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

The Gaik Granite is a part of 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(2sigma) m.y. and initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7081+-0.0004 (2sigma), 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 aqe. These rocks were isotopically re-equilibrated on a mineral scale during Upper Oligocene in response to the Himalayan orogeny. (author)