Stratigraphy of the upper cretaceous and lower tertiary strata in the Tethyan Himalayas of Tibet (Tingri area, China)

Willems, Helmut; Zhou, Zhideng; Zhang, B.; Gräfe, Kai-Uwe

doi:10.1007/bf02440107

Cited by 171 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The southern unit is composed mainly of carbonate and clastic sedimentary rocks $5 km thick [Jadoul et al, 1998;Wan et al, 2000]. In the Gamba-Tingri area (Figure 1), the youngest well-documented marine strata are Lutetian in age [Wen, 1987a[Wen, , 1987bWillems et al, 1996;Xu, 2000]. The northern unit consists of sandstones, shales, and limestones [Sheng, 1976;Wu, 1987;Yin et al, 1988].…”

Section: Tethyan Himalayamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes in sedimentation patterns and the appearance of accretionary prism and arc material within Maastrichtian strata of the southern Tibetan Tethyan Himalaya have been attributed to onset of interaction between India and Asia at this time [e.g., Liu and Einsele, 1994;Shi and Yin, 1995;Liu and Einsele, 1996;Willems et al, 1996]. However, these changes in sedimentation may be equally well explained by southward obduction of Neo-Tethys intraoceanic rocks, including ophiolitic fragments and subduction-accretion complexes, onto the northern margin of India during Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary time prior to India-Asia collision Burg and Chen, 1984;Burg et al, 1987;Searle et al, 1987;Beck et al, 1996;Gnos et al, 1997;Makovsky et al, 1999;Aitchison et al, 2000].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Paleocene–Eocene record of ophiolite obduction and initial India‐Asia collision, south central Tibet

2005

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Uppermost Cretaceous to Eocene marine sedimentary sequences occur both to the south and north of the Yarlung Zangbo suture in south central Tibet. They consist of Indian‐margin strata of the northern Tethyan Himalaya and Asian‐margin strata of the Gangdese forearc. Both assemblages are characterized by major changes in depositional environment and sedimentary provenance at ∼65 Ma and an appearance of detrital chromium‐rich spinel of ophiolite affinity (TiO2 generally <0.1 wt%) during the Paleocene. Ophiolitic melange exposed along the suture could have provided a source for detrital spinel. The melange occurs in the hanging wall of a north dipping, south directed mylonitic shear zone which includes a tectonic sliver of mafic schist. Amphibole from the schist yields 40Ar/39Ar ages of ∼63 Ma, which we attribute to cooling during slip along the shear zone and southward obduction of the melange. Melange obduction was coeval with the development of an angular unconformity within the Gangdese forearc basin to the north (between late Maastrichtian time and ∼62 Ma). Upper Paleocene to middle Eocene sandstones in the northern Tethyan Himalaya yield 200–120 Ma U‐Pb detrital zircon ages and 190–170 Ma 40Ar/39Ar detrital mica ages. These detrital grains were most likely sourced from regions north of the Yarlung Zangbo suture, suggesting that onset of India‐Asia collision in south central Tibet is middle Eocene or older in age. Collectively, our results support previous suggestions that oceanic rocks were obducted onto the northern margin of India during latest Cretaceous–earliest Tertiary time. Coeval changes in Gangdese forearc sedimentation raise the possibility that this obduction event marks onset of tectonic interaction between India and Asia at ∼65 Ma. Alternatively, in concert with the conventional view of Eocene collision initiation, the obducted oceanic rocks may be of intraoceanic origin, while coeval changes in Gangdese forearc sedimentation may be a consequence of an increase in the rate of ocean‐continent convergence following the demise of the intraoceanic subduction zone.

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Section: Tethyan Himalayamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleocene–Eocene record of ophiolite obduction and initial India‐Asia collision, south central Tibet

2005

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“…3). This indicates that the Upper Cretaceous strata at Bangbu locality are much thicker than in the Tingri (Willems et al 1996;Shi et al 2006) and Gyangze areas (Li et al 2005). Because during the field work small faults and folds indicating thrusting were noted and the possibility of tectonic duplication of parts of section was highly probable, only Beds 1 and 2 of the section have been remeasured and sampled for this study.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The line of subdivision has been placed along the Gyrong-Kangmar thrust (Ratschbacher et al 1994), or alternatively along the Gamba-Tingri fault (Wang et al 1996). The Southern Tethyan Himalayas are characterized by shallow shelf sedimentary rocks of the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic (up to Eocene) age (Yang & Wu 1962;Xu et al 1990;Willems et al 1996), while the Northern Tethyan Himalayas are represented by sediments deposited on the continental slope and in the adjacent deep oceanic basin (Searle et al 1987;Liu & Einsele 1994;Jadoul et al 1998;Hu et al 2008). The Bangbu section tectonically belongs to the deeper, Northern Tethyan Himalayas (see Fig.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main reason is only occasional occurrence of macro-and microfossils in these Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. Within the Mesozoic System, the Upper Cretaceous strata have relatively higher bio-and chronostratigraphic resolution (Wan et al 1993;Willems & Zhang 1993a,b;Willems et al 1996;Shi et al 2006), mainly based on foraminiferal, calcareous nannofossil and stable isotope studies (Wan et al 2003;Li et al 2006;Shi et al 2006;Wendler et al 2009). Most of the biostratigraphic research was conducted in the Gamba and Tingri, areas that tectonically belong to the paleoshelf of the Indian continental plate (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nannofossil biostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Shadui Formation (Northern Tethyan Himalayas, Southern Tibet)

Švabenická¹,

Jansa³

et al. 2010

Geologica Carpathica

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Calcareous nannofossils of Aptian-Albian age were found in the basal part of the Shadui Formation, Northern Tethyan Himalayas, Southern Tibet. The predominantly shale strata are exposed near the northeastern tip of Yamdrock Tso Lake at the locality of Bangbu and they were previously considered to be of Late Cretaceous age. Occurrence of the nannofossil species Prediscosphaera columnata and Cribrosphaerella ehrenbergii indicates the Upper Aptian-Lower Albian Zone BC23. Nannofossil species of Late Albian, Cenomanian or younger Cretaceous age were not present in the studied part of the Shadui Formation. Nannofossils are badly preserved and hardly identifiable probably as a result of strong post mortem etching and dissolution during burial. The depositional setting of the Shadui Formation is interpreted as hemipelagic to pelagic. A horizon of dark shale in the lower part of the Shadui Formation may be stratigraphically correlated with ocean anoxic event OAE1b. The discovery of calcareous nannofossils at the Bangbu locality increases the stratigraphic precision in the correlation of Cretaceous strata between hemipelagic-pelagic facies and shelf depositional areas in the Tibetan Tethyan Himalayas.

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Paleocene‐Eocene foreland basin evolution in the Himalaya of southern Tibet and Nepal: Implications for the age of initial India‐Asia collision

et al. 2014

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Siliciclastic sedimentary rocks derived from the southern Lhasa terrane, sitting depositionally upon rocks of the northern Indian passive continental margin, provide an estimate of the age of initial contact between the continental parts of the Indian and Asian plates. We report sedimentological, sedimentary petrological, and geochronological data from Upper Cretaceous-Paleocene strata in the Sangdanlin section, located along the southern flank of the Indus-Yarlung suture zone in southern Tibet. This is probably the most proximal, and therefore the oldest, record of the India-Asia collision. These strata were deposited by high-density turbidity currents (or concentrated density flows) and suspension settling of pelagic biogenic debris in a deep-marine setting. An abrupt change from quartz-arenitic to feldspatholithic sandstone compositions marks the transition from Indian to Asian sediment provenance. The abrupt compositional change is accompanied by changes in U-Pb ages of detrital zircons diagnostic of a sediment provenance reversal, from Indian to Asian sources. The timing of the transition is bracketed between~60 Ma and 58.5 ± 0.6 Ma by detrital zircon U-Pb ages and zircon U-Pb ages from a tuffaceous bed in the upper part of the section. In the context of a palinspastically restored regional paleogeographic framework, data from the Sangdanlin section combined with previously published data from the northern Tethyan Himalaya and the frontal Nepalese Lesser Himalaya and Subhimalaya suggest that a flexural wave migrated~1300 km southward across what is now the Himalayan thrust belt from Paleocene time to the present.

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Stratigraphy of the upper cretaceous and lower tertiary strata in the Tethyan Himalayas of Tibet (Tingri area, China)

Cited by 171 publications

References 12 publications

Paleocene–Eocene record of ophiolite obduction and initial India‐Asia collision, south central Tibet

Paleocene–Eocene record of ophiolite obduction and initial India‐Asia collision, south central Tibet

Nannofossil biostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Shadui Formation (Northern Tethyan Himalayas, Southern Tibet)

Paleocene‐Eocene foreland basin evolution in the Himalaya of southern Tibet and Nepal: Implications for the age of initial India‐Asia collision

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