PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF METAMORPHISM IN THE PRESSURE SHADOWS

AROUND GARNET IN SHEAR ZONES OF ALMORA NAPPE

Abstract
This paper deals with the association of PT conditions during shearing and related thickness
variation of Nappe during the geological history of the rocks.

Introduction
A product of Himalayan continental collision the metapelites exposed in the Ranikhet area
that belong to the Almora Nappe, were tectonically moved to their present geographic
location over the Main Central Thrust (MCT) from the Himalayan Metamorphic belt during
the Eocene-Oligocene (Ahmad et al., 2000; DeCelles et al., 2001 and Joshi and Tiwari,
2009). Heim and Gansser (1939), marked off the northern and southern delimiting boundaries
of the Almora Nappe as the North Almora Thrust (NAT) and the South Almora Thrust
(SAT). Many later workers suggested that the thrust underlying the Almora Nappe is a folded
subsurface southern continuation of the MCT that is exposed as the NAT and the SAT that
define the northern and the southern margins of the Almora Nappe respectively (Gansser,
1964; Tewari and Mehdi,1964; Merh and Vashi,1965; Merh1968; Powaret.al1969; Gairola
and Joshi1980 and Valdiya, 1980). The metamorphic rocks around Ranikhet have been
studied by many workers. Merh and Vashi(1965) identified Uprari thrust (=South Almora
Thrust) south of Ranikhet. Das and Pande (1972) discussed the metamorphism of the
Chaukhutia area north of Ranikhet. These metamorphic rocks have suffered progressive
regional metamorphism (Merh and Vashi 1965).

Joshi and Tiwari (2009) studied the garnetiferous mica schists of the Almora Group and
suggested that these rocks were regionally metamorphosed under the greenschist facies
conditions (5040 C -5600 C at 4.48–4.96 kbar) to upper amphibolite facies conditions with the
formation of gneisses at peak metamorphic conditions (694 oC–709 0Cat 6.9–7.9 kbar).
During the later large-scale shearing likely during the emplacement of the Almora Nappe
during the Himalayan orogeny at Eocene-Oligocene period, the schists located close to the
SAT were dynamically metamorphosed to the greenschist facies (~450°C/4kbar) (Joshi and
Tiwari, 2009). On the basis of structural setup and the study of various asymmetric shear
sense indicators that occur within the mylonitised rocks of the Almora Nappe,
Joshi(1999)suggested a complexthree- stage tectonic evolution of the Almora Nappe. The

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first southward tectonic movements were ductile in nature,the second were brittle-ductile
while the third movements were brittle in nature. The second and third tectonic movements
were directed top to north. The present paper addresses the P-T conditions of shearing that
affected garnet- mica schists of the Almora Group likely related to the shearing sympathetic
to the SAT that developed during the emplacement of the Almora Nappe in Himalayan
orogeny.

Geological Setting

Valdiya (1980) suggested that the Almora Nappe comprises predominantly of two
lithostratigraphic units, viz. the Almora Group and the Ramgarh Group of rocks. Gansser
(1964), Merh (1968), Gairola and Joshi (1980) and Valdiya (1980) suggest that the Almora
Nappe tectonically overlies a thrust comprising the northern and the southern margins of the
nappe which are termed as the North Almora Thrust (NAT) and the South Almora Thrust
(SAT) respectively. The NAT and the SAT separate the underlying Ramgarh Group from the
rocks of Almora Group in the northern and southern extremes of the Almora Nappe
respectively and continue in western Nepal, where they have been designated as Dandeldhura
Thrust (DT) by DeCelles et al. (2001) while the Ramgarh Group is demarcated from the
underlying Lesser Himalayan sedimentary rocks, viz. the Damtha Group and the Jaunsar
Group, by the North Ramgarh Thrust (NRT) and the South Ramgarh Thrust (SRT)
correspondingly in northern and southern margins of the Almora Nappe (Joshi, 1999). De
Celles et al.(2001) suggested that these thrusts also extend to the western Nepal. The
Ramgarh Group comprises predominantly of strongly mylonitised rocks after granite/gneisses
of Lower Debguru Porphyroids and schists and phyllites of Upper Nathuakhan Formation
(Valdiya, 1980; Joshi, 1999) which constitute the Palaeoproterozoic low grade rocks,
metamorphosed up to greenschist facies, of Ramgarh Group which are separated from the
overlying medium to high grade metamorphic rocks of Almora Group that consists of mica
schists, garnet-mica schists, gneisses and micaceous quartzites of Saryu Formation (Valdiya,
1980; Joshi, 1999, 2009). The metamorphic P-T evaluation of Almora crystallines by earlier
workers suggested mainly three metamorphic events, viz. regional pre-Himalayan
metamorphisms (M1 & M2) (Joshi et al.; 2004, 2009) and a dynamic Himalayan
metamorphism (Joshiet al.; 2004, 2009). These two events are also identified by other
workers in different parts of the Himalaya (Thakur, 1980; Williams, Treloar and Coward,
1988; Patel and Jain, 1997 and Jain and Patel, 1999). Mylonitised rocks of Ramgarh Group

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and Almora Group exhibit a low grade dynamic metamorphism (M2) that reached up to
greenschist facies (4500C/4kbar) whereas the unmylonitised schists and gneisses in the central
part of the Almora Nappe exhibit a regional metamorphism (M1) that reached upper
amphibolite facies conditions (4.0-7.9 kbar/5000C-7090C) as estimated by Joshi et.al 2009.

Fig. 1 (a) Location map of the studied area in Kumaun Himalaya (modified after Joshi, 1999;
Joshi and Tiwari, 2009) (b) Geological map of the studied area

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Petrography and Metamorphism
The rocks investigated in the study area comprise metapelitic phyllites, mica schists,
garnetiferous mica schists and gneisses, interbanded with micaceous quartzites, all of which
belong to the Saryu Formation under the Almora Group, and constitute most of the Almora
Nappe (Valdiya, 1980; Joshi, 1999). The detailed account of the petrography and the
metamorphism of metapelitic schists and gneisses of the Almora Group was first provided by
Joshi and Tiwari, 2009. Later, Das et. al 2019 studied the metapelites of the Almora Group
which comprise Askot Klippe, in detail and provided a model for tectonothermal evolution
of the Askot Klippe. The metapelitic schists are medium-to-coarse grained, and show well-
developed foliation, characterized by the preferred orientation of micas. The mica schists in
the study area range from greenish-grey, bluish grey to brown in colour (Fig. 2a,2b,2d and
2e)..The metapelitic schists of the studied area have been subjected to at least three
metamorphic events, with older M1- and M2- metamorphism being pre-Himalayan in age
while the younger superposed M3-event which marks the dynamic metamorphism occurred
during the Himalayan orogeny (Joshi and Tiwari, 2004, 2007, 2009). The metapelitic schists
in the study area encompass four metamorphic zones which progresses from lower chlorite
zone, through intermediate biotite and almandine zones, and eventually to high grade kyanite
zone as shown in the geological map (Fig.1b). The phyllites and mica schists of the chlorite-
biotite zones are characterized by the occurrence of stable mineral assemblage
chlorite–biotite– muscovite–plagioclase–quartz ± feldspar whereas the garnetiferous mica
schists of the garnet zone are recognised by the stable association of
chlorite–biotite–muscovite–garnet–plagioclase–quartz (Fig. 3a, 3b,3i and 3j).The metapelitic
schists are characterized by schistose lepidoblastic texture, formed by different lepidoblasts
of micas that occur within the schists. The primary schistosity-S1 is defined by the preferred
orientation of first generation micas, viz. muscovite-I, biotite-I, and chlorite-I, which are
formed during M1-metamorphism (Fig. 3b and 3c). The main foliation which constitutes the
dominant secondary schistosity- S2, which occur within the metapelitic schists, is
characterized by the preferred alignment of the second generation micas, viz. Muscovite-II,
biotite-II and chlorite-II (Fig. 3b, 3c and 3i), crystallized during the M2- metamorphic event.
The dynamic M3-metamorphism, which overprinted the metapelitic schists of the study area
later, resulted in large scale shearing and mylonitization of the Ramgarh Group rocks (Joshi

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and Tiwari, 2009). The Almora Group rocks have escaped the large scale shearing which
occurred during M3, except the basal parts of the Almora Group, as the degree of
mylonitization decreases upwards within the Almora Nappe (Joshi, 1999; Joshi and Tiwari,
2004). The basal mica schists of the Almora Group are characterized by the development of
minor shear plane domains which are sympathetic to the large scale N-S shearing that
occurred during M3-Himalayan metamorphism. The sheared domains of the metapelitic schist
exposed in the study area are characterized mainly by the grain-size reduction and
recrystallization of the muscovite and biotite grains within the pressure shadow zones of
garnet (or feldspar) porphyroclasts, viz. muscovite-III and biotite-III (Fig. 3a,3f,3g and 3h)
as compared to the unsheared second generation mica grains, viz. muscovite-II and biotite-II,
within the microlithon matrix of the mica schists (Fig.3c and 3d). The crystallization of third
generation micas viz. muscovite-III and biotite-III, suggests, that the grade of metamorphism
during M3-Himalayan event did reach at least lower greenschist facies conditions. The next
section focuses on the evaluation of P-T conditions attained within mica schists during M3-
Himalayan metamorphism.

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Fig 2a: Garnet bearing chlorite schist in the Almora Group of rocks, near SAT, Ranikhet; Fig
2b: Folding in the chlorite schist of the Almora Group of rocks with inclined fold axis.; Fig
2c: Phyllite and quartzite from the Almora Group of rocks; Fig 2d.Microfolding in the Garnet
bearing schist of the Almora Group of rocks, Ranikhet; Fig 2e: Small microfolds in the
Almora Group of rocks; Fig 2f: Plunging fold in the Almora Group rocks, near Uprari,
Ranikhet.

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Fig 3a: Pressure shadow zones in the area around garnet in the muscovite- biotite pair in the
garnet mica schist with idioblastic garnet grain and representing muscovite-II muscovite -III
(make correction in the fig.)in pressure shadow; Fig 3b: Schist containing the muscovite-II,
biotite-I and biotite-II in the pressure shadow area, Uprari, Ranikhet; Fig 3c:Mineral
assemblage containing muscovite-I and muscovite-II; Fig 3d:Mineral assemblage containing
muscovite-I and biotite-II; Fig3e:Garnet porphyroclast containing muscovite-III and biotite-
III, Fig 3f: Schist of Ranikhet area containing garnet porphyroclast, muscovite-III in the
pressure shadow and quartz.

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Fig:3g:Garnet mica schist containing feldspar porphyroclast surrounded by biotite-III and
muscovite-II(PPL); Fig3h:Garnet mica schist containing feldspar porphyroclast surrounded
by biotite-III and Muscovite-II(XPL); Fig 3i:Garnet mica schist containing garnet
porphyroclast with the pressure shadow area with muscovite-III (add muscovite in Fig.)
,chlorite-II ,biotite-II and Biotite-III, Fig 3j:Garnet mica schist containing garnet in the
pressure shadow area with muscovite-II muscovite-III, chlorite-II ,biotite-II and Biotite-
III(XPL) (Exchange Fig. I and Fig. j and mark all the minerals describe in the description of
the Fig. in the Fig.)

Geothermobarometry

For the estimation of P-T conditions at which garnet-mica schists of the area were subjected
to dynamic M3 –metamorphism, we employed, both, quantitative and qualitative approach.
The minerals and the textural relations were first identified under petrological microscope
and then for the quantitative approach, P-T estimation was carried out by conventional
thermobarometry.

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1. Quantitative Approach :Conventional Thermobarometry
The quantitative approach involves the thermodynamic evaluation of equilibrium P-T
conditions attained within the pressure shadow zones of asymmetric porphyroclasts
that occur in garnet-mica schists during the M3-metamorphism. For conventional
thermobarometry, we used specifically the muscovite-biotite geothermobarometer
(Wu at al. 2020) for the muscovite III and biotite III equilibrium assemblage
crystallized within pressure the pressure shadow zones during the shearing which are
devoid of any fresh garnet crystallisation during the M3 – metamorphic event. The
total absence of fresh garnet in pressure shadows clearly indicates that the reaction:
chlorite +muscovite + quartz = garnet + biotite (± Al2 SiO5) + H2O (Hirschberg and
Winkler, 1968) was not crossed and suggests that the P–T conditions were around
~4500C / 4 kbar during dynamic M3-metamorphism (Joshi and Tiwari, 2009). The
average equilibrium P-T conditions evaluated for the muscovite III -biotite III
assemblage developed within the pressure shadows using muscovite-biotite pair (Wu
et. al 2020) range from 460.9 0
C-465.6 0
C at 2.4-2.7 kbar pressure while some
isolated domains of intense shearing yielded temperatures that reach up to 546.30C -
539.70C at 1.5-1.2 kbar pressure (see supplementary data file table S-2) which
suggests that the strain accumulation was not uniform during mylonitization of the
garnet mica schists and resulted in high temperatures of shearing locally within the
shear zone. The equilibrium P-T conditions estimated for the unsheared muscovite-
biotite pair (Wu et. al 2020) that occurs in microlithon matrix of the garnet-mica
schists is 561.74 0 C at 4.04 kbar pressure (see supplementary data file table S-3). The
garnet-biotite thermobarometry (Holdaway, 2000) of the garnet mica schists yielded
P-T conditions of 536.30 C at 6.40 kbar pressure (see supplementary data file table S-
1) which corresponds to the P-T condition attained by garnet-mica schist during the
regional M2- metamorphic phase, likely pre-Himalayan.

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Fig 4: Pseudosection of sample S-02 and estimation of equilibrium PT condition of schist of Almora Group in
NCKFMASH (Na2O-CaO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O) system. The bulk composition in weight percentage
is calculated on XRF data. Compositional isopleth contour constructed relate to biotite, Thermal peak PT
conditions of the schist of Almora Group with the help of composition of biotite of schist of sheared and
unsheared zone of the Almora Group by intersection of XMg ,XFe and XTi.

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(2) Qualitative approach: P-T estimation by phase section modeling

The P-T evaluation by qualitative approach involves the isochemical phase section modeling
of the garnet-mica schists characterised by univariant reaction boundaries which demarcates
stable phase assemblages in P-T space. Isochemical phase sections for metapelitic schists
were produced employing Perple_X_6.9.1 (Connolly, 2005) generated under the chemical
system Na2O-CaO-MnO-K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-TiO2 (NCMnKFMASHT). The
solution models chosen for modelling the thermochemical evolution of various metamorphic
mineral phases are Bi (W), Gt (W), Crd (W), Chl (W), Ctd (W), Mica (W), Ilm (WPH), melt
(W) and feldspar (White et al. (2014)????.(See supplementary data file Table S4). The CORK
fluid equation of state (EoS) (Holland and Powell, 1991, 1998) is used to model the saturated
fluid components during the calculation of isochemical phase sections. The weight fraction of
H2O, during the computation of isochemical phase sections, is taken equivalent to the value
of ‘loss on ignition’ (LOI) which is obtained during the XRF analysis. For garnet-mica
schists, the bulk chemical composition of the representative sample-S02 was estimated by
considering the whole rock major oxide wt% obtained using XRF analysis of the sample-S02
(see supplementary data file Table S4), for the qualitative evaluation of stable mineral
assemblages in P-T space. The compositional isopleths for coexisting minerals, which are
used to infer the metamorphic pressure-temperature conditions, are drawn to estimate the
evolution of their equilibrium compositions in P-T space (Fig. 4). The isopleth contours of
XFe, XMg, XTi and XAl , drawn for biotite, intersect within the error zone from which the peak P-
T conditions of equilibrium attained within the garnet-mica schists are estimated at 4260 C at
3.7 kbar (Fig. 4).

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Discussion and Conclusion-

The values of P-T conditions estimated for the sheared mica schist fall in two separate
clusters when plotted in P-T space (Fig. 5). The sheared domains of mica schists attained
temperatures that range between 460.9o C and 465.6o C at 2.4-2.7 kbar pressure
(Ms-Bi pair in Wu et al. 2020) during the shearing that likely occurred at depths that range
between 7.9 and 8.9 kms while the domains of mica schists unaffected by shearing yielded
temperatures that varied between 536.3o and 561.7o C at pressures of 4.0 to 6.4 kbar (Ms-Bi
pair in Wu et al. 2020; Gt-Bi pair in Holdaway,2000) that suggests crystallisation of biotite in
the matrix of mica schists occurred likely at depths that range between 13.2- 21.1 kms. The
garnet mica schists of the Almora Group preserve hornfelsic texture and randomly oriented
andalusite which is developed due to the contact metamorphism induced by the heating
effects of the intrusive Champawat Granitoids of Precambrian age dated at 560±20 Ma (Rb-
Sr) by Trivedi et al. (1984) and 503 Ma (PhD thesis, Kumar, 2018). The preservation of
contact metamorphic fabric of the andalusite within garnet-mica schists suggest that the rock
had never been buried to a depth greater than 12.4 km (3.3-3.76 kbar) at temperatures in
excess of 5010 C at least since Pre-Cambrian as inferred from the works of Al2SiO5 triple-
point (5010 C/3.76 kbar; Hodaway, 1971), Joshi et al. (1994), Joshi and Tiwari (2007, 2009).
This inference is also ratified by the P-T estimates of shearing within the garnet-mica schists
that occurred most probably at depths of less than about 10km. As these shear planes that
developed within mica schists are likely sympathetic to the South Almora Thrust (SAT)
responsible for emplacement of Almora Nappe during the Himalayan orogeny it is further

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inferred that the thickness of the Almora Nappe above the SAT was about 8 km when the
nappe was emplaced in the Lesser Himalaya.

Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the Head, Department of Geology for providing
necessary facilities. MJ expresses his gratitude to a MoES project for funding. We thank
Prof. N.V.C. Rao for providing EPMA and XRF facilities at the Department of Geology,
Banaras Hindu University.

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