Ductile deformation within Upper Himalaya Crystalline Sequence and geological implications, in Nyalam area, Southern Tibet

Abstract

The South Tibet Detachment System (STDS) is a flat normal fault that separates the Upper Himalaya Crystalline Sequence (UHCS) below from the Tethyan Sedimentary Sequence (TSS) above. Timing of deformations related to the STDS is critical to understand the mechanism and evolution of the Himalaya collision zone. The Nyalam detachment (ND) (∼86°E) locates in the middle portion of STDS (81°–89°E). Dating of deformed leucocratic dykes that are most probably syntectonic at different depth beneath the ND, allow us to constrain the timing of deformation. (1) Dyke T11N37 located ∼3500 m structurally below the ND emplaced at 27.4±0.2 Ma; (2) Dyke T11N32 located ∼1400 m structurally below the ND emplaced at 22.0±0.3 Ma; (3) T11N25 located within the top to the north STD shear zone, ∼150 m structurally below the ND, emplaced at 17.1±0.2 Ma. Combining ND footwall cooling history and T11N25 deformation temperature, we indicate a probable onset of top to the north deformation at ∼16 Ma at this location. These results show an upward younging of the probable timing of onset of the deformation at different structural distance below the ND. We then propose a new model for deformation migration below the ND with deformation starting by pure shear deformation at depth prior to ∼27.5 Ma that migrates upward at a rate of ∼ 0.3 mm/a until ∼18 Ma when deformation switches to top to the north shearing in the South Tibet Detachment shear zone (STDsz). As deformation on the ND stops at 14-13 Ma this would imply that significant top to the North motion would be limited to less than 5 Ma and would jeopardize the importance of lower channel flow.