Abstract
Himalayan orogeny in relation to Global Tectonics is a hotly debated subject. Orogeny can result either from collision of continental plates or by an endogenic process of mantle upwelling along pre-existing fracture zones in the crust. This paper describes a new technique of frequency analysis of radiometric ages of crystalline rocks in the mountain ranges straddling the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ), the supposed line of collision between India and Asia, and shows that all the ranges from Karakoram to Lesser Himalaya across the ITSZ got uplifted simultaneously in a particular sequence. This contradicts the concept of suturing, places the ITSZ in the category of one of the intracrustal thrusts of the Himalayan orogenic system and establishes the family affinity between the Karakoram and the Himalaya. Analysis of stratigraphic and structural data points out that this family affinity is not confined to the ranges only but extends beyond into the foreland and oceanic basins as well. This paper also explains a number of apparent contradictions in terrain geomorphology, ophiolites in suture zones, thickness anomaly of Himalaya-derived sediments in eastern and western wings of terrestrial and oceanic basins to the south of the ranges, the status of Mid-oceanic Ridges in global tectonics, convergence aspect between Himalaya and India, nature of Foothills Fault and metamorphism of early Tertiary sediments in the Himalayan foreland basin.
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Raiverman, V. A brief account of the continuum from Karakoram and Himalayan ranges to foreland and ocean basins. J Geol Soc India 81, 337–349 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-013-0044-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-013-0044-4