A PETROLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE KOHISTAN MAGMATIC ARC, NW HIMALAYA, N. PAKISTAN

The Kohistan Terrane in N. Pakistan occupies the suture zone between the collided Indian and Asian plates [1] . It formed primarily as an intra\|oceanic island\|arc crust between 125 and 90Ma prior to its accretion with the Asian plate along the Shyok suture. The final obduction of Kohistan onto the Indian plate in Early Eocene ensued the principal phase of the Himalayan orogeny.A two\|fold subdivision of the rocks forming the Kohistan crust is now well established [2] . Much of the ultramafic\|mafic component of the arc crust developed in the intraoceanic setting prior to collision with Asia. Mafic\|ultramafic plutonic complexes (Jijal and Sapat), together with gabbroic\|basaltic amphibolites (Kamila belt), at the base of the arc crust, and basaltic\|boninitic volcanics (the Chalt Formation) and Jaglot\|Yasin metasediments, in the upper arc crust are representative lithologies of this tectonic setting. Post Shyok suture lithologies include ca.80～45Ma Kohistan Batholith, Early Eocene Utror\|Shamaran volcanics and sedimentary rocks deposited in Early Eocene Dir and Drosh basins in Andean\|type setting. The Chilas gabbronorite\|ultramafic complex was magmatically emplaced in the waning stages of the intraoceanic phase but preceded the onset of the Andean\|type magmatism.