Results of biostratigraphic and geochronological investigations in eastern Nagaland and Manipur, NE India, provide new constraints on the tectonic evolution of the western margin of the Burma microplate. U/Pb zircon ages indicate that the Naga Hills ophiolite developed in a suprasubduction zone setting as part of an intraoceanic island arc developed during late Early Cretaceous (mid‐Aptian) time and is younger than similar rocks exposed along the Indus‐Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone. Radiolarian microfossils provide Jurassic and Cretaceous age constraints for Tethyan ocean floor sediments that were subducted beneath the forming ophiolite. Timing of the emplacement of these rocks onto the passive margin of eastern India is constrained by Paleocene/Eocene radiolarians in sediments over which the ophiolitic assemblage has been thrust. Previously undated schists and gneisses in the Naga Metamorphics are of Early Ordovician age, and their sedimentary protolith was most likely derived from sources in the south of Western Australian and East Antarctica. After Barrovian‐style metamorphism, these rocks were uplifted and eroded becoming an important source of detritus shed into the Eocene Phokphur Formation. This unit also contains abundant clasts sourced from the disrupted basement of the Naga Hills ophiolite, which it overlies. It also contains Permo‐Triassic‐aged detritus eroded off an enigmatic source that was possibly a continental convergent margin arc system somewhere along the northern margin of Gondwana.

The Indus Molasse records orogenic sedimentation associated with uplift and erosion of the southern margin of Asia in the course of ongoing India–Eurasia collision. Detailed field investigation clarifies the nature and extent of the depositional contact between this molasse and the underlying basement units. We report the first dataset on detrital zircon U–Pb ages, Hf isotopes and apatite U–Pb ages for the autochthonous molasse in the Indus Suture Zone. A latest Oligocene depositional age is proposed on the basis of the youngest detrital zircon U–Pb age peak and is consistent with published biostratigraphic data. Multiple provenance indicators suggest exclusively northerly derivation with no input from India in the lowermost parts of the section. The results provide constraints on the uplift and erosion history of the Ladakh Range following the initial India–Asia collision. Supplementary material: Method description, Sample locations, Figures S1 and S2 and Tables S1 to S3 are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4858848

This study presents results of integrated larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy, lithofacies and stable carbon isotope (13 C org) analysis carried out in the Sylhet Limestone of Dillai Parbat Limestone Mine succession, Karbi Anglong District, Assam. Larger foraminiferal assemblages assign a middle Eocene age to the studied succession of Sylhet Limestone. The Shallow Benthic Zone (SBZ) 13 and SBZ 16-18 and a barren interval in between is recognized in the studied part of the Sylhet Limestone. The SBZ 13 Zone (early Lutetian) is represented by fossiliferous limestone at the base of the section and is inferred to have been deposited in a subtidal environment. The overlying barren interval lies in the arenaceous interval and was likely deposited in a subtidal channel sand shoaling bars. The upper part of the section ismarked by SBZ16-18 (late Lutetian to Bartonian) and was deposited in subtidal channel sand inner neritic zone environments, followed by intertidal marl to subtidal limestone. The organic carbon stable isotopic data reveals a sharp negative excursion at about 34-35m of the succession, which may be correlated with Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) and/or vegetation types. This and earlier studies from India and elsewhere indicate that during the middle Eocene, the Neo-Tethys Sea was open and connected through the East and West coasts of India, Northeast India, western Himalaya, and most of the Middle East and southeast Europe. This vast area produced enormous amount of petroleum.

A new locality bearing ichnofossils of the Cruziana Assemblage Zone‐III from the Mussoorie syncline, Lesser Himalaya, is located in rocks of Member‐B of the Dhaulagiri Formation, Tal Group, exposed along the Maldewta‐Chhimoli fresh road cut section. The site yielded ichnofossils Bergaueria perata, Cochlichnus anguineus, ?Diplocraterion isp., Dimorphichnus obliquus, diplichnitiform Cruziana bonariensis, Diplichnites gouldi, Glockeria isp., Helminthopsis isp., Monomorphichnus lineatus, Phycodes palmatum, Palaeophycus striatus, Planolites beverleyensis, Planolites montanus, Treptichnus cf. T. pedum, scratch marks and an undetermined worm impression. An Early Cambrian age (Cambrian Series 2) is assigned to the ichnofossil‐bearing strata based on the stratigraphic position between the Drepanuroides and Palaeoolenus trilobite zones. A revised Cambrian ichnofossil zonation is presented for the Tal Group of the Mussoorie syncline. Together with their occurrence on rippled surfaces, and the lateral displacement of some trackways (due to current action), a sub‐aqueous shallow‐marine depositional setting is proposed for the rocks of Member‐B.

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