Did the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc collide first with India?

Khan, Shuhab D.; Walker, Douglas; Hall, Stuart A.; Burke, Kevin; Shah, Mohammad Tahir; Stockli, Lisa D.

doi:10.1130/b26348.1

Cited by 179 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…central NeoTethys [Hafkenscheid et al, 2006;Pearce et al, 1981;Shervais, 2001;Stampfli and Borel, 2002]. Cessation of arc-magmatism along the Kohistan-Ladakh arc at $61 Ma can be interpreted as the onset of ophiolite emplacement onto Greater India [Khan et al, 2009], while further east the Zedong Ophiolite was likely to have been emplaced at $57 Ma [Ali and Aitchison, 2008]. The precise dating of ophiolite emplacement onto Greater India is controversial because it relies on dating the first appearance of serpentinite-rich ophiolitic sediment or paleobiological methods.…”

Section: Pre-collision Marginsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our alternative scenario we implement a long-lived Tethyan back-arc that is in some ways similar to the Kohistan-Ladakh back-arc system, thought to have opened at 134 AE 3 Ma based on K-Ar ages and closed well before the India-Eurasia collision [Allégre et al, 1984;Khan et al, 2007;Pudsey, 1986]. However, some authors have suggested that India first collided with the Kohistan-Ladakh magmatic arc by 55 Ma [Gaetani and Garzanti, 1991;Khan et al, 2009]. Earlier studies, such as Dewey et al [1988], had also suggested a late continental collision at $45 Ma, with a Cretaceous-age emplacement of the Spongtang Ophiolite (Figure 1).…”

Section: Geochemistry Geophysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights on the kinematics of the India‐Eurasia collision from global geodynamic models

Zahirovic

Müller

Seton

et al. 2012

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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[1] The Eocene India-Eurasia collision is a first order tectonic event whose nature and chronology remains controversial. We test two end-member collision scenarios using coupled global plate motion-subduction models. The first, conventional model, invokes a continental collision soon after $60 Ma between a maximum extent Greater India and an Andean-style Eurasian margin. The alternative scenario involves a collision between a minimum extent Greater India and a NeoTethyan back-arc at $60 Ma that is subsequently subducted along southern Lhasa at an Andean-style margin, culminating with continent-continent contact at $40 Ma. Our numerical models suggest the conventional scenario does not adequately reproduce mantle structure related to Tethyan convergence. The alternative scenario better reproduces the discrete slab volumes and their lateral and vertical distribution in the mantle, and is also supported by the distribution of ophiolites indicative of Tethyan intraoceanic subduction, magmatic gaps along southern Lhasa and a two-stage slowdown of India. Our models show a strong component of southward mantle return flow for the Tethyan region, suggesting that the common assumption of near-vertical slab sinking is an oversimplification with significant consequences for interpretations of seismic tomography in the context of subduction reference frames.

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Section: Pre-collision Marginsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geochemistry Geophysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights on the kinematics of the India‐Eurasia collision from global geodynamic models

Zahirovic

Müller

Seton

et al. 2012

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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“…The continued convergence of the Indian plate led to its underplating below the Tibetan slab (Li et al 2008;Zhao et al 2010). To the west of the syntaxial belt, the Bela-Waziristan ophiolite zone and the Sibi syntaxis bound by the Kirthar and Suleiman ranges with little lithotectonic variation are important litho-tectonic features in the WFB, Pakistan and the Indus basin (Bannert 1992;Khan et al 2009; Fig. 1).…”

Section: Regional Tectonicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1) (Khan et al 2009). The WFB shows the dominant strike-slip regime, which evolved in response to Indian plate motion during the Tertiary period (Patriat & Achache 1984).…”

Section: Regional Tectonicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). The western syntaxis is tectonically the most complex where the Indian plate accreted with the Cimmerian terrain along the IndusTsangpo suture zone and the Asian plate along the Shyok suture zone (SSZ)/northern suture (NS) with lateral variation in litho-tectonics and Tertiary convergence rates (Patriat & Achache 1984;Khan et al 2009). The accretion of various geological provinces complicates understanding of the tectonics and seismogenesis.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The lithospheric density structure below the western Himalayan syntaxis: tectonic implications

Tiwari

Mishra

Pandey

2015

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The differences in the tectonic regimes of the western part of the India -Asia collision zone (western Himalayan syntaxis), consisting of the Ladakh-Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Pamir terrains, are examined through the analyses and modelling of gravity anomalies, computed from global gravity model and terrestrial data. Long-wavelength (.450 km) anomalies are related to isostatic compensation and correspond to topographic variations. The short-wavelength gravity highs are primarily due to upthrust blocks and are mostly linked to crustal seismicity. The intermediate depth-focused earthquake region of Hindu Kush-Pamir is characterized by a gravity low probably caused by crustal underthrusting. The deep density structure of the crust and upper mantle constructed from the modelling of gravity anomalies with constraints from seismological information suggests crustal underthrusting of the Indian and the Asian plates in the Hindu Kush-Pamir section unlike that in the Ladakh-Karakoram region, where underthrust Indian lithosphere underplates beneath the Asian plate. The density model supports a hypothesis of slab breakoff of Indian and Eurasian plates in the Ladakh-Karakoram segment, and of the Indian plate in the Hindu Kush-Pamir region, whereas the Eurasian plate drastically underthrusts deeper (c. 200 km), causing deep seismicity in the Hindu Kush-Pamir section.

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Age and structure of the Shyok suture in the Ladakh region of northwestern India: Implications for slip on the Karakoram fault system

et al. 2015

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A precise age for the collision of the Kohistan-Ladakh block with Eurasia along the Shyok suture zone (SSZ) is one key to understanding the accretionary history of Tibet and the tectonics of Eurasia during the India-Eurasia collision. Knowing the age of the SSZ also allows the suture to be used as a piercing line for calculating total offset along the Karakoram Fault, which effectively represents the SE border of the Tibetan Plateau and has played a major role in plateau evolution. We present a combined structural, geochemical, and geochronologic study of the SSZ as it is exposed in the Nubra region of India to test two competing hypotheses: that the SSZ is of Late Cretaceous or, alternatively, of Eocene age. Coarse-continental strata of the Saltoro Molasse, mapped in this area, contain detrital zircon populations suggestive of derivation from Eurasia despite the fact that the molasse itself is deposited unconformably onto Kohistan-Ladakh rocks, indicating that the molasse is postcollisional. The youngest population of detrital zircons in these rocks (approximately 92 Ma) and a U/Pb zircon date for a dike that cuts basal molasse outcrops (approximately 85 Ma) imply that deposition of the succession began in the Late Cretaceous. This establishes a minimum age for the SSZ and rules out the possibility of an Eocene collision between Kohistan-Ladakh and Eurasia. Our results support correlation of the SSZ with the Bangong suture zone in Tibet, which implies a total offset across the Karakoram Fault of approximately 130-190 km.

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Did the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc collide first with India?

Cited by 179 publications

References 69 publications

Insights on the kinematics of the India‐Eurasia collision from global geodynamic models

Insights on the kinematics of the India‐Eurasia collision from global geodynamic models

The lithospheric density structure below the western Himalayan syntaxis: tectonic implications

Age and structure of the Shyok suture in the Ladakh region of northwestern India: Implications for slip on the Karakoram fault system

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