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Fluid-induced dissolution breakdown of monazite from Tso Morari complex, NW Himalayas: evidence for immobility of trace elements

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Abstract

Primary igneous monazite from the Polokongka La granite of the Tso Morari complex in the western Himalayas has been partially replaced by a three-layered corona of metamorphic fluor-apatite, allanite + U- and Th-bearing phases (huttonite + brabantite), and epidote. The alteration is related to high-pressure amphibolite-facies (10–11 kbar and 587–695 °C) fluid-induced retrogression of the ultra-high-pressure granite during exhumation after India–Asia collision. The corona textures can be explained by pseudomorphic partial replacement of the original monazite to apatite and allanite via a fluid-mediated coupled dissolution–reprecipitation process. Mass balance calculations using the volume proportions and compositions of coronal minerals show that the REE, U, Th, Pb, Ba and P were conserved and not transported outside the alteration corona. The formation of fluor-apatite, allanite, huttonite and coffinite from monazite and the immobility of REE, U and Th require an influx of alkali- and F-bearing, Ca-rich fluid having high Ca/Na into the corona. We are aware of only two other occurrences of such alteration textures, and these have several similarities in terms of geodynamic setting and P–T histories of the host rocks. We suggest that there may be a common mechanism of exhumation style, and source and composition of fluids during retrogression of granitoid rocks in collisional orogens and that such breakdown textures can be used to identify metagranites that have experienced high-P metamorphism in continental collision zones, which is otherwise difficult to constrain due to the high variance of the mineral assemblages in these rocks.

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Acknowledgments

The work is funded through ISIRD research grants of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur to DU and KLP and is gratefully acknowledged. Samples were collected by KLP during a pre-HKT-2008 field tour to the Ladakh Himalayas in 2007, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India. Constructive comments by two anonymous reviewers have greatly helped to improve the manuscript. Editorial handling by Prof. T L Grove is thankfully acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, West Bengal, India

    Dewashish Upadhyay & Kamal Lochan Pruseth

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  1. Dewashish Upadhyay
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  2. Kamal Lochan Pruseth
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Correspondence to Dewashish Upadhyay.

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Communicated by T. L. Grove.

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Upadhyay, D., Pruseth, K.L. Fluid-induced dissolution breakdown of monazite from Tso Morari complex, NW Himalayas: evidence for immobility of trace elements. Contrib Mineral Petrol 164, 303–316 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-012-0739-3

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