|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
,3
1 Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, Postfach 601553, Potsdam 14415, Germany
2 Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1404, USA
3 Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, Postfach 601553, Potsdam 14415, Germany
4 Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-2115, USA
5 Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, Postfach 601553, Potsdam 14415, Germany
Whether variations in the spatial distribution of erosion influence the location, style, and magnitude of deformation within the Himalayan orogen is a matter of debate. We report new 40Ar/39Ar white mica and apatite fission-track (AFT) ages that measure the vertical component of exhumation rates along an 
120-km-wide NE-SW transect spanning the greater Sutlej region of northwest India. The 40Ar/39Ar data indicate that first the High Himalayan Crystalline units cooled below their closing temperature during the early to middle Miocene. Subsequently, Lesser Himalayan Crystalline nappes cooled rapidly, indicating southward propagation of the orogen during late Miocene to Pliocene time. The AFT data, in contrast, imply synchronous exhumation of a NE-SW–oriented 80 x 40 km region spanning both crystalline nappes during the Pliocene–Quaternary. The locus of pronounced exhumation defined by the AFT data correlates with a region of high precipitation, discharge, and sediment flux rates during the Holocene. This correlation suggests that although tectonic processes exerted the dominant control on the denudation pattern before and until the middle Miocene; erosion may have been the most important factor since the Pliocene.
Key Words: Himalaya • exhumation • erosion • uplift • geochronology
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A.K. Jain, N. Lal, B. Sulemani, A.K. Awasthi, S. Singh, R. Kumar, and D. Kumar Detrital-zircon fission-track ages from the Lower Cenozoic sediments, NW Himalayan foreland basin: Clues for exhumation and denudation of the Himalaya during the India-Asia collision Geological Society of America Bulletin, March 1, 2009; 121(3-4): 519 - 535. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. G. Malusa, M. Zattin, S. Ando, E. Garzanti, and G. Vezzoli Focused erosion in the Alps constrained by fission-track ages on detrital apatites Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2009; 324(1): 141 - 152. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. J. Jessup, D. L. Newell, J. M. Cottle, A. L. Berger, and J. A. Spotila Orogen-parallel extension and exhumation enhanced by denudation in the trans-Himalayan Arun River gorge, Ama Drime Massif, Tibet-Nepal Geology, July 1, 2008; 36(7): 587 - 590. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J.A. CHAMBERS, T.W. ARGLES, M.S.A. HORSTWOOD, N.B.W. HARRIS, R.R. PARRISH, and T. AHMAD Tectonic implications of Palaeoproterozoic anatexis and Late Miocene metamorphism in the Lesser Himalayan Sequence, Sutlej Valley, NW India Journal of the Geological Society, May 1, 2008; 165(3): 725 - 737. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. J. Finnegan, B. Hallet, D. R. Montgomery, P. K. Zeitler, J. O. Stone, A. M. Anders, and L. Yuping Coupling of rock uplift and river incision in the Namche Barwa Gyala Peri massif, Tibet Geological Society of America Bulletin, January 1, 2008; 120(1-2): 142 - 155. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. B. Barnes and J. D. Pelletier Latitudinal Variation of Denudation in the Evolution of the Bolivian Andes Am J Sci, January 1, 2006; 306(1): 1 - 31. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| JOURNAL HOME | HELP | CONTACT PUBLISHER | SUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
