Building the Hindu Kush: monazite records of terrane accretion,plutonism and the evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram–Tibet orogen

In situ U‐Th/Pb (LA‐ICP‐MS) monazite ages from the Hindu Kush of NW Pakistan provide new petrochronologic constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram–Tibet orogen. Monazites from two adjacent garnet + staurolite schist specimens yield multiple age populations that record the major Mesozoic and Cenozoic deformational, magmatic and metamorphic events along the southern margin of Eurasia. These include the accretion of the Hindu Kush–SW Pamir to Eurasia during the Late Triassic, followed by the accretion of the Karakoram terrane in the Early Jurassic. Younger Jurassic and Cretaceous ages record the development of an Andean‐style volcanic arc along the southern Eurasian margin, which ended with the docking of the Kohistan island arc and the emplacement of the Kohistan–Ladakh batholith during the Late Cretaceous. The initial Eocene collision of India with Eurasia was followed by widespread high‐temperature metamorphism and anatexis associated with crustal thickening within the Himalaya system in the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene.     

Sedimentary record of the northward flight of India and its collision with Eurasia (Ladakh Himalaya,India)

Abstract

— Stratigraphic and petrographic analysis of the Cretaceous to Eocene Tibetan sedimentary succession has allowed us to reinterpret in detail the sequence of events which led to closure of Neotethys and continental collision in the NW Himalaya.

During the Early Cretaceous, the Indian passive margin recorded basaltic magmaüc activity. Albian volcanic arenites, probably related to a major extensional tectonic event, are unconformably overlain by an Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene carbonate sequence, with a major quartzarenite episode triggered by the global eustatic sea-level fall at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. At the same time, Neotethyan oceanic crust was being subducted beneath Asia, as testified by calc-alkalic volcanism and forearc basin sedimentation in the Transhimalayan belt.

Onset of collision and obduction of the Asian accretionary wedge onto the Indian continental rise was recorded by shoaling of the outer shelf at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary, related to flexural uplift of the passive margin. A few My later, foreland basin volcanic arenites derived from the uplifted Asian subduction complex onlapped onto the Indian continental terrace. All along the Himalaya, marine facies were rapidly replaced by continental redbeds in collisional basins on both sides of the ophiolitic suture. Next, foreland basin sedimentation was interrupted by fold-thrust deformation and final ophiolite emplacement.

The observed sequence of events compares favourably with theoretical models of rifted margin to overthrust belt transition and shows that initial phases of continental collision and obduction were completed within 10 to 15 My, with formation of a proto-Himalayan chain by the end of the middle Eocene.     

印度-亚洲碰撞：从挤压到走滑的构造转换

印度-亚洲板块碰撞导致喜马拉雅山脉的崛起、青藏高原的生长、两倍于正常地壳厚度的巨厚陆壳体,以及大量青藏高原腹地的物质沿着大型走滑断裂朝东、东南、西的方向逃逸。印度-亚洲碰撞如何造成板块汇聚边界由挤压到走滑的构造转换对认识大陆岩石圈的变形机制具有重要意义。本文通过总结喜马拉雅造山带及青藏东南缘~55Ma以来的构造、变质、岩浆记录,发现高喜马拉雅的挤出起始于始新世加厚的喜马拉雅造山带中—下地壳的部分熔融,受控于渐新世以来同期发育的向南逆冲和平行造山带的韧性伸展,并建立了高喜马拉雅"三维挤出"构造模式。晚始新世以来,羌塘地块和拉萨地块的物质通过"岩石圈横弯褶皱和壳内解耦"的运动学机制,围绕东构造结发生顺时针旋转并向青藏高原东南缘逃逸。结合东南亚板块重建的资料,我们认为:印度-亚洲的"陆-陆碰撞"到印度洋板块-亚洲东南大陆的"洋-陆俯冲"的转换是导致从印度-亚洲主碰撞带的挤压到青藏东南缘走滑转换的根本原因。     

Break Up of Australia-India-Madagascar Block, Opening of the Indian Ocean and Continental Accretion in Southeast Asia With Special Reference to the Characteristics of the Peri-Indian Collision Zones

Linear belts of Gondwana basins developed in the Indian continent since Late Palaeozoic along favoured sites of Precambrian weak zones like cratonic sutures and reactivated mobile belts. The Tibetan and Sibumasu - West Yunnan continental blocks, that were located adjacent to proto-Himalayan part of the Indian continent, rifted and drifted from the northern margin of the East Gondwanic Indo-Australian continent, during Late Palaeozoic, when the said northern margin was under glacial or cool climatic condition and rift-drift tectonic setting. The Indo-Burma-Andaman (IBA), Sikule, Lolotoi blocks were also rifted and drifted from the same northern margin during Late Jurassic. This was followed by the break-up of the Australia-India-Madagascar continental block during the Cretaceous. The activity was associated with hot spot related volcanism and opening up of the Indian Ocean. The Late Cretaceous and Tertiary phases of opening of the Arabian Sea succeeded the Early Cretaceous phase of opening of the Bay of Bengal, part of the Indian Ocean. The Palaeo- and Neo-Tethyan sutures in Tibet, Yunnan, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam reveal the complex opening and closing history of the Tethys. The IBA block rotated clockwise from its initial E-W orientation because of 90°E and adjacent dextral transcurrent fault movements caused due to faster northward movement of the Indian plate relative to that of Australia. The India-Tibet terminal collision during Early-Middle Eocene initiated Himalayan orogenesis and contemporaneously there was foreland basin development that was accompanied with sporadic but laterally extensive continental-flood-basalt (CFB) type and related volcanism. The Paleogene rocks of the Himalayan foreland basin are involved in tectonism and are mostly concealed under older rocks.

The Mesozoic-Early Eocene ophiolite terrane on IBA does not represent the eastern suture of the Indian plate but occurs as klippe on IBA, caused due to oblique collision between Sibumasu and IBA during Late Oligocene. Post-collisional indentation of Y-shaped Indian continent into the Asian collage produced Himalayan syntaxes, clockwise rotation of the Sibumasu block which was then sutured to the Tibetan and SE Asian blocks, and tectonic extrusion of the Indochina block along the Ailao Shan Red River (ASRR) shear zone. Highly potassic magmatic rocks were emplaced during Late Palaeogene at the oroclinally flexed marginal parts of the South China continental lithosphere. These magmatic bodies were dislocated by the ASRR left lateral shear zone soon afterwards. Petrogenetic and tectonic processes that generated the Eocene CFB volcanics at the Himalayan foreland basin may have also produced Late Palaeogene magmatism from outer parts of the Namche-Barwa Syntaxis. Their site-specific location and time sequence suggest them to be genetically related to the India-Asia collision process and Indian continent's indentation-induced syntaxial buckling. Deep mantle-reaching fractures were apparently produced during India-Asia terminal collision at the strongly flexed leading brittle edge of the Indian continental lithosphere, and possibly later in time at the outer oroclinally bent marginal parts of the rigid South China continental lithosphere, generating typical magma.

The subduction zone that developed along the western margin of IBA due to oblique convergence between the IBA and the Indian plate is still active. The northern end of IBA ultimately collided with the NE prolongation of the Indian continent and was accreted to it during Mio-Pliocene. The Shillong massif was uplifted and overthrust over the Bengal Basin located over its passive margin to the south, whereas, the Eocene distal shelf sediments of IBA were overthrust over the Tertiary shelf of the Indian continent.     

The longest voyage: Tectonic,magmatic, and paleoclimatic evolution of the Indian plate during its northward flight from Gondwana to Asia

The tectonic evolution of the Indian plate, which started in Late Jurassic about 167 million years ago (~ 167 Ma) with the breakup of Gondwana, presents an exceptional and intricate case history against which a variety of plate tectonic events such as: continental breakup, sea-floor spreading, birth of new oceans, flood basalt volcanism, hotspot tracks, transform faults, subduction, obduction, continental collision, accretion, and mountain building can be investigated. Plate tectonic maps are presented here illustrating the repeated rifting of the Indian plate from surrounding Gondwana continents, its northward migration, and its collision first with the Kohistan–Ladakh Arc at the Indus Suture Zone, and then with Tibet at the Shyok–Tsangpo Suture. The associations between flood basalts and the recurrent separation of the Indian plate from Gondwana are assessed. The breakup of India from Gondwana and the opening of the Indian Ocean is thought to have been caused by plate tectonic forces (i.e., slab pull emanating from the subduction of the Tethyan ocean floor beneath Eurasia) which were localized along zones of weakness caused by mantle plumes (Bouvet, Marion, Kerguelen, and Reunion plumes). The sequential spreading of the Southwest Indian Ridge/Davie Ridge, Southeast Indian Ridge, Central Indian Ridge, Palitana Ridge, and Carlsberg Ridge in the Indian Ocean were responsible for the fragmentation of the Indian plate during the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous times. The Réunion and the Kerguelen plumes left two spectacular hotspot tracks on either side of the Indian plate. With the breakup of Gondwana, India remained isolated as an island continent, but reestablished its biotic links with Africa during the Late Cretaceous during its collision with the Kohistan–Ladakh Arc (~ 85 Ma) along the Indus Suture. Soon after the Deccan eruption, India drifted northward as an island continent by rapid motion carrying Gondwana biota, about 20 cm/year, between 67 Ma to 50 Ma; it slowed down dramatically to 5 cm/year during its collision with Asia in Early Eocene (~ 50 Ma). A northern corridor was established between India and Asia soon after the collision allowing faunal interchange. This is reflected by mixed Gondwana and Eurasian elements in the fossil record preserved in several continental Eocene formations of India. A revised India–Asia collision model suggests that the Indus Suture represents the obduction zone between India and the Kohistan–Ladakh Arc, whereas the Shyok-Suture represents the collision between the Kohistan–Ladakh arc and Tibet. Eventually, the Indus–Tsangpo Zone became the locus of the final India–Asia collision, which probably began in Early Eocene (~ 50 Ma) with the closure of Neotethys Ocean. The post-collisional tectonics for the last 50 million years is best expressed in the evolution of the Himalaya–Tibetan orogen. The great thickness of crust beneath Tibet and Himalaya and a series of north vergent thrust zones in the Himalaya and the south-vergent subduction zones in Tibetan Plateau suggest the progressive convergence between India and Asia of about 2500 km since the time of collision. In the early Eohimalayan phase (~ 50 to 25 Ma) of Himalayan orogeny (Middle Eocene–Late Oligocene), thick sediments on the leading edge of the Indian plate were squeezed, folded, and faulted to form the Tethyan Himalaya. With continuing convergence of India, the architecture of the Himalayan–Tibetan orogen is dominated by deformational structures developed in the Neogene Period during the Neohimalayan phase (~ 21 Ma to present), creating a series of north-vergent thrust belt systems such as the Main Central Thrust, the Main Boundary Thrust, and the Main Frontal Thrust to accommodate crustal shortening. Neogene molassic sediment shed from the rise of the Himalaya was deposited in a nearly continuous foreland trough in the Siwalik Group containing rich vertebrate assemblages. Tomographic imaging of the India–Asia orogen reveals that Indian lithospheric slab has been subducted subhorizontally beneath the entire Tibetan Plateau that has played a key role in the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. The low-viscosity channel flow in response to topographic loading of Tibet provides a mechanism to explain the Himalayan–Tibetan orogen. From the start of its voyage in Southern Hemisphere, to its final impact with the Asia, the Indian plate has experienced changes in climatic conditions both short-term and long-term. We present a series of paleoclimatic maps illustrating the temperature and precipitation conditions based on estimates of Fast Ocean Atmospheric Model (FOAM), a coupled global climate model. The uplift of the Himalaya–Tibetan Plateau above the snow line created two most important global climate phenomena—the birth of the Asian monsoon and the onset of Pleistocene glaciation. As the mountains rose, and the monsoon rains intensified, increasing erosional sediments from the Himalaya were carried down by the Ganga River in the east and the Indus River in the west, and were deposited in two great deep-sea fans, the Bengal and the Indus. Vertebrate fossils provide additional resolution for the timing of three crucial tectonic events: India–KL Arc collision during the Late Cretaceous, India–Asia collision during the Early Eocene, and the rise of the Himalaya during the Early Miocene.     

Mesozoic to Cenozoic tectono‐metamorphic history of the South Pamir–Hindu Kush (Chitral,NW Pakistan): Insights from phase equilibria modelling,and garnet–monazite petrochronology

The Karakoram–Hindu Kush–Pamir and adjacent Tibetan plateau belt comprise a series of Gondwana‐derived crustal fragments that successively accreted to the Eurasian margin in the Mesozoic as the result of the progressive Tethys ocean closure. These domains provide unique insights into the thermal and structural history of the Mesozoic to Cenozoic Eurasian plate margin, which are critical to inform the initial boundary conditions (e.g. crustal thickness, structure and thermo‐mechanical properties) for the subsequent development of the large and hot Tibetan–Himalaya orogen, and the associated crustal deformation processes. Using a combination of microstructural analyses, thermobarometry modelling and U–Th–Pb monazite and Lu–Hf garnet geochronology, the study reappraises the metamorphic history of exposed mid‐crustal metapelites in the Chitral region of the South Pamir–Hindu Kush (NW Pakistan). This study also demonstrates that trace elements in monazite (especially Y and Dy), combined with thermodynamical modelling and Lu–Hf garnet dating, provides a powerful integrated toolbox for constraining long‐lived and polyphased tectono‐metamorphic histories in all their spatial and temporal complexity. Rocks from the Chitral region were progressively deformed and metamorphosed at sub‐ and supra‐solidus conditions through at least four distinct episodes from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic. Rocks were first metamorphosed at ~400–500°C and ~0.3 GPa in the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic (210–185 Ma), likely in response to the accretion of the Karakoram during the Cimmerian orogeny. Pressure and temperature subsequently increased by ~0.3 GPa and 100°C in the Early‐ to Mid Cretaceous (140–80 Ma), coinciding with the intrusion of calcalkaline granitic plutons across the Karakoram and Pamir regions. This event is interpreted as the record of crustal thickening and the development of a proto‐plateau within the Eurasian margin due to a long‐lived episode of slab flattening in an Andean‐type margin. Peak metamorphism was reached in the Late Eocene–Early Oligocene (40–30 Ma) at conditions of 580–600°C and ~0.6 GPa and 700–750°C and 0.7–0.8 GPa for the investigated staurolite schists and sillimanite migmatites respectively. This crustal heating up to moderate anatexis likely resulted in the underthrusting of the Indian plate after a NeoTethyan slab‐break off or to the Tethyan Himalaya–Lhasa microcontinent collision and subsequent oceanic slab flattening. Near‐isothermal decompression/exhumation followed in the Late Oligocene (28–23 Ma) as marked by a pressure decrease in excess of ~0.1 GPa. This event was coeval with the intrusion of the 24 Ma Garam Chasma leucogranite. This rapid exhumation is interpreted to be related to the reactivation of the South Pamir–Karakoram suture zone during the ongoing collision with India. The findings of this study confirm that significant crustal shortening and thickening of the south Eurasian margin occurred during the Mesozoic in an accretionary‐type tectonic setting through successive episodes of terrane accretions and probably slab flattening, transiently increasing the coupling at the plate interface. Moreover, they indicate that the south Eurasian margin was already hot and thickened prior to Cenozoic collision with India, which has important implications for orogen‐scale strain‐accommodation mechanisms.     

STRUCTURAL AND THERMAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTH ASIAN CONTINENTAL MARGIN ALONG THE KARAKORAM AND HINDU KUSH RANGES,NORTH PAKISTAN

STRUCTURAL AND THERMAL EVOLUTION OF THE SOUTH ASIAN CONTINENTAL MARGIN ALONG THE KARAKORAM AND HINDU KUSH RANGES,NORTH PAKISTAN     

Sedimentology, petrography and tectonic significance of the shelf, flysch and molasse clastic deposits across the Indus Suture Zone, Ladakh, NW India

In the Ladakh area of India, a passive Triassic to Lower Cretaceous continental margin is indicated by Indian-shield-derived clastics on the shelf and Atlantic-type turbidites off the continental margin. Mid-Cretaceous initiation of ocean closing is reflected in Pacific-type flysch and associated island are volcanics, which were initially emplaced over the northern Indian continental margin in late Cretaceous times-resulting in the formation of a fore-deep in which flysch and minor continental molasse accumulated briefly during the late Cretaceous. These transient uplifts were, however, rapidly destroyed for by the latest Cretaceous to latest Palaeocene, uniform carbonate sediments were being laid down over the area.

With the early Eocene, the development of a second fore-deep, this time filled with very thick flysch and molasse sediment, indicates a major uplift of the northern Indian margin, which we attribute to the development of an Andean-type magmatic arc on the northern edge of the Indian plate. Uplift and molasse sedimentation in this fore-deep continued through the Oligocene and Miocene, when the collision of India and Asia caused extensive deformation of all the sequences and the shift of molasse sedimentation southwards to the Himalaya foothills and Indo-Gangetic plain.     

冈底斯弧的岩浆作用：从新特提斯俯冲到印度亚洲碰撞

位于青藏高原南部的冈底斯岩浆弧形成于中生代新特提斯大洋岩石圈的长期俯冲过程中,而且在印度与亚洲大陆碰撞过程中叠加了强烈的新生代岩浆作用,是世界上典型的复合型大陆岩浆弧,已经成为研究汇聚板块边缘岩浆作用和大陆地壳生长与再造的天然实验室。基于对现有研究成果的总结,我们将冈底斯岩浆弧的岩浆构造演化划分为5个阶段：第1阶段发生在晚白垩世之前,以新特提斯洋岩石圈长期正常俯冲和钙碱性弧岩浆岩的发育为特征;第2阶段发生在晚白垩世时期,以活动的新特提斯洋中脊发生俯冲和强烈的岩浆作用与显著的新生地壳生长为特征;第3阶段发生在晚白垩世晚期,以残余的新特提斯大洋岩石圈俯冲和正常弧型岩浆作用为特征;第4阶段发生在古新世至中始新世,以印度与亚洲大陆碰撞、俯冲的新特提斯洋岩石圈回转和断离,及其诱发的幔源岩浆作用、新生和古老地壳的强烈再造为特征;第5阶段为发生在晚渐新世到中中新世的后碰撞阶段,深俯冲印度岩石圈的回转和断离,或加厚岩石圈地幔的对流移去导致了加厚下地壳的部分熔融和埃达克质岩石的广泛发育,同时伴随幔源钾质超钾质岩浆作用。冈底斯弧岩浆作用与岩浆成分的系统时空变化很好地记录了从新特提斯洋俯冲到印度亚洲大陆碰撞的完整构造演化过程。     

西宁和贵德盆地新生代沉积物重矿物变化对构造活动的响应

位于青藏高原东北缘的西宁、贵德盆地的新生代沉积序列较完整的记录了盆地周围物源区构造变形过程。重矿物是碎屑物质的重要组成部分,是最直观、有效揭示源区母岩、构造-沉积过程的重要手段。通过重矿物的系统分析,结合沉积-构造变形,揭示出始新世-上新世末西宁-贵得盆地及其源区经历了几个构造活动阶段:古新世-始新世早期的隆升阶段、始新世中期-渐新世晚期的构造稳定阶段、渐新世末-中新世初的构造隆升阶段、中中新世构造稳定阶段和晚中新世以来的强烈隆升阶段。并结合特征矿物（绿泥石）及古水流分析,推断古近纪西宁-贵德盆地是东昆仑山前一个统一盆地。中新世早期青藏高原的扩张导致了拉脊山开始隆起,使原型盆地解体;约8.5 Ma以来拉脊山强烈隆升,两侧盆地逐渐转变为山间盆地。这为正确理解青藏高原东北缘盆山格局的形成和演化提供了重要依据。     

Active tectonics of the Himalaya

The Himalayan mountains are a product of the collision between India and Eurasia which began in the Eocene. In the early stage of continental collision the development of a suture zone between two colliding plates took place. The continued convergence is accommodated along the suture zone and in the back-arc region. Further convergence results in intracrustal megathrust within the leading edge of the advancing Indian plate. In the Himalaya this stage is characterized by the intense uplift of the High Himalaya, the development of the Tibetan Plateau and the breaking-up of the central and eastern Asian continent. Although numerous models for the evolution of the Himalaya have been proposed, the available geological and geophysical data are consistent with an underthrusting model in which the Indian continental lithosphere underthrusts beneath the Himalaya and southern Tibet. Reflection profiles across the entire Himalaya and Tibet are needed to prove the existence of such underthrusting. Geodetic surveys across the High Himalaya are needed to determine the present state of the MCT as well as the rate of uplift and shortening within the Himalaya. Paleoseismicity studies are necessary to resolve the temporal and spatial patterns of major earthquake faulting along the segmented Himalayan mountains.     

The age and nature of Mesozoic-Tertiary magmatism across the Indus Suture Zone in Kashmir and Ladakh (N. W. India and Pakistan)

We report the following new⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages: 130–150 and 90–100 Ma from monzodiorite and tremolite-actinolite schist of the Kohistan Complex; 44±0.5, 39.7±0.2 Ma from dikes cutting the Ladakh-Deosai Batholith Complex; 130–145 Ma from a diorite in the Shyok melange; and 7.8±0.1 Ma from a late stage monzogranite of the Kärakorum Batholith. A 261±13 Ma age from gneiss of the Karakorum Batholith is of uncertain significance. These dates, previously published ones which we summarize here, and some Sr isotope data suggest the following, (due to subduction switching between the Indian and Asian margins during closing of the Tethys ocean): Late Cretaceous emplacement of the Dras-Kohistan Cretaceous Island arc, followed by rapid cooling between abut 85 and 45 Ma. A quiet phase tectonically on the northern Indian plate during the Palaeocene to early Eocene, when subduction was occurring on the Asian margin. Further southward thrusting of the Indian continental margin associated with the development of an Andean-type arc (the Ladakh-Desosai Batholiths) on the northern Indian margin during the Eocene. An Oligocene Andean arc (the Karakorum Batholiths) on the Asian margin, followed by Miocene collision of the two continents and intrusion of ‘true’ granites derived from partial melting of continental crust.     

南海中部西区新生代构造演化规律与盆地形成演化动力学机制探讨

本文以现代构造地质与地球动力学理论为指导,利用平衡剖面技术对南海中部西区进行了构造演化特征及演变史的恢复,制作了其上下构造层的构造纲要图,划分了南海中部西区新生代以来经历的三大构造演化阶段:(1)裂陷阶段;(2)坳陷阶段;(3)区域沉降。并指出了其动力学机制:始新世末,印度板块与欧亚板块发生碰撞产生的远距离效应以及渐新世西太平洋板块向东亚大陆边缘产生的俯冲效应是南海中部西区新生代构造演化的主要动力学机制。     

南海北部白垩纪—渐新世早期沉积环境演变及构造控制*

南海北部珠江口—琼东南盆地白垩系—下渐新统记录了华南大陆边缘从主动陆缘向被动陆缘的转换过程。基于盆地构造-地层、单井相、地震相等特征的综合分析,结合南海中南部的沉积环境和区域构造演化,探讨南海北部白垩纪—渐新世早期的沉积环境演变及构造控制背景。研究发现: (1)南海北部白垩系广泛分布,古新统分布极为有限; 始新世早-中期,琼东南盆地只在部分凹陷深部发育了小规模的滨浅湖相和扇三角洲相沉积,珠江口盆地白云凹陷以大规模发育的湖泊相为特征; 始新世晚期—渐新世早期,琼东南盆地和珠江口盆地白云凹陷都受到海侵作用的影响,以海岸平原相和滨浅海相为主。 (2)构造演变包括5期:包括白垩纪安第斯型大陆边缘的“弧—盆”体系发育期,古新世区域隆升剥蚀山间盆地发育期,始新世早-中期裂陷发育,始新世晚期—渐新世早期陆缘破裂期,渐新世晚期东部海盆稳定扩张期。最后,探讨了南海盆地中生代末/新生代初的动力学转换过程及特征。     

The Role of India-Asia Collision in the Amalgamation of the Gondwana-Derived Blocks and Deep-Seated Magmatism During the Paleogene at the Himalayan Foreland Basin and Around the Gongha Syntaxis in the South China Block

Southeast Asia comprises collage of continental blocks that were rifted out in phases from the northern parts of the Gondwanic Indo-Australian continent during the Paleozoic-Mesozoic time and were accreted through continental collision process following closure of the Paleo- and Neo-Tethys. The South China and Indo-China blocks were possibly rifted during early Palaeozoic, whereas, the Tibetan and SIBUMASU blocks were rifted during Permo-Carboniferous when the said margin was under glacial and/or cool climatic condition. The Indo-Burma-Andaman (IBA), Sikule, Lolotoi blocks were also rifted from the same Indo-Australian margin but during late Jurassic. This was followed by break-up of the Indian and the Australian continents during early Cretaceous. The opening of the Indian Ocean during the Tertiary was synchronous with closing of the Tethys.India-Asia collision during early-middle Eocene was a mega tectonic event. Apart from initiating the Himalayan orogeny and the eastward strike-slip extrusion of the Indochina block from the Southeast Asian continental collage along the Ailao Shan — Red River shear zone, it also caused early-mid Eocene continental-flood-basalt activity in the Himalayan foreland basin. Indian continent's post-collisional indentation-induced syntaxial buckling of Asian continental collage at its eastern end possibly caused late Paleogene highly potassic magmatism around the Gongha syntaxial area that was located close to the sutured margin of South China continent with Indochina block at the outer fringe of Namche Barwa syntaxis. These magmatic bodies are soon after left-laterally displaced by the Ailao Shan — Red River shear zone. The nature and chemistry of magma at these two settings indicate that both groups result from similar petrogenetic and tectonic processes representing deep-seated melts due to mantle decompression. Some deep faults produced at the edge of flexed Indian continental lithosphere and responsible for the development of the foreland basin may have produced continental-flood-basalt and related magma by decompressional melting of enriched sub-continental mantle. The site-specific location and time sequence of magmatism from the marginal parts of South China continent and located at the outer fringe of Namche Barwa syntaxis are strongly significant. It suggests that these magmatic bodies may also be genetically related to the India-Asia collision process and indentation-induced syntaxial buckling of upper mantle beneath the marginal parts of the South China rigid continent.     

Early Cenozoic Tectonics of the Tibetan Plateau

Geological mapping at a scale of 1:250000 coupled with related researches in recent years reveal well Early Cenozoic paleo-tectonic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. Marine deposits and foraminifera assemblages indicate that the Tethys-Himalaya Ocean and the Southwest Tarim Sea existed in the south and north of the Tibetan Plateau, respectively, in Paleocene-Eocene. The paleooceanic plate between the Indian continental plate and the Lhasa block had been as wide as 900km at beginning of the Cenozoic Era. Late Paleocene transgressions of the paleo-sea led to the formation of paleo-bays in the southern Lhasa block. Northward subduction of the Tethys-Himalaya Oceanic Plate caused magma emplacement and volcanic eruptions of the Linzizong Group in 64.5-44.3 Ma, which formed the Paleocene-Eocene Gangdise Magmatic Arc in the north of Yalung-Zangbu Suture (YZS), accompanied by intensive thrust in the Lhasa, Qiangtang, Hoh Xil and Kunlun blocks. The Paleocene-Eocene depression of basins reached to a depth of 3500-4800 m along major thrust faults and 680-850 m along the boundary normal faults in central Tibetan Plateau, and the Paleocene-Eocene depression of the Tarim and Qaidam basins without evident contractions were only as deep as 300-580 m and 600-830 m, respectively, far away from central Tibetan Plateau. Low elevation plains formed in the southern continental margin of the Tethy-Himalaya Ocean, the central Tibet and the Tarim basin in Paleocene-Early Eocene. The Tibetan Plateau and Himalaya Mts. mainly uplifted after the Indian-Eurasian continental collision in Early-Middle Eocene.     

Mesozoic neo-tethyan pre-orogenic deep marine sediments along the Indus–Yarlung Suture,Himalaya

Shelf, forereef and basin margin (slope) olistoliths (Exotic blocks of limestone) of Permian–Jurassic age are tectonically juxtaposed within the Triassic to Eocene age pre-orogenic, deep abyssal plain turbidites of the Lamayuru. The pre-collision tectonic setting and depositional environment of the limestone olistoliths can be reconstructed from within the neighbouring Zanskar range. The disorganized Ophiolitic Melange Zone, an association of different tectonic rock slivers of Jurassic–Eocene age, is tectonically underlain by the overthrusted Lamayuru Formation and tectonically overlain by the Nindam Formation. Tectonic slivers of Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous age red radiolarian cherts represent a characteristic lithotectonic unit of the Ophiolitic Melange Zone, those occurring near the contact zone with the Lamayuru Formation, were deposited within the neo-Tethyan deep-ocean floor of the Indian passive margin below the carbonate compensation depth. These tectonic slivers accumulated along the northern margin of the Indus–Yarlung Suture Zone of the Ladakh Indian Himalaya during subduction accretion associated with the initial convergence of the Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate.     

Late Cretaceous ophiolite obduction and Paleocene India-Asia collision in the westernmost Himalaya

Abstract

Collision of the Kohistan island arc with Asia at ~100 Ma resulted in N-S compression within the Neo-Tethys at a spreading center north of the Indo-Pakistani craton. Subsequent India-Asia convergence converted the Neo-Tethyan spreading center into a short-lived subduction zone. The hanging wall of the subduction zone became the Waziristan, Khost and Jalalabad igneous complexes. During the Santonian- Campanian (late Cretaceous), thrusting of the NW IndoPakistani craton beneath Albian oceanic crust and a Cenomanian volcano-sedimentary complex, generated an ophiolite-radiolarite belt. Ophiolite obduction resulted in tectonic loading and flexural subsidence of the NW Indian margin and sub-CCD deposition of shelf-derived olistostromes and turbidites in the foredeep. Campanian-Maastriehtian calci- clastic and siliciclastic sediment gravity flows derived from both margins filled the foredeep as a huge allochthon of Triassic-Jurassic rise and slope strata was thrust ahead of the ophiolites onto the Indo-Pakistani craton. Shallow to intermediate marine strata covered the foredeep during the late Maastrichtian. As ophiolite obduction neared completion during the Maastrichtian, the majority of India-Asia convergence was accommodated along the southern margin of Asia. During the Paleocene, India was thrust beneath a second allochthon that included open marine middle Maastrichtian colored mélange which represents the Asian Makran-Indus-Tsangpo accretionary prism. Latérites that formed on the eroded ophiolites and structurally higher colored mélange during the Paleocene wei’e unconformably overlapped by upper Paleocene and Middle Eocene shallow marine limestone and shale that delineate distinct episodes of Paleocene collisional and Early Eocene post-collisional deformation.     

Collisional emplacement history of the Naga-Andaman ophiolites and the position of the eastern Indian suture

Dismembered late Mesozoic ophiolites occur in two parallel belts along the eastern margin of the Indian Plate. The Eastern Belt, closely following the magmatic arc of the Central Burma Basin, coincides with a zone of high gravity. It is considered to mark a zone of steeply dipping mafic–ultramafic rocks and continental metamorphic rocks, which are the locus of two closely juxtaposed sutures. In contrast, the Western Belt, which follows the eastern margin of the Indo-Burma Range and the Andaman outer-island-arc, broadly follows a zone of negative gravity anomalies. Here the ophiolites occur mainly as rootless subhorizontal bodies overlying Eocene–Oligocene flyschoid sediments. Two sets of ophiolites that were accreted during the Early Cretaceous and mid-Eocene are juxtaposed in this belt. These are inferred to be westward propagated nappes from the Eastern Belt, emplaced during the late Oligocene collision between the Burmese and Indo-Burma-Andaman microcontinents.Ophiolite occurrences in the Andaman Islands belong to the Western Belt and are generally interpreted as upthrust oceanic crust, accreted due to prolonged subduction activity to the west of the island arc. This phase of subduction began only in the late Miocene and thus could not have produced the ophiolitic rocks, which were accreted in the late Early Eocene.     

SUBDUCTION AND ACCRETION TECTONICS OF HIMALAYAN AND KARAKORAM TERRANES AND THEIR PALAEOGEOLOGIC CONFIGURATION

he 2500km long Indus\|Tsangpo Suture has been recognized as one of the best examples of continent to continent collisional Suture Zone. It has come into existence as a result of subduction followed by continental collision (55～60Ma) between Indian (Sinha, 1989, 1997; Sinha et al., 1999) and Eurasian plates. While considering the recent palaeogeographic reconstruction of Pangea during late Palaeozoic it appears that a southern belt of Asian microcontinents stretching from Iran and Afghanistan through southern Tibet to western Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra, comprise several continental blocks and numerous fragments that have coalesced since the Mid\|Palaeozoic along with the closure of Tethys. The origin, migration, assembly and timing of accretion of all these blocks to their present geotectonic position is not well known and there is no Permo—Triassic crust left in the present day Indian Ocean. The oldest ocean crust adjacent to the west African and Antarctic margin is of early or middle Cretaceous age (approximately 140～100Ma) (Searle, 1991). The Karakoram\|Hindukush microplate in the west and the Qiangtang\|Lhasa block in the central and eastern segment of South Asia margin are among those blocks already welded with Asian plates around 120～130Ma ago, before the collision of India (55～60Ma) with the collage of plates forming Peri\|Gondwanian microcontinents. But the reconstruction of palaeogeographic configuration remain incomplete due to paucity of authentic geologic information available from Karakoram, Pamir and Western Tibet. Prior to our discovery no early Permian plant remains and palynomorphs were ever reported from Karakoram terrane. Our discovery of Early Permian remains and late Asselian (about 280～275Ma) palynomorphs provides crucial clue regarding the palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Karakoram\|Himalayan block in the Permian time.