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Early-Middle Miocene paleodrainage and tectonics in the Pakistan Himalaya

Yani Najman^,1, Eduardo Garzanti^,2, Malcolm Pringle^,3, Mike Bickle^,4, John Stix^,5 and Imran Khan^,6

¹ Department of Geology and Geophysics, Edinburgh University, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK
² Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Geotecnologie, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milan, Italy
³ Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, UK
⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
⁵ Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, McGill University, 3450 University Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7, Canada
⁶ Sedimentary Geology Division, Geological Survey of Pakistan, Sariab Road, Quetta, Pakistan

The 18–14 Ma Kamlial Formation Himalayan foreland basin sedimentary rocks in the Chinji Village region, Potwar Plateau, Pakistan, are characterized by: (1) lithofacies indicative of deposition by a large river; (2) a dominant magmatic arc provenance completely unlike the ‘recycled orogen’ foreland basin deposits stratigraphically below, above, or coeval with these rocks; and (3) subordinate contribution from a rapidly exhuming source, interpreted as either the Nanga Parbat Haramosh Massif or the southern margin of the Asian crust. The start of Kamlial Formation deposition at this locality at 18 Ma marks a major break with the older Murree Formation rocks, which were deposited by rivers draining predominantly the Himalayan thrust stack south of the arc. We interpret this change as the result of diversion of the paleo-Indus River to its present position, which crosses the Kohistan arc and Himalayas and debouches into the foreland. If the rapidly exhuming subordinate source region were the Nanga Parbat Haramosh Massif, then initiation of its uplift would have resulted in significant arc detritus to the basin as the overlying arc carapace was exhumed. As the carapace was progressively breached, arc material would have become a less substantial component of detritus to the basin, consistent with the reported petrography of the overlying Siwalik deposits.

Key Words: Himalaya • Indus River • detrital minerals • exhumation • foreland basin • Nanga Parbat

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