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Relationship of Chitarwata Formation Paleodrainage and Paleoenvironments to Himalayan Tectonics and Indus River Paleogeography

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Relationship of Chitarwata Formation Paleodrainage and Paleoenvironments to Himalayan Tectonics and Indus River Paleogeography Palaeontologia Electronica http://palaeo-electronica.org RELATIONSHIP OF CHITARWATA FORMATION PALEODRAINAGE AND PALEOENVIRONMENTS TO HIMALAYAN TECTONICS AND INDUS RIVER PALEOGEOGRAPHY Kevin F. Downing and Everett H. Lindsay ABSTRACT During the late Oligocene and early Miocene paleodrainage and deposition in the western Himalayan foreland consisted of two distinct and dominant systems: 1) fluvio- deltaic sediments from the Indus River to the Katawaz Basin region near the Chaman Fault system and 2) marginal marine deposits in the western and northwestern portion of the foreland. The paleocurrent record of the Chitarwata Formation and overlying Vihowa Formation at Zinda Pir Dome developed in this study indicates an appreciable interval during the late Oligocene and early Miocene in which the northwest portion of the foreland basin included a coastline with drainage chiefly from the northwest towards the southeast. These results are consistent with the general pattern of south- eastern drainage in the western Himalayan foreland since the Eocene. The Chitarwata shoreline demarcated an edge of the ebbing Tethys-sea-marine foredeep and was structurally isolated from the main sediment flux of the Indus River to the Katawaz Basin further to the west. Conspicuous differences in character of lithostratigraphy, paleoenvironments, and vertebrate preservation between the Bugti Hills and Zinda Pir areas in the Chitarwata Formation advocate that the more southerly “Bugti member” of Chitarwata with its exceptional vertebrate faunas was actually a phase of fluvio-deltaic sedimentation related to the Shaigalu Fan of the Katawaz Basin. Kevin F. Downing. DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois 60604, USA. [email protected] Everett H. Lindsay. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. [email protected] KEY WORDS: Himalayas, Indus River, Miocene, Paleocurrents, Paleodrainage, Paleogeography PE Article Number: 8.1.20A Copyright: Paleontological Society May 2005. Submission: 17 August 2004. Acceptance: 6 March 2005 INTRODUCTION basin sedimentation during the obduction of the Indian and Asian plates in western Pakistan, with The Chitarwata and overlying Vihowa Forma- regional transition from marginal marine to fluvial tions span an important interval of tectonic history environments, and the rise of the high Himalayas. recording the character of Himalayan foreland Downing, Kevin F. and Lindsay, Everett H. 2005. Relationship of Chitarwata Formation Paleodrainage and Paleoenvironments to Himalayan Tectonics and Indus River Paleogeography, Palaeontologia Electronica Vol. 8, Issue 1; 20A:12p, 585KB; http://palaeo-electronica.org/paleo/2005_1/downing20/issue1_05.htm DOWNING & LINDSAY: PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF THE INDUS RIVER AND HIMALAYAN TECTONICS Previous investigation of the lithostratigraphy in the significant hiatus between the Oligocene verte- foothills of the Sulaiman Range at Dalana in Zinda brate faunas from the lower member (e.g., locality Pir Dome (Downing et al. 1993) indicates the Chi- Z108 described by Flynn and Cheema 1994) and tarwata Formation is dominated by coastal pale- later faunas in the upper member. The latest bio- oenvironments. In ascending order, the three units stratigraphic and chronostratigraphic findings by are associated with estuary, strandplain and tidal Lindsay et al. (this issue) suggest that the faunas flat environments. The Vihowa Formation repre- from the classic Dera Bugti localities and lower sents the prominent development of fluvio-deltaic member of the Chitarwata Formation at Zinda Pir sedimentation related to the southward prograda- Dome are probably both Oligocene and closer in tion of the Indus River system. age than previously recognized. Yet there are still On the basis of paleomagnetic data, the age consequential differences between the two faunas. span of the Chitarwata Formation in the Zinda Pir Among these differences at Zinda Pir Dome are Dome has been evaluated as early Miocene from the absence of primitive muroids, a paucity of 22.3 –18.6 Ma (Friedman et al. 1992) more remains of large indricothere rhinos, and no dem- recently from 22–17.4 Ma (Lindsay and Downs onstrated stratigraphic overlap of large indrico- 2000) and currently Oligocene at its base and earli- theres with early proboscideans (Lindsay et al. this est Miocene at the contact with the Vihowa Forma- issue). tion (Lindsay et al. this issue). In this age An explanation for the observed biostrati- assessment, the Chitarwata Formation temporally graphic differences in each area is suggested by overlaps with the Murree Formation exposed in the consequential lithostratigraphic, taphonomic, northwest regions of the Potwar Plateau (Abassi and paleoenvironmental differences between the and Friend 1989; Najman et al. 2003), the upper- Chitarwata Formation in the Zinda Pir Dome and most Shaigalu member of the Khojak Formation in Bugti Hills. Most notably, the coastal marine facies the Katawaz Basin (Qayyum et al. 2001) as well as at Bugti Hills are thin, only 30 m thick, and thereaf- the Choksti Formation in the Indus suture zone ter directly evolve into a fluvio-deltaic floodplain (Clift et al. 2001a) and the Kasauli Formation in the with coal beds and numerous paleosol horizons Indian Himalayan foreland basin (Najman and Gar- interpreted as tropical to subtropical densely for- zanti 2000). ested environments (Welcomme et al. 2001, Anto- To the southwest of Zinda Pir Dome in the ine et al. 2003). In the Zinda Pir area coastal facies Bugti Hills, the Chitarwata Formation also has been are over 300 m thick and evolve into a fluvio-deltaic assigned a basal Bugti Member (Raza and Meyer system much higher in the section with the deposi- 1984). The Bugti member has yielded possible tion of the Vihowa Formation (Downing et al. early Oligocene vertebrate faunas (Welcomme and 1993). Vertebrates from Zinda Pir area are sparse Ginsburg 1997, Marivaux et al. 2000; Welcomme through its marginal marine facies while the Bugti et al. 2001), although an early Miocene radiometric Member at Bugti Hills has for the past 150 years date at 22.6 + 2.9 Ma (Tabbutt et al. 1997) purport- produced one of the richest fossil vertebrate fau- edly in its lower portion conflicts with this biostrati- nas in Asia. While a notably attenuated coastal graphic assessment. A chronostratigraphic record facies of the Chitarwata Formation at Bugti Hills is has not yet been established for Bugti Hills so no a possibility it is also soundly viable that the Bugti direct comparison to Zinda Pir Dome sections can Member is geologically distinct and a direct litho- be made in this regard. Hence, the age correlation stratigraphic correlation to the Chitarwata Forma- between the two regions relies on the biostratigra- tion is unwarranted. If so, the Bugti Member could phy and homotaxis of mammals. be related to an entirely different depositional and There has been an ostensible incongruence drainage system and assignable to a different for- between the biostratigraphy and corresponding mation than the Chitarwata Formation. age assessments for lower parts of the Chitarwata Paleocurrents and Paleodrainage in the Formation in Zinda Pir Dome and Bugti Hills (early Western Himalayan Foreland Miocene versus ?early Oligocene). This disparity has been attributed to a time-transgressive facies In order to characterize Himalayan foreland in the Chitarwata Formation with older deposits basin sedimentation and paleogeography in rela- preserved to the south (Raza et al. 2002) or an tion to the character and sequence of India-Asia undetected but notable hiatus calling into question tectonics, investigations of pre- and post-collisional the previous chronostratigraphic assessment of the paleocurrents and paleodrainage have been con- Chitarwata Formation at Zinda Pir Dome (see ducted in the Indian Himalaya, Potwar Plateau, Welcomme et al. 2001). In this latter case, bio- Kohat Plateau, Katawaz Basin, Sulaiman Range stratigraphic succession may be interrupted by a (Zinda Pir Dome), and Balochistan (Figure 1). Pre- 2 DOWNING & LINDSAY: PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF THE INDUS RIVER AND HIMALAYAN TECTONICS Figure 1. Locality map of major tectonic features and sedimentary basins in the Western Himalayan Foreland. Abbre- viations are: B-Balochistan; BH-Bugti Hills; KB-Katawaz Block; KP-Kohat Plateau; KZ-Katawaz Basin; MBT-Main Boundary Thrust; MMT-Main Mantle Thrust; MR-Murrary Ridge; NP-Nanga Parbat Syntaxis; OFZ-Owen Fracture Zone; RN-Rakhi Nala and Chaudwan Zam; Zinda Pir Dome. Hatched shaded area represents the Katawaz Block and the shaded area is the deformed foreland region. Modified from Pivnik and Wells (1996). collisional paleocurrent data is available from the northwestern highland is dominant (Waheed and late Cretaceous Pab Sandstone and supports Wells 1990; Clyde et al. 2003). A similar pattern is northwest flow off of the Indian plate (Waheed and observed in the early Eocene Ganguri Sandstone Wells 1990). Beginning in the early Eocene, pale- of the Kohat Basin (Wells 1984; Pivnik and Wells ocurrent indicators reflect post-collisional paleod- 1996). Conversely in the Katawaz Basin, the early rainage associated with the development of the Eocene Khojak Formation indicates the Indus Himalayan foreland and obduction along the west- River system delta-fan complex is initiated with lon- ern edge of the Indian plate (summarized in Table gitudinal and westward flow into the Katawaz rem- 1). nant ocean (Qayyum et al. 1996; Qayyum et al. An early manifestation of the paleodrainage 2001).
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