Deciphering high-pressure metamorphism in collisional context using microprobe mapping methods; application to the Stak eclogitic massif (northwest Himalaya)

The Stak massif, northern Pakistan, is a newly recognized occurrence of eclogite formed by the subduction of the northern margin of the Indian continent in the northwest Himalaya. Although this unit was extensively retrogressed during the Himalayan collision, records of the high-pressure (HP) event as well as a continuous pressure-temperature (P-T) path were assessed from a single thin section using a new multiequilibrium method. This method uses microprobe X-ray compositional maps of garnet and omphacitic pyroxene followed by calculations of approximately 200,000 P-T estimates using appropriate thermobarometers. The Stak eclogite underwent prograde metamorphism, increasing from 650 degrees C and 2.4 GPa to the peak conditions of 750 degrees C and 2.5 GPa, then retrogressed to 700-650 degrees C and 1.6-0.9 GPa under amphibolite-facies conditions. The estimated peak metamorphic conditions and P-T path are similar to those of the Kaghan and Tso Morari high- to ultrahigh-pressure (HP-UHP) massifs. We propose that these three massifs define a large HP to UHP province in the northwest Himalaya, comparable to the Dabie-Sulu province in China and the Western Gneiss Region in Norway.