The central Karakoram can be divided into three main tectonic units from north to south: a northern Karakoram terrane, the Karakoram batholith, and the Karakoram metamorphic complex. In the Baltoro Glacier region the Karakoram magmatism includes intrusive suites that predate and postdate the India-Eurasia collision. The oldest subduction-related phases include Jurassic hornblendite to biotite monzogranite of the Hushe complex, and Cretaceous (ca. 82 to 75 Ma) hornblende-biotite metagranitoids of the Muztagh Tower unit, all of which were deformed during the India-Kohistan-Karakoram collision. Volumetrically dominant is a postcollisional granite, the Baltoro Plutonic Unit (BPU), which consists of biotite monzogranites to two-mica ± garnet leucogranites and pegmatite-aplites of mildly peraluminous affinity. The BPU represents the youngest magmatic phase of the composite Karakoram batholith with a U-Pb age of 21 ± 0.5 Ma and K-Ar mica cooling ages ranging from 11.7 to 5.25 Ma. The Masherbrum migmatite complex (MMC), one of a series of such complexes along the southern margin of the batholith, immediately predates the BPU. Leucocratic dikes that cross-cut the MMC yield an Rb-Sr age of 14.1 ± 2.1 Ma and K-Ar ages of 17 to 10 Ma. The BPU is interpreted as a crustal melt ultimately derived from deep crustal levels and may not be related to leucogranite generation associated with the migmatite terrain to the south. Petrogenesis of the BPU is fundamentally different from that of the High Himalayan granites and may involve a degree of selective mantle contamination. Four major metamorphic-deformation phases can be distinguished in the central Karakoram. The earliest, M 1 , is represented by low-pressure andalusite-staurolite–bearing assemblages that are spatially associated with igneous components of the Hushe complex of Jurassic age. The dominant thermal event was a widespread Barrovian-type metamorphism (M 2 ), which was syntectonic to the main deformation and overprinted M 1 assemblages. M 2 -related structures are cut by the 37.0 ± 0.8 Ma Mango Gusar two-mica granite pluton. M 2 kyanite-garnet-plagioclase-quartz-muscovite-biotite-staurolite assemblages indicate minimum pressure temperature (P-T) conditions of 550°C and 5.5 kbar (550 MPa). Thermal effects related to intrusion of the BPU constitute M 3 . Along its northern margin at Mitre Peak, the assemblage andalusite-cordierite-chlorite-biotite-muscovite-quartz-plagioclase indicates a maximum pressure of 3.75 kbar (375 MPa, ≃ 12.5-km depth). Along its southern margin at Paiyu, the presence of granitic melt pods with sillimanite, muscovite, plagioclase, and quartz indicates a minimum pressure of ca. 3.5 kbar (350 MPa) and a temperature 75° higher than local M 2 assemblages. The replacement of kyanite by sillimanite and the appearance of granitic melt pods approaching the BPU along the Baltoro Glacier transect, may be an M 3 overprinting of M 2 . M 4 (<5 Ma) is a syntectonic retrogressive metamorphism along the hanging wall of the Main Karakoram Thrust—a breakback thrust responsible for the recent uplift of the Karakoram. Structural culminations of midcrustal rocks occur in the K2 and Broad Peak areas within Carboniferous-Lower Cretaceous sediments of the Gasherbrum Range. Metamorphism of the K2 gneiss (dominantly biotite-hornblende-K-feldspar orthogneiss) occurred during middle to Late Cretaceous time. Pegmatite dikes dated as 70 to 58 Ma (K-Ar-mica) cut the gneisses.

Abstract Following the c. 50 Ma India–Kohistan arc–Asia collision, crustal thickening uplifted the Himalaya (Indian Plate), and the Karakoram, Pamir and Tibetan Plateau (Asian Plate). Whereas surface geology of Tibet shows limited Cenozoic metamorphism and deformation, and only localized crustal melting, the Karakoram–Pamir show regional sillimanite- and kyanite-grade metamorphism, and crustal melting resulting in major granitic intrusions (Baltoro granites). U/Th–Pb dating shows that metamorphism along the Hunza Karakoram peaked at c. 83–62 and 44 Ma with intrusion of the Hunza dykes at 52–50 Ma and 35 ± 1.0 Ma, and along the Baltoro Karakoram peaked at c. 28–22 Ma, but continued until 5.4–3.5 Ma (Dassu dome). Widespread crustal melting along the Baltoro Batholith spanned 26.4–13 Ma. A series of thrust sheets and gneiss domes (metamorphic core complexes) record crustal thickening and regional metamorphism in the central and south Pamir from 37 to 20 Ma. At 20 Ma, break-off of the Indian slab caused large-scale exhumation of amphibolite-facies crust from depths of 30–55 km, and caused crustal thickening to jump to the fold-and-thrust belt at the northern edge of the Pamir. Crustal thickening, high-grade metamorphism and melting are certainly continuing at depth today in the India–Asia collision zone.

The closing of the Tethys Ocean and continent-continent collision along the Alpine-Himalayan chain ultimately produced large Himalayan-type mountain belts and large plateaux, such as Tibet. Earlier stages in the collision process, however, can be seen in the Oman Mountains of eastern Arabia and the Zagros Mountains of SW Iran. In Oman, a large, intact ophiolite was emplaced onto a Mesozoic passive continental margin, largely by thin-skinned thrust processes, prior to continental collision. The ophiolite and a granulite-amphibolite-greenschist facies inverted metamorphic sole were formed in a subduction zone setting during the early stages of emplacement. Eclogites were formed by the attempted subduction of the continental margin, and its rapid expulsion back up the same subduction zone, during later stages of the orogeny. The early stages of continental collision are best seen in the Zagros Mountains where thick-skinned thrusting and simple folding has resulted in a relatively small amount of crustal shortening (50–70 km) with almost no metamorphic or magmatic consequences. Burial metamorphism may be occurring presently at deep levels of the internal zone and the Turkish-Iranian Plateau where the crust is thicker, but this remains unexposed at the surface. The collision of the Indian plate with Asia since ca. 50 Ma resulted in formation of the Himalaya along the north margin of India, and the Karakoram–Hindu Kush Mountains along the south Asian margin. Together with renewed uplift and crustal thickening of the Tibetan Plateau, this was arguably the largest continental collision in the last 450 m.y. of Earth history. The Himalayan-type orogeny involved large amounts of crustal shortening (∼500–1000 km), early ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) coesite-eclogite facies metamorphism, peak Barrovian facies kyanite and sillimanite metamorphism, and mid-crustal anatexis resulting in garnet, tourmaline, muscovite-bearing migmatites, and leucogranites. Processes involved in the construction of the Tibetan Plateau include crustal shortening and doubling the thickness of the crust to 65–90 km. High-pressure (HP) eclogite and high-temperature/high-pressure (HT-HP) granulite metamorphism may be occurring at depth today in the lower crust beneath Tibet. Widespread ultrapotassic volcanism across Tibet indicates the presence of a hot subcontinental mantle, which was progressively shifted northwards as the cold, Indian lithosphere underthrust southern Tibet. Whereas Tibet shows mainly upper crustal sedimentary and volcanic rocks at the present surface, the Karakoram Range, along strike to the west, shows mostly deep crustal high-grade metamorphic rocks, multiple granite intrusions, and over 60 m.y. of high-temperature metamorphism. This paper reviews the salient geological features of Oman-, Zagros-, Himalayan-, Tibetan-, and Karakoram-type orogenic belts. These features can be used in studies of older orogenic belts to give indications of their tectonic origins.