Holocene tectonics south of the Indus Suture, Lahaul-Ladakh Himalaya, India: a consequence of Indian Plate motion

Abstract

The continued northward drift of the Indian Plate after the cessation of its further subduction was successively forced upon other planes of dislocations along old lineaments south of the Indus Suture Zone (ISZ). The active tectonics chiefly confined to the Main Central Thrust, the Main Boundary Thrust, the thrust between the Siwalik rocks and the older Alluvium and along certain tensional/extensional faults are steady but not spectacular. The youngest major tectonic activity in the Himalaya, leaving visible signatures, occurred south of ISZ after the last Quaternary glaciation. This activity rejuvenated older faults causing deflection and disorganization of several rivers which had come to occupy the U-shaped glacial valleys in the Ladakh and Lahaul. The strike-slip movements discretely folded the terraces and also formed the pull-apart Tso Morari and Kiogar Tso basins. The Indian Plate motion also affected the Peninsular part, although less intensely.