Provenance of the Upper Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary Sedimentary Relicts in the Renbu Mélange Zone, within the Indus-Yarlung Suture Zone

Li, Guangwei; Sandiford, Mike; Boger, Steven D.; Liu, Xiaohan; Wei, Liqing

doi:10.1086/680207

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(137 reference statements)

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“…Hence, this post ~50 Ma stage can be linked to later “hard collision” related to continental crust collision [ Molnar and Tapponnier , ; Lee and Lawver , ]. During this period, the Xigaze basin transitioned from a fore‐arc to collision‐related syncollisional basin system in front of the Gandese arc, and sediment sourced from the Gangdese arc along the south Asian margin was continuously transported into the Xigaze basin (Figures c and d), as well as to other foreland basins further south (Renbu, Sangdanlin basins [ DeCelles et al , ; Orme et al , ; Li et al , ] Figure c).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, it has been demonstrated that the foreland basin system developed along the entire Himalaya orogeny from the IYSZ to present Gangetic foreland basin. Based on studies from the Sangdanlin section in Saga (Figure ) combined with previously published data from the IYSZ [ Li et al , ], northern Tethyan Himalaya [ Ding et al , ; Hu et al , ], and frontal Nepalese Lesser Himalaya and Sub‐Himalaya [ DeCelles et al , ], from Paleocene to the present this basin system experienced a flexural wave southward migrating ~1400 km across the Himalayan thrust belt.…”

Section: Regional Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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India‐Asia convergence: Insights from burial and exhumation of the Xigaze fore‐arc basin, south Tibet

Kohn

Sandiford

et al. 2017

JGR Solid Earth

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The composite fore‐arc/syncollisional Xigaze basin in south Tibet preserves a key record of India‐Asia collision. New apatite fission track and zircon (U‐Th)/He data from an N‐S transect across the preserved fore‐arc basin sequence near Xigaze show a consistent northward Late Cretaceous to middle Miocene younging trend, while coexisting apatite (U‐Th‐Sm)/He ages are all Miocene. Corresponding detrital zircon U‐Pb data are also reported for constraining the Cretaceous depositional ages of the Xigaze basin sequence in the region. Thermal history modeling indicates that the basin experienced northward propagating episodic exhumation, along with a northward migration of the depocenter and a pre‐existing Cenozoic syncollisional basin sequence which had been removed. In the southern part, fore‐arc exhumation commenced in the Late Cretaceous (~89 ± 2 Ma). Following transition to a syncollisional basin in the Paleocene, sedimentation in the central and northern Xigaze basin continued until the latest Eocene (~34 ± 4 Ma). Ongoing folding and thrusting (e.g., Great Counter Thrusts) caused by progressive plate convergence during late Oligocene‐early Miocene time resulted in regional uplift and considerable basin denudation, which fed two fluvial basins along its northern and southern flanks and exposed the basement ophiolite. Subsequent incision of the Yarlung River resulted in Miocene cooling in the region. Different episodes in the exhumation history of the Xigaze basin, caused by thrusting of an accretionary wedge and ophiolitic basement, can be linked to changes in India‐Asia convergence rates and the changing subduction pattern of the Indian and Neo‐Tethyan slabs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

India‐Asia convergence: Insights from burial and exhumation of the Xigaze fore‐arc basin, south Tibet

Kohn

Sandiford

et al. 2017

JGR Solid Earth

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“…The Xiukang Mélange is composed of exotic blocks of sandstone, limestone, chert, and basalt set in a deformed matrix of Upper Triassic-Lower Aptian abyssal chert, siliceous mudstone, and locally turbidites (Cai et al, 2012). Sandstone blocks include quartzose petrofacies derived from the Indian passive margin, and Cretaceous to Eocene lithic-rich volcanic petrofacies sourced from the Asian active margin (Cai et al, 2012;Li et al, 2015;An et al, 2017). Abundant and mostly bioclastic-limestone blocks, probably detached from the outer peri-Gondwana shelf or seamounts within the Neo-Tethys Ocean (Shen et al, 2003a(Shen et al, , 2003b, yield Middle-Late Permian crinoids and bryozoans, together with foraminifera of Early Triassic, Early Jurassic, and Late Cretaceous age (Tapponnier et al, 1981;Jin et al, 2015, and references therein).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of Upper Cretaceous Neo-Tethyan trench deposits in south Tibet (Luogangcuo Formation)

Garzanti

2018

Lithosphere

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Sedimentary basins within the Transhimalayan arc-trench system provide paleotectonic and paleogeographic information on the evolution of the late Mesozoic-early Cenozoic Neo-Tethyan subduction zone along the southern Asian margin. This paper presents detailed stratigraphic, sedimentologic, petrographic, detrital-zircon geochronologic and Hf isotopic data from the Luogangcuo Formation exposed as part of the Xiukang Mélange in south Tibet. The Luogangcuo Formation was deposited (ca. 88-81 Ma) in a trench environment on a deep-sea fan fed from the Lhasa block through a submarine canyon. Dominant chert and subordinate sandstone and limestone clasts in conglomerate beds indicate recycling from the Neo-Tethyan subduction complex during repeated episodes of gravitational failure. The interbedded turbiditic sandstones were sourced directly from the Gangdese magmatic arc and central Lhasa terrane. Detrital volumes from the active Asian margin increased markedly at ca. 88 Ma as a result of uplift of central Lhasa, leading to deltaic progradation, filling of the Xigaze forearc basin, and bypassing of sediments funneled via canyons across the subduction complex to reach the Luogangcuo trench basin at abyssal depths.

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“…The Yarlung Zangbo Mantle Thrust (YZMT) places ophiolite belt units southward on siliciclastic matrix mélange or Tethyan Himalaya strata, with local red radiolarian chert and/or strata of the synkinemetic Liuqu conglomerate (Paleogene Davis et al, 2002;Eocene Wang et al, 2010;Oligo-Miocene Wei et al, 2011;Oligo-Miocene Li et al, 2015a;19-20 Ma Leary et al, 2016b) in the hanging wall or footwall (Tapponnier et al, 1981;Burg and Chen, 1984;Girardeau et al, 1984;Burg et al, 1987;Ratschbacher et al, 1994;Ding et al, 2005). The siliciclastic matrix mélange was originally described as "wildflysch with exotic blocks" (Tapponnier et al, 1981;Burg and Chen, 1984;Burg et al, 1985;Burg et al, 1987) and is also known as the Yamdrok mélange (Searle et al, 1987), mud-matrix mélange (Wang et al, 2011), Pomunong mélange (Cai et al, 2012), Renbu mélange (Li et al, 2015b), Xiukang mélange (XBGMR, 1979;Yin and Sun, 1988;An et al, 2017), or sedimentary-matrix mélange (Ding et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2017). There has been some confusion in the literature about the boundaries of the siliciclastic matrix mélange unit, and many definitions of the unit have also included imbricated radiolarian chert and/or deformed Tethyan Himalaya strata.…”

Section: Geologic Setting 102mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cai et al (2012) identified the imbricated radiolarites (the Bainang terrane) as the Tangga mélange and the siliclastic matrix mélange (the Yamdrok mélange) as the Pomunong mélange. The Renbu mélange (Li et al, 2015b), Xiukang mélange (XBGMR, 1979;Yin and Sun, 1988;An et al, 2017), and sedimentary-matrix mélange (Ding et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2017) all refer to the same unit as the Yamdrok mélange from Searle et al (1987). This disambiguation is important when assessing published descriptions of the siliciclastic matrix mélange.…”

Section: Geologic Setting 102mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Yarlung suture mélange, Lopu Range, southern Tibet: Provenance of sandstone blocks and transition from oceanic subduction to continental collision

Metcalf

Kapp

2017

Gondwana Research

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With the aim of better understanding the history of ocean closure and suturing between India and Asia, we conducted a geologic investigation of a siliciclastic matrix tectonic mélange within the western Yarlung suture zone of southern Tibet (Lopu Range region, ~50 km northwest of Saga). The siliciclastic matrix mélange includes abundant blocks of ocean plate stratigraphy and sparse blocks of sandstone. Metapelite and metabasite blocks in the mélange exhibit lower greenschist facies mineral assemblages, indicating that they were not deeply subducted. We obtained detrital zircon U-Pb geochronologic and sandstone petrographic data from sandstone blocks in the mélange and sandstone beds from Tethyan Himalaya strata exposed to the south of the suture. The sandstones from both units are all similar in U-Pb detrital zircon age spectra and 15 petrography to the nearby Tethyan Cretaceous-Paleocene Sangdanlin section, which records the 16 earliest appearance (at ~59 Ma) of arc-affinity strata deposited conformably on Indian-affinity strata. Two Paleocene sandstones, one of which is a schistose block incorporated in the siliciclastic matrix mélange, yielded indistinguishable maximum depositional ages of ~59 Ma. Mesozoic Asian-affinity sandstone blocks previously documented in the siliciclastic matrix mélange 200-500 km along strike to the east are notably absent in the Lopu Range region. We documented a gradational transition in structural style from the block-in-matrix mélange in the northeast to the south-vergent Tethyan thrust belt in the southwest. Blocks of Tethyan Himalaya strata increase in 2 size and the volumetric proportion of matrix decreases from northeast to southwest. We conclude 24 that no arc-affinity sandstone blocks were incorporated into the subduction complex until India-Asia collision at ~59 Ma when the Xigaze forearc basin became overfilled and Tethyan Himalaya strata entered the trench. As collision progressed, there was a gradual transition in structural style from block-in-matrix mélange formation to imbricate-style thrust belt formation.

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Provenance of the Upper Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary Sedimentary Relicts in the Renbu Mélange Zone, within the Indus-Yarlung Suture Zone

Cited by 17 publications

References 71 publications

India‐Asia convergence: Insights from burial and exhumation of the Xigaze fore‐arc basin, south Tibet

India‐Asia convergence: Insights from burial and exhumation of the Xigaze fore‐arc basin, south Tibet

Discovery of Upper Cretaceous Neo-Tethyan trench deposits in south Tibet (Luogangcuo Formation)

The Yarlung suture mélange, Lopu Range, southern Tibet: Provenance of sandstone blocks and transition from oceanic subduction to continental collision

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