Abstract
The thrust top intermontane basins that are located to the east of the Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis (HKS) in NW Himalaya are ~NW-SE oriented and run parallel to the strike of the major Himalayan thrusts, which is in contrast to the similar basins that lie at the west of HKS (e.g. Peshawar basin). Although these basins are similar in age yet their structural orientation differs, which has not been previously investigated in much details. Therefore, here we investigate the structural details using the 30m shuttle topography, regional seismicity, earthquake centroid moment tensors (CMT) solutions, previously published works, and geological fieldwork at Anantnag, Kashmir, where bedrock geology and Plio-Pleistocene to Holocene sediments are mapped. The three tectonic model for the formation of Kashmir basin are investigated and new data are produced to refine the existing knowledge on the formation of Kashmir and Peshawar basins. Our results establish that Kashmir basin is definitely neither a pull-apart basin nor a rift basin, and we reinforce that the basin can be formed in a piggyback structural style. We demonstrate that intermontane basins on either of HKS have rotated during their evolutionary journey. The estimated >45° clockwise rotation of Kashmir basin is in contract to the 120 km long left-lateral strike-slip fault, the Jhelum fault (JF), which has dominantly left-lateral strike-slip movement at north, and oblique in south. We show that the JF largely controls the formation rotation and the present configuration of regions on either side of the HKS. The published paleomagnetic data supports our results and show that basin formation, lateral extent, geometry, and rotation are controlled by faulting where the emergence of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) fault system seems to have largely controlled the formation and lateral extent of the Kashmir basin, while as the JF has contributed towards the translation, rotation and present structural configuration of the intermontane basins in the region.
Highlights
Syntaxes are some of the most eye catching topographic feature in the Tethyan collision system because these regions mark the abrupt curling of orogenic trends, which are observable on regional maps and includes turning of structures like sutures, faults, folds, etc. (Wadia, 1931; Butler, 2019)
The tectonic geomorphology of the fault suggests ∼NS trending fault zone records left-lateral strike-slip displacement of ridges and streams and the slip varies from 2 km (Figures 5, 6). This region mark the position of an abrupt change in the vergence of the major Himalayans fault systems (Figure 1) from ∼SW to ∼SE (Figures 1, 13), and this indicates that Jhelum fault (JF) has a strong structural control on the evolution, and rotation of basins and fault systems in the region (Figure 13)
The formation of basins on either side of Hazara-Kashmir syntaxis (HKS) (Figure 13) is a reflection of oblique convergence between India and Eurasia has been accommodated in western Himalaya syntaxis
Summary
Syntaxes are some of the most eye catching topographic feature in the Tethyan collision system because these regions mark the abrupt curling of orogenic trends, which are observable on regional maps and includes turning of structures like sutures, faults, folds, etc. (Wadia, 1931; Butler, 2019). (Wadia, 1931; Butler, 2019) Such distinctive topographic and structural features are well preserved in many orogens, and it forms a very peculiar feature of the >2,400 km long Himalayan arc (Figure 1), which has evolved since the initiation of the suturing, and collision between India and Eurasia (Yin and Harrison, 2000). The striking observation is the location and orientation of the intermontane basins on either side of the structure, which includes the Quaternary sediment filled Peshawar and Kashmir intermontane basins (Figure 1) These two basins preserve distinctive and tectonically controlled developmental history (Burbank and Johnson, 1982; Burbank and Reynolds, 1984; Bossart et al, 1990). We show that regions on either side of the HKS have rotated, and the rotation corresponds with the emergence of the JF, and we demonstrate that JF is the major structural ramp that has played a key role in the formation of HKS and it controls the lateral extend, and rotation of the Peshawar and Kashmir basins
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