We present a new geologic map of eastern and central Bhutan and four balanced cross sections through the Himalayan fold-thrust belt. Major structural features, from south to north, include: (1) a single thrust sheet of Sub himalayan rocks above the Main Frontal thrust; (2) the upper Lesser Himalayan duplex system, which repeats horses of the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian(?) Baxa Group below a roof thrust (Shumar thrust) carrying the Paleo protero zoic Daling-Shumar Group; (3) the lower Lesser Himalayan duplex system, which repeats horses of the Daling-Shumar Group and Neoproterozoic-Ordovician(?) Jaishidanda Formation, with the Main Central thrust (MCT) acting as the roof thrust; (4) the structurally lower Greater Hima layan section above the MCT with overlying Tethyan Himalayan rock in stratigraphic contact in central Bhutan and structural contact above the South Tibetan detachment in eastern Bhutan; and (5) the structurally higher Greater Himalayan section above the Kakhtang thrust. Cross sections show 164-267 km shortening in Subhimalayan and Lesser Himalayan rocks, 97-156 km structural overlap across the MCT, and 31-53 km structural overlap across the Kakhtang thrust, indicating a total of 344-405 km of minimum crustal shortening (70%-75%). Our data show an eastward continuation of Lesser Himalayan duplexing identifi ed in northwest India, Nepal, and Sikkim, which passively folded the overlying Greater Himalayan and Tethyan Himalayan sections.Shortening and percent shortening estimates across the orogen, although minima, do not show an overall eastward increase, which may suggest that shortening variations are controlled more by the original width and geometry of the margin than by external parameters such as erosion and convergence rates.

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We present data on the burial, displacement and exhumation history of the Himalayan fold‐thrust belt in eastern Bhutan. These data document the magnitude and timing of displacement of large, discrete structures and highlight temporal variability in shortening rates. Eight new40Ar/39Ar ages from white mica, 32 new zircon (U‐Th)/He ages, 7 new apatite fission track ages, and 1 new U‐Pb zircon (LA‐MC‐ICP‐MS) metamorphic rim growth age are combined with published cooling ages and deformation temperatures, and incremental shortening magnitudes from restorations of two published balanced cross sections, to illustrate the kinematic and temporal development of the Bhutan thrust belt. Integrating these data from ∼23 Ma to the present illustrates rapid horizontal shortening rates (28–35 mm/yr) between 23–20 Ma and 15–10 Ma, separated by more moderate rates (10–23 mm/yr). Shortening rates decrease significantly to 7–10 mm/yr (and possibly as low as 3–4 mm/yr) from 10 to 0 Ma. This decrease is interpreted to represent the onset of strain partitioning in the eastern part of the Himalayan‐Tibetan orogenic system, between shortening in the Bhutan thrust belt, uplift of the Shillong Plateau, and deformation and outward growth of the northern and eastern Tibetan Plateau. Within estimated error, horizontal shortening rates during emplacement of the Main Central thrust sheet and during construction of the upper Lesser Himalayan duplex approached India‐Asia tectonic velocities. Thus, for periods of time between ∼23–20 Ma and ∼15–10 Ma, the Bhutan thrust belt may have absorbed nearly all India‐Asian convergence at this longitude.

New mapping in eastern Bhutan, in conjunction with U-Pb detrital zircon and δ 13 C data, defi nes Lesser Himalayan tectonostratigraphy. The Daling-Shumar Group, 2-6 km of quartzite (Shumar Formation) overlain by 3 km of schist (Daling Formation), contains ~1.8-1.9 Ga intrusive orthogneiss bodies and youngest detrital zircon peaks, indicating a Paleoproterozoic deposition age. The Jaishidanda Formation, 0.5-1.7 km of garnet-biotite schist and quartzite, stratigraphically overlies the Daling Formation beneath the Main Central thrust, and yields youngest detrital zircon peaks ranging from ~0.8-1.0 Ga to ca. 475 Ma, indicating a Neoproterozoic-Ordovician(?) deposition age range. The Baxa Group, 2-3 km of quartzite, phyllite, and dolomite, overlies the Daling-Shumar Group in the foreland, and yields ca. 0.9 Ga to ca. 520 Ma youngest detrital zircon peaks, indicating a Neoproterozoic-Cambrian(?) deposition age range. Baxa dolo mite overlying quartzite containing ca. 525 Ma detrital zircons yielded δ 13 C values between +3‰ and +6‰, suggesting deposition during an Early Cambrian positive δ 13 C excursion. Above the Baxa Group, the 2-3 km thick Diuri Formation diamictite yielded a ca. 390 Ma youngest detrital zircon peak, suggesting correlation with the late Paleo zoic Gondwana supercontinent glaciation. Finally, the Permian Gondwana succession consists of sandstone, siltstone, shale, and coal. Our deposition age data from Bhutan: (1) reinforce suggestions that Paleoproterozoic (~1.8-1.9 Ga) Lesser Himalayan deposition was continuous along the entire northern Indian margin; (2) show a likely east ward continuation of a Permian over Cambrian unconformity in the Lesser Hima-layan section identifi ed in Nepal and northwest India; and (3) indicate temporal overlap between Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic Lesser Himalayan (proximal) and Greater Himalayan-Tethyan Himalayan (distal) deposition.

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