Elsevier

Earth-Science Reviews

Volume 143, April 2015, Pages 36-61
Earth-Science Reviews

Propagation of the deformation and growth of the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen: A review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.01.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Long-standing problems in the geological evolution of the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen include where the India–Asia convergence was accommodated and how the plateau grew. To clarify these problems, we review the deformations and their role in the plateau's growth. Our results show that ~ 1630 km of shortening occurred across the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen since ~ 55 Ma, with more than ~ 1400 km accommodated by large-scale thrust belts. These thrust belts display an outward expansion from central Tibet and couple with the surficial uplift. The development of the Tibetan plateau involved three significant steps: Primitive plateau (~ 90–55 Ma), Proto-plateau (~ 55–40 Ma), and Neoteric plateau (~ 40–0 Ma). Several processes have collaborated to produce the Proto-plateau, including the pre-existing Primitive plateau, the India–Asia collision, and subductions of Greater India and Songpan–Ganzi beneath the Lhasa–Qiangtang terrane. Since ~ 40 Ma, the Proto-plateau, which was dominated by a topographic gradient, lower crustal flow and continuous India–Asia convergence, experienced three periods of rapid outward growth (~ 40–23, ~ 23–10, and ~ 10–0 Ma) in general. The N–S trending rifts were caused by the eastward growth of the plateau dominated by thrusting and crust flow in central Tibet, while they were the results of intense N–S shortening in Himalaya.

Introduction

The Tibetan–Himalayan orogen, the largest mountain chain on Earth today, was considered to be the result of the continued convergence between the Indian and Eurasian continents following their initial collision approximately 50–65 Myr ago (Fig. 1) (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975, Harrison et al., 1992, Ratschbacher et al., 1994, Yin and Harrison, 2000, DeCelles et al., 2002, Li et al., 2012, Meng et al., 2012). The deformation and its relationship to the rise of the plateau are an essential problem related to the geologic evolution of the Tibetan plateau and to continental tectonics more generally (Ratschbacher et al., 1994, Coleman and Hodges, 1995, Tapponnier et al., 2001, Wang et al., 2008a). Although the question of when and how the plateau attained its current elevation is still in dispute, it has been accepted that the deformation processes preserve the most dramatic records of the long-term evolution of the plateau (England and Houseman, 1989, DeCelles et al., 2002). Conversely, the uplifting process of the plateau would provide a first-order constraint on the dynamics of the crustal deformation (England and Molnar, 1990). Therefore, the origin of the high-elevation plateau and its relationship to crustal deformation have been studied intensively since the mid-1970s (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975, Tapponnier and Molnar, 1977, Allegre et al., 1984, Dewey et al., 1988, Ratschbacher et al., 1994, DeCelles et al., 2002, Deng et al., 2014, Zhang et al., 2012).

Crustal shortening and extension are two basically deformational styles in the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen and are important for understanding the geological history and surface uplift of the plateau. Plate reconstructions show that since 50 Ma ~ 2400–3200 km of India–Asia convergence occurred, much more than the 1200–1800 km of documented Himalayan–Tibetan shortening (Patriat and Achache, 1984, Yin and Harrison, 2000, DeCelles et al., 2002, van Hinsbergen et al., 2011a, van Hinsbergen et al., 2011b). Moreover, the large-scale fold–thrust belts not only contributed to the crustal shortening but also led to the tectonic uplift of the adjoining mountains (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975, Tapponnier and Molnar, 1977, Allegre et al., 1984, Dewey et al., 1988, DeCelles et al., 2002, Zhu et al., 2006, Wang et al., 2008a, Yin et al., 2008, Li et al., 2012). However, how the fold–thrust belts and crustal shortening contributed to the uplift of the plateau in space and time is ambiguous. Tapponnier et al. (2001) proposed that the rise of the Tibetan plateau has undergone three main steps from central Tibet since the Eocene, the subduction of mantle lithosphere accounting for the dominant growth of the Tibet plateau toward the east and northeast. However, how the crustal shortening and exhumation history responded to this growth and whether the Himalaya experienced the analogical process is still uncertain. Moreover, the crustal shortening, uplifting history and their dynamics cannot be effectively reconciled by a growth model in eastern Tibet (western Sichuan) (Clark and Royden, 2000, Tapponnier et al., 2001, Hubbard and Shaw, 2009, Oskin, 2012, Wang et al., 2012). Although Tapponnier et al. (2001) and Wang et al., 2008a, Wang et al., 2014a confirmed the growth of the plateau from central Tibet, the uplifting process and dynamics remain questionable (Murphy et al., 1997, Zhang, 2000, Kapp et al., 2003, Kapp et al., 2005, Zhang et al., 2004, Volkmer et al., 2007, Guillot and Replumaz, 2013). This means the deformation history and mechanism of the Tibet plateau's northward growth should be reappraised.

The E–W extension and related N–S trending rift are another notable deformation pattern of the plateau, which is widely distributed but of very low magnitude in the Himalaya and central Tibet. Some researchers attributed the extension to the rapid uplift and gravitational collapse of the plateau (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1978, Dewey et al., 1988, England and Houseman, 1989). Other workers argued that the E–W extension in southern Tibet reflects local boundary conditions, such as oblique convergence between India and Asia (McCaffrey, 1996, McCaffrey and Nabelek, 1998), radial expansion and stretching along the Himalayan arc (Seeber and Armbruster, 1984, Armijo et al., 1986), and concentrated compression at the Central Himalayan front (Kapp and Guynn, 2004). Therefore, a better understanding of the distribution and the correlation with contractional deformation may be the key factors to constrain the dynamics of the plateau's extension and uplift.

The above discussions indicate that the poor constraints on the uplifting history and dynamics of the plateau can be attributed to our incomplete understanding of its deformation history and mechanism. An accurate reconstruction of the deformation history and its development in space and time is essential to assess the dynamics of the growth plateau. In this paper, we attempt to summarize the available deformational and thermochronological data in the Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau to provide new insight into the deformational process and the resulting uplift of the plateau. Based on our interpretation, we propose an integrated model for the growth of the Tibetan plateau and its dynamics.

Section snippets

Geological setting and models for the plateau uplift

With an area over 2.5 million km2 and an average elevation of approximately 5000 m, the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen is characterized by three different geomorphic features (Fig. 1). The first is the flat plateau with an average elevation of approximately 5000 m at the central area, the majority of which has not been incised by external rivers. The second is characterized by a series of mountain chains at the margins of the plateau, with an average elevation of approximately 5500 to 6500 m, such as at

Distribution of the fold–thrust belts in the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen

The India–Asia collision and associated intracontinental deformation generated numerous large-scale fold–thrust belts within the plateau and surrounding regions (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975, Allegre et al., 1984, Dewey et al., 1988, Schelling and Arita, 1991, Ratschbacher et al., 1994, Murphy et al., 1997, Yin and Harrison, 2000, DeCelles et al., 2002, Kirby et al., 2002, Kapp et al., 2003, Kapp et al., 2005, Wang et al., 2008a). Based on the spatial distribution, we classify these thrust belts

Extension in the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen

Cenozoic extensional structures are another important deformation style of the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen, which are widely distributed in the Himalaya, the Lhasa and the Qiangtang terranes. Two sets of normal faults dominate the extensional structures of the plateau (Fig. 3; Table 3). They are the E–W striking South Tibet Detachment System (STDS) and numerous N–S striking rifts (grabens). Because of a possible linkage between the upper crustal extension and uplift of the plateau, many studies

Propagation of fold–thrust deformation

As discussed above, several models have been proposed for the growth of the Tibetan plateau. However, an unsolved problem regarding whether and how the thrusting and crustal shortening responded to the growing processes remains uncertain. The large-scale fold–thrust belts record the crustal shortening and the tectonic history of the plateau (Ratschbacher et al., 1994, Yin and Harrison, 2000, Guillot and Replumaz, 2013) and are crucial for understanding the deformation and plateau growth. Based

Conclusions

Our deformation restoration suggests that at least ~ 1630 km of shortening (along 94°E) has taken place between India and Asia since ~ 55 Ma, with ~ 1010 km and ~ 620 km of this accommodated by Asia and Himalaya, respectively. More than ~ 1400 km (of 1630 km) of shortening was absorbed by large-scale fold–thrust belts that have undergone an outward propagation from central Tibet, leading to upper crustal shortening and surface uplift of the plateau. The formation of the Himalayan orogen and Tibetan

Acknowledgments

We thank Editor Prof. Gillian R. Foulger and three referees (Zhang K.J., van Hinsbergen and Douwe) for their constructive and helpful comments which greatly helped in improving our manuscript. We thank Zhongpeng Han, Ming Xu, Jun Meng, Aorigele Zhou, Guanglin Cai, Xi Chen, Licheng Wang, Yushuai Wei and Lidong Zhu, who participated in many field expeditions in the Himalaya and Tibet; these studies provided the fundamental basis for this paper. We also thank Alan R. Carroll and Michael L. Wells

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