International audienceThe Ama Drime range located at the transition between the high Himalayan range and south Tibet is a N-S active horst that offsets the South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS). Within the horst, a paragneissic unit, possibly attributed to the upper Himalayan crystalline series, overly the lower Himalayan crystalline series Ama Drime orthogneissic unit containing large metabasite layers and pods that have experienced pressure >= 1.4 GPa. Combining structural analysis with new and published pressure-temperature (P-T) estimates as well as U-Th/Pb, Ar-39/Ar-40 and (U-Th)/He ages, the P-T-deformation-time (P-T-D-t) paths of the main units within and on both sides of the horst are reconstructed. They imply that N-S normal faults initiated prior to 11 Ma and have accounted for a total exhumation <= 0.6 GPa (22 km) that probably occurred in two phases: the first one until similar to 9 Ma and the second one since 6 to 4 Ma at a rate of similar to 1 mm/yr. In the Ama Drime unit, 1 to 1.3 GPa (37 to 48 km) of exhumation occurred after partial melting since similar to 30 Ma until similar to 13 Ma, above the Main Central Trust (MCT) and below the STDS when these two fault systems were active together. The switch from E-W (STDS) to N-S (Ama Drime horst) normal faulting between 13 and 12 Ma occurs at the time of propagation of thrusting from the MCT to the Main Boundary Thrust. These data are in favor of a wedge extrusion or thrust system rather than a crustal flow model for the building of the Himalaya. We propose that the kinematics of south Tibet Cenozoic extension phases is fundamentally driven by the direction and rate of India underthrusting

The role of the Karakorum fault zone (KFZ) is debated. South of 33°N, ongoing dextral‐oblique slip along the SW edge of the Gar basin exhumes metamorphic and magmatic rocks of the Ayilari range. Minerals have recorded a continuum of deformation from temperatures >600–400°C down to <250°C. The 40Ar/39Ar ages, the oldest being 21.2 ± 1.0 Ma, yield minimum estimates for the initiation of the KFZ. These are in agreement with the U‐Th/Pb ages constraining the onset of deformation at ≥25–22 Ma. Thermochronologic results show slow cooling for the period ∼21–14 Ma, followed by rapid cooling between ∼14 and 4 Ma. These data demonstrate that right‐lateral motion was in progress in the early Miocene and that shear continued at least until 4 Ma, pointing to ≥20 Ma of deformation along the fault. Greenschist facies deformation superimposed upon the medium‐ to high‐grade deformation marks a kinematic change from pure dextral to dextral‐normal motion associated with the onset of rapid cooling. At the regional scale, the coexistence of transtension in the Gar basin with transpression documented along the Pangong range farther north suggests another example of the “zipper tectonics” model developed along the Red River fault. The kinematic shift induced the rise of the Ayilari range starting at 16–12 Ma and the incision of major river courses. The Indus River might have become captive of the relief at this time. The river's 120 km of apparent offset implies dextral motion at a long‐term rate of ≥8.5 ± 1.5 mm yr−1.

International audience[1] Zircons and monazites from 6 samples of the North Ayilari dextral shear zone (NAsz), part of the Karakorum fault zone (KFZ), have been dated with the U-Th-Pb method, using both ID-TIMS and SIMS techniques. The ages reveal (1) inheritance from several events spanning a long period between the late Archean and the Jurassic; (2) an Eocene-Oligocene magmatic event (similar to 35-32 Ma); (3) an Oligo-Miocene magmatic event (similar to 25-22 Ma), at least partly synkinematic to the right-lateral deformation; and (4) a period of metamorphism metasomatism (similar to 22-14 Ma) interpreted as thermal and fluid advection in the shear zone. The Labhar Kangri granite located similar to 375 km farther Southeast along the KFZ is dated at 21.1 +/- 0.3 Ma. Such occurrence of several Oligo-Miocene granites along the KFZ, some of which show evidence for synkinematic emplacement, suggests that the fault zone played an important role in the genesis and /or collection of crustal melts. We discuss several scenarios for the onset and propagation of the KFZ, and offset estimates based on the main sutures zones. Our preferred scenario is an Oligo-Miocene initiation of the fault close to the NA range, and propagation along most of its length prior to similar to 19 Ma. In its southern half, the averaged long-term fault-rate of the KFZ is greater than 8 to 10 mm/a, in good agreement with some shorter-term estimates based on the Indus river course, or Quaternary moraines and geodesy. Our results show the KFZ cannot be considered as a small transient fault but played a major role in the collision history

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The pattern and timing of deformation in southeast Tibet resulting from the early stages of the India-Asia collision are crucial factors to understand the growth of the Tibetan Plateau, but they remain poorly constrained. Detailed field mapping, structural analysis, and geochronological and thermochronological data along a 120 km section of the Ludian-Zhonghejiang fold-and-thrust belt bounding the Jianchuan basin in western Yunnan, China, document the early Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the conjunction between the Lanping-Simao and South China blocks. The study area is cut by two major southwest-dipping brittle faults, named the Ludian-Zhonghejiang fault and the Tongdian fault from east to west. Numerous kinematic indicators and the juxtaposition of Triassic metasedimentary rocks on top of Paleocene strata indicate thrusting along the Ludian-Zhonghejiang fault. Similarly, structural analysis shows that the Tongdian fault is a reverse fault. Between these structures, fault-bounded Permian−Triassic and Paleocene rocks are strongly deformed by nearly vertical and upright southwest-vergent folds with axes that trend nearly parallel to the traces of the main faults. Zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He and apatite fission-track data from a Triassic pluton with zircon U-Pb ages of 237−225 Ma in the hanging wall of the Ludian-Zhonghejiang fault, assisted by inverse modeling, reveal two episodes of accelerated cooling during 125−110 Ma and 50−39 Ma. The Cretaceous cooling event was probably related to crustal thickening during the collision between the Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes. The accelerated exhumation during 50−39 Ma is interpreted to record the life span of the fold-and-thrust belt. This timing is corroborated by the intrusive relationship of Eocene magmas of ca. 36−35 Ma zircon U-Pb age into the fold-and-thrust belt. Early Cenozoic activity of the deformation system controlled deposition of alluvial-fan and braided-river sediments in the Jianchuan basin, as evidenced by eastward and northeastward paleoflows and terrestrial clasts derived from the hanging wall of the Ludian-Zhonghejiang thrust. Since 39 Ma, decreasing cooling rates likely reflect cessation of activity on the fold-and-thrust belt. Early Cenozoic compressive deformation on the western margin of the South China block together with geological records of contraction in central, northern, and eastern Tibet document Eocene upper-crustal shortening located in the Himalaya, Qiangtang terrane, and northern plateau margins together with contractional basin development in the intervening Lhasa, Songpan-Garze, and Kunlun terranes, coeval with or shortly after the onset of the India-Asia collision. This suggests that moderate crustal shortening affected a large part of Tibet in a spaced way, contrary to models of homogeneous crustal thickening soon after the collision, and prior to the main crustal thickening, propagating progressively from south to north. This complex deformation pattern illustrates the complexity of Asian crustal rheology, which contrasts with assumptions in existing geodynamic models.

The Gyirong basin, southern Tibet, contains the record of Miocene‐Pliocene exhumation, drainage development, and sedimentation along the northern flank of the Himalaya. The tectonic controls on basin formation and their potential link to the South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS) are not well understood. We use detrital zircon (ZFT) and apatite (AFT) fission‐track analysis, together with detrital zircon U‐Pb dating to decipher the provenance of Gyirong basin sediments and the exhumation history of the source areas. Results are presented for nine detrital samples of Gyirong basin sediments (AFT, ZFT, and U‐Pb), two modern river‐sediment samples (ZFT and AFT), and six bedrock samples (ZFT) from transect across the Gyirong fault bounding the basin to the east. The combination of detrital zircon U‐Pb and fission‐track data demonstrates that the Gyirong basin sediments were sourced locally from the Tethyan Sedimentary Sequence. This provenance pattern indicates that deposition was controlled by the Gyirong fault, active since ~10 Ma, whose vertical throw was probably < ~5000 m, rather than being controlled by normal faults associated with the STDS. The detrital thermochronology data contain two prominent age groups at ~37–41 and 15–18 Ma, suggesting rapid exhumation at these times. A 15–18 Ma phase of rapid exhumation has been recorded widely in both southern Tibet and the Himalaya. A possible interpretation for such a major regional exhumation event might be detachment of the subducting Indian plate slab during the middle Miocene, inducing dynamic uplift of the Indian plate overriding its own slab.