, the Lund University, Lund, and the Swedish
Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden. A visit by
SS to Sweden for geochronological work was made possible
blUSu by generous funding from DGG and PGA. Paula Alarta and
Fig.3. U-Pb concordia dlagrarn for Grey granlte RR 17/21 with Ann-Marie Kahr provided extensive backup during the
upper and lower intercepts at 2068+.5 Ma and 379418 Ma seperation and chemical preparation of ztrcon samples in
(20) (MSWD = 0.93). the isotope laboratory.

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 SHORT COMMUNICATlON 299

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(Received 17 Decenther 2004; Revised forrrt accepted: 23 September 2005)

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