A genetic model of thrust-bounded intermontane basin using scaled sandbox analogue models: an example from the Karewa Basin, Kashmir Himalayas, India

Abstract

The Himalayan mountain system has many depressions of regional dimensions, which are found oriented mostly E-W to NE-SW, mainly to the north of the main boundary fault (MBF). The Karewa Basin in the Kashmir Himalaya has sediments belonging to late Neogene to Quaternary formations, which represent an almost 1,300-m-thick succession of sand, mud and gravels exposed in the river valleys and the plateau margins of the entire Kashmir Valley. Sandbox analogue experiments show a great variety of wedge shapes showing significant changes in the taper angles due to the change in basal friction. Between two pop-ups or depressions (pop-down) of significant dimensions develop along the strike of the growing wedge. In order to maintain the critical angle, these depressions initially receive material from the hinterland, and later on, from the foreland end of the wedge. The depressions have developed due to the change in the surface slope of the wedge, and receive the eroded material only from the adjacent upheaved portions of the wedge. On continuation of the experiments (in cases where the wedge is highly unstable), these depressions are coupled with the wedge along with their sand-fills. The depositional history of the Karewa sediments indicates a sequential evolutionary pattern of the basin and thus represents a natural analogue of the sandbox experiments.

Holocene palaeoenvironmental records from the high-altitude Wular Lake, Western Himalayas

“…The Kashmir Valley in Jammu and Kashmir, India, is a 140 km long and 40 km wide basin enclosed between Pir Panjal mountain range in the south and greater Himalayan mountain range in the north (Agarwal and Agarwal, 2005; Agarwal et al, 2018) (Figure 1). The Kashmir Valley lies in the core westerly zone and is strongly influenced by the westerly moisture sources (Dixit and Tandon, 2016).…”

Deciphering the source contribution of organic matter accumulation in an urban wetland ecosystem

“…Ankit et al (2021) while working on the sediment chronology of Ahansar Lake in Kashmir Himalaya also observed age reversals/reservoir effects, which they attributed to the dead carbon. The sources of dead carbon include carbon derived from the dissolution of groundwater or limestone, the introduction of carbon dioxide from glacier meltwater (Philippsen, 2013), and dissolution of carbonaceous bedrocks (Agarwal & Agrawal, 2005).…”

Karst geomorphology, cave development and hydrogeology in the Kashmir valley, Western Himalaya, India

“…The continued tectonic upheavals and climatic oscillations during Plio-Pleistocene changed the primitive morphologic setting by causing a drastic change in the drainage pattern, dissection of the sedimentary formations and erosion of the sediments from these orographic barriers in the region (Burbank 1983). The modern drainage network has been developing since then (Agarwal & Agarwal 2005). Earlier, the primeval drainage in the region was impounded as a vast lake (De Terra & Paterson 1939).…”