TERTIARY SHORTENING IN THE TETHYAN HIMALAYA

In order to better understand the crustal thickening history of the Tethyan Himalaya, we have  systematically mapped a 120-km long traverse in southwest Tibet from Mt. Kailas to the India-Tibet border.  Our mapping documents several thrusts which involve Lower Paleozoic through upper Cretaceous Indian shelf strata.  This fold and thrust belt displays flat-ramp and duplex geometries.  Preliminary cross sections suggest >50% shortening.  Based on the age of the youngest shortened strata and cross cutting relationship with extensional structures, the timing of thrusting is bracketed between late Cretaceous and Late Miocene. 
I am actively collecting data from this region of Tibet and encourage any questions and/or discussion -                                                                              please respond to mmurphy@mail.uh.edu

Click on photos to enlarge

Photo South Kailas thrust ~15 km west of Namru. Paul Kapp standing on the thrust which places ultramafic rocks over

Looking to the east at the South Kailas thrust.  The thrust places Mesozoic metasedimentary rocks over the Tertiary Kailas conglomerate.

Looking to the west, this S-directed thrust places Cabrian-Ordovician crinoid-bearing shales over ammonite-bearing Triassic-Jurassic shales-near Tibet-India border
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