identification of inherited radiogenic pb in monazite and its implications for u pb systematics the simplest interpretation of uranium lead mineral ages in igneous rocks embodies the assumption that melting of pre existing rocks leads to homogenization of the lead isotopes thus resetting the radiometric clock zircons often violate this assumption by only partially dissolving and preserving a component of lead inherited from before the melting episode but until now such behaviour has not been observed in monazite here we report u pb data for zircons and monazites from a tertiary granite from the himalayas in which zircons and monazites contain inherited radio genic lead an analysis of a single entirely igneous zircon crystal plots on concordia at 19 5 0 4 myr eight monazite fractions lie on a line from an upper intercept of 471 10 myr to the youngest fraction which plots slightly above concordia at 21 myr the presence of excess 206pb in the youngest monazite fractions indi cates that the monazite data represent a mixing line between young magmatic monazite and an older inherited component rather than a resetting of 471 myr monazites at 20 myr these data suggest a closure temperature for pb in monazite significantly higher than previously published estimates

isotopic constraints on the structural relationships between the lesser himalayan series and the high himalayan crystalline series garhwal himalaya nd and sr isotope systematics may provide important constraints on the location of major thrust systems that separate lithologically similar sedimentary sequences the potential of the technique is illustrated by this isotopic study of the main central thrust system of the himalaya nd isotope data from the garhwal himalaya indicate that metasedimentary rocks from the vaikrita group nd 14 to 19 correlate closely with those from the high himalayan crystalline series which constitutes the hanging wall lithologies of the main central thrust in contrast metasedimentary rocks from the munsiari group nd 23 to 28 show marked similarities to the lesser himalayan series in the footwall of the main central thrust sr isotopes support the correlations in that the vaikrita group shows partial reequilibration at 500 ma whereas the munsiari group has not undergone sr isotope homogenization since 1800 ma thus the vaikrita thrust that juxtaposes these two formations is recognized as the main central thrust in garhwal himalaya the thrust coincides approximately with the location of the kyanite isograd confirming that inverted metamorphism is characteristic of both hanging wall and footwall of the main central thrust along the tons thrust known locally as the srinagar thrust 50 km south of the main central thrust low grade quartzarenites with nd sr isotope and trace element characteristics typical of lesser himalayan formations have been emplaced on phyllites and siltstones with geochemical characteristics of the high himalayan crystalline series the field relationships most probably result from out of sequence thrusting in which lesser himalayan series rocks to the north were emplaced over low grade equivalents of the high himalayan crystalline series preserved in the external part of the orogen this study establishes the value of isotope data for lithostratigraphic correlations within orogenic belts

age and cooling history of the manaslu granite implications for himalayan tectonics abstract the manaslu granite is one of the high himalayan leucogranites which are believed to be derived by partial melting of quartzofeldspathic gneissess of the high himalayan crystallines hhc and emplaced at the contact between the hhc and the tethyan sedimentary series we have analyzed a suite of muscovite 15 biotite 3 and alkali feldspar 10 by the 40 ar 39 ar method to help constrain the age and cooling history of the granite 40 ar 39 ar ages ranges are 18 4 to 13 3 ma 17 0 to 14 7 and 16 4 to 3 4 for muscovite biotite and k feldspar respectively based on the muscovite analyses and a re interpretation of a previously published u pb monazite age we conclude that the crystallization age of the manaslu granite is everywhere 20 ma the postcrystallization cooling history given by the micas and the feldspars suggests the presently exposed parts of the pluton were emplaced at depths of 8 to 15 km these data place a minimum age of movement on the mct in this area of 20 ma we estimate the time of magma segregation and transport to be no more than 5 ma

etude petro structurale des chevauchements ductiles himalayens sur la transversale de l everest makalu nepal oriental tectonic and microtectonic data in eastern nepal indicate that the major observed thrusting 100 km on the main central thrust mct postdates the barrovian metamorphism of the high himalaya gneisses this result at variance with the famous reverse metamorphism model better explains the abnormal metamorphic superpositions in the himalayas and accounts for the lack of high pressure assemblages under the thick allochtonous high himalaya tibetan slab pressure and temperature estimates by microprobe analysis on plagioclase biotite garnet kyanite sillimanite and cordierite assemblages are presented for samples collected along the mct shear zone and across the gneiss slab in the everest makalu area since there is very little difference in pressure at the front of the slab kathmandu klippe and its root these estimates support the existence of important late metamorphic thrusting the decrease of pressure towards the top of the gneiss pile combined with a small temperature increase explains the k

thermotectonic history of the chiplakot crystalline belt in the lesser himalaya kumaon india constraints from apatite fission track thermochronology abstract fission track ages and confined track length distribution of apatite samples separated from the chiplakot crystalline belt ccb of the lesser himalayan crystalline lhc zone located to the south of the main central thrust mct munsiari thrust mt in kumaon india have been determined ages from the ccb along the kali and darma valleys fall in two distinct groups in the northern part of the ccb the ages range from 9 8 0 6 to 7 6 0 6 ma with a weighted mean of 9 6 0 1 ma while in the southern part the ages vary from 17 9 0 9 to 12 9 1 1 ma with a weighted mean of 14 1 0 1 ma the bimodal distribution of track lengths indicates that the ages are mixed ages rather than simple cooling ages the apatite fission track aft ages and already published structural data of the ccb suggest a complex erosional denudation history within the upper 3 4 km of the crust of the ccb the ages further indicate that the ccb was thrust into place earlier than the middle miocene i e at the time of development of the mct since then these rocks have remained within the upper 3 km of crust and were affected by only moderate to slow erosion and exhumation these results have important implications for the tectonic evolution of the lhc zone to the south of the mct mt the exhumation of the lhc zone in different parts of the himalaya was not uniform in the kumaon himalaya it was not controlled as in the himachal himalaya by any major tectonic event since it was thrust over the lesser himalayan meta sedimentary lhms zone and underwent moderate to slow erosion and exhumation

an early pliocene thermal disturbance of the main central thrust central nepal implications for himalayan tectonics since the beginning of the collision between india and asia at about 50 ma the convergence in the himalaya has largely been taken up along major thrust zones in this study samples of the lesser himalaya formations up to 10 km below the main central thrust mct and the greater himalaya sequence up to 12 km above the mct have been analyzed by the 40ar 39ar and u pb methods to investigate the thermal history of the mct the ages can be summarized as follows 1 the youngest ages from muscovites 3 1 ma biotites 3 4 ma and hornblendes 4 1 ma all come from within 1 km of the mct 2 there is a marked asymmetry of ages between the footwall and the hanging wall of the mct the maximum mica age in the hanging wall greater himalaya sequence is 13 ma whereas a muscovite 5 km below the mct in the footwall has an age spectrum with a gradient from 400 to 1400 ma 3 five k feldspars from 6 2 to 11 9 km above the mct all give minimum ages in the range 3 0 6 4 ma and 4 a 206pb 238u age on a brannerite from the greater himalayan sequence is 4 8 ma structural and petrologic observations preclude the possibility that this age distance distribution reflects faulting within the greater himalaya sequence and production of the necessary thermal energy by shear heating requires unrealistically high shear stresses infiltration of hot fluids through the mct zone appears to be the best hypothesis to explain these data simple numerical simulations which account for heat transfer by advection within the fluid flow zone and by conduction outside it indicate that the observed age distribution could have been produced by infiltration of hot fluids through the mct zone at circa 5 to 4 ma within the following range of conditions the fluids heated rocks to temperatures in the range 470 to 510 c for less than 1 million years in a region narrower than the entire mct zone the temperature of the thermal disturbance inferred from the 40ar 39ar data is consistent with petrologic data from albitic alteration assemblages in the greater himalaya sequence and the u pb age of the brannerite is similar to the youngest 40ar 39ar hornblende age this scenario hydrothermal heating culminating at about 4 ma is similar to the model of le fort 1981 for the generation of the high himalayan leucogranites in the late oligocene early miocene by dehydration of the footwall rocks of an active thrust in the younger instance we interpret that fluids derived from the footwall rocks of the main boundary thrust migrated upward through the lesser himalaya formations and were subsequently channeled along the mct producing the thermal disturbance

the tectonostratigraphy and structure of the eastern nepal himalaya six years of geological research in eastern nepal has resulted in a new geological map of the eastern nepal himalaya which includes the region stretching from the sikkhim border in the east to the kathmandu valley in the west and from the summits of the higher himalaya in the north to the ganges plain in the south this research has permitted the determination of the tectonostratigraphy and structure of one section of the central himalayan arc south of the tibetan plateau the eastern nepal himalaya can be divided into three distinct thrust bound tectonic packages 1 the higher himalayan thrust sheet composed of the higher himalayan crystallines 2 the lesser himalayan thrust sheet composed of the lesser himalayan series and 3 the sub himalayan imbricate zone composed of sedimentary rocks belonging to the siwalik group the higher himalayan thrust sheet of eastern nepal has been thrust over the lesser himalayan metasediments a minimum of 140 km and possibly as much as 175 210 km along the main central thrust mct the lesser himalayan thrust sheet is overlain by the mct and is underlain by the main detachment fault mdf and the main boundary thrust mbt out of sequence thrust faults in the hanging wall of the mbt have breached and offset the presently inactive mct the sub himalayan imbricate zone is an emergent imbricate fan bounded by the mbt to the north and the main frontal thrust mft to the south and is underlain by the mdf which lies at a depth of between 5 km and 7 km a balanced cross section constructed across the higher lesser and sub himalaya of eastern nepal shows that the eastern nepal himalayan orogenic wedge has undergone a minimum of between 210 and 280 km of horizontal north south tectonic shortening since the initiation of the mct the lesser and sub himalaya have absorbed 70 km of north south shortening by thrusting along the basal mdf of which the sub himalayan imbricate zone has accommodated 25 km the sun kosi thrust has accommodated about 10 km and the mbt has accommodated the remaining 35 km of shortening since the initiation of the mct between 15 ma and 25 ma shortening across the eastern nepal himalaya has occurred at an average rate of 8 4 18 6 mm per year the structural geometry of the eastern nepal himalaya suggests an overall piggyback sequence of thrusting with motion transferred from the mct to the underlying mdf and its emergent splay thrust the mbt and with the mbt rotated to its present steep orientation by imbricate thrusting within the sub himalaya

spatiotemporal variation in exhumation of the crystallines in the nw himalaya india constraints from fission track dating analysis abstract during himalayan orogeny coeval thrusting along the main central munsiari thrust mct mt and extension along the south tibetan detachment system stds are widely responsible for rapid exhumation of the higher himalayan crystalline hhc zone apatite and zircon fission track data along the kaliganga and darma valleys in the kumaon himalaya serve to document the shallow bedrock exhumation history of the hhc taking into account sample location within the hhc with respect to the mct mt the apatite fission track aft data sets along the darma 1 0 0 1 to 2 8 0 3 ma and kaliganga 1 4 0 2 to 2 4 0 3 ma which are sharing same structural setting and rock types and being separated by 40 km show very similar patterns of exhumation histories since plio quaternary in the kumaon himalaya data sets along darma and kaliganga are very similar to data set of adjacent traverse 50 km away along the goriganga valley studied by patel and carter 2009 whole data sets within the hhc in kumaon himalaya provide clear evidence for plio quaternary tectonic activity along the vaikrita thrust vt precipitation in this region exerts a strong influence on erosional surface processes fluvial erosional unloading along the himalaya is focused on the high mountainous region of the hhc where the orographic barrier forces out the maximum percentage of annual rainfall ft cooling ages reveal coincidence between rapid erosion and exhumation that is focused in a 25 30 km wide sector of the hhc rather than covering the entire orogen similarity of aft age pattern and exhumation rates along all three major traverses goriganga darma and kaliganga indicates that the region has been experiencing constant rate of crustal uplift and erosion since long time comparison of fission track ages from the kumaon himalaya with other segments of the nw himalaya shows spatiotemporal variation in exhumation it is described due to the development of local structures such as dome window in jammu and kashmir and himachal himalayas and quaternary active thrusting along the vt and mct mt in the garhwal kumaon himalaya

cenozoic anatexis and exhumation of tethyan sequence rocks in the xiao gurla range southwest tibet article i nfo in order to advance our understanding of the suturing process between continental landmasses a geologic and geochronologic investigation was undertaken just south of the india asia suture in southwestern tibet the focus of this study the xiao gurla range is located near the southeastern terminus of the active right lateral strike slip karakoram fault in southwestern tibet the range exposes metasandstone phyllite schist locally of sillimanite facies calc gneiss and marble paragneiss pyroxene quartzite metagranite and variably deformed leucogranite these metamorphic rocks are exposed in the footwall of a domal top to the west low angle normal detachment fault structurally beneath neogene quaternary basin fill and serpentinized ultramafic rocks of the kiogar jungbwa ophiolite the detachment is interpreted to be the northeastern continuation of the gurla mandhata detachment fault system that bounds metamorphic rocks of the gurla mandhata range 60 km to the southwest u pb geochronology on five detrital zircon samples of schist phyllite and quartzite yielded maximum depositional ages that range from 644 363 ma and age probability distributions that are more similar to tethyan sequence rocks than lesser himalayan sequence rocks a felsic gneiss yielded a metamorphic zircon age of 35 3 0 8 ma with a significant population of early paleozoic xenocrystic core ages the gneiss is interpreted to be the metamorphosed equivalent of the cambro ordovician gneiss that is exposed near the top of the greater himalayan sequence leucogranitic bodies intruding metasedimentary footwall rocks yielded two distinct u pb zircon ages of 23 ma and 15 ma locally rocks exposed in the hanging wall of this fault and of the southward dipping northward verging great counter thrust to the north consist of serpentinite bearing melange and conglomerate of inferred paleogene age dominated by carbonate clasts the melange is intruded by a 44 ma granite and the stratigraphically highest conglomerate unit yielded detrital zircon u pb ages similar to tethyan sequence rocks we attribute the middle eocene magmatism south of the suture to break off of the neo tethyan oceanic slab in addition our observations are consistent with the late eocene shortening and crustal thickening within the tethyan himalayan sequence early middle miocene leucogranite emplacement being related to underthrusting and melting of the greater and possibly lesser himalayan sequences and late miocene arc parallel extension in the hinterland of the southward propagating himalayan thrust belt

young eclogite from the greater himalayan sequence arun valley eastern nepal p t t path and tectonic implications abstract garnet geochronology was used to provide the first direct measurement of the timing of eclogitization in the central himalaya lu hf dates from garnet separates in one relict eclogite from the arun river valley in eastern nepal indicate an age of 20 7 0 4 ma significantly younger than ultra high pressure eclogites from the western himalaya reflecting either different origins or substantial time lags in tectonics along strike four proximal garnet amphibolites from structurally lower horizons are 14 15 ma similar to post eclogitization ages published for rocks along strike in southern tibet p t calculations indicate three metamorphic episodes for the eclogite i eclogite facies metamorphism at 670 c and 15 kbar at 23 16 ma ii a peak t granulite event at 780 c and 12 kbar and iii late stage amphibolite facies metamorphism at 675 c and 6 kbar at 14 ma the garnet amphibolites were metamorphosed at 660 c three models are considered to explain the observed p t t evolution the first assumes that the main himalayan thrust basal thrust of the himalayan thrust system cuts deeper at arun than elsewhere while conceptually the simplest this model has difficulty explaining both the granulite facies overprint and the pulse of exhumation between 25 and 14 ma a second model assumes that aborted subduction slab breakoff and ascent of india s leading edge occurred diachronously 50 ma in the western himalaya 25 ma in the central himalaya of nepal and presumably later in the eastern himalaya this model explains the p t t path particularly heating during initial exhumation but implies significant along strike diachroneity which is generally lacking in other features of the himalaya a third model assumes repeated loss of mantle lithosphere first by slab breakoff at 50 ma and again by delamination at 25 ma this model explains the p t t path but requires geographically restricted tectonic behavior at arun the p t t history of the arun eclogites may imply a change in the physical state of the himalayan metamorphic wedge at 16 25 ma ultimately giving rise to the main central thrust by 15 16 ma

metamorphic response to collision in the central himalayan orogen abstract closure of the neotethys ocean and high angle continent continent collision between india and asia after about 55 ma resulted in low angle subduction of the indian plate below the tibetan plateau and by 30 ma established an arcuate 2300 km long shallow north dipping metamorphic fold thrust belt in the foreland this himalayan metamorphic front quickly established an upper plate lower plate paired metamorphic architecture centred on the median high himal thrust that largely controlled subsequent evolution the upper plate is a thick slab of high t moderate p high grade migmatized metamorphic rocks whereas the lower plate is an inverted series of moderate t high p schists in two crustal wedges the broad main central thrust zone and at lowest structural levels the footwall below the basal main central thrust spatial and temporal patterns of metamorphic response in the evolving himalayan metamorphic front has been characterized in a large scale integrated structural metamorphic study based on 8 profiles across eastern nepal metamorphic response at all structural levels is established using a large dataset n 160 of internally consistent quantitative pt determinations petrology of metapelite samples semi quantitative p t paths metamorphic mapping and metamorphic field gradients these results are integrated with previously published metamorphic studies structural profiles and metamorphic chronology from these datasets the architecture and evolution of the himalayan metamorphic front is constrained by rock kinematics metamorphic field gradients showing discontinuities and diachronous metamorphism with contrasting p t evolutions at different structural levels each of the three panels constituting the himalayan metamorphic front upper plate main central thrust zone and footwall experienced distinctly different tectono metamorphic histories crustal processes operating during metamorphism and exhumation differ between the upper and lower plates the upper plate experienced long lived metamorphism starting from at least 28 38 ma and tracking low p t clockwise p t paths that culminated at 19 27 ma in peak high grade condition with 27 31 c km thermal regimes protracted high grade conditions produced significant partial melt which facilitated gravity driven southward extrusion involving internal ductile flow processes southward extrusion of the upper plate was accommodated by coeval reverse movement on the high himal thrust and top down to the north normal reactivation of the south tibet detachment system between 22 10 ma transport of this thick slab to the south resulted in further prograde burial of the lower plate below culminating in peak metamorphism at the highest pressures attained in the lower plate rocks the lower plate consists of at least two deeply buried 7 5 9 4 kb crustal wedges both of which experienced steep p t hairpin clockwise p t paths with isothermal decompression the main central thrust zone experienced 20 26 c km metamorphism at 12 22 ma and was exhumed along the basal main central thrust after 11 ma whereas loading by the main central thrust zone gave rise to further prograde burial of the footwall which experienced 16 21 c km metamorphism at 4 10 ma and was exhumed along the main boundary thrust at 3 9 ma in contrast to the upper plate both crustal wedges were exhumed by a process of out wedging which involved upthrusting along basal and internal thrusts with coeval extensional slip in the hanging walls this three stage foreland propagating lateral exhumation history resulted in telescoping of the himalayan metamorphic front in concert with peak metamorphic events at different structural levels during main phase orogenesis and is not the result of superimposed retrograde reactivation of the belt

reaction progress in chloritic material an electron microbeam study of the taveyanne greywacke switzerland chlorite and associated minerals from the volcanogenic taveyanne metasediment of the western helvetic nappes switzerland were investigated by electron microprobe emp and transmission electron microscopy tem in order to determine their textural and chemical evolution during low temperature metamorphism emp analyses of chloritic material from sub greenschist facies outcrops show a decrease of si and ca na k with increasing metamorphic grade a number of conclusions may be drawn from combined tem images and analytical electron microscopy aem data 1 in diagenetic grade samples chlorite crystals observed maximum defect free distance 80 nm always contain some 1 nm layers with a maximum of 29 of all layers and less frequently some 0 7 nm berthierine like layers with increasing grade the amounts of 1 and 0 7 nm layers decrease and most chlorite from the epizone is structurally pure or contains less than 2 of 1 nm layers 2 a positive correlation was found between the amount of 1 nm layers and the ca k na content indicating that the 1 nm layers are saponite 3 observations and calculations suggest that the transformation reaction of saponite to chlorite takes place by the replacement of the interlayer cations in saponite by brucite like layers resulting in a local volume decrease in contrast the destruction of berthierine has only minor influence on the local bulk volume these results confirm recent studies which show that the change in composition measured by emp of diagenetic grade chloritic material are mainly the result of mixtures of chlorite and saponite the use of chlorite geothermometry in such systems is greatly influenced by the presence of saponite and hence is not based on reaction equilibria even though temperatures calculated in this study agree with temperatures derived from other methods therefore chlorite evolution should be treated as a kinetically controlled grade indicator and developed as a qualitative scale similar to the illite crystallinity index

orogen parallel ductile extension and extrusion of the greater himalaya in the late oligocene and miocene 1 predominant stretching structures in the greater himalayan crystalline complex ghc trend perpendicular to the belt and are linked to the southward exhumation or emplacement of the ghc between the south tibet detachment std and the main central thrust however our field investigations in southern tibet reveal the widespread presence of gently dipping shear zones with a penetrative orogen parallel stretching lineation which separates the tethyan himalayan sequence and the underlying ghc the shear zones are well preserved in the upper part of the ghc south to and structurally lower than the std field criteria microstructures and quartz fabrics indicate top to the east shearing in the yadong shear zone eastern ghc coexistence of top to the east and top to the west shearing in the nyalam shear zone central ghc but top to the west shearing in the pulan shear zone western ghc characteristic microstructures and slip systems of quartz in the high grade ghc rocks resulted from the lateral flow under upper amphibolite up to 650 700 c to greenschist facies conditions u pb ages of metamorphic zircon rims by sensitive high resolution ion microprobe shrimp and laser ablation multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la mc icp ms analyses yield 28 26 ma for the initiation of the yadong and nyalam shear zones and 22 15 ma for the activation of the pulan shear zone in addition 40ar 39ar cooling ages of biotite and muscovite suggest cessation of ductile sharing at 13 11 ma on the yadong shear zone which is coeval with the activation of the std combined with previous studies we propose that initiation of orogen parallel extension marks the transition from burial crustal thickening to exhumation of the ghc due to lateral crustal thickness gradients in a thickened crust orogen parallel gravitational collapse occurred within the convergent himalayan orogen in the late oligocene miocene this tectonic denudation triggered and enhanced partial melting and ductile extrusion of the ghc in the miocene

late neogene environmental changes in the central himalaya related to tectonic uplift and orbital forcing the linkage between tectonic forces and climate evolution remains a matter of much debate and speculation here we present high resolution oxygen and carbon isotope data from an ancient lake basin in the central himalaya these data together with sedimentologic evidence reveal major changes in drainage systems and depositional settings at 7 2 5 5 and 3 2 ma these environmental changes appear to be driven by regional scale tectonics the oxygen isotope record also reveals alternating wet and dry climates with periodicities of 24 and 100 kyr that were likely controlled by orbital forcing paleo temperatures estimated using a fossil based oxygen isotope paleo thermometer are 21 6 ca t 7 ma which is 19 6 c higher than the present day mean annual temperature in the same area the much warmer environment inferred here is consistent with fossil mammalian and pollen assemblages and sediment clay mineralogy as well as carbon isotope data from fossil tooth enamels and paleosol carbonates the estimated temperature difference would require the study area to have been raised by 2 2 5 km since 7 ma to its current elevation of 4100 4500 m above sea level this result can be interpreted as either indicating the presence of a low altitude intermountain basin in the hanging wall of the already formed main central thrust or a protracted development of a north trending rift basin that has experienced changes in drainage system and depositional environment through time

records of the evolution of the himalayan orogen from in situ th pb ion microprobe dating of monazite eastern nepal and western garhwal abstract in situ th pb monazite ages from rocks collected along two transects the dudh kosi everest eastern nepal and the bhagirathi river garhwal himalaya india perpendicular to the main central thrust mct suggest a striking continuity of tectonic events across the himalaya the youngest age reported in this study 5 9 0 2 ma mswd 0 4 from matrix monazite grains collected beneath the mct in the garhwal region is consistent with several age data from rocks at similar structural levels in central nepal providing support for widespread late miocene mct activity the lateral parallelism of orogenic events is further manifested by the 20 7 0 1 ma age of a high himalayan leucogranite from an injection complex that outcrops along the dudh kosi everest transect resembling ages of these bodies reported elsewhere the youngest monazite grain analyzed along the dudh kosi everest transect is 10 3 0 8 ma the absence of 7 3 ma monazite ages in eastern nepal may reflect a different nappe structure which obscures the reactivated ramp equivalent exposed in the garhwal and central nepal garnets from the mct hanging wall greater himalayan crystallines and footwall lesser himalaya display different major element zoning and the patterns are useful for constraining the location of the thrust system that separates the two lithologies pressure temperature paths for two upper lesser himalayan garnets that contain monazite inclusions indicate the utility of an in situ methodology to constrain the metamorphic evolution of the shear zone along the dudh kosi everest transect upper lesser himalayan monazite grains from three rocks record a clear signal at 14 5 0 1 ma mswd 8 4 and the 23 ma age that characterizes the hanging wall is notably absent monazites collected within a large scale greater himalayan crystallines fold yield the 14 ma age consistent with the structure forming due to mct related compression paleo mesoproterozoic 1407 35 ma matrix monazite grains are found within an augen gneiss unit located beneath the mct whereas cambro ordovician 436 8 548 17 ma inclusions are preserved within garnets of the greater himalayan crystallines the presence of 45 2 2 1 ma grains from lower structural levels of the greater himalayan crystallines indicates the unit realized conditions conducive for monazite growth during the eocene

mechanics of wedge shaped fault blocks 2 an elastic solution for extensional wedges listric planar low angle and high angle normal faults are common in hanging walls of detachment faults an elastic model has been developed to evaluate the role of basal friction wedge geometry pore fluid pressure within the wedge and boundary conditions applied along the wedge rear in controlling the stress distribution in an extensional fault wedge this model assumes a stress free condition on the top and fractional sliding on the base of the wedge respectively a linear variation of stress components as a function of depth along the wedge rear and a uniform horizontal stress applied on the wedge toe the model predicts that 1 for the surface slope equal to zero a thin wedge favors development of high angle and planar faults whereas a thick wedge favors development of low angle and listric normal faults variation of pore fluid pressures along the basal detachment fault hardly affects the predicted fault geometry pore fluid pressure within the wedge is critical in controlling the state of stress in the wedge higher values of the internal pore fluid pressure promote low angle normal faulting and locally high angle reverse faulting 2 variation of surface slope and the uniform horizontal normal stress applied at the wedge toe does not affect the predicted fault geometry appreciably although the distribution of deviatoric stress magnitude changes for different cases and 3 listric normal faults are predicted in all computations and the fault curvature increases as the vertical gradient of the horizontal normal stress along the wedge rear the wedge angle surface slope dip angle and the internal pore fluid pressure increase the model provides a simple conceptual guide to deciphering the formation of complex fault geometries and cross cutting relationships as a function of mechanical parameters related to geologic processes and settings for example it provides an explanation for why low angle normal faults cut high angle normal faults in hanging walls of some detachment fault systems in the u s cordillera

stratigraphy structure and tectonic evolution of the himalayan fold thrust belt in western nepal regional mapping stratigraphic study and 40ar 39ar geochronology provide the basis for an incremental restoration of the himalayan fold thrust belt in western nepal tectonostratigraphic zonation developed in other regions of the himalaya is applicable with minor modifications in western nepal from south to north the major structural features are 1 the main frontal thrust system comprising the main frontal thrust and two to three thrust sheets of neogene foreland basin deposits 2 the main boundary thrust sheet which consists of proterozoic to early miocene lesser himalayan metasedimentary rocks 3 the ramgarh thrust sheet composed of paleoproterozoic low grade metasedimentary rocks 4 the dadeldhura thrust sheet which consists of medium grade metamorphic rocks cambrian ordovician granite and granitic mylonite and early paleozoic tethyan rocks 5 the lesser himalayan duplex which is a large composite antiformal stack and hinterland dipping duplex and 6 the main central thrust zone a broad ductile shear zone the major structures formed in a general southward progression beginning with the main central thrust in late early miocene time eocene oligocene thrusting in the tibetan himalaya north of the study area is inferred from the detrital unroofing record on the basis of 40ar 39ar cooling ages and provenance data from synorogenic sediments emplacement of the dadeldhura thrust sheet took place in early miocene time the ramgarh thrust sheet was emplaced between 15 and 10 ma the lesser himalayan duplex began to grow by 10 ma simultaneously folding the north limb of the dadeldhura synform the main boundary thrust became active in latest miocene pliocene time transport of its hanging wall rocks over an 8 km high footwall ramp folded the south limb of the dadeldhura synform thrusts in the subhimalayan zone became active in pliocene time the minimum total shortening in this portion of the himalayan fold thrust belt since early miocene time excluding the tibetan zone is 418 493 km the variation depending on the actual amounts of shortening accommodated by the main central and dadeldhura thrusts the rate of shortening ranges between 19 and 22 mm yr for this period of time when previous estimates of shortening in the tibetan himalaya are included the minimum total amount of shortening in the foldthrust belt amounts to 628 667 km this estimate neglects shortening accommodated by small scale structures and internal strain and is therefore likely to fall significantly below the actual amount of total shortening

himalayan leucogranites and migmatites nature timing and duration of anatexis widespread anatexis was a regional response to the evolution of the himalayan tibetan orogen that occurred some 30 ma after collision between asia and india this paper reviews the nature timing duration and conditions of anatexis and leucogranite formation in the greater himalayan sequence ghs and compares them to contemporaneous granites in the karakoram mountains himalayan leucogranites and associated migmatites generally share a number of features along the length of the mountain front such as similar timing and duration of magmatism common source rocks and clockwise p t paths despite commonalities most papers emphasize deviations from this general pattern indicating a fine tuned local response to the dominant evolution there are significant differences in p t xh2o conditions during anatexis and timing in relation to regional decompression further to that some regions underwent a second event recording melting at low pressures zircon and monazite ages of anatectic rocks range between c 25 and 15 ma suggesting prolonged crustal melting typically a single sample may have ages covering most of this 10 ma period suggesting recycling of accessory phases from metamorphic rocks and early formed magmas recent studies linking monazite and zircon ages with their composition have determined the timing of prograde melting and retrograde melt crystallization thus constraining the duration of the anatectic cycle in some areas this cycle becomes younger down section towards the leading front of the himalayas whereas the opposite is true in other areas the relationship between granites and movement on the south tibetan detachment std reveals that fault motion took place at different times and over different durations requiring complex internal strain distribution along the himalayas the nature and fate of magmas in the ghs contrast with those in the karakoram mountains ghs leucogranites have a strong crustal isotopic signature and migration is controlled by low angle foliation leading to diffuse injection complexes concentrated below the std in contrast the steep attitude of the karakoram shear zone focused magma transfer feeding the large karakoram baltoro batholith anatexis in the karakoram involved a cretaceous calcalkaline batholith that provided leucogranites with more juvenile isotopic signatures the impact of melting on the evolution of the himalayas has been widely debated melting has been used to explain subsequent decompression or conversely decompression has been used to explain melting weakening due to melting has also been used to support channel flow models for extrusion of the ghs or alternatively to suggest it triggered a change in its critical taper in view of the variable nature of anatexis and of motion on the std it is likely that anatexis had only a second order effect in modulating strain distribution with little effect on the general history of deformation thus despite all kinds of local differences strain distribution over time was such that it maintained the well defined arc that characterizes this orogen this was likely the result of a self organized forward motion of the arc controlled by the imposed convergence history and energy conservation balancing accumulation of potential energy and dissipation independent of the presence or absence of melt

transtensional deformation in the central himalaya and its role in accommodating growth of the himalayan orogen 1 field mapping structural analysis and geochronologic data from northwestern nepal reveal major normal right slip motion along a previously unrecognized west northwest striking system of shear zones that we term the gurla mandhata humla fault system gmh the gmh obliquely cuts across the greater himalayan crystalline sequence and into the lesser himalayan imbricate thrust belt via two right step over structures the average slip direction on the gmh parallels the strike of the himalayan orogen motion along this fault system has resulted in an apparent left separation of the south tibet detachment main central thrust zone and lesser himalayan imbricate thrust belt along a north striking segment of the fault system we estimate a minimum of 21 km of net slip on the southern branch of the gmh by restoring the trace of the main central thrust zone parallel to the average slip direction on the fault taking into account slip estimates from the northern branch of the gmh yields a minimum net slip estimate of 24 4 to 32 4 km for the gmh the 232th 208pb ion microprobe monazite ages from leucogranite bodies indicate that motion on the gmh occurred after 15 ma its initiation immediately followed crustal thickening between the main central thrust zone and indus yalu suture zone motion on the gmh is contemporaneous with arc normal contraction in the southernmost himalayan orogen these observations can be explained by a model that involves foreland propagating structural systems facilitating arc normal contraction in the foreland and arc parallel extension in the hinterland that work together to maintain the arcuate shape of the himalayan orogen

oxygen isotope zoning in garnet oxygen isotope zoning was examined within garnet with the use of the stable isotope laser probe four metamorphic garnets from the regional metamorphic terrane in vermont and the skarn deposit at carr fork utah were examined and were found to be concentrically zoned in 18o values the largest variations in 18o values were observed in the regional metamorphic garnets where 18o values change by 3 per mil from core to rim these oxygen isotope zoning profiles reflect the changes in the 18o values of the rocks during garnet growth which are caused by infiltration of fluids and by dehydration reactions during metamorphism

argon behaviour in an inverted barrovian sequence sikkim himalaya the consequences of temperature and timescale on 40ar 39ar mica geochronology abstract 40 ar 39 ar dating of metamorphic rocks sometimes yields complicated datasets which are difficult to interpret in terms of timescales of the metamorphic cycle single grain fusion and step heating data were obtained for rocks sampled through a major thrust sense shear zone the main central thrust and the associated inverted metamorphic zone in the sikkim region of the eastern himalaya this transect provides a natural laboratory to explore factors influencing apparent 40 ar 39 ar ages in similar lithologies at a variety of metamorphic pressure and temperature p t conditions the 40 ar 39 ar dataset records progressively younger apparent age populations and a decrease in within sample dispersion with increasing temperature through the sequence the white mica populations span 2 9 ma within each sample in the structurally lower levels garnet grade but only 0 3 ma at structurally higher levels kyanite sillimanite grade mean white mica single grain fusion population ages vary from 16 2 3 9 ma 2 to 13 2 1 3 ma 2 from lowest to highest levels white mica step heating data from the same samples yields plateau ages from 14 27 0 13 ma to 12 96 0 05 ma biotite yield older apparent age populations with mean single grain fusion dates varying from 74 7 11 8 ma 2 at the lowest structural levels to 18 6 4 7 ma 2 at the highest structural levels the step heating plateaux are commonly disturbed temperatures 600 c at pressures of 0 4 0 8 gpa sustained over 5 ma appear to be required for white mica and biotite ages to be consistent with diffusive open system cooling at lower temperatures and or over shorter metamorphic timescales more 40 ar is retained than results from simple diffusion models suggest diffusion modelling of ar in white mica from the highest structural levels suggests that the high temperature rocks cooled at a rate of 50 80 c ma 1 consistent with rapid thrusting extrusion and exhumation along the main central thrust during the mid miocene

gravity anomalies flexure and deformation of the converging indian lithosphere in nepal and sikkim darjeeling himalayas researchers ubiquitously noted that the common processes of partitioning oblique convergence in response to drag from the trench hanging plate simultaneously produce radial slips along strike translation and extension parallel to the deformation front here we focus on the area between nepal and sikkim darjeeling himalayas and carry out gravity and finite element stress modeling of the strike orthogonal converging indian lithosphere we delineate the geometries of different layers and their interfaces through gravity modeling the optimum model parameters along with rheological parameters of different layers are used for finite element modeling finite element modeling is done with boundary conditions of keeping the upper surface free and rigidly fixing the section of the northern boundary below the main himalayan thrust we impart on its frontal section an amount of 6 1012 n m force equivalent to resistive force of the himalayan tibet system and analyze the maximum and minimum compressive stress fields evolved in the lithosphere we testify our observations with earthquake database and other geophysical and geological studies we note that an increasing flexing of the indian lithosphere beyond the main boundary thrust becomes maxima between the main central thrust and south tibetan detachment in both the areas however more steepening of the moho boundary is identified in the sikkim darjeeling himalaya this abrupt change in lithospheric geometry beneath the greater himalaya is likely correlated with the sharp elevation changes in the topography although the highest seismicity concentration is dominant in this zone the lesser and the tethys himalayas in sikkim darjeeling area also record relatively fair seismic activity more compressive stress field in different layers right within the sharp bending zone supports this observation we thus propose that the sharp bending zone beneath the greater himalaya is suffering maximum deformation and the deformation is continued in the mantle too we also identify both right lateral shear and radial vergence slip which are presumably associated with the general dynamics and kinematics of the himalaya

the hengshan low angle normal fault zone structural and geochronological constraints on the late mesozoic crustal extension in south china abstract we document in this paper a significant low angle normal fault namely the hengshan detachment fault which extends more than 150 km long in nne orientation and bounds an elongated early cretaceous basin in hunan province central south china detailed structural and geochronological analyses have been conducted along its southern segment where a well exposed 3 km thick flat ductile shear zone develops along the western margin of the hengshan granitic massif this zone is featured by shallow dipping foliations of varied trend from ne to nw which bear penetrative stretching lineations varying from nw to sw trend shear sense criteria indicate top to the nw and top to the sw motions along its northern and southern parts respectively quartz c axis orientations of mylonitic rocks from the shear zone exhibit asymmetric single or crossed girdle patterns and the distributions of fabric point maxima suggest a simultaneous operation of basal and prism slips indicating a deformation temperature ranging from 400 c to 550 c one zircon u pb age of the sheared albitite and three muscovite 40 ar 39 ar ages of the mylonitic rocks indicate that the ductile shearing initiated at 136 ma and lasted till 97 ma the zircon u pb dating results of five granitic samples from the hengshan granitic pluton yield two phases of crystallization ages of 232 228 ma and 150 151 ma respectively indicating two preceding magmatic events prior to the ductile shearing in the lower plate our structural and geochronological data allow defining the hengshan massif as an extensional dome rather than a metamorphic core complex as previously predicted due to the lack of syn tectonic plutonism and the origin of detachment fault associated with the reactivation of the inherited thrust this study provides crucial evidence for understanding how the mid upper crust deformed during the process of extension which testifies to a coeval occurrence of non coaxial deformation of the ductile flow in the middle crust and brittle faulting in the upper crust it also sheds new insights into the timing of the regional crustal extension in south china and permits to constrain its onset time to be ca 136 ma

u th pb systematics and ages of himalayan leucogranites south tibet abstract the age and origin of five leucogranites from the high and tethys himalaya and two country rock gneisses were investigated by u pb dating of zircon fractions and single grains and fractions of monazite additionally th u concentrations in whole rock powders and isotopic compositions of pb in leached k feldspars were determined monazites yield ages of 16 8 0 6 m y for the nialam migmatite granite 15 1 0 5 m y for the lhagoi kangri granite 14 3 0 6 m y for a granite from mt everest and 9 8 0 7 m y and 9 2 0 9 m y for two varieties of the maja granite these data together with monazite ages of 21 9 0 2 and 24 0 0 4 m y determined earlier on the makalu granite 1 substantiate a period of intracontinental granite emplacements from 24 to 9 m y ago i e from uppermost oligocene to late miocene times such a period of plutonic activity is consistent with the view that all these granites result from intracrustal melting following the collision of india with eurasia furthermore the individual ages together with structural relationships between granites and country rocks suggest that granite formation and tectono metamorphism occurred as alternating and strongly related processes with a periodicity of 7 to 9 m y inherited lead components present in all granite zircons point to large proportions of precambrian material in the magma source regions up to 2200 m y old th u systematics between monazite and country rocks indicate that u has been leached from most of the granites after crystallisation of monazite zircon dating of the kangmar granite gneiss which occurs in a window through the tethys himalayan sediments shows that this pluton transformed to a gneiss during the alpine orogeny crystallised in lowermost palaeozoic times 562 4 m y ago

the detrital record of orogenesis a review of approaches and techniques used in the himalayan sedimentary basins the sediment archive of material eroded from an active tectonic region and stored in adjacent basins can provide a valuable record of hinterland tectonism especially when information in the source region itself is obscured by later metamorphism or removed by tectonism or erosion using the sediment record to document tectonism is a well established approach but more recently there has been a burgeoning of the number of isotopic techniques which can be applied to detrital material in particular single grain analyses thus the scope for application of detrital studies to a number of different tectonic problems has widened considerably in this review the example of sediments eroded from the himalayan orogen and preserved in the suture zone basin foreland basin remnant ocean basins and deep sea fans is used to illustrate the approach techniques as diverse as petrography heavy mineral xrf and sr nd studies single grain dating by ar ar u pb and fission track methodologies and single grain sm nd and pb isotopic analyses are described the paper documents how the sediment record can be used to determine the thermal and tectonic evolution of the orogen constrain mechanisms of continental deformation exhumation rates and palaeodrainage

the absence of high pressure metamorphism in the inverted barrovian metamorphic sequences of the arun area eastern nepal and its tectonic implication the metamorphic pressure temperature p t conditions across the main central thrust mct in the arun area have been investigated the mct marks the tectono metamorphic boundary between the overlying high grade high himalaya crystalline sequences hhcs and the underlying low grade lesser himalaya sequences lhs the metamorphic rocks regionally preserve an inverted barrovian sequence i e intermediate p t type metamorphism devoid of previously reported high pressure metamorphism the metamorphic grade increases upwards from 670 740 c and 6 9 9 4 kbar in the mct zone and lower hhcs to 760 835 c and 10 0 11 1 kbar in the middle hhcs orthoamphibole gneisses in the middle hhcs yield prograde barrovian type metamorphism such as staurolite inclusions in garnets showing an intermediate p t gradient the differences in the tectonic setting and metamorphic evolution imply that the metamorphic units in the arun area do not correspond to the other high pressure units in eastern himalaya zircon and monazite u pb ages from kyanite gneiss of the lower hhcs reveal the mct activity associated with fluid present anatexis at ca 20 14 ma furthermore similar k ar white mica ages ca 13 7 ma in the hanging wall and footwall of the mct could represent the timing of later deformation events in shear zones or cooling possibly associated with exhumation accompanied by activities on younger structurally lower thrust faults such as the lower mct the similar p t conditions near the mct in this area could result from recrystallization during syn metamorphic thrusting whereas the middle hhcs away from the mct preserve the original barrovian metamorphic sequences related to crustal thickening this and previous studies imply that different p t profiles near the mct according to each transect observed in nepal could be apparent and the cumulative result of polyphase metamorphism

cause and effect among thrust and normal faulting anatectic melting and exhumation in the himalaya the transition from compression to extension in a regime of overall convergence in a narrow mountain belt requires a change with time in at least one of the following horizontal normal stress applied to the belt by its surroundings the distribution of shear traction on the base of the belt the constitutive relation between stress and strain rate of material in the belt itself the surface height of the belt the following processes could have caused one or other of these changes in the himalaya in miocene time and thus could have triggered the onset of extension by normal faulting on planes parallel to thrust faults that were active at the same time the shear stress on the thrust fault at the base of the himalaya could have decreased for instance because of melting on the fault plane alternatively the creation of a new deeper thrust fault and hence a new locus of convergence could have initiated extensional faulting if the distribution of shear stress on the new thrust fault were unable to support the himalaya above it the himalaya could have been weakened by an increase in pore fluid pressure for instance owing to metamorphic dehydration reactions within the wedge the himalaya could have been elevated for instance following the detachment of a tongue of mantle lithosphere from beneath it or by the underthrusting of a lens of material beneath its base the apparent simultaneity of thrust and normal faulting on nearly parallel planes of anatexis and of exhumation in the himalaya in miocene time can be explained if normal faulting was responsible for most of the exhumation and through decompression melting for anatexis existing data suggest that the most probable cause for miocene normal faulting was either uplift of the himalaya or the cessation of slip on the main central thrust at the base of the orogenic wedge and the creation of a new deeper thrust fault and a new base to the deforming himalaya 1993 the geological society

manaslu leucogranite a collision signature of the himalaya a model for its genesis and emplacement the manaslu pluton is one of 10 leucogranites that formed in the overthrusted higher himalaya after the indo eurasian collision field and analytical data indicate that the underlying migmatites of the tibetan slab may be where the leucogranitic melts were generated the himalayan crustal thrusting of a hot slab over a rather cold volcano sedimentary pile le fort 1975a provides the necessary release of fluids these fluids cross the main central thrust mct induce the partial anatexis of the overheated tibetan slab and produce a leucogranitic magma the emplacement of the magma at first is located along the main disharmonic plane above the mct between the infrastructure and the superstructure there it generates a convective hydrothermal system extending very far laterally according to the stratification of permeabilities progressive emplacement of the granite proceeds as the convected fluids including the fluids released by the saturated magma dissolve the mainly calcareous host rocks of tibetan sedimentaries a frozen image of this caving out progression is given by the extensive network of granitic dikes outside the pluton the two quite independant fluid cycles of the generation and of the emplacement were triggered or guided by the tectonics due to collision this two fold model dominated by fluid activity may be of importance for other leucogranites and granites

ductile extrusion of the higher himalayan crystalline in bhutan evidence from quartz microfabrics quartz textures measured from deformed quartz tectonites within the lesser himalaya and higher himalaya crystalline of bhutan show similar patterns orientation and distribution of the quartz crystallographic axes were used to confirm the regional shear sense the asymmetry of c axis and a axis patterns consistently indicates top to the south shearing the obliquity of the texture and the inferred finite strain plane strain to moderately constrictional suggest the strain regime had a combination of rotational and irrotational strain path in most of the samples from the bhutan himalaya the inferred deformation mechanisms suggest moderate to high temperature conditions of deformation that produced the observed crystallographic preferred orientation much higher temperature of deformation is indicated in the quartz veins from a leucogranite the observed ductile deformation is pervasively developed in the rocks throughout the investigated area the intensity of deformation increases only slightly in the vicinity of the main central thrust simultaneous southward shearing within a large part of the higher himalaya crystalline near and above the main central thrust and normal faulting across the south tibetan detachment is explained by the tectonically induced extrusion of a ductily deforming wedge the process of extrusive flow suggested here can be approximated quantitatively by channel flow models that have been used to describe subduction zone processes channel flow accounts for some observed phenomena in the himalayan orogen such as inverted metamorphic sequences near the main central thrust not related to an inversion of isotherms and the syntectonic emplacement of leucogranites into the extruding wedge locally leading to an inversion of isotherms due to heat advection

structure and tectonics of the himalaya constraints and implications of geophysical data the himalayan range is a product of continental collision between india and eurasia and for several reasons it is a logical place to examine the physical causes and mechanisms of mountain building the exceptionally high mountains and the great length of the range alone single the himalaya out as a major structural feature the convergence rate between india and eurasia of about 50 mm yr 1 minster jordan 1978 requires rapid rates of slip and the occurrence of four major earthquakes with magnitudes in excess of 8 4 in the last 100 years attests to a high level of seismicity and a rapid rate of active deformation e g richter 1958 seeber armbruster 1981 the exposures of high grade metamorphic rocks in the greater himalaya may suggest large vertical transport of lower crustal rocks e g valdiya 1980a b and the occurrences of young postcollision granites imply recent large perturbations of the temperature structure of the range e g lefort 1981 moreover as sediments derived from the himalaya fill the broad ganga basin south of the range the mountain belt simul taneously seems to override the basin e g g d johnson et al 1979 n m johnson et al 1982 as such the processes occurring now and since the collision began in the early tertiary as well as the present structure of the himalayan belt are probably similar to those at different stages of collision and mountain building in other older orogenic belts such as the appalachians the scottish and scandinavian caledonides the alps and

synconvergence flow inside and at the margin of orogenic plateaus lithospheric scale experimental approach this study investigates three dimensional flow modes of orogenic plateaus by means of physical modeling experiments consist of shortening two contiguous lithospheres of contrasting strength one being a weak plateau type lithosphere and the other a strong craton type lithosphere the lateral boundaries are either totally confined or allow escape toward a lateral foreland on one side two synconvergence flow regimes are distinguished which are governed by the balance between the gravity potential and the strength of the plateau crust and the resistance of its lateral foreland the first regime implies transversal orogen normal injection of plateau lower crust into the collision zone as a result of confinement of the plateau by an increasingly stiffer lateral boundary as a precursor mechanism to channel flow transversal injection responds to downward thickening of the plateau crust that is forcedly extruded into the orogenic wedge the second regime is that of collapse driven lateral escape of the plateau this regime is established after a threshold is attained in the interplate coupling in the collision zone which allows the gravity potential of the plateau to overcome the resistance of its lateral boundary under the collapse driven escape regime orogen parallel such as that governing tibet during the last 13 ma most of the convergence in the plateau and the top and rear of the collisional wedge is transformed into lateral flow and extension

crustal generation of the himalayan leucogranites abstract detailed studies of the himalayan two mica leucogranites such as the manaslu pluton indicate that they have very uniform mineralogical petrological and structural characteristics one can relate their occurrence to the thickest zones of the underlying tibetan slab in these zones migmatization attains its greatest development and vertical extension the granite is emplaced at first along the main disharmonic plane above the main central thrust mct at the top of the tibetan slab infrastructure ductile deformation of the granite is variable the granite being syn to late kinematic with regard to the functioning of the mct major elements are very homogeneous except for na and k implying that p t conditions of melting were relatively uniform the melted material was of a similar composition over a vast volume and the percentage of melting was small 10 15 trace elements are highly variable some are characteristic for very evolved material ta rb cs u or show the link with the tibetan slab ba sr whilst others are problematic th ree ree and th abundances being much less in the granite than in the tibetan slab imply that they have been extracted during one of the main stages of formation possibly by monazite radiogenic pb sr nd and stable o isotopes are consistent with the origin of the granite from the tibetan slab however the heterogeneous sr isotopic ratios make age dating difficult and imply poor mixing or little fluid interaction during its evolution h isotope data indicate that magmatic compositions of the main body of the manaslu granite have been preserved late or post magmatic alterations are extremely local in the main pluton to the north another belt of two mica granites occurs whose characteristics are very similar to the high himalaya belt they were probably generated in a similar way during this recent intracontinental evolution

the kangmar dome a metamorphic core complex in southern xizang tibet the kangmar metamorphic igneous complex is one of the most accessible examples of an enigmatic group of gneiss domes the north himalayan belt that lies midway between the greater himalaya and the indus tsangpo suture in southern tibet structural analysis suggests that the domal structure formed as a consequence of extensional deformation much like the tertiary metamorphic core complexes in the north american cordillera unlike its north american counterparts the kangmar dome developed in an entirely convergent tectonic setting the documentation of metamorphic core complexes in the himalayan orogen supports the emerging concept that extensional processes may play an important role in the evolution of compressional mountain belts

unroofing of the himalayas a view from apatite fission track analysis of bengal fan sediments apatite fission track analysis of early miocene to quaternary distal bengal fan sediments from odp leg 116 provides a unique perspective on denudation processes associated with the tertiary himalayan orogeny these sediments yield pooled apatite fission track ages that are 0 to 10 m y older than depositional ages mean track lengths range from 13 2 to 14 8 mu m these young ages and long track lengths indicate that rocks in the upper crust of bengal fan source areas cooled rapidly ge 15 degrees c m y implying denudation rates of several hundreds of meters per million years these observations support the hypothesis that nearly continuous unroofing of a large source area similar to the dimensions of the present himalayan and southern tibetan plateau deformation front and an efficient transport system similar to the present himalaya ganges brahmaputra system supplied sediment to the bengal fan since the early miocene

the kumaun and garwhal lesser himalaya india part 2 thermal and deformation histories an integrated petrologic thermochronologic and numerical modeling study constrains the thermal evolution of the lesser himalayan sequence in the kumaun and garwhal regions of india south of the tons thrust peak metamorphic temperatures do not exceed 330 c on the northern side a transition toward higher temperatures adjacent to the main central thrust hanging wall is documented in the immediate footwall of the main central thrust peak temperatures average 550 c an inverted thermal field gradient of 30 c km beneath the vaikrita thrust is calculated an inverted thermal field gradient of 20 c km is also documented beneath a klippe of the main central thrust hanging wall 25 km south of the vaikrita thrust and a peak footwall temperature of 530 c is recorded close to the shear zone at the base of the klippe the mechanism for thermal metamorphism in the lesser himalayan sequence is interpreted to be conduction of heat from the main central thrust fault and or hanging wall to the footwall a localized thermal field gradient is also associated with the tons thrust the 40 ar 39 ar thermochronology reveals that the exposed rock in the kumaun and garwhal lesser himalaya underwent cooling below the closure temperature tc for white mica at different times in the late tertiary the proximal footwall of the munsiari thrust experienced cooling below the white mica tc at ca 8 5 ma south of the munsiari thrust in the proximal footwalls of the chaukori and askot klippen muscovites ages are ca 11 5 ma 3 ma older than samples to the north the age differences in samples from northern and southern exposures are interpreted to document cooling related to thermal relaxation following passage of the main central thrust hanging wall atop the lesser himalayan sequence results of thermal modeling achieve good fits to the data when scenarios involve an early miocene phase of overthrusting of a hot hanging wall over a downgoing footwall followed by the initiation of a duplex within lesser himalayan sequence rocks

rb sr geochronology of granites and gneisses from the mount everest region nepal himalaya nineteen samples of granites orthogneisses and paragneisses from the high himalaya basement nappe s of the mount everest region have been dated by the rb sr method the post metamorphic tourmaline leucogranites of the upper imja drangka nuptse lhotse glacier have high initial sr87 sr86 characteristic of an anatectic origin from crustal material a whole rock isochron age of 52 m y early eocene has been obtained for the samples from the granite body of lhotse glacier apparently sr isotopic homogenization was not reached throughout the much larger nuptse granite

thermobarometric and40ar 39ar geochronologic constraints on eohimalayan metamorphism in the dinggye area southern tibet mineral assemblages in the dinggye area of southern tibet 28 n 88 e provide new insights regarding the poorly understood eohimalayan metamorphic event in the eastern himalayan orogen major element partitioning thermobarometry of pelitic rocks indicates temperatures of 750 830 k at depths of 14 3 km consistent with the presence of kyanite sillimanite and andalusite schists in the area laser and resistance furnace40ar 39ar analyses of hornblendes from intercalated amphibolites yield closure ages of 25 ma overlap between the probable range of ar closure temperatures for these hornblendes and the metamorphic temperatures estimated through thermobarometry suggests that eohimalayan metamorphism in the dinggye area occurred in late oligocene time no more than about 10 million years before the main or neohimalayan phase of metamorphism in early to middle miocene time muscovite biotite and k feldspar40ar 39ar ages indicate an important episode of rapid cooling between 16 and 13 ma which is interpreted as a signature of tectonic denudation related to movement on n dipping extensional structures of the south tibetan detachment system

the metamorphic signature of contemporaneous extension and shortening in the central himalayan orogen data from the nyalam transect southern tibet abstract geological relationships and geochronological data suggest that in miocene time the metamorphic core of the central himalayan orogen was a wedge shaped body bounded below by the n dipping main central thrust system and above the n dipping south tibetan detachment system we infer that synchronous movement on these fault systems expelled the metamorphic core southward toward the indian foreland thereby moderating the extreme topographic gradient at the southern margin of the tibetan plateau reaction textures thermobarometric data and thermodynamic modelling of pelitic schists and gneisses from the nyalam transect in southern tibet 28 n 86 e imply that gravitational collapse of the orogen produced a complex thermal structure in the metamorphic core amphibolite facies metamorphism and anatexis at temperatures of 950 k and depths of at least 30 km accompanied the early stages of displacement on the main central thrust system our findings suggest that the late metamorphic history of these rocks was characterized by high t decompression associated with roughly 15 km of unroofing by movement on the south tibetan detachment system in the middle of the metamorphic core roughly 7 8 km below the basal detachment of the south tibetan system the decompression was essentially isothermal near the base of the metamorphic core roughly 4 6 km above the main central thrust the decompression was accompanied by about 150 k of cooling we attribute the disparity between the p t paths of these two structural levels to cooling of the lower part of the metamorphic core as a consequence of continued and probably accelerated underthrusting of cooler rocks in the footwall of the main central thrust at the same time as movement on the south tibetan detachment system

exsolution in hornblende and its consequences for 40ar39ar age spectra and closure temperature abstract step heating studies of hornblende and biotite which coexist in an amphibolite near north walpole vermont reveal dramatically different 40 ar 39 ar age spectra the biotite mg 59 is characterized by a plateau over 98 percent 39ar release at 343 5 ma in strong contrast to the amphibole which exhibits both a complex age spectrum and a k ar age significantly younger than the biotite the amphibole release pattern contains three complete age cycles which range between extremes of 199 ma and 408 ma interestingly the k ca ratio calculated from reactor produced isotopes also varies with ar release but follows a trend which is antipathetic to the 40 ar 39 ar age pattern detailed microstructural examination including transmission electron microscopy tem reveals a complex exsolution structure that is consistent with both the complexity of the release pattern as well as the low degree of radiogenic 40ar 40ar retentivity in the amphibole this result underscores the variability of closure temperature tc for 40ar in metamorphic amphiboles and should warn against accepting a single universal value of tc

isotopic and structural constraints on the location of the main central thrust in the annapurna range central nepal himalaya five isotope enhanced geologic transects in the southern annapurna range of central nepal elucidate structural geometries near the main central thrust whole rock nd isotopes and u pb ages of detrital zircons unambiguously distinguish greater himalayan hanging wall and lesser himalayan footwall metasedimentary rocks nd 0 values for lower lesser himalayan rocks typically range from 20 to 26 whereas greater himalayan rocks usually have nd 0 values of 19 to 12 lower lesser himalayan rocks yield detrital zircons with an age peak at ca 1880 ma and no detrital zircons younger than ca 1550 ma in contrast greater himalayan rocks yield detrital zircons with a prominent broad peak of ages at ca 1050 ma and no detrital zircons younger than ca 600 ma the protolith boundary between greater and lesser himalayan rocks is up to 1 km farther south than usually mapped on the basis of lithology field and microstructural observations indicate the presence of a top to the south ductile shear zone superimposed on this boundary confirming this shear zone as the main central thrust no evidence exists for large scale structural mixing of greater and lesser himalayan rocks along the main central thrust in the annapurna range

crustal structure of the himalayan orogen at 90 east longitude from project indepth deep reflection profiles international deep profiling of tibet and the himalaya indepth deep seismic reflection profiles show that the indian lithosphere is underthrusting the central himalaya along a gently north dipping decollement that is traceable northward beneath the tethyan belt to 28 6 n and to a depth of about 45 km the decollement carries in its hanging wall a near crustal thickness slice of internally deformed indian continental basement and cover represented in outcrop by the greater himalayan belt and structurally overlying tethyan belt geometric relationships suggest that the decollement probably ramps downward beneath the northern tethyan belt to near the base of the crust and that the hanging wall crustal slice was detached from indian mantle lithosphere that presently underlies southern tibet to the north the north himalayan anticlinorium kangmar dome appears to be a large duplex ramp anticline in the hanging wall of the decollement the south tibetan detachment appears to have been imaged in two areas in the wagye la area it appears to follow the tethyan belt greater himalayan belt contact northward in the subsurface and to have been folded over the kangmar dome in the zherger la area it appears to have been active relatively recently as a 30 north dipping normal fault that cuts deeply into the greater himalayan belt allochthon palinspastic reconstruction indicates a minimum of about 326 km of shortening of the indian basement across the himalaya since the initiation of the main central thrust hence indian continental lithosphere largely stripped of its overlying crust can extend northward beneath the tibetan plateau to at least 32 n where earthquake seismological observations show that the properties of the upper mantle change markedly e g mcnamara et al 1995 taken together the seismic reflection and earthquake seismological observations lend support for the view that the indian mantle lid mechanically underplates roughly the southern half of the tibetan plateau the indepth reflection data do not show that indian crust attached to this lithosphere extends north of southernmost tibet kangmar dome nor do they negate this possibility similarly the reflection data do not yield direct evidence for or against lower crustal subduction beneath the himalaya

thermobarometric constraints on the thermal history of the main central thrust zone and tibetan slab eastern nepal himalaya the main central thrust mct south of mt everest in eastern nepal is a 3 to 5km thick shear zone separating chlorite bearing schist in the lower plate from sillimanite bearing migmatitic gneiss in the overlying tibetan slab the metamorphic grade increases through the mct zone toward structurally higher levels previous workers have suggested that either post or synmetamorphic thrust movement has caused this inversion of metamorphic isograds in an effort to quantify the increase in grade and to constrain proposed structural relations between metamorphism and slip on the fault four well calibrated thermobarometers were applied to pelitic samples collected along two cross strike transects through the mct zone and tibetan slab results show an increase in apparent temperature up section in the mct zone from 778 k to 990 k and a decrease in temperature to 850 k in the lower tibetan slab which is consistent with synmetamorphic thrust movement a trend in calculated pressures across this section is less well defined but on average decreases up section with a gradient of 28mpa km resembling a lithostatic gradient pressure temperature paths for zoned garnets from samples within the mct zone modelled using the gibbs method show a significant decrease in temperature and a slight decrease in pressure from core to rim which might be expected for upper plate rocks during synmetamorphic thrust movement samples from the uppermost tibetan slab yield higher temperatures and pressures than those from the lower tibetan slab which may be evidence for later resetting of thermobarometers by intrusion of the large amounts of leucogranite at that structural level

tibet uplift and erosion abstract the 5 km high tibetan plateau is an outstanding topographic feature on the earth today its horziontal extent elevation and location cause significant effects on modern atmospheric circulation and climate so the history of uplift of the surface of tibet is linked to cenozoic climate changes at local regional and perhaps global scales geological and geophysical studies of the plateau are contributing data on the present and past deformation of the tibetan lithosphere that has formed the plateau primarily during the cenozoic the principal of isostasy then can be used to estimate the elevation history of the surface for a given deformation history different parts of tibet probably had different uplift histories but presently available data are not sufficient for distinguishing many contrasts in one scenario cretaceous and early cenozoic north south distributed shortening of tibetan crust and mantle lithosphere probably caused significant uplift of the surface relative to sea level to perhaps half of the present elevation by the early miocene thinning of the high density mantle portion of the lithosphere during the miocene may then have allowed the thick tibetan crust to rise close to its present elevation perhaps higher before 8 ma since then slow east west extension of tibet probably reduced the crustal thickness slightly and may have caused the elevation of the plateau to decrease during the late cenozoic erosion of tibet unlike narrow mountain belts has been unable to match the uplift of a broad plateau orographic precipitation and efficient river networks concentrate erosion on the edges while the interior is protected from significant erosion despite its lofty elevation the southern edge of the plateau the himalaya has suffered a minimum of 25 km of denudation since the miocene while central tibet shows little or no sign of major erosion since that time the gangdese arc in southern tibet was rapidly eroded during the mid miocene when 4 km of rock apparently were removed from the surface as shown by mineral cooling ages this pulse of erosion was probably caused by a combination of local thrust system movement and changes in base level and precipitation due to relative elevation changes between the gangdese and the himalaya to the south the modern long wavelength flatness of tibet is unlikely to have been caused by erosion and indicates viscous flow at some level of the lithosphere has been acting to level the plateau surface

miocene to holocene exhumation of metamorphic crustal wedges in the nw himalaya evidence for tectonic extrusion coupled to fluvial erosion the himalayan crystalline core zone exposed along the sutlej valley india is composed of two high grade metamorphic gneiss sheets that were successively underthrusted and tectonically extruded as a consequence of the foreland directed propagation of crustal deformation in the indian plate margin the high himalayan crystalline sequence hhcs is composed of amphibolite facies to migmatitic paragneisses metamorphosed at temperatures up to 750 c at 30 km depth between eocene and early miocene during early miocene combined thrusting along the main central thrust mct and extension along the sangla detachment induced the rapid exhumation and cooling of the hhcs whereas exhumation was mainly controlled by erosion since middle miocene the lesser himalayan crystalline sequence lhcs is composed of amphibolite facies para and orthogneisses metamorphosed at temperatures up to 700 c during underthrusting down to 30 km depth beneath the mct the lhcs cooled very rapidly since late miocene as a consequence of exhumation controlled by thrusting along the munsiari thrust and extension in the mct hanging wall this renewed phase of tectonic extrusion at the himalayan front is still active as indicated by the present day regional seismicity and by hydrothermal circulation linked to elevated near surface geothermal gradients in the lhcs as recently evidenced in the himalayan syntaxes active exhumation of deep crustal rocks along the sutlej valley is spatially correlated with the high erosional potential of this major trans himalayan river this correlation supports the emerging view of a positive feedback during continental collision between crustal scale tectono thermal reworking and efficient erosion along major river systems

40ar 39ar age constraints on deformation and metamorphism in the main central thrust zone and tibetan slab eastern nepal himalaya in eastern nepal structural and petrologic observations suggest that movement on the main central thrust mct the development of an inverted metamorphic sequence and leucogranite plutonism were genetically related samples from across the mct zone and its hanging wall the tibetan slab were collected from four locations in the everest region for 40ar 39ar studies 1 the mct zone 2 the lower tibetan slab 3 the upper tibetan slab away from intrusive rocks and 4 the upper tibetan slab adjacent to and including leucogranitic material within the mct zone muscovite and hornblende yield cooling ages of 12 0 0 2 ma and 20 9 0 2 ma respectively k feldspar gives a minimum age of 8 0 0 2 ma closure temperature tc 220 15 c in the lower tibetan slab a sample from a sheared pegmatite yields muscovite and biotite isochron ages of 7 7 0 4 ma and 7 5 0 6 ma and a k feldspar minimum age of 6 4 0 8 ma tc 225 20 c an adjacent gneiss yields a 9 1 0 2 ma biotite isochron and a k feldspar minimum age of 3 6 0 2 ma tc 210 50 c in the upper tibetan slab samples collected 200 m from visible intrusives yield a biotite isochron age of 20 2 0 2 ma and a complex hornblende age spectrum suggestive of excess argon at the fourth location an augen gneiss a pegmatite and a tourmaline bearing leucogranite all in mutual contact yield indistinguishable mineral ages the average biotite and muscovite isochron ages for these samples are 17 0 1 4 and 16 6 0 2 ma respectively the minimum age for k feldspar from the leucogranite is 15 5 1 8 ma as thermobarometric data from the mct zone in this area suggest synmetamorphic deformation at temperatures of 500 550 c the mct hornblende tc 500 c dates this event at 21 ma diffusion experiments on hornblendes from the mct zone provide data which support a maximum duration of peak metamorphic temperatures of 2 ma biotite ages as old as 20 ma from the upper tibetan slab near leucogranites indicate that leucogranite intrusion was essentially coeval with deformation and metamorphism in the mct zone very young ages in a ductile shear zone in the lower tibetan slab suggest that there has been deformation within the tibetan slab that postdates major movement on the mct

the thermal response of a metamorphic belt to extension constraints from laser ar data on metamorphic micas abstract metamorphic rocks may be exhumed to the surface either by isostatic rebound uplift and erosion or tectonically via thrusting or extension the latter mechanism is particularly important in the himalayas where a large extensional detachment system appears to be responsible for very fast unroofing at 20 ma here we present the results of a laser argon study of micas and quartz aimed at investigating the thermal response of an orogenic belt to such extension the data when combined with existing constraints on the prograde evolution lead to a uniquely complete thermal history for a metamorphic belt laser argon data are reported for quartz and micas from semi pelitic metamorphic rocks from the zanskar himalayas nw india the samples derive from three traverses extending from low grade rocks near the detachment to high grade rocks in the core of the belt most samples demonstrably contain no excess component and the ages of muscovite and biotite show a correlation with distance from the extensional detachment the ages themselves as well as the difference between the muscovite and biotite ages both increase as the detachment is approached muscovite and biotite ages from within the shear zone date deformation associated with extension at 20 25 ma the remaining data are most readily interpreted in terms of early slow cooling of the lower grade rocks near the detachment in response to erosional denudation before the detachment became active rocks in the core of the orogen were still heating at this time later fast cooling of the high grade rocks in the core of the belt ensued when the extensional regime became active simple heat transfer calculations based on the distance of the high grade rocks from the fault and the argon ages of their micas provide further constraints on the timing of extension and suggest that the fault first moved 23 25 ma ago and that it abruptly terminated metamorphism in the core of the metamorphic belt our analysis of the thermal history suggests that cooling and exhumation rates determined from metamorphic belts beneath extensional detachments will often be minima

exhumation history of a shear zone constrained by microstructural and fluid inclusion techniques an example from the satluj valley nw himalaya india abstract the regional structures rock microstructures and fluid inclusion trail patterns have been employed to determine the evolution of the jakhri thrust zone jtz the jtz is a break back thrust cutting across the folded lesser himalayan crystalline nappe and is best exposed in the kulu rampur window zone of the nw himalaya the microstructures in the jtz suggest sw directed ductile shearing and a progressively decreasing finite strain away from the thrust in the footwall the quartz recrystallization microstructures and presence of chlorite in the thrust zone indicate lower greenschist facies p t conditions during deformation the microstructures and fluid inclusion trails secondary show analogous patterns suggesting that the latter would have formed by the healing of microfractures during shearing in the footwall the microthermic studies on these fluid inclusions suggest that the co2 h2o inclusions have been emplaced and reequilibrated during peak deformation whereas the h2o nacl inclusions reequilibrated during footwall exhumation the density and salinity of fluid inclusions were also reset during the same exhumation the isochores of co2 h2o and h2o nacl inclusions in the greenschist facies suggest an isothermal exhumation path from a depth of 15 to 17 km assuming lithostatic pressure conditions these results in the jtz emphasize the utility of fluid inclusions in tectonic studies

palaeomagnetic dating of the earliest continental himalayan foredeep sediments implications for himalayan evolution abstract between the time of the india eurasia collision 50 45 ma 1 and the climax of crustal shortening and thrust stacking in the himalaya when the main central thrust mct was active 21 ma 1 2 there is a ca 30 my gap about which little is known this paper aims to shed light on this period by dating the initiation of major erosion from the rising himalaya and the probable start of uplift a significant event in the orogen s history this was achieved by accurately dating for the first time the dagshai formation sediments of northern india which are interpreted as early himalayan foreland basin deposits that record initial large scale erosion of the orogen 3 oriented hand samples were collected from six sites and analysed using palaeomagnetic techniques both polarities are represented and the remanence passes a fold test fitting the measured palaeolatitude to that expected for the indian plate dates the dagshai formation at 35 5 ma 6 7 ma and this is taken as the time when the embryonic himalaya began to be strongly eroded and regionally uplifted

structural insights into the early stages of exhumation along an orogen scale detachment the south tibetan detachment system dzakaa chu section eastern himalaya abstract structural transects through the south tibetan detachment system stds in the dzakaa chu valley tibet reveal a 1000 m thick low angle

comparison of late pleistocene and modern glacier extents in central nepal based on digital elevation data and satellite imagery abstract late pleistocene and modern ice extents in central nepal are compared to estimate equilibrium line altitude ela depressions new techniques are used for determining the former extent of glaciers based on quantitative objective geomorphic analyses of a 90 m resolution digital elevation model dem for every link of the drainage network valley form is classified as glacial or fluvial based on cross valley shape and slope statistics down valley transitions from glacial to fluvial form indicate the former limits of glaciation in each valley landsat multispectral scanner imagery for the same region is used to map current glacier extents for both full glacial and modern cases elas are computed from the glacier limits using the dem and a toe to headwall altitude ratio of 0 5 computed ela depressions range from 100 900 m with a modal value of 650 m and a mean of 500 m values consistent with previously published estimates for the central himalaya but markedly smaller than estimates for many other regions we suggest that this reflects reduced precipitation rather than a small temperature depression consistent with other evidence for a weaker monsoon under full glacial conditions

the metamorphic architecture of a transpressional orogen the kaoko belt namibia s 64 61 goscombe b hand m 2001b metamorphic model for the inland branch of the damara orogen a paired metamorphic mountain belt pmmb geological society of australia specialist group in tectonics and structural geology conference ulverstone

thrust tectonics crustal shortening and the structure of the far eastern nepal himalaya balanced and restored structural sections across the far eastern nepal himalaya have been constructed in order to determine the structure and evolution of the himalayan orogenic wedge and the amount of tectonic shortening the region has undergone since the initiation of thrusting along the main central thrust mct the far eastern nepal himalaya is comprised of three distinct thrust bound tectonic packages the higher himalayan crystalline thrust sheet the lesser himalayan metasediment thrust package and the sub himalayan imbricate fan the higher himalayan crystallines consisting of kyanite and sillimanite bearing gneisses intruded by the miocene jannu leucogranites have been thrust over the lesser himalayan metasediments along the mct for a distance of 140 km to 175 km the lesser himalayan metasediments are a 12 km thick unit consisting primarily of phyllites metaquartzites and mylonitic augen gneisses in which garnet biotite and chlorite metamorphic zones are exposed in progressively deeper structural levels the lesser himalayan metasediment thrust package is underlain by a decollement the main detachment fault mdf which lies at a calculated depth of between 6 and 10 km underneath the mahabharat lekh and at a calculated depth of 20 to 25 km north of the tamar khola dome the tamar khola dome overlies a footwall ramp along the mdf where the mdf cuts upsection through the lesser himalayan metasediments the lesser himalayan thrust package probably has an internal structure aproximating a hinterland dipping duplex with the mct and the mdf corresponding to the roof and floor thrusts respectively both the tamar khola thrust an out of sequence breach thrust and the main boundary thrust mbt are splay thrusts off of the mdf the sub himalaya consisting of nonmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks displays an emergent imbricate fan geometry and is underlain by the southern continuation of the mdf which lies at a depth of 5 5 km to 6 km beneath the siwalik hills folding and thrusting within the lesser himalayan thrust package and the sub himalayan imbricate fan have accomodated 45 to 70 km of tectonic shortening total north south shortening across the higher lesser and sub himalaya of far eastern nepal south of the tibetan plateau has been of the order of 185 km to 245 km and has occurred at an average rate of 7 4 mm to 15 3 mm per year since the initiation of the mct between 16 and 25 ma

outward growth of the tibetan plateau during the cenozoic a review abstract the surface uplift history of the tibetan plateau tp offers a key testing ground for evaluating models of collisional tectonics and holds important implications for processes ranging from global cooling to the onset of the asian monsoon various models have been proposed to reveal the surface uplift history of the tp but controversies remain we evaluate these models using data from sedimentology and stratigraphy structural geology magmatism exhumation and paleoaltimetry studies structural analyses indicate that thrust belts which spread from the central tp outward toward its surrounding margins accommodated most of the india asia convergence and facilitated crustal shortening and thickening in the central tp eocene adakitic rocks located in the qiangtang and the lhasa blocks likely were generated by partial melting of an eclogitic source paleogene 50 30 ma potassic rocks only occur in the qiangtang block whereas late oligocene late miocene 26 8 ma potassic rocks occur both in the qiangtang and lhasa blocks low temperature thermochronologic ages in the central tp are older than 40 35 ma whereas those in the margins are younger than 20 ma mostly late miocene and pliocene pleistocene in age independent paleoaltimetry estimates suggest that the lhasa and qiangtang terranes attained their current elevations during the eocene most likely due to the initial collision between india and lhasa whereas the hoh xil basin area to the north and himalayas to the south were still low even below sea level in the latter case we argue for an inside out growth pattern for the tibetan plateau the tp grew southward and northward from a nucleus of high topography and is likely to continue expanding along the mazar tagh fault to the northwest the kuantai shan hei shan longshou shan to the northeast the longquan shan to the east and the shillong plateau to the south if the northward force of india would not diminished

isotopic study of the manaslu granite himalaya nepal inferences on the age and source of himalayan leucogranites a detailed isotopic study of the manaslu leucogranite was carried out a u pb age of 25 ma and a whole rock rb sr age isochron of 18 ma were obtained suggesting that the magmatic activity lasted at least 7 ma initial sr isotopic ratios are very high 0 740 to 0 760 and initial nd isotopic ratios are low nd in 13 to 16 and they show the existence of large isotopic variations even at the metre scale these are not the result of perturbations by fluids but rather they reflect the initial isotopic heterogeneity of the source material which has not been obliterated by magmatic processes e g fusion mixing by convection these results also support the crustal origin of this leucogranite the tibetan slab paragneisses whose sr and nd isotopic ratios are very similar to those of the granite at an age of 20 ma are the most probable parental material nd model ages for both the leucogranite and the gneisses are in the range 1 5 2 ga a model of formation of the manaslu granite by coalescence of different batches of magma is in agreement with the present data

structural and geochronological evidence for the leading edge of the greater himalayan crystalline complex in the central nepal himalaya abstract the himalaya is commonly described as a three layer two fault stack namely a high grade crystalline core featuring an inverted metamorphic field gradient the greater himalayan crystalline complex ghc is separated from units above and below by shear zones the lesser himalayan sequence lhs underlies the ghc below the main central thrust and the tethyan himalayan sequence ths overlies it along the south tibet detachment however the southern main central thrust hanging wall consists of a lower unit dominated by a right way up metamorphic sequence of biotite garnet schists bhimphedi group and an upper unit with only anchizone metamorphism pulchauki group the bhimphedi group is commonly equated to the ghc while the pulchauki group is well correlated to the ths however no shear zone separates these units we present new structural and geochronological data along the boundary between the ghc and the bhimphedi group in the kathmandu region these data reveal an 200 m thick early middle miocene top north northeast shear zone that we term the galchi shear zone we correlate this shear zone to the south tibet detachment on the basis of lithological metamorphic structural and chronological criteria the galchi shear zone merges with the main central thrust to the south bounding the leading edge of the ghc this result combined with recent work in the western himalaya suggests that the locally preserved leading edge of the ghc is sub parallel to the arc of the orogen and the southern main central thrust hanging wall is dominated by ths rocks this orogenic architecture rules out wedge extrusion and channel flow focused denudation kinematic models for the himalayan orogen but is accommodated by tectonic wedging kinematic models including channel tunneling models with modified timing

excess40ar in metamorphic rocks from broken hill new south wales implications for40ar 39ar age spectra and the thermal history of the region 40ar 39ar age spectrum analyses of samples from broken hill new south wales indicate that the region has experienced a complex thermal history following high grade metamorphism 1660 ma ago the terrain cooled slowly 3 c ma 1 until about 1570 ma ago when the temperature fell below about 500 c following granitoid emplacement 1500 ma ago the region remained relatively cold until affected by a thermal pulse 520 40ma ago causing temperatures to rise to 350 c in some places during this event accumulated40ar was released from minerals causing a significant ar partial pressure to develop laboratory ar solubility data combined with the40ar 39ar age spectra gives a local estimate of this partial pressure of 10 4atm the region finally cooled below 100 c about 280 ma ago 40ar 39ar age spectrum analyses of hornblende plagioclase and clinopyroxene containing excess40ar are characterized by saddle shaped age spectra detailed analysis of plagioclase samples reveals a complex diffusion behaviour which is controlled by exsolution structures this effect in conjunction with the presumed different lattice occupancy of excess40ar with respect to radiogenic40ar appears to be responsible for the saddle shaped age spectra

kinematic implications of regional 40ar 39ar ages east central nepal abstract this study presents new 40ar 39ar ages from across the himalaya in east central nepal 40ar 39ar ages from the mahabharat region the southernmost and structurally lowest part of the study area range between 27 5 and 17 3 ma while those from the high himalaya the northernmost and structurally highest part of the study area range from 17 7 to 17 4 ma these two areas bracket a middle portion characterized by younger ages that range between 8 6 and 14 3 ma and cluster around 10 ma these new dates outline a u shaped pattern across the region that is interpreted to reflect cooling facilitated by out of sequence motion across the upper tama kosi thrust in agreement with previous work in the area the results presented herein are also consistent with published model cooling predictions and highlight the potential importance of late lower temperature deformation on the present geometries of the exhumed former metamorphic core exposed mountain belts around the globe

chronology of tectonic events in the crystalline core of the himalaya langtang national park central nepal the main central thrust mct is an important intracontinental subduction zone that accommodated a significant proportion of shortening between india and asia during tertiary himalayan orogenesis argon 40 argon 39 geochronology indicates at least two distinct periods of thrust movement on the mct in the langtang national park region of central nepal ductile deformation and associated mylonitization characterizing the earlier event are constrained by 40ar 39ar dating of muscovites to have occurred sometime before 5 8 ma a later period of brittle deformation resulting in the juxtaposition of rocks of different lithology within the mct zone occurred at approximately 2 3 ma based on 40ar 39ar dating of neoblastic muscovites from the brittle fault zones the hanging wall of the mct contains amphibolite to upper amphibolite grade gneisses and small leucogranite bodies assigned to the greater himalayan sequence argon 40 argon 39 cooling ages of muscovite and biotite from the gneisses range from 4 6 to 9 7 ma these dates contrast with previously obtained 16 21 ma u pb monazite and zircon ages for metasedimentary rocks from the same structural levels parrish et al 1992 indicating relatively slow cooling over the early to middle miocene interval for much of the mct hanging wall however one 19 3 ma biotite 40ar 39ar cooling age for a sample from the uppermost portion of the hanging wall is only slightly younger than u pb monazite ages for nearby anatexites possibly suggesting rapid cooling of the uppermost greater himalayan sequence by tectonic denudation associated with the structurally higher south tibetan detachment system the general consistency of 40ar 39ar ages throughout the 11 km thick greater himalayan sequence suggests rapid cooling in late miocene time probably due to an increase in erosion rate related to ramping on the structurally lower main boundary thrust an alternative possibility would be massive hydrothermal resetting in late miocene time of the entire sequence

strain deformation temperatures and vorticity of flow at the top of the greater himalayan slab everest massif tibet this paper presents quantitative data on strain deformation temperatures and vorticity of flow at the top of the greater himalayan slab the data were collected from the tibetan side of the everest massif where two low angle normal faults bound the upper surface of the greater himalayan slab the earlier and structurally lower lhotse detachment and the later and structurally higher qomolangma detachment greenschist to sillimanite grade quartz rich metasedimentary rocks exposed in the rongbuk to north col region of the everest massif are characterized by cross girdle quartz c axis fabrics indicating approximate plane strain conditions fabric opening angles progressively increase with depth beneath the overlying lhotse detachment and indicate progressively rising deformation temperatures of 525 625 50 c at depths of 300 600 m beneath the detachment deformation temperatures of c 450 c are indicated by fabric opening angles in epidote amphibolite facies mylonites located closer to the overlying detachment a top down to the north normal shear sense is indicated by the asymmetry of microstructures and c axis fabrics but the degree of asymmetry is low at distances greater than 400 m beneath the detachment and sillimanite grains are drawn into adjacent conjugate shear bands but still appear pristine indicating that deformation occurred at close to peak metamorphic temperatures these quenched fabrics and microstructures indicate rapid exhumation in agreement with previous isotopic dating studies mean kinematic vorticity numbers w m were independently calculated by three analytical methods calculated w m values range between 0 67 and 0 98 and indicate that although a simple shear component is generally dominant particularly in greenschist facies mylonites located between the lhotse and overlying qomolangma detachments there is also a major component of pure shear in samples located at 400 600 m beneath the lhotse detachment pure and simple shear make equal contributions at w k 0 71 our integrated strain and vorticity data indicate a shortening of 10 30 perpendicular to the upper surface of the greater himalayan slab and confirm that the upper surface of the slab is a stretching fault with estimated down dip stretches of 10 40 assuming plane strain deformation measured parallel to the flow plane transport direction

emplacement of himalayan leucogranites by magma injection along giant sill complexes examples from the cho oyu gyachung kang and everest leucogranites nepal himalaya abstract the upper part of the high himalayan slab in north central nepal is comprised of a thick layer parallel sheet of biotite muscovite tourmaline garnet sillimanite cordierite leucogranite up to 3 4 km thick and dipping north at 5 20 these strongly peraluminous magmas were emplaced into high temperature low pressure sillimanite and cordierite bearing gneisses calc silicates and rare amphibolites which were metamorphosed at temperatures of 600 650 c some time during the oligocene early miocene parallel stringers of black xenolithic gneisses within the leucogranites suggest passive magmatic intrusion along fractures parallel to the schistosity in the country rocks in the mountains of cho oyu gyachung kang pumori lingtren and the base of the everest massif these leucogranites form part of a single structural horizon bounded at the top by the lhotse detachment the lower of two n dipping normal faults of the south tibetan detachment std system and below by the khumbu thrust kt an out of sequence fault which was partly responsible for the uplift erosion and exhumation of the leucogranites a model for the emplacement of these leucogranites is proposed where they represent viscous minimum melts produced by melting of a pelitic protolith similar to the underlying sillimanite grade gneisses through muscovite breakdown either during fluid absent melting at

thermal controls on early tertiary short lived rapid regional metamorphism in the nw himalaya pakistan abstract during tertiary collision in the nw himalaya the leading edge of the indian plate was subducted beneath the kohistan island arc along the main mantle thrust mmt metamorphism within indian plate cover sediments was synchronous with ductile shearing and took place along a path of increasing pressure during subduction beneath the island arc initial collision cannot have pre dated 65 ma and probably shortly pre dated 50 ma radiometric data constrain the metamorphic peak as shortly post dating 50 ma as firstly initially subducted units are now probably located beneath tibet secondly the subduction thrust separating the kohistan arc terrane from the indian plate was probably cooled by continued underthrusting and thirdly the heat producing indian plate cover sediments were delaminated from the basement during collision metamorphism was more rapid than can be predicted by purely conductive models of thermal relaxation although dissipative shear heating along the mmt doubtless contributed to early stages of heating of the footwall rocks the temperatures attained in the footwall are too high to support the shear stresses required to generate them solely through shear heating a model is derived to account for both the rapid regional metamorphism and the equally rapid post metamorphic cooling dissipative shear heating along the mmt generated an early inverted thermal profile in the upper units of the indian plate as the hanging wall mafic rocks have a low thermal conductivity they would have acted as a thermal reflector and the heat would have been conducted away only slowly as footwall temperatures increased through the brittle ductile transition the role of dissipative shear heating decreased and continued heating became a function of internal heat generation within the footwall rocks together with hanging wall thermal reflectivity the metamorphic inversion was reinforced by imbrication of the metamorphic stack as it accreted onto the mmt footwall during early stages of uplift and exhumation dissipative shear heating within thrust systems provides a potentially important mechanism by which areas of large regional extent can undergo regional metamorphism over short timescales in the absence of magmatic heating

doming in compressional orogenic settings new geochronological constraints from the nw himalaya 1 in the central and southeastern parts of the himalayas the high himalayan crystalline hhc high grade rocks are mainly exhumed in the frontal part of the range as a consequence of a tectonic exhumation controlled by combined thrusting along the main central thrust mct and extension along the south tibetan detachment system stds in the nw himalaya however the hanging wall of the mct in the frontal part of the range consists mainly of lowto medium grade metasediments chamba zone whereas most of the amphibolite facies to migmatitic gneisses of the hhc of zanskar are exposed in a more internal part of the orogen as a large scale dome structure referred to as the gianbul dome this gianbul dome is cored by migmatitic paragneisses formed at peak conditions of 800 c and 8 kbar this migmatitic core is symmetrically surrounded by rocks of the sillimanite kyanite staurolite garnet biotite and chlorite mineral zones the structural data from the miyar gianbul valley section reveal that the gianbul dome is bounded by two major converging thrust zones the miyar thrust zone and the zanskar thrust zone which were reactivated as ductile zones of extension referred to as the khanjar shear zone ksz and the zanskar shear zone zsz respectively geochronological dating of monazites from various migmatites and leucogranite in the core of the gianbul dome indicates ages between 26 6 and 19 8 ma these results likely reflect a high temperature stage of the exhumation history of the hhc of zanskar and consequently constrain the onset of extension along both the zsz and the ksz to start shortly before 26 6 ma several recent models interpret that ductile extrusion of the high grade low viscosity migmatites of hhc reflects combined extension along the zsz and thrusting along the mct hence our new data constrain the onset of the thrusting along the mct to start shortly before 26 6 ma citation robyr m b r hacker and j m mattinson 2006 doming in compressional orogenic settings new geochronological constraints from the

structure of the main central thrust zone and extrusion of the high himalayan deep crustal wedge kishtwar zanskar himalaya the main central thrust is a crustal scale ductile shear zone between 1 5 and 3 km wide which places the oligocene miocene metamorphic rocks of the high himalayan zone south or sw over the unmetamorphosed or weakly metamorphosed rocks of the lesser himalaya the high strain zone of the main central thrust is coincident with an inverted metamorphic field gradient from biotite to kyanite grade over a structural thickness of 1500 m kyanite grade rocks metamorphosed at 9 5 10 kbar were exhumed from depths of 33 37 km along the main central thrust hanging wall and emplaced over lesser himalayan rocks never buried deeper than 10 12 km exhumation of the deepest buried kyanite grade rocks occurred along the zone above the main central thrust zone approximately 45 km width 28 km structural thickness of the high himalaya exposes sillimanite grade gneisses migmatites and 19 5 21 5 ma old leucogranites formed at pressures between 4 5 and 7 kbar and depths of 16 25 km a ne dipping normal fault ductile shear zone at the top of the slab zanskar shear zone shows condensed but right way up isograds from sillimanite to chlorite grade over 2 400 metres structural thickness 40 ar 39 ar geochronology shows that most of the high himalayan slab had cooled below 350 c by 16 ma supporting models linking the two bounding faults of the high himalaya both kinematically and temporally there is no evidence of melting along the main central thrust zone and the himalayan leucogranites were generated 10 30 km structurally above the main central thrust frictional heating along the main central thrust could not therefore have played any role in generating the leucogranites thus far there is little evidence for late miocene reactivation along the main central thrust as seen elsewhere along the main central thrust in nepal

tectonostratigraphic subdivisions of the himalaya a view from the west 1 indian plate rocks in the central himalaya have traditionally been divided into orogen parallel fault bound tectonostratigraphic zones a straightforward westward extrapolation of these zones has proved problematic in part because of a lack of consensus on the existence or significance of major faults within the metamorphic zone of the indian plate in pakistan where more than 10 locations for the main central thrust mct have been proposed we address this ambiguity by systematically tracing established central himalayan tectonostratigraphy around the western himalayan syntaxis and across pakistan this exercise reveals the following stratigraphic and structural relationships 1 there is a westward decrease in neogene shortening across the himalayan fold and thrust belt such that there is no age equivalent thrust in pakistan with displacement and metamorphic juxtaposition equivalent to the central himalayan mct 2 shortening across the fold and thrust belt in western pakistan is concentrated in the unmetamorphosed foreland as opposed to the metamorphic zone in the central himalaya 3 lesser himalayan higher himalayan and tethyan rocks are in stratigraphic order within the metamorphic zone of pakistan which appears to be the metamorphic equivalent of kashmir tethyan stratigraphy 4 the combination of early paleozoic and late paleozoic tectonism in pakistan has locally eliminated upper proterozoic higher himalayan rock and lower to middle paleozoic tethyan rock from the metamorphic zone of pakistan 5 late cretaceous and or early paleocene proto himalayan deformation in the pakistan foreland telescoped and eroded stratigraphy prior to the main phase of himalayan orogeny 6 tectonostratigraphic zones are offset in eastern pakistan by the transverse jhelum balakot fault 7 there is no evidence within the indian plate of pakistan for a large scale normal fault system comparable to the south tibetan detachment system 8 stratigraphy as well as the age and tectonic setting of deformation and metamorphism must be taken into account when drawing tectonostratigraphic zones

spatial and temporal trends in exhumation of the eastern himalaya and syntaxis as determined from a multitechnique detrital thermochronological study of the bengal fan the bengal fan provides a neogene record of eastern and central himalaya exhumation we provide the first detrital thermochronological study apatite and rutile u pb mica ar ar zircon fission track of sediment samples collected during international ocean discovery program iodp expedition 354 to the mid bengal fan our data from rutile and zircon fission track thermochronometry show a shift in lag times over the interval 5 59 3 47 ma the oldest sample with a lag time of 6 m y has a depositional age of 5 59 4 50 ma and the zircon and rutile populations then show a static peak until 12 ma this interval from 5 59 4 50 ma to 12 ma is most easily interpreted as recording passive erosion of the greater himalaya however single grains with lag times of 4 m y but with high analytical uncertainty are recorded over this interval for sediments older than 10 ma these grains were derived from the greater himalaya which was exhuming rapidly until ca 14 ma in sediments younger than 10 ma these grains could represent slower yet still rapid exhumation of the syntaxial antiform to the south of the massif lag times 1 m y are again recorded from 14 5 ma to the base of the studied section at 17 ma reflecting a period of greater himalayan rapid exhumation mica 40ar 39ar and apatite u pb data are not sensitive to syntaxial exhumation we ascribe this to the paucity of white mica in syntaxial lithologies and to high levels of common pb resulting in u pb ages associated with unacceptably high uncertainties respectively

timescales of melt generation and the thermal evolution of the himalayan metamorphic core everest region eastern nepal in the everest region of the nepalese himalaya 40ar 39ar and u pb geochronology provide evidence for a complex thermal history marked by multiple episodes of granite intrusion the oldest mobilized melt formed syn deformational granitic sills that have u pb crystallization ages of 21 33 0 03 and 21 80 0 05 ma preserved in these same granites is a record of earlier magmatic crystallization of xenotime zircon and monazite between ca 26 ma and ca 23 ma this pattern of accessory phase crystallization is interpreted to reflect incremental melting and crystallization in the source region of the sills before ultimate melt migration and provides the earliest evidence for anatexis in the everest region the beginning of crustal melting in the everest region predates the earliest known movement on both the main central thrust and the south tibetan fault systems but is temporally associated with the implied pressure decrease between eohimalayan and neohimalayan metamorphism

metamorphic history of the central himalaya annapurna region nepal and implications for tectonic models pressure temperature time p t t conditions of metamorphism have been determined in the annapurna region of central nepal that place new constraints on the structural and tectonic evolution of the himalayan orogenic wedge peak p t conditions increase structurally upward 525 c and 8 kbar in the lesser himalayan sequence 650 c and 12 kbar at the base of the greater himalayan sequence across the main central thrust 750 c and 12 kbar in the middle of the greater himalayan sequence and 775 c and 13 kbar near the top of the greater himalayan sequence metamorphic monazite ages in the greater himalayan sequence also increase structurally upward 16 21 ma for subsolidus growth at the base of the greater himalayan sequence to 25 ma for peak t metamorphism and anatexis near the top of the greater himalayan sequence these ages are several million years older than at equivalent structural levels at langtang 200 km to the east the p t t data recommend reinterpretation of the bhanuwa fault within the greater himalayan sequence as a thrust and the presence of a different thrust structurally above the bhanuwa thrust here named the sinuwa thrust the new data are consistent with progressive stacking of tectonic slices with calculated overthrust rates that are consistent with some but not all models that presume 2 cm yr convergence across the himalaya since 25 ma despite differences in absolute ages similarities among the chemical systematics of monazite peak p t conditions and overthrust rates calculated for annapurna when compared to langtang imply that the broad geodynamics in one part of an orogen can be realistically extrapolated within a few hundred kilometers although the timing and duration of movement on discrete thrust surfaces may differ