Stratigraphic evidence for an early collision between northwest India and Asia

Beck, Richard; Burbank, Douglas W.; Sercombe, William J.; Riley, Gregory W.; Barndt, Jeffrey K.; Berry, John R.; Afzal, Jamil; Khan, Abdullah; Jürgen, H.; Metje, Jörgen; Cheema, Amjed; Shafique, Nasseer A.; Lawrence, Robert D.; Khan, Muhammad Asif

doi:10.1038/373055a0

Cited by 455 publications

(232 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The end of marine sedimentation and the first onlap of fluvio-deltaic sediments and redbeds on the Indian northern passive margin in the western Himalaya is dated as foraminiferal Zone P8 (38), correlative with Chron C22r of latest Early Eocene age [Ϸ50.5 Ma (39,40)]. This first direct timing constraint on the initiation of collision between India and Asia has stood up well (41)(42)(43) and is supported, for example, by field studies in northwest Pakistan, where the suture and Indian craton were overlapped by shallow-marine strata of latest Early Eocene age (Zone P9), showing that suturing was largely completed by Ϸ49 Ma (44). Evidence of subduction and final collision derives also from the occurrence of island arc volcanics and related intrusives, and massive calc-alkaline plutonism associated with the last major pulse dated at Ϸ50 Ma in the Ladakh Himalayas, for example (45)(46)(47).…”

Section: Drift Of India and Collision With Eurasiamentioning

confidence: 65%

Equatorial convergence of India and early Cenozoic climate trends

Kent

Muttoni

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

140

108

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India's northward flight and collision with Asia was a major driver of global tectonics in the Cenozoic and, we argue, of atmospheric CO 2 concentration (pCO2) and thus global climate. Subduction of Tethyan oceanic crust with a carpet of carbonate-rich pelagic sediments deposited during transit beneath the high-productivity equatorial belt resulted in a component flux of CO 2 delivery to the atmosphere capable to maintain high pCO 2 levels and warm climate conditions until the decarbonation factory shut down with the collision of Greater India with Asia at the Early Eocene climatic optimum at Ϸ50 Ma. At about this time, the India continent and the highly weatherable Deccan Traps drifted into the equatorial humid belt where uptake of CO 2 by efficient silicate weathering further perturbed the delicate equilibrium between CO 2 input to and removal from the atmosphere toward progressively lower pCO 2 levels, thus marking the onset of a cooling trend over the Middle and Late Eocene that some suggest triggered the rapid expansion of Antarctic ice sheets at around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.CO2 ͉ Deccan ͉ Tethys ͉ Himalaya ͉ Eocene M odern-day glacial climate, characterized by polar ice at sea level, is the long-term cooling derivative of a Cretaceousearly Cenozoic world dominated by warm conditions and the general absence of ice sheets (1, 2). The zenith of global warmth in the Cenozoic (0-65 Ma) was reached at Ϸ50 Ma during the Early Eocene climatic optimum (EECO) as the culmination of a Late Paleocene-Early Eocene (Ϸ60-50 Ma) warming trend in oceanic bottom waters (3) (Fig. 1A). The EECO was characterized by the widespread occurrence of cherts (4) (Fig. 1B) and reflected in warm climate conditions at even extreme high latitudes (5, 6). A persistent cooling trend ensued over the Middle and Late Eocene that eventually plummeted into a glacial climate mode with the inception of major Antarctic ice sheets at Oi-1 near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary at Ϸ34 Ma (7). Changes in ocean circulation and heat transport related to the opening of Southern Ocean gateways (8) occurred well after the start of the cooling trend at Ϸ50 Ma and do not seem to adequately account for inception of Antarctic glaciation according to recent climate models (e.g., refs. 9 and 10). Instead, reduction in greenhouse gas concentrations is the more likely fundamental cause of Antarctic freezing and global cooling (10). This is supported by the occurrence of high (albeit highly scattered) pCO 2 estimated values of Ͼ1,000 ppm at around the EECO (e.g., 11, 12; see also ref. 13) and generally low (Ͻ500 ppm) pCO 2 estimated values after Oi-1 that followed a decline that more or less parallels the long-term temperature record (14, 15) (Fig. 1 A). However, what triggered the global cooling from the EECO to Oi-1 (and thus the cause of the long-term decrease in pCO 2 ) is unclear (16).The BLAG model (17, 18) postulates that long-term changes in pCO 2 and resulting climate were driven primarily by variations in mantle outgassing tied to global seafloor prod...

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Section: Drift Of India and Collision With Eurasiamentioning

confidence: 65%

Equatorial convergence of India and early Cenozoic climate trends

Kent

Muttoni

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

140

108

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“…After the successful colonization of Asia by lorisids, a split occurred Ϸ29-47 mya into the genera Nycticebus, which subsequently invaded wide areas of southeast Asia, and Loris. The latter migrated into the Indian subcontinent during a period when the landmass was already connected with the Asian mainland (49).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because the age of the most recent common ancestor of the primate order is still uncertain, our estimate was calibrated with the 50 (6), 61 (4), and 80 (45,46) The Indo-Madagascar continent split from the African mainland Ϸ165 mya and reached its current position Ϸ400 km east of Africa Ϸ121 mya (47). Later, Ϸ88 mya, the Indian subcontinent split from Madagascar (48), drifting north-eastward and colliding with Asia Ϸ56-66 mya (49). In agreement with previous work (40), a colonization of Madagascar by a Gondwanan vicariance, via a chain of islands or even a continuing land bridge linking the island and Africa during the middle Eocene and the early Miocene, is outside the estimated temporal window of 47-80 mya and can therefore be rejected.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primate jumping genes elucidate strepsirrhine phylogeny

Roos

Schmitz

Zischler

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

243

236

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Transposable elements provide a highly informative marker system for analyzing evolutionary histories. To solve controversially discussed topics in strepsirrhine phylogeny, we characterized 61 loci containing short interspersed elements (SINEs) and determined the SINE presence-absence pattern at orthologous loci in a representative strepsirrhine panel. This SINE monolocus study was complemented by a Southern blot analysis tracing multiple loci of two different strepsirrhine specific SINEs. The results thereof were combined with phylogenetic trees reconstructed on the basis of complete mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences from all recognized strepsirrhine genera. Here we present evidence for (i) a sister group relationship of Malagasy Chiromyiformes and Lemuriformes, (ii) Lorisidae being a monophyletic sister clade to the Galagidae, and (iii) common ancestry of African and Asian lorisids. Based on these findings, we conclude that strepsirrhines originated in Africa and that Madagascar and Asia were colonized by respective single immigration events. In agreement with paleocontinental data, the molecular analyses suggest a crossing of the Mozambique channel by rafting between the late Cretaceous and the middle Eocene, whereas Asia was most likely colonized between the early Eocene and the middle Oligocene on a continental route. Furthermore, one SINE integration links the two Lemuriformes families, Lemuridae and Indriidae, indicating a common origin of diurnality or cathemerality and a later reversal to nocturnality by the indriid genus Avahi.

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“…The timing of initial collision of the Indian plate with Eurasia has been debated [Cochran, 1990;Butler, 1995] (also see discussion from Uddin and Lundberg [1998]). Data bearing on the timing of collision come mainly from areas west of the central Himalayas [e.g., Beck et al, 1995;Najman et al, 1997]. Although most workers suggest that the leading edge of India began to collide with Eurasia in a so-called "soft" collision around 55 Ma [i.e., Sclater and Fisher, 1974], others propose an earlier collision at about 70 Ma [i.e., Yin and Harrison, 2000].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age constraints on Miocene sequences from the Bengal basin: Implications for middle Miocene denudation of the eastern Himalayas

2010

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[1] Petrographic, mineral-chemistry and subsurface studies reveal that orogenic sedimentation had already begun in the Bengal basin by the early Miocene. Laser 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age determinations were made for detrital muscovite grains (145 total, among 4 samples) from the lower-to-middle Miocene Bhuban Formation. The laser fusion ages range from circa 12 Ma to 516 Ma, and thus suggest derivation from a combination of sources: the Himalayas, Indo-Burman ranges and possibly the Indian shield and Tibetan plateau. Modes of circa 16 Ma, 18 Ma, 26 and 40 Ma in the age distributions of these samples are most consistent with unroofing of the Higher Himalayas since the early Miocene. Detrital micas of such an early age (16 Ma) for the Bhuban Formation are interpreted to indicate that little time elapsed between the isotopic closure of 40 Ar in the muscovite and its ultimate deposition in middle Miocene strata. The detrital ages of circa 16 and 22 Ma in this study, most prominent in the highest stratigraphic levels sampled in this study, are younger than those previously reported in the western Himalayan foreland basins. These younger detrital ages are consistent with rapid middle Miocene unroofing and erosion as has been proposed for crystalline rocks of the eastern Himalayas. The minimum 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages for muscovite in a particular sample seem proportional to the stratigraphic level sampled, i.e., younger ages tend to occur for samples of higher stratigraphic level. These results support earlier studies indicating that detrital geochronology can be used as an effective tool in evaluating stratigraphic ages.

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Stratigraphic evidence for an early collision between northwest India and Asia

Cited by 455 publications

References 28 publications

Equatorial convergence of India and early Cenozoic climate trends

Equatorial convergence of India and early Cenozoic climate trends

Primate jumping genes elucidate strepsirrhine phylogeny

Laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age constraints on Miocene sequences from the Bengal basin: Implications for middle Miocene denudation of the eastern Himalayas

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Stratigraphic evidence for an early collision between northwest India and Asia

Cited by 455 publications

References 28 publications

Equatorial convergence of India and early Cenozoic climate trends

Equatorial convergence of India and early Cenozoic climate trends

Primate jumping genes elucidate strepsirrhine phylogeny

Laser 40Ar/39Ar age constraints on Miocene sequences from the Bengal basin: Implications for middle Miocene denudation of the eastern Himalayas

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Laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age constraints on Miocene sequences from the Bengal basin: Implications for middle Miocene denudation of the eastern Himalayas