Relationship between the Higher Himalayan Crystalline and Tethyan Sediments in the Kali Gandaki area, western Central Nepal: South Tibetan Detachment revisited

Commentary on the position of higher Himalayan basement in Proterozoic Gondwanaland

“…Until recently the Higher Himalayan Crystalline Sequence (HHCS) was generally regarded to be the basement of the Himalayan Orogen. Our recent field work in the Kali Gandaki area of western Central Nepal showed that the HHCS is likely continuous with the overlying Tethyan Sedimentary Sequence (TSS) stratigraphically and structurally, and therefore does not form the basement of the Himalayan Orogen (Yoshida et al 2004); a similar view was already mentioned in some earlier works (e.g., Le Fort 1975, Gehrels et al 2003. Many workers have placed thrust or normal fault, and even unconformity between the HHCS and TSS; but based on our observation it is difficult to confirm any of these relationships.…”