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Felsic magmatisms in the north of Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ) in Ladakh range of northwest Indian Himalaya, referred herein Ladakh granitoids (LG), and associated magmatic rocks constitute the bulk of the Ladakh batholith. They have been characterized as Andean-type, calc-alkaline, largely metaluminous (I-type) to a few peraluminous (S-type) granitoids derived from partial melting of subducting materials. The LG can be broadly classified into coarse-grained facies with abundant mafics (hbl-bt), medium-grained facies with low content of mafics, and fine-grained leucocratic facies with very low amount of mafics. Mesocratic to melanocratic, rounded to elliptical, fine to medium grained, mafic to hybrid microgranular enclaves (ME) are ubiquitous in medium to coarse-grained LG. ME are absent or rare in the leucocratic variety of LG. In this paper different types of ME, and their field relation and microstructures with respect to felsic host LG are documented from northwestern, central, southeastern parts of the Ladakh batholith. Rounded to elongate ME of variable sizes (a few cm to metres across, mostly d<30 cm) commonly having sharp, crenulate, and occasionally diffuse contacts of ME with felsic host LG suggest that several pulses of crystal-charged mafic and felsic magmas coexisted, hybridized, and co-mingled into subvolcanic settings. Occurrence of composite ME (several small mafic ME enclosed into large porphyritic ME) strongly point to multiple mafic to hybrid magma intrusions into partly crystalline LG magma chambers. Synplutonic mafic dykes disrupted to form subrounded to angular (brecciated) mafic ME swarms commonly disposed in strike-length suggest mafic magma injections at waning stage of felsic magma evolution with large rheological contrasts. Pillowing of mafic melt against leucocratic (aplitic) residual melt strongly suggests mafic magma intrusion in nearly-crystallized condition of pluton. Although common mineral asemblages (hbl-bt-pl-kfs-qtz-ap-zrn-mt±ilm) of ME (diorite, quartzdiorite) and host LG (granodiorite, monzogranite) may relate to their cogenetic relation, fine to medium grained porphyritic (hybrid) nature and lack of cumulate texture of ME strongly oppose cognate origin for ME. Presence of plagioclase xenocrysts, quartz ocelli and accicular apatite in porphyritic ME strongly indicate mingling and undercooling of hybridized ME globules into relatively crystal-charged cooler host LG magma. Grain size differences of some ME, except to those of porphyritic ones, appear related to varying degrees of undercooling of ME most likely controlled by their variable sizes. Several smaller ME, however, lack fine-grained chilled margin probably because of their likely disaggregation from a large size ME during the course of progressive hybridization (mingling to mixing) leaving behind trails of mafic schlieren. Field and microstructural evidences at least suggest that Ladakh granitoids and their microgranular enclaves are products of multistage magma mingling and mixing processes concomitant fractional differentiation of several batches of mafic and felsic magmas formed in open magma chamber(s) of subduction setting.

Keywords

Field-Petrography, Microgranular Enclaves, Ladakh Granitoids, Northwest Higher Himalaya.

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