Electron microprobe dating of monazites from an ultrahigh-temperature granulite in Southern India: Implications for the timing of Gondwana assembly

We report here monazite geochronology oil a newly discovered high pressure (HP) and ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) granulite locality at Thoppur Within the Palghat-Cauvery Shear Zone system in Southern India. In situ dating of monazites associated with the UHT minerals using electron probe technique yielded PbO vs. ThO2* apparent isochron age of 544 +/- 5 Ma. This is the first Study from Southern India where older monazite cores or complex age patterns are virtually absent, and all the monazite population in the Studied samples crystallized/recrystallized during a single thermal maximum which we correlate with the timing of extreme crustal metamorphism during the final assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent.