The Salt Range,the Kashmir Syntaxis and the Pamir Arc

The enigmatic Salt Range of Pakistan is suggested to have been rotated about 75° counter-clockwise from an original position in line with the main Himalayan front, about a pole near the eastern end of the Range. Rotation was a consequence of the creation of the Pamir Arc by major block movements in Central Asia which also produced the Kashmir Syntaxis. Although direct palaeomagnetic testing of the hypothesis is not possible, Cambrian pole positions obtained from the Purple Sandstone and Salt Pseudomorph Beds of the Salt Range lie anomalously on the Precambrian part of the apparent polar wander curve for Gondwanaland. These revert to positions in correct chronological sequence on that curve if rotation is allowed for.