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Abstract Zircon grains from the metasedimentary lower crust of the Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico, preserve a metamorphic record of the transition from Laramide compression to Eocene extension. Zircon U‐Pb isotopes and trace‐element concentrations from five two‐pyroxene metaigneous granulite xenoliths define discrete populations: older zircon cores (∼15–50 Ma) that are depleted in heavy rare‐earth elements (HREE) but Ti‐rich, and younger zircon rims (∼3–15 Ma) with elevated HREE and lower Ti concentrations. Coupled phase equilibria and garnet‐melt‐zircon trace‐element partitioning calculations show that the older zircon cores equilibrated in thick (>40 km), hot (800–900°C), garnet‐bearing lower crust during the cessation of compression at the end of the Laramide orogeny. Zircon rim domains equilibrated at lower pressures, consistent with >9 km of thinning of the lower crust. Thermal‐kinematic calculations show that these pressure‐temperature‐time constraints require thinning of the lithospheric mantle prior to and during regional Cenozoic extension. Convective erosion of the mantle lithosphere over tens of millions of years, possibly facilitated by dynamics of the Farallon slab, provides a mechanism to facilitate lower crustal heating and extension.