Mesozoic ophiolites, sutures, and arge-scale tectonic movements in Afghanistan

Abstract

The tectonic history of Afghanistan appears to be the result of successive accretion of fragments of Gondwana to the active margin of Laurasia since the end of the Paleozoic. The margin, in Afghanistan, lies along the present Herat and Panjshir faults, south of Hindu Kush, swings around the central Pamirs and can presumably be traced along the present western Altyn Tagh and Kunlun faults in Tibet. North of this boundary, Paleozoic rocks have been deformed in the Upper Paleozoic, whereas south of it, there is no trace of the Hercynian orogeny. The first collision of Gondwanian fragments with Laurasia probably occurred in the early Mesozoic along the Hindu Kush and Kunlun. To the south, ophiolites along the Panjao and Pangong-Nu Chiang sutures (respectively in central Afghanistan and central Tibet) testify for another suturing event in the Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous. The Indus-Tsangpo suture between India and Tibet corresponds, in eastern Afghanistan, to two ophiolite subbelts, near Kabul and Khost. Both ophiolite complexes have been emplaced between Maestrichtian and Lower Eocene by choking of two northward-dipping subduction zones. After complete contact between the Indian and Asian continents was achieved, presumably in the end of Eocene, the penetration of India into Asia caused large-scale intra-continental shortening. A large part of the shortening was accommodated by strike-slip faulting along Mesozoic and more ancient sutures. Central Afghanistan, in particular, was extruded to the west along the Herat suture by the protrusion of the Pamir wedge. It subsequently collided with the Lut block.