Rb-Sr age of Gaik granite, Ladakh batholith, northwest Himalaya

Abstract

The Gaik Granite is a part of the Ladakh batholith outcropping between Gaik and Kiari in NW Himalaya. This is a pink porphyritic granite rich in biotite and poor in hornblende. Rb-Sr analyses have been made on six whole-rock samples of the Gaik Granite. Though the samples are poorly enriched in radiogenic Sr, they define a reliable isochron corresponding to an age of 235±13 (2σ) m.y. and initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.7081±0.0004 (2σ). Biotite, plagioclase and potash feldspar fractions separated from two of the samples have yielded a much younger mineral isochron at 30±1.5 m.y. indicating a nearly complete redistribution of Sr isotopes between mineral phases at a time much later than the primary emplacement of the granite. The present results show that at least some components of the Ladakh batholith are of Permo-Triassic age. These rocks were isotopically re-equilibrated on a mineral scale during Upper Oligocene in response to the Himalayan orogeny.