Protolith affiliation and tectonometamorphic evolution of the Gurla Mandhata core complex, NW Nepal Himalaya
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Assigning correct protolith to high metamorphic-grade core zone rocks of large hot orogens is a particularly important challenge to overcome when attempting to constrain the early stages of orogenic evolution and paleogeography of lithotectonic units from these orogens. The Gurla Mandhata core complex in NW Nepal exposes the Himalayan metamorphic core (HMC), a sequence of high metamorphic-grade gneiss, migmatite, and granite, in the hinterland of the Himalayan orogen. Sm-Nd isotopic analyses indicate that the HMC comprises Greater Himalayan sequence (GHS) and Lesser Himalayan sequence (LHS) rocks. Conventional interpretation of such provenance data would require the Main Central thrust (MCT) to be also outcropping within the core complex. However, new in situ U-Th/Pb monazite petrochronology coupled with petrographic, structural, and microstructural observations reveal that the core complex is composed solely of rocks in the hanging wall of the MCT. Rocks from the core complex record Eocene and late Oligocene to early Miocene monazite (re-)crystallization periods (monazite age peaks of 40 Ma, 25–19 Ma, and 19–16 Ma) overprinting pre-Himalayan Ordovician Bhimphedian metamorphism and magmatism (ca. 470 Ma). The combination of Sm-Nd isotopic analysis and U-Th/Pb monazite petrochronology demonstrates that both GHS and LHS protolith rocks were captured in the hanging wall of the MCT and experienced Cenozoic Himalayan metamorphism during south-directed extrusion. Monazite ages do not record metamorphism coeval with late Miocene extensional core complex exhumation, suggesting that peak metamorphism and generation of anatectic melt in the core complex had ceased prior to the onset of orogen-parallel hinterland extension at ca. 15–13 Ma. The geometry of the Gurla Mandhata core complex requires significant hinterland crustal thickening prior to 16 Ma, which is attributed to ductile HMC thickening and footwall accretion of LHS protolith associated with a Main Himalayan thrust ramp below the core complex. We demonstrate that isotopic signatures such as Sm-Nd should be used to characterize rock units and structures across the Himalaya only in conjunction with supporting petrochronological and structural data.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".