Paleomagnetic and plate tectonic constraints on the movement of Tibet

The paleomagnetic results from Tibet, north of the Yarlung-Zang bo suture zone, show that Tibet was at about 15°–20°N in Middle Cretaceous time. It then moved south down to 7°–10°N in the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene. The oceanic crust of the Xigaze ophiolites was magnetized at 13°N but thereafter migrated further south. This movement is compared with the relative movement of India and Asia as deduced from magnetic anomalies and paleomagnetism. Experimental models on deformation help us to explain how Tibet moved during the Late Cretaceous under the constraint of the Africa-Arabia indenter and during the Upper Tertiary under the constraint of the Indian indenter.