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Indo-Burma Range: a belt of accreted microcontinents, ophiolites and Mesozoic–Paleogene flyschoid sediments

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Abstract

This study provides an insight into the lithotectonic evolution of the N–S trending Indo-Burma Range (IBR), constituting the southern flank of the Himalayan syntaxis. Paleogene flyschoid sediments (Disang–Barail) that represent a shallow marine to deltaic environment mainly comprise the west-central sector of IBR, possibly resting upon a continental base. On the east, these sequences are tectonically flanked by the Eocene olistostromal facies of the Disang, which developed through accretion of trench sediments during the subduction. The shelf and trench facies sequences of the Disang underwent overthrusting from the east, giving rise to two ophiolite suites (Naga Hills Lower Ophiolite (NHLO) and Victoria Hills Upper Ophiolite (VHUO), but with different accretion history. The ophiolite and ophiolite cover rock package were subsequently overthrusted by the Proterozoic metamorphic sequence, originated from the Burmese continent. The NHLO suite of Late Jurassic to Early Eocene age is unconformably overlain by mid-Eocene shallow marine ophiolite-derived clastics. On the south, the VHUO of Mesozoic age is structurally underlain by continental metamorphic rocks. The entire package in Victoria Hills is unconformably overlain by shallow marine Late Albian sediments. Both the ophiolite suites and the sandwiched continental metamorphic rocks are thrust westward over the Paleogene shelf sediments. These dismembered ophiolites and continental metamorphic rocks suggest thin-skinned tectonic detachment processes in IBR, as reflected from the presence of klippe of continental metamorphic rocks over the NHLO and the flyschoid Disang floor sediments and half windows exposing the Disang beneath the NHLO.

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Acknowledgments

I am thankful to my coworkers for providing support for the present study. Prof. Nibir Mandal, JU, has gone through an earlier version of the write-up and offered helpful suggestions. Help received from Puspendu Saha, CU, in preparation and formatting of figures is thankfully acknowledged. I also thank Dr. Soumyajit Mukherjee, Associate and Topic Editor, for his helpful suggestions. Dr. V. C. Thakur is also thanked for his comments.

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    S. K. Acharyya

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Acharyya, S.K. Indo-Burma Range: a belt of accreted microcontinents, ophiolites and Mesozoic–Paleogene flyschoid sediments. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 104, 1235–1251 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-015-1154-6

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