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Early Cretaceous Strata of the Nepal Himalayas: Conjugate Margins and Rift Volcanism During Gondwanan Breakup

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Early Cretaceous Strata of the Nepal Himalayas: Conjugate Margins and Rift Volcanism During Gondwanan Breakup Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 151, 1994, pp. 269-290, 26 figs. Printed in Northern Ireland Early Cretaceous strata of the Nepal Himalayas: conjugate margins and rift volcanism during Gondwanan breakup M. R.GIBLING', F. M. GRADSTEIN2,I. L. KRISTIANSEN3, J. NAGY4, M. SARTI' & J. WIEDMANN" 'Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3.5 2Atlantic Geoscience Centre, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B2Y 4A2 3Norsk Hydro Research Centre, N-5020, Bergen, Norway 4Department of Geology, University of Oslo, PO Box 1047, Blindern, 0316 Oslo 3, Norway 'Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita della Calabria, 87030 Castiglione Cosentino Scalo, Italy %stitut fur Geologie und Palaontologie, Sigwartstrasse 10, 7400 Tubingen, Germany Abstract: Early Cretaceous sandstones, shales and marlstones (Chukh, Tangbe and Muding Forma- tions, at least 625 m thick) crop out north of the Main Central Thrust in central Nepal. They were stronglydeformed during Himalayan collision, with telescoping of facies transitionsas a result of crustalshortening. The sediments show northerly palaeoflow and weredeposited on the steadily subsidingnorthern (Tethyan) margin of Gondwana. Berriasiandeltaic deposits pass upwardinto Valanginian-Albian, storm-dominated shelf deposits and into latest Albian pelagic slope carbonates. An unconformity, probably of Valanginian age, separates the Chukh and Tangbe formations locally, and is overlain by volcanic conglomerates. The Gondwanan marginsuccession matches wellwith that observed on the formerly conjugate margin of NW Australia, which separated from Greater India during the Valanginian to Hauterivian. Volcanicdetritus, where suitable for analysis, showswithin-plate geochemical affinity and reflects Gondwanan fragmentation. Abundant volcanic detritus in Aptian strata may have been derived from extensions of the Rajmahal Traps of northeast India. However, volcanismwas active near central Nepal in the Valanginian and volcanic detritus, possibly far travelled, reached the area during the Berriasian.Early Cretaceous strata1 successions andrelative sea-level changes show a first-order relationship to tectonism associated with Gondwanan break-up. The Gondwanan continent underwent radical change during thelate Mesozoicwhen GreaterIndia, Australia, Africa, Madagascar and Antarctica drifted apart (Powell et al. 1988; Audley-Charles 1988; Fig. 1).Correlation of stratigraphic successions in formerly contiguous but now widely dispersed regions of Gondwana is of considerable geological interest. Mesozoicsuccessions in northernGreater India and northwest Australia show broad similarity (Gradstein et al. 1991; Gradstein & von Rad 1991), but detailed correlation hasbeen hampered because crucial parts of theGreater Indiasuccession are located in theHimalayas where the strata are highly deformed and relatively inaccessible. Early Cretaceouscorrelation ofis special interestbecause northern Greater India and NW Australia were conjugate margins of the developing Indian Ocean during this period (Powell et al. 1988; Ogg et al. 1992). The purpose of this paper is to document more fully the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian to latest Albian) record in the Himalayan (Thakkhola) region of central Nepal, based on recently obtained sedimentological, biostratigraphic (cepha- lopods,foraminifera and palynomorphs) and petrological information. Comparison is drawn with the NW Australian margin, the tectonic history of which is well established from seismic studies and drilling. Fig. 1. Disposition of East Gondwanaland at a time equivalent to Cretaceous strata are present in central Nepal (Bordet et magnetic anomaly MO (about 118 Ma). Modified from fig. 8 of al. 1971),in Kumaon(Gansser 1964), Spiti (Fuchs 1982), Powell et al. (1988). Area of Rajmahal Traps adapted from Kent andthe Zanskar Range of northernIndia (Gaetani et al. (1991). MBT, Main Boundary Thrust; ITSZ, Indus Tsangpo Suture 1986; Garzanti & van Haver 1988), and in the Lesser Zone; K, T, present positions of Kagbeni and Tansen, respectively. Himalayas of Nepal(Sakai 1983, 1989). The tec- Northern edge of Greater India represents postulated Gondwana tonostratigraphicevolution of theseand associated strata margin prior to crustal shortening during Himalayan deformation. 269 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/jgs/article-pdf/151/2/269/4890036/gsjgs.151.2.0269.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 270 M. R. GIBLING ET AL. hasbeen discussed by Searle et al. (1987) and Gaetani & Nl DECOMPACTEDCURVESBURIAL (a) IRA Garzanti (1991). Recentstudies of theThakkhola ..._Average water depth Cretaceous succession by Gradstein et al. (1989a, 1991, -Burial curves for each age point 1992)focused onfaulted and deformed outcrops in the southernpart of theoutcrop belt. In April 1991, the relatively complete but formerly inaccessibleLower Cretaceous section, first documented by Bodenhausen et al. (1964) near Tangbe, was studied. The Cretaceous strata are noteworthy for the abundance of volcanoclastic sediment whichwas thought to reflect ophioliteobduction tothe north of thearea duringthe Himalayan collision (Gansser 1964, p. 244; Bodenhausen et I al. 1964; Bordet et al. 1971) buthas more recentlybeen cl attributed to Gondwanan rifting prior to collision (Gaetani 1111111~1111 RESTORED SEDIMENTATION RATE et al. 1986; Sakai 1989; Gradstein et al. 1989a). The nature and age of the volcanic detritus, as well as its relationship with the extensive Rajmahal Traps of northeast India, are discussed below. Geological setting of Thakkhola Mesozoic strata The Cambrian to mid-Cretaceous succession of Thakkhola rests on crystalline rocks that were emplaced along the Main Central Thrust of the Himalayan Orogen (Fig. 2). The strata generally dip and become progressively younger northward but are intensively deformed(Bordet et al. 1971). The PERMIAN~TRIASSIC~ JURASSIC I CRETACEOUS I CENOZOIC Mesozoic strataarepreserved in the north-trending AGE (Ma) ThakkholaGraben which probablyformed during a late Fig. 3. Decompacted burial profile (a) and restored sedimentation Cenozoic extensionalphase (Armijo et al. 1986). Latest rates (b) for the Permian to mid-Cretaceous strata of Thakkhola. Jurassic andCretaceous strata are missing fromthe Profile was calculated using the F77 program BURSUB (Stam er al. adjacent,structurally more elevated Dolpo-Karnali and 1987; Gradstein et al. 19896) which calculates the restored Manang regions (Fuchs 1977;Fuchs et al. 1988). The sedimentation, burial and subsidence rates of sedimentary units at ThakkholaSeries, provisionally datedas Mio-Pliocene by (well) sites. Corrections were applied for increased compaction of sedimentary units through time with deeper burial, and for changes Bordet et al. (1971), is apparentlythe youngest pre- in sea-level elevation relative to the Present. The small water depth Quaternary unit in the region. of the sedimentary deposits renders errors in palaeobathymetry The Thakkhola Mesozoicsuccession comprisescoastal, estimates negligible. In the absence of estimates for porosity and open shelf and shelf-to-slope deposits (Gradstein et al. 1991, grain density for different lithologies, use was made of default 1992). A burial profile for theGondwanan margin at (global) values, stored in the program, of porosity with depth for Thakkholaduring this period (Fig. 3) hasbeen updated each lithology. Basement unloading to arrive at tectonic subsidence from a provisional profile (Gradstein et al. 1991) in order to is based on Airy-type of local compensation; no corrections were attempted for flexural loading. Time scale after Kent & Gradstein (1985). Small uplift shown at 100 Ma is an artefact of our lack of data concerning post-Albian history: the basin floor was allowed to rise to sea-level, with final uplift in the Miocene to the present elevation of more than 2 km above sea level. Elevation was probably much greater at times in the Neogene. provide geotectonica framework for analysis of the Cretaceousstrata. The revised profile, which incorporates refined estimates of formation thickness,age and deposi- tional environment, is based nn almost 20 age-depth points, with greatest uncertainty for the poorly dated Valanginian to Barremian interval. As discussed below, a poorly dated hiatus separates the Chukh and Tangbe formations locally buthas not been identified everywhere.For burial calculations, this time is considered to havebeen depositional. As discussed below, the hiatus may correspond on the NW Australian margin to a local unconformity which hasbeen related to the final separation of Australia from Greater India prior to the late Valanginian (Gradstein et al. 1992;Boyd et al. 1992). However, until theearly Fig. 2. Principal structural elements of the Himalayan Mountains in Hauteriviansedimentation was continuous along the Nepal and vicinity. Location of study area is shown. Modified from western part of theExmouth Plateau, offshore NW Searle et al. (1987). Australia (Gradstein & von Rad 1991). Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/jgs/article-pdf/151/2/269/4890036/gsjgs.151.2.0269.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 C RE TAC EO US , NEPAL HIMALAYAS NEPALCRETACEOUS, 271 Subsidence and accompanying sedimentation was steady subsidence rate caused profoundchanges in sedimentary from Jurassic through mid-Cretaceous times in Thakkhola. facies throughtime; rather, climatic changerelated to Sedimentation generally kept pacewith subsidence, which latitudinal drift was probably
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