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Kinematic vorticity analysis along the Karakoram Shear Zone, Pangong Mountains, Karakoram: Implications for the India–Asia tectonics

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

The Karakoram Shear Zone (KSZ) is a northwest-southeast trending dextral ductile shear zone that has mylonitized the Tangste and Darbuk granitoids of the southern margin of the Asian plate. Kinematic vorticity (Wk) has been estimated in 6 mylonitized Tangste granite samples, using Porphyroclast Hyperbolic Distribution (PHD) and Shear Band (SB) Analyses methods on well-developed quartz and feldspar porphyroclasts, and synthetic and antithetic shear bands respectively to visualize the overall deformation of the KSZ. The PHD and SB analyses yield Wk values ranging from Wk=0.29 to 0.43 and 0.45 to 0.93, respectively, thus indicating distinct pure and simple shear dominant regimes during different stages of the evolution of the KSZ. Strain has essentially been pure shear when southern edge of the Asian plate was initially juxtaposed against the Indian plate around 70 Ma, and changed to simple shear, possibly during the reactivation of this shear zone during 21-13 Ma to produce the shear bands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organization, Hyderabad, 500 037, India

    Priyom Roy

  2. CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, 247 667, India

    A. K. Jain

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, 247 667, India

    Sandeep Singh

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  1. Priyom Roy
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  2. A. K. Jain
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Correspondence to A. K. Jain.

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Roy, P., Jain, A.K. & Singh, S. Kinematic vorticity analysis along the Karakoram Shear Zone, Pangong Mountains, Karakoram: Implications for the India–Asia tectonics. J Geol Soc India 87, 249–260 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-016-0392-y

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