Constraints on the timing of the India‐Asia collision and unroofing history of the Himalayan orogen using detrital zircon U‐Pb‐Hf and whole‐rock Sr‐Nd isotopes in Cretaceous‐Miocene Lesser Himalayan sedimentary rocks

Cretaceous‐Miocene sedimentary rocks in the Nepalese Lesser Himalaya provide an opportunity to decipher the timing of India‐Asia collision and unroofing history of the Himalayan orogen, which are significant for understanding the growth processes of the Himalayan‐Tibetan orogen. Our new data indicate that detrital zircon ages and whole‐rock Sr‐Nd isotopes in Cretaceous‐Miocene Lesser Himalayan sedimentary rocks underwent two significant changes. First, from the Upper Cretaceous‐Palaeocene Amile Formation to the Eocene Bhainskati Formation, the proportion of late Proterozoic‐early Palaeozoic zircons (quantified by an index of 500–1200 Ma/1600–2800 Ma) increased from nearly 0 to 0.7–1.4, and the percentage of Mesozoic zircons decreased from ca. 14% to 5–12%. The whole‐rock 87Sr/86Sr and εNd(t = 0) values changed markedly from 0.732139 and −17.2 for the Amile Formation to 0.718106 and −11.4 for the Bhainskati Formation. Second, from the Bhainskati Formation to the lower‐middle Miocene Dumri Formation, the index of 500–1200 Ma/1600–2800 Ma increased to 2.2–3.7 and the percentage of Mesozoic zircons abruptly decreased to nearly 0. The whole‐rock 87Sr/86Sr and εNd(t = 0) values changed significantly to 0.750124 and −15.8 for the Dumri Formation. The εHf(t) values of Early Cretaceous zircons in the Taltung Formation and Amile Formation plot in the U‐Pb‐εHf(t) field of Indian derivation, whereas εHf(t) values of Triassic‐Palaeocene zircons in the Bhainskati Formation demonstrate the arrival of Asian‐derived detritus in the Himalayan foreland basin in the Eocene based on available datasets. Our data indicate that (1) the timing of terminal India‐Asia collision was no later than the early‐middle Eocene in the central Himalaya, and (2) the Greater Himalaya served as a source for the Himalayan foreland basin by the early Miocene. When coupled with previous Palaeocene‐early Eocene provenance records of the Tethyan Himalaya, our new data challenge dual‐stage India‐Asia collision models, such as the Greater India Basin hypothesis and its variants and the arc–continent collision model. Simplified palaeogeographic framework of the Himalayan orogen and Indus‐Yarlung suture zone denoting provenance changes in sedimentary rocks in the TH, LH and Sub‐Himalaya and tectonic evolution of the Himalayan orogen from the initial India‐Asia collision to the early‐middle Miocene.