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Abstract:
The granites are exposed at Dubair and Shang respectively in the north and south of Besham, northern Pakistan. The two exposures are very similar in terms of field features, petrographic details, petrogenetically important geochemical parameters and, more importantly, crystallization temperatures and ages. All this strongly suggests that granites at the two locations are co-genetic and represent two widely separated exposures of the same predominantly un-exposed large intrusion. The Dubair-Shang granites are mostly mega-porphyritic; however evenly fine grained massive and foliated to gneissose varieties also occur at places. The studied samples essentially consist of perthitic feldspar, plagioclase and quartz together with substantial quantities of biotite, minor to accessory amphibole, and accessory to trace amounts of ilmenite, apatite, epidote, titanite and zircon. The amphibole is ferro-edenite and ferro-pargasite while the biotite is markedly Fe-rich and thus approaches annite in composition. The Dubair-Shang granites are per-aluminous, magnesian to ferroan and alkali-calcic to alkalic in composition. Variations in major and trace element contents indicate evolution of the Dubair-Shang intrusion through magmatic differentiation involving early fractionation of amphibole, plagioclase, ilmenite and apatite at 850–890 °C temperature, 6–8 kb pressure and low fO2. The relatively higher amounts of SiO2, Th, U, ΣREE, greater LREE/HREE ratios, and higher negative Eu anomaly, lower average MgO, Fe2O3, CaO, TiO2, P2O5, Nb, Sr, Ba in the Shang than Dubair samples indicate that the exposure at Shang largely represents more evolved part of the intrusion. The chemical details of biotite and calcic amphibole, whole-rock major and trace element contents including both HFSE and LILE, higher ΣREE and general REE patterns and high magma temperature (averg. Zr Tsat = 834 ± 24 °C) all endorse A-type affinity of the granites and suggest their solidification from a largely crust-derived melt emplaced during Paleo-Proterozoic at 20−30 km depth in post-orogenic realm.
