Paleomagnetic results of Cretaceous cherts from Zhongba, southern Tibet: New constraints on the India-Asia collision. (15th April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Qin, Shi-Xin; Li, Yong-Xiang; Li, Xiang-Hui; Xu, Bo; Luo, Hui
• Is Part Of: Journal of Asian earth sciences. Volume 173(2019)
• Page Start: 42
• Page End: 53
• Publication Date: 2019-04-15
• Subjects: Southern Tibet -- Tethyan Himalaya -- Cherts -- Paleomagnetism -- India-Asia collision -- Greater India; Earth sciences -- Asia -- Periodicals; Sciences de la terre -- Asie -- Périodiques; Earth sciences; Asia; Periodicals; 555.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.01.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-9120

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Paleomagnetic results of Cretaceous cherts in Zhongba, southern Tibet are reported. The results yield a reliable, ∼120–93.9 Ma paleopole for Tethyan Himalaya (TH). Apparent polar wander paths of TH and cratonic India exhibit similar patterns with no separations. The new paleomagnetic results do not support the Greater India Basin hypothesis. The new evidence argues against the proposed dual collisions between India and Asia. Abstract: An oceanic Greater Indian Basin was hypothesized to have formed between ∼120 Ma and ∼65 Ma by regional extension that separated the cratonic India from its northern margin of Tethyan Himalaya (TH). However, the lack of paleomagnetic data from this critical time interval in the TH marks an important gap in our knowledge about the tectonic evolution of the Greater India. We have conducted a paleomagnetic study of a Cretaceous marine succession in Zhongba, southern Tibet that consists of predominantly purple reddish cherts and siliceous limestone. Paleomagnetic samples from 12 sites were subjected to stepwise thermal demagnetization that revealed either two- or three-component magnetizations with the high-temperature component (HTC) typically unblocked at ∼650 °C. The HTCs exhibit dual polarities that yield a positive reversed test at 95% confidence level, suggesting a primary origin of the remanence. With chronologic constraints from the combined analysis of the magnetostratigraphic and radiolarian data, the HTCs yield a mean of Ds = 336.9°, Is = −50.7°, ks = 18.0, α95 = 5.3° for the ∼120.8–93.9 Ma interval of the TH, which corresponds to a paleopole at 25.0°N, 285.7°E (dp/dm = 4.8/7.1°). The apparent polar wander path (APWP) of the TH overall resembles that of cratonic India, suggesting no polarward separation that is sufficiently large to merit an oceanic basin between the TH and cratonic India. Therefore, our new reliable paleomagnetic data from the critical time interval do not support the Greater Indian Basin hypothesis and its implied dual collisional processes between India and Asia. On the other hand, the APWPs exhibit relative shifts for the post-120 Ma segment and the pre-130 Ma segment, indicating relative motions between the TH and cratonic India that most likely resulted from shearing along boundary-parallel faults during the India-Asia collision.