A Smaller Greater India and a Middle‐Early Eocene Collision With Asia

Abstract

AbstractWhen and how the collision between India‐Asia occurred continue to be debated. We report new paleomagnetic data (Ds = 158.8°, Is = 7.8°, ks = 81.3, α95 = 5.1°, N = 11 sites) from limestone of the Zongpu Formation Member I in the Tingri, which indicate that the Tethyan Himalaya was situated at 3.9 ± 2.6°S during 62‐59 Ma. This implies that Greater India was ∼900 km and that Tethyan Himalaya did not break off from India, which left a ∼2,000 km Neo‐Tethys Ocean that challenges the prevailing hypothesis that the initial collision of India–Asia occurred during this period. The drift rate of the India plate, with an average rate of 160 ± 28 mm/a during 60‐50 Ma, implies that the northern margin (e.g., the Tingri, Gyangze, Gamba, and Zanskar areas) of Greater India almost simultaneously collided with Asia at ∼50 Ma, quasi‐synchronously, and closing the Neo‐Tethys Ocean.