Abstract
The Tethyan Himalaya Sequence between the Yarlung‐Zangbo Suture and South Tibetan Detachment is a fundamental component of the Himalayan orogenic belt, traditionally considered to belong to the passive continental margin of India. However, the eastern Tethyan Himalaya Sequence is poorly understood, compared with that in the central and western Himalaya. To improve general understanding, we undertook north‐south geological‐structural profiles across all the litho‐tectonic units of the eastern Tethyan Himalaya Sequence and produced new isotopic‐geochemical data from all units, to constrain their mode of occurrence, structure, tectonic setting, and time of formation. The whole Tethyan Himalaya Sequence consists of a thrust‐imbricated mélange that contains blocks of ophiolites (such as Lang County, Yumen, and Lhunze), oceanic islands (e.g., Comei) with ocean island basalts‐type basalts, mafic greenschists, limestone olistoliths, and cherts in a turbiditic matrix of greywackes, siltstones, and slates in south‐directed thrust slices. Our findings suggest that the eastern Tethyan Himalaya Sequence represents the evolution of an accretionary prism, rather than a passive margin of the Indian Plate. The prism was created during northward subduction of Neo‐Tethys between ~130 and ~50 Ma. These data allow us to produce a new tectonic model for the structural development of the eastern Himalayan orogenic belt in relation to the India‐Asia collision.
Published Version
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