Geological Records of the Lhasa-Qiangtang and Indo-Asian Collisions in the Nima Area of Central Tibet
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Geological records of the Lhasa-Qiangtang and Indo-Asian collisions in the Nima area of central Tibet Paul Kapp† Peter G. DeCelles George E. Gehrels Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077, USA Matthew Heizler New Mexico Geochronological Research Laboratory, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico 87801, USA Lin Ding Institutes of Tibetan Plateau Research and Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, People’s Republic of China ABSTRACT respectively. Tertiary syncontractional basin Biffi , 2000, 2001; Jolivet et al., 2001; Robinson development in the Nima area was coeval et al., 2003), the Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes A geological and geochronologic investi- with that along the Bangong suture in west- in Tibet (Fig. 1B) (Murphy et al., 1997; Yin and gation of the Nima area along the Jurassic– ernmost Tibet and the Indus-Yarlung suture Harrison, 2000; Ding and Lai, 2003; Kapp et al., Early Cretaceous Bangong suture of central in southern Tibet, suggesting simultaneous, 2003, 2005; Guynn et al., 2006), and the Long- Tibet (~32°N, ~87°E) provides well-dated renewed contraction along these sutures dur- men Shan along the eastern plateau margin (e.g., records of contractional deformation and ing the Oligocene-Miocene. This suture-zone Arne et al., 1997; Wallis et al., 2003). sedimentation during mid-Cretaceous and reactivation immediately predated major Another common assumption is that the mid-Tertiary time. Jurassic to Lower Creta- displacement within the Himalayan Main Tibetan Plateau interior was formed by mech- ceous (≤125 Ma) marine sedimentary rocks Central thrust system shear zone, raising the anisms that are proposed to be acting along were transposed, intruded by granitoids, possibility that Tertiary shortening in Tibet the actively growing margins of the plateau and uplifted above sea level by ca. 118 Ma, and the Himalayas may be interpretable in or predicted from geodynamic models. These the age of the oldest nonmarine strata doc- the context of a mechanically linked, compos- include (1) northward underthrusting/insertion umented. Younger nonmarine Cretaceous ite orogenic system. of Indian lithosphere (Argand, 1924; Powell rocks include ca. 110–106 Ma volcanic-bear- and Conaghan, 1973; Ni and Barazangi, 1984; ing strata and Cenomanian red beds and Keywords: Tibet, plateau, thrust belt, Indo-Asian Zhao and Morgan, 1987; DeCelles et al., 2002), conglomerates. The Jurassic–Cretaceous collision, suture zone, basin development. (2) homogeneous lithospheric shortening and rocks are unconformably overlain by up to thickening (Dewey and Burke, 1973; England 4000 m of Upper Oligocene to Lower Mio- INTRODUCTION and Houseman, 1986; Dewey et al., 1988) cene lacustrine, nearshore lacustrine, and and subsequent removal of mantle lithosphere fl uvial red-bed deposits. Paleocurrent direc- The vast, internally drained region of the (England and Houseman, 1989; Molnar et al., tions, growth stratal relationships, and a Tibetan Plateau interior (Fig. 1A) is the focus 1993), (3) upper-crustal shortening coupled structural restoration of the basin show that of some of the most provocative concepts in with passive infi lling of intermontane basins Cretaceous–Tertiary nonmarine deposition continental tectonics today, yet our understand- and oblique intracontinental subduction along was coeval with mainly S-directed thrusting ing of its geological evolution and uplift history reactivated suture zones (Mattauer, 1986; Meyer in the northern part of the Nima area and N- remains poor. Numerous popular models of et al., 1998; Roger et al., 2000; Tapponnier et directed thrusting along the southern margin Tibetan Plateau formation assume that the thick al., 2001), and (4) thickening and fl ow of weak of the basin. The structural restoration sug- crust and high elevation of Tibet are mainly con- middle crust away from the India-Asia collision gests >58 km (>47%) of N-S shortening fol- sequences of India’s collision with Asia since the zone, driven by topographic gradients (Bird, lowing Early Cretaceous ocean closure and Eocene. There is growing documentation that 1991; Royden, 1996; Royden et al., 1997; Clark ~25 km shortening (~28%) of Nima basin challenges this assumption; evidence shows that and Royden, 2000; Beaumont et al., 2001, 2004; strata since 26 Ma. Cretaceous magmatism large parts of southern Asia underwent major Shen et al., 2001). and syncontractional basin development are pre–Indo-Asian collision crustal shortening and Some necessary pieces of information funda- attributed to northward low-angle subduc- thickening, including the Karakoram-Pamirs in mental to advancing models of plateau forma- tion of the Neotethyan oceanic lithosphere the west (Fraser et al., 2001; Hildebrand et al., tion are quantitative constraints on the timing and Lhasa-Qiangtang continental collision, 2001; Robinson et al., 2004), ranges border- and magnitude of pre–Indo-Asian collision ing the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau versus post–Indo-Asian collision shortening in †E-mail: [email protected]. (e.g., Sobel, 1995; Sobel et al., 2001; Ritts and Tibet, and ultimately, changes in paleoelevation. GSA Bulletin; July/August 2007; v. 119; no. 7/8; p. 917–932; doi: 10.1130/B26033.1; 9 fi gures; 1 table; 1 insert; Data Repository item 2007166. For permission to copy, contact [email protected] 917 © 2007 Geological Society of America Kapp et al. 80° E 90°E 35°N 35°N JS Karakoram fault Fig. 2 BS Nima Jiali fault Hima layan 30°N 30°N Thrus MFT t Belt Lhasa 80°E 0 200 km A 90°E IYS Quaternary basin Region of internal drainage 80°84E E °88E° 92° E B Jinsha suture Songpan Ganzi Fenghuo Shan-Hoh Xil Qiang 34°N tang anticlin ? Bangong sutureorium ? ? Qiangtang ? terrane Amdo 32° N Shiquanhe SGAT Gaize GST Lunpola H i Nima m Fig. 2 Lhasa terrane al ay Siling Co an Duba Coqin Th ru 30° N st Tarim Qai Pamir dam GCT B Lhasa Tibet elt India Sichuan 0 200 km GT Indus-Yarlung suture Early Cretaceous granite Late Cretaceous - early Tertiary 65-40 Ma volcanic rocks 42-30 Ma volcanic rocks Gangdese batholith Tertiary strata suture zone thrust fault normal fault strike-slip fault Figure 1. (A) Map showing the major sutures and distribution of late Cenozoic deformation and basins in southern and central Tibet. The modern internally drained region of the Tibetan plateau is shown in gray. JS—Jinsha suture. (B) Tectonic map showing the major sutures and distribution of Tertiary thrust faults and associated nonmarine basins in southern and central Tibet. The southern margin of Tibet is defi ned geologically by the Indus-Yarlung suture zone (IYS), which was modifi ed by the Oligocene Gangdese thrust (GT) and Miocene Great Counter thrust (GCT). The Bangong suture zone (BS) was modifi ed by the mid-Tertiary N-dipping Shiquanhe-Gaize-Amdo thrust system (SGAT) and S-dipping Gaize–Siling Co thrust (GST). Figure modifi ed from Kapp et al. (2005). 918 Geological Society of America Bulletin, July/August 2007 Geological records of the Lhasa-Qiangtang and Indo-Asian collisions With this goal in mind, we conducted geologi- are exposed in the Muggar Range and consist marine rocks of the J-K unit and consist of a cal mapping and integrated geochronologic and of banded argillite interbedded (or tectonically >400-m-thick Lower Cretaceous succession detailed stratigraphic-sedimentologic studies of interlayered) with an ~50-m-thick massive of volcaniclastic conglomerate, sandstone, and the Nima basin area (~32°N, ~87°E) along the white limestone and thinly interbedded shale, siltstone with tuffaceous and paleosol horizons Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Bangong suture in siltstone, turbiditic sandstone, fossiliferous in the lower part (Kvc; Figs. 2 and 3). There is central Tibet (Fig. 1). Detailed measured sec- limestone, and metavolcanic rocks. The pri- a low-angle unconformity between the Kvc unit tions and provenance studies of Nima basin mary stratigraphy is unknown because this unit and the overlying Lower Muggar unit (Kml; strata (DeCelles et al., 2007a) and oxygen and has been greatly deformed and locally exhib- Figs. 2 and 3), which consists of >400 m of carbon isotopic studies indicating high regional its tight upright to overturned folds, penetra- Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene (based on paly- paleoelevation (>4.6 km) and arid conditions tive cleavage, and transposed bedding. These nomorphs; DeCelles et al., 2007a) red beds, fl u- during the late Oligocene (DeCelles et al., rocks are assigned a Jurassic age (mapped as Jr, vial and eolian sandstones, and conglomerates, 2007b) are presented elsewhere. The purpose Fig. 2) and appropriately described as sedimen- with the fl uvial deposits showing southward of this contribution is to present our data and tary-matrix mélanges on regional geological paleocurrent indicators (Fig. 3). The Lower Mug- interpretations pertaining to the geological set- maps (Cheng and Xu, 1986; Pan et al., 2004). gar unit is in thrust-fault contact with Eocene to ting, age, and structural evolution of Cretaceous Similarly deformed rocks are widely exposed Miocene (based on palynomorphs; DeCelles et to Quaternary rocks in the Nima area and their south of the Muggar Range in the Nima area. al., 2007a) siltstone, marl, evaporite, conglom- broader tectonic implications. Where studied, they consist largely of cleaved erate, and sandstone of the Upper Muggar unit shale, siltstone, and turbiditic sandstone with to the north (Tmu; Figs. 2 and 3). Structural dis- GEOGRAPHIC SETTING subordinate metasedimentary-matrix mélange ruption and lateral variability in lithology make interlayered with greenschist-facies metaba- it diffi cult to determine the relative ages of the The town of Nima is located along the sites. Regional geological maps show contrast- different measured sections in the Upper Mug- Mochang River, which fl ows north-northeast- ing Mesozoic age assignments for these rocks. gar unit. However, we infer a general northward ward through Nima and then to the east before We assign a Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age decrease in the age of exposed Tertiary strata draining into Dagze Lake (Fig.