|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
,1,11 Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1567, USA
Regional mapping of a north-south traverse from the India-Nepal-China border junction to Mount Kailas in southwest Tibet—combined with previously published geochronologic and stratigraphic data—is the basis for an incremental restoration of the Tethyan fold-thrust belt and deformation along the Indus-Yalu suture zone. From north to south, the major structural features are (1) the Indus-Yalu suture zone, composed of five south-dipping thrust faults involving rocks interpreted to represent parts of the former Indian passive margin and Asian active margin, (2) the Tethyan fold-thrust belt, composed of a dominantly north-dipping system of imbricate thrust faults involving Precambrian through Upper Cretaceous strata, and (3) the Kiogar-Jungbwa thrust sheet. A line-length cross-section reconstruction indicates a minimum of 176 km of north-south horizontal shortening partitioned by the Tethyan fold-thrust belt (112 km) and Indus-Yalu suture zone (64 km). Sequential restoration of the cross section shows that the locus of shortening prior to the late Oligocene occurred significantly south (possibly >60 km) of the Indus-Yalu suture zone within the Tethyan fold-thrust belt and that a significant amount of unsubducted oceanic lithosphere was present south of the suture in southwest Tibet until that time. An implication of this result is that postcollision (Oligocene/Miocene) high-K, calc- alkaline magmatism may be explained by melting due to active subduction of oceanic crust beneath the Kailas magmatic complex until the late Oligocene. A regional profile across the Tibetan-Himalayan orogen from the Subhimalaya to the Gangdese Shan (Transhimalaya), along with previously reported shortening estimates in the central Himalaya, yields a minimum shortening estimate across the orogen of 
750 km.
Key Words: Tethys • Himalayan orogeny • Tibetan plateau • suture zones • thrust faults
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. E. Saylor, J. Quade, D. L. Dettman, P. G. DeCelles, P. A. Kapp, and L. Ding The late Miocene through present paleoelevation history of southwestern Tibet Am J Sci, January 1, 2009; 309(1): 1 - 42. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Singh, A. K. Jain, and M. E. Barley SHRIMP U-Pb c. 1860 Ma anorogenic magmatic signatures from the NW Himalaya: implications for Palaeoproterozoic assembly of the Columbia Supercontinent Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2009; 323(1): 283 - 300. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. M. Robinson Forward modeling the kinematic sequence of the central Himalayan thrust belt, western Nepal Geosphere, October 1, 2008; 4(5): 785 - 801. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. A. Murphy Isotopic characteristics of the Gurla Mandhata metamorphic core complex: Implications for the architecture of the Himalayan orogen Geology, November 1, 2007; 35(11): 983 - 986. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P.G. DeCelles, P. Kapp, L. Ding, and G.E. Gehrels Late Cretaceous to middle Tertiary basin evolution in the central Tibetan Plateau: Changing environments in response to tectonic partitioning, aridification, and regional elevation gain Geological Society of America Bulletin, May 1, 2007; 119(5-6): 654 - 680. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. M. Robinson, P. G. DeCelles, and P. Copeland Tectonic evolution of the Himalayan thrust belt in western Nepal: Implications for channel flow models Geological Society of America Bulletin, July 1, 2006; 118(7-8): 865 - 885. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. M. Harrison Did the Himalayan Crystallines extrude partially molten from beneath the Tibetan Plateau? Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2006; 268(1): 237 - 254. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. P. Searle, R. D. Law, and M. J. Jessup Crustal structure, restoration and evolution of the Greater Himalaya in Nepal-South Tibet: implications for channel flow and ductile extrusion of the middle crust Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2006; 268(1): 355 - 378. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. DRAGANITS, B. GRASEMANN, and C. HAGER Conjugate, cataclastic deformation bands in the Lower Devonian Muth Formation (Tethyan Zone, NW India): evidence for pre-Himalayan deformation structures Geological Magazine, November 1, 2005; 142(6): 765 - 781. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. J. Martin, P. G. DeCelles, G. E. Gehrels, P. J. Patchett, and C. Isachsen Isotopic and structural constraints on the location of the Main Central thrust in the Annapurna Range, central Nepal Himalaya Geological Society of America Bulletin, July 1, 2005; 117(7-8): 926 - 944. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. L. Booth, P. K. Zeitler, W. S.F. Kidd, J. Wooden, Y. Liu, B. Idleman, M. Hren, and C. P. Chamberlain U-Pb zircon constraints on the tectonic evolution of southeastern Tibet, Namche Barwa Area Am J Sci, December 1, 2004; 304(10): 889 - 929. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. C. Aitchison, A. M. Davis, A. V. Abrajevitch, J. R. Ali, Badengzhu, J. Liu, H. Luo, I. R. C. McDermid, and S. V. Ziabrev Stratigraphic and sedimentological constraints on the age and tectonic evolution of the Neotethyan ophiolites along the Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone, Tibet Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2003; 218(1): 147 - 164. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
