Tectonic evolution of the India–Asia suture zone since Middle Eocene time, Lopukangri area, south-central Tibet

Sánchez, Verónica; Murphy, Michael A.; Robinson, Alexander C.; Lapen, T. J.; Heizler, Matthew T.

doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.09.004

Cited by 32 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Farther south, Cretaceous-Paleocene Xigaze forearc basin strata (Wang et al, 2006) are bounded to both the north and south by steeply dipping, top-north reverse faults that can be traced continuously along strike as strands of the Miocene Great Counter thrust system (Heim and Gansser, 1939;Yin et al, 1999;Sanchez et al, 2013). South of the forearc basin strata is a unit of sedimentary-matrix mélange that includes blocks of Neo-Tethys oceanic crust and Tethyan Himalayan strata, which likely formed as the Tethyan margin entered the trench and is interpreted to be equivalent to the "wildflysch" of Burg and Chen (1984).…”

Section: Geology Of the Yarlung Suture Zone In The Lopu Range Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-pressure Tethyan Himalaya rocks along the India-Asia suture zone in southern Tibet

Laskowski¹,

Kapp²,

Vervoort³

et al. 2016

Lithosphere

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This study documents an early Cenozoic continental high-pressure (HP) metamorphic complex along the Yarlung (India-Asia) suture zone in southern Tibet. The complex is exposed in the Lopu Range, located ~600 km west of Lhasa city. HP rocks in the core of the complex have Indian passive margin (Tethyan Himalaya Sequence) protoliths and are exposed in the footwall of a top-to-the-north, normal-sense shear zone.

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Section: Geology Of the Yarlung Suture Zone In The Lopu Range Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tectonic slivers of ophiolitic mélange are locally exposed between sedimentary-matrix mélange and forearc rocks ( Fig. 1, 2 (Wang et al, 2006) and their U-Pb detrital zircon age signatures (Sanchez et al, 2013).…”

Section: Geology Of the Yarlung Suture Zone In The Lopu Range Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-pressure Tethyan Himalaya rocks along the India-Asia suture zone in southern Tibet

Laskowski¹,

Kapp²,

Vervoort³

et al. 2016

Lithosphere

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“…For example, in the Zagros mountains and Turkey (Pontides), widespread arc magmatism occurred during the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic (Sengör et al, 1988;Okay andŞahintürk, 1997;Barrier and Vrielynck, 2008;Agard et al, 2011;Eyuboglu et al, 2011). In southern Tibet, a long-lasting volcanic 'Gangdese' arc was active from Early Cretaceous to Eocene time (Ji et al, 2009), with a short-lived ignimbrite flare-up stage around 50 Ma coinciding with Tibetan Himalaya-Lhasa continental collision (Ji et al, 2009), followed by return of the arc to a background state until the Late Eocene (Sanchez et al, 2013). In Sundaland, Paleocene-Eocene magmatism was likely active since at least ∼ 63 Ma (e.g., McCourt et al, 1996;Bellon et al, 2004).…”

Section: Neo-tethyan History and Related Arc Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did high Neo-Tethys subduction rates contribute to early Cenozoic warming?

Hoareau¹,

Bomou²,

Hinsbergen³

et al. 2015

Clim. Past

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Abstract. The 58-51 Ma interval was characterized by a long-term increase of global temperatures (+4 to +6 • C) up to the Early Eocene Climate Optimum (EECO, 52.9-50.7 Ma), the warmest interval of the Cenozoic. It was recently suggested that sustained high atmospheric pCO 2 , controlling warm early Cenozoic climate, may have been released during Neo-Tethys closure through the subduction of large amounts of pelagic carbonates and their recycling as CO 2 at arc volcanoes. To analyze the impact of NeoTethys closure on early Cenozoic warming, we have modeled the volume of subducted sediments and the amount of CO 2 emitted along the northern Tethys margin. The impact of calculated CO 2 fluxes on global temperature during the early Cenozoic have then been tested using a climate carbon cycle model (GEOCLIM). We show that CO 2 production may have reached up to 1.55 × 10 18 mol Ma −1 specifically during the EECO, ∼ 4 to 37 % higher that the modern global volcanic CO 2 output, owing to a dramatic IndiaAsia plate convergence increase. The subduction of thick Greater Indian continental margin carbonate sediments at ∼ 55-50 Ma may also have led to additional CO 2 production of 3.35 × 10 18 mol Ma −1 during the EECO, making a total of 85 % of the global volcanic CO 2 outgassed. However, climate modeling demonstrates that timing of maximum CO 2 release only partially fits with the EECO, and that corresponding maximum pCO 2 values (750 ppm) and surface warming (+2 • C) do not reach values inferred from geochemical proxies, a result consistent with conclusions arising from modeling based on other published CO 2 fluxes. These results demonstrate that CO 2 derived from decarbonation of Neo-Tethyan lithosphere may have possibly contributed to, but certainly cannot account alone for early Cenozoic warming. Other commonly cited sources of excess CO 2 such as enhanced igneous province volcanism also appear to be up to 1 order of magnitude below fluxes required by the model to fit with proxy data of pCO 2 and temperature at that time. An alternate explanation may be that CO 2 consumption, a key parameter of the long-term atmospheric pCO 2 balance, may have been lower than suggested by modeling. These results call for a better calibration of early Cenozoic weathering rates.

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“…Thermochronology data from Gangdese batholith rocks exposed along the Yarlung suture zone (Copeland et al, 1987(Copeland et al, , 1995Harrison et al, 1992;Dai et al, 2013;Sanchez et al, 2013;Carrapa et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2015;Ge et al, 2016;Li et al, 2016;Laskowski et al, 2017) reveal an orogen-scale Oligocene-Miocene exhumation event, possibly associated with one or more tectonic, climatic, and erosional factors (Carrapa et al, 2014(Carrapa et al, , 2017. Low-temperature thermochronology data from the Kailas Formation reveal a preponderance of Miocene (19-15 Ma) cooling ages, which have been interpreted to record efficient erosion associated with drainage reorganization and establishment of the Yarlung River during early Miocene time (Carrapa et al, 2014;Lang and Huntington, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1-2) and the low-lying Yarlung suture zone ( Fig. 1), including flexure in a foreland basin setting (Wang et al, 2015), crustal thickening driven by the Great Counter thrust (Sanchez et al, 2013) or Gangdese thrust (e.g., Yin et al, 1994), and fluvial incision influenced by the strengthening Asian monsoon coupled with renewed Indian underthrusting (Carrapa et al, 2014). No structural model exists that reconciles the roles of the Gangdese thrust and Great Counter thrust system, provides context for Oligocene-Miocene sedimentary basin development along the suture zone, explains relief generation of the Gangdese Mountains, and provides a mechanism for Yarlung River establishment while maintaining compatibility with thermochronometric data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gangdese culmination model: Oligocene–Miocene duplexing along the India-Asia suture zone, Lazi region, southern Tibet

2018

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The mechanisms for crustal thickening and exhumation along the Yarlung (India-Asia) suture in southern Tibet are under debate, because the magnitudes, relative timing, and interaction between the two dominant structures-the Great Counter thrust and Gangdese thrust-are largely unconstrained. In this study, we present new geologic mapping results from the Yarlung suture zone in the Lazi region, located ~350 km west of the city of Lhasa, along with new igneous (5 samples) and detrital (5 samples, 474 ages) U-Pb geochronology data to constrain the crystallization ages of Jurassic-Paleocene Gangdese arc rocks, the provenance of Tethyan Himalayan and Oligocene-Miocene Kailas Formation strata, and the minimum age (ca. 10 Ma) of the Great Counter thrust system. We supplement these data with a compilation of 124 previously published thermochronologic ages from Gangdese batholith, Kailas Formation, and Liuqu Formation rocks, revealing a dominance of 23-15 Ma cooling contemporaneous with slip across the Great Counter thrust system and other potentially linked structures. These data are systematically younger than 98 additional compiled thermo chronologic ages from the northern Lhasa terrane, recording mainly Eocene cooling. Structural and thermochronologic data were combined with regional geological constraints, including International Deep Profiling of Tibet and the Himalaya ( INDEPTH) seismic reflection data, to develop a new structural model for the Oligocene-Miocene evolution of the Tethyan Himalaya, Yarlung suture zone, and southern Lhasa terrane. We propose that a hinterland-dipping duplex beneath the Gangdese mountains, of which the Gangdese thrust is a component, is kinematically linked with a foreland-dipping passive roof duplex along the Yarlung suture zone, the Great Counter thrust system. The spatial and temporal convergence between the proposed duplex structures along the Yarlung suture zone and the South Tibetan detachment system indicate that they may be kinematically linked, though this relationship is not directly addressed in this study. Our interpretation, referred to as the Gangdese culmination model, explains why the Gangdese thrust system is only locally exposed (at relatively deeper structural levels) and provides a structural explanation for early Miocene crustal thickening along the Yarlung suture zone, relief generation along the modern Gangdese Mountains, early Miocene Yarlung River establishment, and creation of the modern internal drainage boundary along the southern Tibetan Plateau. The progression of deformation along the suture zone is consistent with tectonic models that implicate subduction dynamics as the dominant control on crustal deformation.

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Tectonic evolution of the India–Asia suture zone since Middle Eocene time, Lopukangri area, south-central Tibet

Cited by 32 publications

References 86 publications

High-pressure Tethyan Himalaya rocks along the India-Asia suture zone in southern Tibet

High-pressure Tethyan Himalaya rocks along the India-Asia suture zone in southern Tibet

Did high Neo-Tethys subduction rates contribute to early Cenozoic warming?

Gangdese culmination model: Oligocene–Miocene duplexing along the India-Asia suture zone, Lazi region, southern Tibet

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