Thermo-tectonic history of the Tethyan Himalayas deduced from the palaeomagnetic record of metacarbonates from Shiar Khola (Central Nepal)

Abstract Palaeomagnetic measurements were carried out on low-grade metamorphic carbonates, of Mesozoic age from the Shiar area (85.1°E, 28.6°N) of the Tethyan Himalaya (TH) in north central Nepal. Two characteristic remanence components carried by pyrrhotite (ChRM 1 ) and magnetite (ChRM 2 ) could be identified by their unblocking temperature spectra of 270–340 and 430–580°C, respectively. Fold tests are not significant, due to the uniform bedding of all sites. However, according to results from other areas of the TH, the pyrrhotite component has been probably acquired as a secondary (p)TRM during exhumation and cooling; thus the age of remanence acquisition can be related to the last cooling event (25–17 Ma in the surrounding areas). The inclination of the magnetite component matches the value expected from the Indian APWP. This may the primary origin of the ChRM 2 . Pyrrhotite site-mean directions show a small-circle distribution, with a best fit parallel to the N–S direction. Backtilting to the expected inclination ( I exp ) by intersection of the remanence small-circle with the small-circle of constant I exp yields a clockwise block rotation of 30–35° with respect to the Indian Plate. Characteristics of the pyrrhotite component (small-circle distribution of site-means, secondary origin, (p)TRM with unblocking temperatures below about 300°C), allow the interpretation of the chronologic order of the thermo-tectonic history: (i) an earlier main folding phase at elevated temperatures; (ii) a later event of cooling through about 300°C coinciding with the acquisition of ChRM 1 ; (iii) clockwise block rotations with respect to the Indian Plate and (iv) long-wave folding as the youngest tectonic event.