Significant boron isotopic fractionation in the magmatic evolution of Himalayan leucogranite recorded in multiple generations of tourmaline

Abstract The late-stage evolution of leucogranite magmas and related magmatic-hydrothermal processes which could lead to rare-metal mineralization are still poorly studied in the Himalayas. Since tourmaline is among the minerals that are present in evolved granites of the Himalayas, the geochemistry of this mineral, and in particular the boron isotopic composition, is a powerful tool to trace evolution processes and sources of these magmas. This study focuses on the analysis of tourmalines in the Gurla Mandhata tourmaline leucogranites (GMTL) from the northwest of the Himalayan orogen. Two generations of tourmaline show clear differences in texture, major element, and B isotopic compositions. Early-stage tourmalines have high-Mg# [Mg/(Mg + Fe) 0.39–0.45] and occur as inclusions in late-stage tourmalines [Mg# 260 data points) in magmatic tourmaline from eight Himalayan leucogranite bodies systematically shows a similar bimodal distribution (i.e., with peaks at −7‰ and − 13‰), implying that this significant B isotopic fractionation may be a common scenario during magma evolution of the Himalayan leucogranites. However, multiple magma sources with contrasting B isotopic compositions cannot be fully ruled out for explaining the bimodal distribution of B isotopic composition. Combining our results with Sr Nd isotopic and other geochemical characteristics of the Himalayan leucogranites, we propose that the granitic magmas with high δ11B originated either from fluid-present melting involving boron-rich fluids, or more probably from dehydration melting of the Greater Himalayan Sequence that had been metasomatized by boron-rich fluids. The geological context implies that these fluids were probably derived from dehydration of mica-rich rocks from the Lesser Himalayan Sequence underlying the Greater Himalayan Sequence.