PETROLEUM IN TIBET AND THE INDIA‐ASIA SUTURE (?) ZONE

Abstract

During 1976, three separate drill sites were reported from parts of central and southern Tibet, the People's Republic of China. The ages of the formations penetrated are not known, but possible commercial hydrocarbon shows were reported at each of the three drill sites. The shows were in either late Paleozoic or Mesozoic Tethyan facies, north of the Yalu Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River. Similar Tethyan facies crop out south of the river.The Yalu Tsangpo River strikes W‐Eacross S Tibet, and its trace has been interpreted by some geologists to be a suture zone where the Indian plate is alleged to have collided with Asia. The presence of identical rock formations north and south of the Yalu Tsangpo appears to negate this conclusion.However, Chinese geologists hold differing opinions concerning the presence or absence of a suture zone along the Yalu Tsangpo River line‐one group holding that the line is a suture zone; another group denying the existence of a suture zone; and a third group taking an intermediate position. The views of the different groups are reviewed here for the benefit of non‐Chinese geologists and geophysicists who may be interested in this area. Present non‐Chinese literature on the area is woefully lacking in factual data and, as a consequence, serious misunderstandings exist regarding the geology, tectonics, and petroleum potential of this region.