Structural evolution of the Gurla Mandhata detachment system, southwest Tibet: Implications for the eastward extent of the Karakoram fault system

Murphy, Michael A.; Yin, An; Kapp, Paul; Harrison, T. Mark; Manning, Craig E.; Ryerson, F. J.; Ding, Lin; Guo, Jinghui

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<0428:seotgm>2.0.co;2

Cited by 201 publications

(221 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Dating of grabens throughout Tibet, but mostly in southern Tibet, has yielded onsets of such normal faulting since 15 Ma, and in some cases closer to 10 Ma. For southernmost Tibet near the Himalaya, dates for different grabens from west to east are 9 Ma [Murphy et al, 2002;Saylor et al, 2010], 14-13 Ma [McCallister et al, 2014,~11 Ma [Garzione et al, 2003],~13-12 Ma [Lee et al, 2011], 13-12 Ma [Kali et al, 2010], and <12.5 Ma [Edwards and Harrison, 1997]. Farther north but still in southern Tibet, similar ages include 11-8 Ma [Woodruff et al, 2013], 16-12 Ma [Styron et al, 2013], and~8 Ma [Harrison et al, 1995;Pan and Kidd, 1992].…”

Section: 1002/2015gl064347mentioning

confidence: 99%

Present‐day crustal thinning in the southern and northern Tibetan Plateau revealed by GPS measurements

Molnár

Shen

et al. 2015

Geophysical Research Letters

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GPS measurements from sites within the Tibetan Plateau show not only east‐southeast‐west‐northwest extension but also, more importantly, horizontal dilation throughout the interior of the plateau. Assuming conservation of volume, vertical (thinning) strain rates equal horizontal dilation rates, and they, 8.9 ± 0.8 nanostrain a−1 and 7.4 ± 1.2 nanostrain a−1 in northern and southern Tibet, and 12.0 ± 3.2 nanostrain a−1 in its southwestern part, suggest no measureable difference. Principal extensional strain rates also are similar in magnitude and orientation. If crustal thinning began at 10–15 Ma and the current rates of horizontal dilation applied both to the entire crust and to that period, the crust should have thinned by 5.5–8.5 km. If isostatic equilibrium applied, the mean elevation of the plateau would have dropped ~1 km. The similar rates for northern, southern, and southwestern Tibet suggest that the processes dictating crustal extension, normal faulting, and crustal thinning in the three regions differ little from one another.

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Section: 1002/2015gl064347mentioning

confidence: 99%

Present‐day crustal thinning in the southern and northern Tibetan Plateau revealed by GPS measurements

Molnár

Shen

et al. 2015

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…As the ATF defines the northern edge of Tibetan plateau, the Karakorum Fault defines at least the western portion of its southern border, and its slip-rate has similar implications for the rheological character of the continental lithosphere and is a subject of active debate. Attempts to determine the rate over timescales ranging from the OligoMiocene to the Quaternary have produced disparate values ranging from 1 to 30 mm/yr (Banerjee and Burgmann, 2002;Brown et al, 2002a;Chevalier et al, 2005a;Lacassin et al, 2004;Liu, 1993;Murphy et al, 2002;Phillips et al, 2004;Wang et al, 2001;Wright et al, 2004).…”

Section: Karakorum Faultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of morphochronology to the active tectonics of Tibet

Ryerson

Finkel²,

Mériaux

et al. 2006

In Situ-Produced Cosmogenic Nuclides and Quantification of Geological Processes

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Abstract. The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau were formed as a result of the collision of India and Asia, and provide an excellent opportunity to study the mechanical response of the continental lithosphere to tectonic stress. Geophysicists are divided in their views on the nature of this response advocating either (1) homogeneously distributed deformation with the lithosphere deforming as a fluid continuum or (2) deformation is highly localized with the lithosphere that deforms as a system of blocks. The resolution of this issue has broad implications for understanding the tectonic response of continental lithosphere in general.Homogeneous deformation is supported by relatively low decadal, geodetic slip-rate estimates for the the Altyn Tagh and Karakorum Faults. Localized deformation is supported by high millennial, geomorphic slip-rates constrained by both cosmogenic and radiocarbon dating on these faults. Based upon the agreement of rates determined by radiocarbon and cosmogenic dating, the overall linearity of offset versus age correlations, and on the plateau-wide correlation of landscape evolution and climate history, the disparity between geomorphic and geodetic sliprate determinations is unlikely to be due to the effects of surface erosion on the cosmogenic age determinations. Similarly, based upon the consistency of slip-rates over various observation intervals, secular variations in slip-rate appear to persist no longer than 2000 years and are unlikely to provide reconciliation. Conversely, geodetic and geomorphic slip-rate estimates on the Kunlun fault, which does not have significant splays or associated thrust faults, are in good agreement, indicating that there is no fundamantal reason why these complementary geodetic and geomorphic methods should disagree. Similarly, the geodetic and geomorphic estimates of shortening rates across the northeasten edge of the plateau are in reasonable agreement, and the geomorphic rates on individual thrust faults demonstrate a significant eastward decrease in the shortening rate. This rate decrease is consistent with the transfer of slip from the Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) to genetically-related thrust mountain building at its terminus. Rates on the ATF suggest a similar decrease in rate, but the current data set is too small to be definitive. Overall, the high, late Pleistocene-Holocene, geomorphic slip velocities on the the major strike-slip faults of Tibet, suggests that they absorb as much of India's convergence relative to Siberia as the Himalayan Main Frontal Thrust on the southern edge of the plateau.

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“…Our calculated slip rate of ∼4.3 mm/year indicates that the fault has undergone a slow average slip since ∼12 Ma. Previous studies show that most of the 66-52 km offset has been absorbed by the Zhada-Ayilari-Menshi basin-range system (Wang et al 2008a(Wang et al , 2008b) and the Gurla Mandhata detachment system (Murphy et al 2000(Murphy et al , 2002. To the east, the fault trace becomes discontinuous and finally disappears in the middle of southern Tibet .…”

Section: Chronological Constraint On Activity Of Kkfmentioning

confidence: 97%

Karakoram fault activity defined by temporal constraints on the Ayi Shan detachment, SW Tibet

Wang

Phillips

et al. 2013

International Geology Review

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The role of the Karakoram fault (KKF) in evolution of the Tibetan-Himalayan orogenic belt is controversial. Some consider the KKF to be a stable, long-lived feature with several hundred kilometres of offset along its entire current trace, whereas others interpret it as having propagated along its NW-SE trend since initiation at ∼16 Ma with small-scale slip being gradually absorbed by transfer structures along the fault trace. Here we report new zircon U-Pb and mica 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages related to the Ayi Shan detachment to better constrain the activity of the KKF in southwestern Tibet. The zircon U-Pb data show migmatite ages of 489, 478, and 435 Ma from the footwall of the Ayi Shan detachment involved in the KKF ductile shear zone. Mylonitized migmatite in the South Ayilari did not record any KKF activity. Similarly aged magmatic and metamorphic information recorded in mylonites and undeformed rocks of the Animaqing Group around the North Ayilari also rules out the effect of KKF movement on zircon growth. Cenozoic information recorded in North Ayilari zircons evidently resulted from Trans-Himalayan magmatic belt (THB) magmatism during 45-50 Ma and 32-25 Ma. Four mica dates from the same mylonitized samples all cluster around 12 Ma. Combined zircon U-Pb and mica 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from the mylonites and undeformed rocks support the hypothesis that the KKF imposed a structural fabric on the rocks of the Animaqing Group and the THB granites at around 12 Ma in the Ayilari Range. Chronologic, kinematic, and geometric studies demonstrate that the fault propagated southeastward into SW Tibet at 12 Ma.

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Structural evolution of the Gurla Mandhata detachment system, southwest Tibet: Implications for the eastward extent of the Karakoram fault system

Cited by 201 publications

References 58 publications

Present‐day crustal thinning in the southern and northern Tibetan Plateau revealed by GPS measurements

Present‐day crustal thinning in the southern and northern Tibetan Plateau revealed by GPS measurements

Applications of morphochronology to the active tectonics of Tibet

Karakoram fault activity defined by temporal constraints on the Ayi Shan detachment, SW Tibet

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