Hi,

We are working on Proterozoic granitic (gneisses) In Lesser Himalaya. One such example is the Amripur Granite. You may refer with my colleagues Prof. K.K. Agarwal or Prof. D.C. Srivstava. 

Cheers

Thanks for your answer Dr Agarwal. Is there any Archaean granite? 

Thanks Priyabrata. This webpage does not have any reference.

Dear Suknta,

I am working from the last couple of years on Himalayan UHP eclogites in western Himalayan region, and so far never heard of the presence of Archean granites (gneisses). Where did you get this faint mention of the Archean rocks in the region?

 May be someone is mixing the Indian Craton rocks with Himalayas?

In western part, Pakistan, Oldest rocks are the Precambrian granites 1.1-0.8 Ga granites from Nagar Parker area, having similar ages to those of Rajhastaan in India. But Archean rocks in Himalayas are not so far known. Could be a big discovery though.

Dear Hafiz,

Thanks for sharing your experience. 

I was wondering about the same thing. 

In the popular book 'Geology of India', V1, by M. Ramakrishnan and R. Vaidyandhan, Geological Society of India, 2010 there is a subchapter titled 'Precambrians of Himalaya'. They are writing about the Nanga Parbat Crystallines of 'Higher Himalayas: Central Crystallines' (P. 438): 

"Zircons from the gneisses have yielded U-Pb ages of 1800-2200 Ma, along with vestiges of some older Neoarchaean (2500-2700) protolithic components". 

Zeitler et al. 1989 ('Geochronology and temperature history of Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif, Pakistan', Geological Society America Special Paper 232) reported 2500 Ma inherited zircons suggesting the antiquity of protoliths.. They are writing "Granites and gneisses 2500 Ma old have been reported from a number of localities in Himalaya (Valdiya, 1983).  

Valdiya, K.S. 1983. Tectonic setting of Himalayan granites. In: Shams, F.A.. et al. (Ed). Granites of Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush., Lahore, Pakistan. Panjab University Institute of Geology. P. 39-53. I am yet to read this paper though.

Also the metavolcanic rocks of the Rampur belt of the Lesser Himalaya are dated to be 2.51 Ga.

Bhat and Le Fort, 1992 Sm–Nd age and petrogenesis of the Rampur metavolcanics, NW Himalayas: late Archaean relics in the Himalayan belt. Precamb. Res., 56 (1992), pp. 191–210. 

Bhat et al., 1998 Sm–Nd age of the Garhwal–Bhowali volcanics, western Himalaya: vestiges of the late Archaean Rampur flood basalt province of the northern Indian craton

Precamb. Res., 87 (1998), pp. 217–231

A google search leads to some pages mentioning Archaean components without proper references (one of them as mentioned above). Curious if someone throws  more light on Archaean granitic component of Himalaya, if any. 

Dear Sukanta,

Thanks for detailed reply. 

There are some age data reported in Valdiya, K.S. 1983 (Bhanot et al. 1980 In Vadia and Bhatia eds. "Stratigraphy and Correlations of the Lesser Himalayan Formation, Hindustan Pub. Corp. Delhi, 139-144, They report Rb-Sr ages, so can have a look but I wonder if the data is geologically meaningful. 

Second reference Validia refers to is by

Powell et al 1979: Reconnaissance Rb-Sr north-west India, Indian J. of Earth Sci. 6, 139-151.

Again Rb-Sr data from granites, so don't know if geologically meaningful.

You can have a look on the above two articles if can have access. 

Best regards

Also, have aloof on this if you have,

Sandeep Singh et al. 2009. SHRIMP U-Pb c. 1860 Ma anorogenic magmatic signatures from the NW Himalaya: implications for Palaeoproterozoic assembly of the Columbia Supercontinent. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 323:283-300, I din't read it yet.

Thanks Hafiz.

Will try to get those publications.

There is no reported occurrence of Archaean granite in Himalaya to my knowledge.

Dear Prof. Das

Thanks for your answer.

Hi,

Look at Valli et al. 2008, Figures 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13 and 14; you will find evidences for Archean zircon cores in rocks deformed during the Tertiary.

Best Regards

Dear Sukanta Dey,

You have made a very interesting question… I do not have proper information about the mentioned are, only from the responses your questions. They woke up my attention… Where was found such a rocks can be associated volcanic rocks and metal-genetic activity? Can be found a high increase of Rare Earth elements?... ( You have to make such a research)

 Thanks Franck for sharing this fine paper which suggests presence of Archaean zircon xenocrysts in the deformed gneisses. It is quite possible if the granitoids were produced from melting of sediments. These sediments could be derived from the cratonic part of India and contained Archaean zircons. Still looking for granitoids which are themselves Archaean.  

Based on the regional geological map, the oldest granitic (gneisses) rock in Tibet is from Proterozoic. I am not sure whether there are some Archaean granitic (gneisses) rock in Himalaya.