The timing of India-Asia collision onset – Facts, theories, controversies

Hu, Xiumian; Garzanti, Eduardo; Wang, Jiangang; Huang, Wentao; An, Wenling; Webb, A. Alexander G.

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.07.014

Cited by 605 publications

(341 citation statements)

References 228 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

332

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, whether this correlation was present in syncollisional to postcollisional settings has not yet been tested [ Profeta et al ., ], making it equivocal to track crustal thickness using geochemical indices of samples from such settings. This is the case for the <55 Ma samples from the Gangdese Batholith, if an India‐Asia collision age of approximately 60–55 Ma is accepted [e.g., Najman et al ., ; Zhu et al ., ; Hu et al ., ], or by the <34 Ma samples, if a collision age of 34–20 Ma is favored [ Aitchison et al ., ; van Hinsbergen et al ., ].…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Tibetan Plateau consists primarily of the Songpan–Ganzi flysch complex, Qiangtang Terrane, Lhasa Terrane, and the Himalayas (Figure b), separated from north to south by the Jinsha, Bangong–Nujiang, and Indus–Yarlung Zangbo Suture Zones, respectively [e.g., Yin and Harrison , ; Zhu et al ., ]. The Lhasa Terrane in southern Tibet is the last geological block accreted to Eurasia in the Early Cretaceous [ Zhu et al ., ] before its collision with the northward drifting Indian continent in the early Cenozoic [e.g., Zhu et al ., ; Hu et al ., ]. Northward subduction of the Yarlung Zangbo Tethyan Ocean lithosphere along the southern margin of the Lhasa Terrane resulted in the development of a continental arc, now exposed as the voluminous Gangdese Batholith and Linzizong volcanic sequence (i.e., the Gangdese arc) [e.g., Chung et al ., ; Zhu et al ., , ].…”

Section: Gangdese Arc and Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Raising the Gangdese Mountains in southern Tibet

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The surface uplift of mountain belts is in large part controlled by the effects of crustal thickening and mantle dynamic processes (e.g., lithospheric delamination or slab breakoff). Understanding the history and driving mechanism of uplift of the southern Tibetan Plateau requires accurate knowledge on crustal thickening over time. Here we determine spatial and temporal variations in crustal thickness using whole‐rock La/Yb ratios of intermediate intrusive rocks from the Gangdese arc. Our results show that the crust was likely of normal thickness prior to approximately 70 Ma (~37 km) but began to thicken locally at approximately 70–60 Ma. The crust reached (58–50) ± 10 km at 55–45 Ma extending over 400 km along the strike of the arc. This thickening was likely due to magmatic underplating as a consequence of rollback and then breakoff of the subducting Neo‐Tethyan slab. The crust attained a thickness of 68 ± 12 km at approximately 20–10 Ma, as a consequence of underthrusting of India and associated thrust faulting. The Gangdese Mountains in southern Tibet broadly attained an elevation of >4000 m at approximately 55–45 Ma as a result of isostatic surface uplift driven by crustal thickening and slab breakoff and reached their present‐day elevation by 20–10 Ma. Our paleoelevation estimates are consistent not only with the C–O isotope‐based paleoaltimetry but also with the carbonate‐clumped isotope paleothermometer, exemplifying the promise of reconstructing paleoelevation in time and space for ancient orogens through a combination of magmatic composition and Airy isostatic compensation.

show abstract

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gangdese Arc and Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Raising the Gangdese Mountains in southern Tibet

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2). Generally, the Himalayan orogen is subdivided into three tectono-stratigraphic units: the Tethyan Himalayan sedimentary sequences (THS), the Greater Himalayan crystalline complex (GHC), and the Lesser Himalayan series (LHS) (Hou et al 2012;Hu et al 2016;Yin and Harrison 2000). The THS is bounded by the YZS in the north and the north-dipping south Tibetan detachment (STD) in the south.…”

Section: Himalayan Orogenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Varying Indian crustal front in the southern Tibetan Plateau as revealed by magnetotelluric data

Xie

Jin

Wei

et al. 2017

Earth Planets Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the southern Tibetan plateau, which is considered to be the ongoing India-Eurasia continental collision zone, tracing of the Indian crustal front beneath Tibet is still controversial. We conducted deep subsurface electrical modeling in southern Tibet and discuss the geometry of the front of the Indian crust. Three areas along the Yarlung-Zangbo river zone for which previous magnetotelluric (MT) data are available were inverted independently using a three-dimensional MT inversion algorithm ModEM. Electrical horizontal slices at different depths and north-south oriented cross sections at different longitudes were obtained to provide a geoelectrical perspective for deep processes beneath the Tethyan Himalaya and Lhasa terrane. Horizontal slices at depths greater than − 15 km show that the upper crust is covered with resistive layers. Below a depth of − 20 km, discontinuous conductive distributions are primarily concentrated north of the Yarlung-Zangbo sutures (YZS) and could be imaged from mid-to lower crust. The results show that the maximum depth to which the resistive layers extend is over − 20 km, while the mid-to lower crustal conductive zones extend to depths greater than − 50 km. The results indicate that the conductive region in the mid-to lower crust can be imaged primarily from the YZS to south of the Bangong-Nujiang sutures in western Tibet and to ~ 31°N in eastern Tibet. The northern front of the conductive zones appears as an irregular barrier to the Indian crust from west to east. We suggest that a relatively less conductive subsurface in the northern portion of the barrier indicates a relatively cold and strong crust and that the front of the Indian crust might be halted in the south of the barrier. We suggest that the Indian crustal front varies from west to east and has at least reached: ~ 33.5°N at ~ 80°E, ~ 31°N at ~ 85°E, and ~ 30.5°N at ~ 87°E and ~ 92°E.

show abstract

“…1). It has been traditionally interpreted as one of the major suture zones in the Earth that formed during the India-Asia continental collision, following the terminal closure of the Neotethys (Aitchison et al, 2011;Hu et al, 2016). Mafic-ultramafic rock assemblages in different ophiolite massifs and mélanges along the YZSZ have been studied extensively during the past 30 years (i.e., Miller et al, 2003;Liu et al, 2010;Bezard et al, 2011;Dai et al, 2011;Guilmette et al, 2012;Hébert et al, 2012;Guo et al, 2015;Li et al, 2015;Niu et al, 2015;Lian et al, 2016Lian et al, , 2017Feng et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Melt evolution of upper mantle peridotites and mafic dikes in the northern ophiolite belt of the western Yarlung Zangbo suture zone (southern Tibet)

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Yarlung Zangbo suture zone (YZSZ) in southern Tibet is divided by the Zhongba terrane into two subparallel belts in its western end. The northern belt (NB) is tectonically juxtaposed against an accretionary prism complex and the Gangdese magmatic arc of Eurasia along dextral oblique-slip faults. Peridotite massifs in this belt are intruded by mafic dikes, providing critical geochemical, geochronological, and isotopic information about the melting-melt extraction history of the Tethyan mantle. Peridotites consist of harzburgite and clinopyroxene harzburgite with minor Iherzolite and dunite-chromitite. Dolerite and microgabbro dikes crosscutting these peridotites display U-Pb zircon ages of 128-122 Ma, and show normal mid-oceanic ridge basalt (N-MORB) like rare earth element patterns with negative Nb, Ta, and Ti anomalies, high ε Nd (t) Pb of 37.724-37.845, suggesting that their N-MORB-like mantle source was modified by island arc melts. Slab rollback-induced extension in an arc-trench system along the Eurasian continental margin led to ~7%-12% partial melting of subduction-influenced, spinel lherzolite peridotites, producing dike magmas. The NB peridotite massifs and ophiolites thus represent a suprasubduction zone oceanic lithosphere formed in close proximity to the late Mesozoic active continental margin of Eurasia.

show abstract

The timing of India-Asia collision onset – Facts, theories, controversies

Cited by 605 publications

References 228 publications

Raising the Gangdese Mountains in southern Tibet

Raising the Gangdese Mountains in southern Tibet

Varying Indian crustal front in the southern Tibetan Plateau as revealed by magnetotelluric data

Melt evolution of upper mantle peridotites and mafic dikes in the northern ophiolite belt of the western Yarlung Zangbo suture zone (southern Tibet)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About