Petrogenetic implications of neodymium isotope data from the Kohistan batholith, North Pakistan

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Abstract
Neodymium data are presented for five granitoid (trondhjemite, granite and leucogranite) plutonic units from the Kohistan batholith aged 102 Ma to 29 Ma. These have present day l43 Nd/ 144 Nd ratios of between 0.512980 and 0.512734, calculated initial 143 Nd/ 144 Nd ratios of between 0.512861 and 0.512705 and Nd values of between 6.91 and 2.04. There is a decrease in ɛNd with time which is inversely correlative with a similar increase in ɛSr. Three plutonic units (Matum Das, Gilgit and Shirot) formed from a source enriched in Sm and depleted in Rb or radiogenic Sr relative to bulk earth, whilst a fourth unit (the Indus Confluence acid sheets), is only slightly enriched in radiogenic Sr. These four units define a temporal trend from the least evolved Matum Das pluton to the most evolved Indus Confluence acid sheets. This trend was produced as a result of subducting oceanic sediment or seawater-altered oceanic crust which melted or dehydrated and increasingly modified the isotopic composition of an original mantle protolith situated above the subducting plate. The data preclude any significant input to the magmatism from ancient crust. New data presented here, together with other published data, indicate an immature metavolcanic crustal source for the Matum Das pluton, and a plutonic basement crustal source for the Indus Confluence acid sheets. These crustally derived units retain a mantle isotopic signature indicating that the geochemical signature of Kohistan evolved by remobilization of recently formed arc crust in addition to new inputs of mantle-derived magma. A fifth plutonic unit (the Parri acid sheets) shows a clear compositional break from the other units, being significantly enriched in radiogenic Sr and Nd with respect to bulk earth. The source to the Parri acid sheets is interpreted as metasedimentary rocks with a high Rb/Sr ratio and a crustal residence time of c. 70 Ma.