Large-scale subduction of continental crust implied by India–Asia mass-balance calculation

Ingalls, Miquela; Rowley, David B.; Currie, Brian S.; Colman, Albert S.

doi:10.1038/ngeo2806

Cited by 124 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Detrital zircons, petrology, and geochemistry of the Zhongba sandstone suggest affinities with Indian continental crust and correlate with other passive margin deposits in the Tethyan Himalaya, such as the sandstones in the Zanskar Range of northern India, the Kumaon Himalayas, and the Thakkhola region of central Nepal (Du et al, ). Buoyant upper continental crust from the Greater Indian lithosphere could have been partially decoupled and stripped away from the down‐going plate to become incorporated in the Himalayan fold‐thrust belt, with the rest of the lithosphere being subducted (Ingalls et al, ). Thus, the large extent of Greater India, now defined quantitatively in our study, is compatible with models evoking crustal thickening via mass accumulation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining the Limits of Greater India

Meng

Gilder

Wang

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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Greater India comprises a part of the Indian plate that subducted under Asia to help form the Tibetan Plateau. Defining the size of the Greater India is thus a key constraint to model the India‐Asia collision, growth of the plateau, and the tectonic evolution of the Neo‐Tethyan realm. We report Early Cretaceous paleomagnetic data from the central and eastern Tethyan Himalaya that yield paleolatitudes consistent with previous Early Cretaceous paleogeographic reconstructions. These data suggest Greater India extended at least 2,675 ± 720 and 1,950 ± 970 km farther north from the present northern margin of India at 83.6°E and 92.4°E, respectively. An area of lithosphere ≥4.7 × 106 km2 was consumed through subduction, thereby placing a strict limit on the minimum amount of Indian lithosphere consumed since the breakup of Gondwanaland.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining the Limits of Greater India

Meng

Gilder

Wang

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…This two‐stage continental collision includes the first collision between the TH and the LT at ~59 Ma (DeCelles et al, ; Hu et al, ) and a final collision between the TH and the “remaining Greater India” at no later than ~39 Ma based on the latest initial collision age constructed in Figure a (Huang, Lippert, Dekkers, et al, ; Ma et al, ; van Hinsbergen et al, ; Yang, Ma, Bian, et al, ). Notably, considering potential challenges to different collision models described in Hu et al (), as well as debates on the shapes of the leading edges of the collisional units, especially the TH, more late Cretaceous and Paleocene paleomagnetic investigations from the TH and the LT are needed to further constrain the collision history and paleogeography of Greater India (Ali & Aitchison, , ; Ingalls et al, ; Jagoutz et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleomagnetic and Geochronologic Results of Latest Cretaceous Lava Flows From the Lhasa Terrane and Their Tectonic Implications

Yang

Bian

et al. 2017

JGR Solid Earth

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To position the Asian southern margin before the India‐Asia collision, paleomagnetic and geochronologic studies were performed on the Dianzhong Formation lava flows from the Shiquanhe area of the westernmost Lhasa terrane (LT). Zircon U‐Pb analyses dated the lava flows to ~69.5 ± 2.5 Ma. The characteristic remanent magnetization directions contain antipodal polarities and pass fold tests, implying that they are primary magnetizations; this interpretation is supported by rock‐magnetic analyses and petrographic observations. Forty‐four site‐mean directions were divided into 17 statistically independent direction groups. The group‐mean direction after tilt correction is Ds = 43.3°, Is = 30.3°, k = 28.0, α95 = 6.9°. The corresponding paleopole at 47.8°N, 181.4°E (A95 = 6.4°) yields a paleolatitude of 16.6° ± 6.4°N for the Shiquanhe area of westernmost Tibet (32.34°N, 80.12°E). Consistent paleolatitudes for the southern margin of the LT calculated from the western and central part of the LT indicate that the leading edge of the LT was aligned relatively W‐E. When compared with the reference pole at 70 Ma for Eurasia, this new paleopole suggests that crustal shortening between the Shiquanhe area and stable Asia was 1,500 ± 800 km. This is supported by the crustal shortening (600–1,000 km) absorbed by Cenozoic thrust and fold belts within this area, indicating that the magnitude of crustal shortening within Asia north of the India‐Asia suture zone was similar in the central and western part of the plateau.

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“…Calculations, assuming mantle wedge enrichment of a 1‐km‐high column over 10 Ma, demonstrate that enrichment could be of the order of 1,000 ppb for uranium (Bailey & Vala Ragnarsdottir, ). In addition, during continent–continent collision, large‐scale subduction of continental crust may result in direct input of high heat‐producing continental crustal material into the lithospheric mantle (Figure ) (Ingalls, Rowley, Currie, & Colman, ).…”

Section: Thermal Evolution Of Anomalous Mantlementioning

confidence: 99%

Radiogenic trigger and driver for continental rifting and initial ocean spreading

Maystrenko

Slagstad

2019

Terra Nova

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Closure and opening of oceans on time‐scales of a few hundred million years is a fundamental tectonic process on Earth, typically referred to as a “Wilson cycle”. Subduction of oceanic and continental crust leading up to and during continent–continent collision can refertilize and enrich the orogenic continental lithospheric mantle in heat‐producing elements. The resulting thermal anomaly weakens the lithosphere and, along with structural weaknesses (e.g. sutures), make this orogenic lithosphere more prone to rifting given an extensional stress field. Thermal modelling shows that anomalously hot lithosphere can focus asthenospheric upwellings over time‐scales of a few hundred million years. Processes related to closure of oceans thus provide a mechanism for later localization of rifting and an extensional driving force.

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Large-scale subduction of continental crust implied by India–Asia mass-balance calculation

Cited by 124 publications

References 37 publications

Defining the Limits of Greater India

Defining the Limits of Greater India

Paleomagnetic and Geochronologic Results of Latest Cretaceous Lava Flows From the Lhasa Terrane and Their Tectonic Implications

Radiogenic trigger and driver for continental rifting and initial ocean spreading

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