Greater Indias northernmargin prior toits collision

with Asia
J. R. Ali* and J. C. Aitchison
*Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ABSTRACT
Greater Indias northern edge prior to collision with Asia is typically modelled as a rifted passive
margin. We argue for a quite different geometry as a consequence of two tectonic episodes that
happened sometime before the main impact. Whilst the western segment of Indias northern
boundary had formed in the Late Triassic as a rifted margin, the central and eastern portions devel-
oped between 132 and 110 Ma when the sub-continent separated from AustraliaAntarctica as the
inner wall of a dextral scything transform fault along the WallabyZenith Fracture Zone off wes-
tern Australia. Key features would have been (i) the very narrow (2030 km wide) oceancontinent
transition zone marking the sub-continents eastern northern boundary, and (ii) similar to the region
offshore South Africas Garden Route coast, Greater Indias NE corner may have developed a series
of perched half grabens due to shearing related to its motion along the WallabyZenith Fracture
Zone, from initial break-up until it passed the Zenith Plateau (ca. 110 Ma). Differences in the devel-
opment of NW Greater India may be reected in restriction of ultra-high pressure metamorphic
rocks to the western Himalaya where late Paleocene subduction of the rifted passive margin occurred
at sub-equatorial latitudes beneath the intra-Tethyan arc. Further east, where the margin developed
along the scything transform, the continentocean boundary would have been more abrupt and
probably less strongly welded. Ophiolite emplacement appears to have been penecontemporaneous
along the margin. A subsequent slab break-off episode then eliminated the original plate boundary.
Thereafter, remaining oceanic lithosphere north of the arc sutured to the sub-continent, albeit rather
weakly, was consumed beneath Eurasia, culminating in IndiaAsia collision.
INTRODUCTION
The HimalayaTibet orogen, which developed following
the Indian sub-continents Cenozoic collision and inden-
tation into Asia, is one of the greatest orogenic episodes
Earth has experienced. Not only are the Indian and Eur-
asian continental rocks close to the suture zone spectacu-
larly deformed and uplifted, but a vast hinterland has also
been affected, from the Tian Shan range in Central Asia
(Yin et al., 1998; Reigber et al., 2001), across to north-
east Asia (Jolivet et al., 1994; Fournier et al., 2004), and
south to Indonesia and the Philippines (Molnar & Tap-
ponnier, 1975; Briais et al., 1993; Replumaz & Tappon-
nier, 2003; Hall, 2012).
An important consideration for students of the collision
system has to be the nature of Indias northern boundary.
Almost all workers (e.g. Gaetani & Garzanti, 1991; Met-
calfe, 1996, 2013; Patzelt et al., 1996; Yin & Harrison,
2000; DeCelles et al., 2001; Stampi & Borel, 2002; Guil-
lot et al., 2003; Najman et al., 2010; Yi et al., 2011) show
this feature as a rifted passive margin (its conjugate is
commonly assumed to be the southern Lhasa block,
which is considered to have detached from this part of
Gondwana in the Triassic). Northern India was then lar-
gely unmodied until its contact with Eurasia (Tibet) in
the Cenozoic. In this model, the sub-continents leading
edge is implied/depicted as being thinned and extended.
Thus from our knowledge of the classic rifted margins:
e.g. southern BrazilArgentina, (Davison, 1997); Iberia,
(Whitmarsh et al., 2001); various Atlantic margins,
(Minshull, 2002), one might surmise that the oceancon-
tinent transition ranged in width from a few to several
100 km. In the light of this, it is also understandable why
many have proposed that the sub-continents collision
with Asia initially involved a soft contact period (Curray
et al., 1982; Amano & Taira, 1992; Lee & Lawver, 1995)
as the telescoped passive margin was consumed beneath
the Lhasa block.
There is, however, a problem with the assumptions
underpinning this scenario. First, a signicant portion of
Greater Indias northern margin was moulded in the
Early Cretaceous as it rotated away from western Austra-
lia, the boundary then acting as a transform fault (Ali &
Aitchison, 2005; Gibbons et al., 2012). Second, an
Correspondence: J. C. Aitchison, School of Geosciences,
University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. E-mail:
jonathan.aitchison@sydney.edu.au.
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Basin Research 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd , European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists 73
Basin Research (2014) 26, 7384, doi: 10.1111/bre.12040
EAGE
additional shaping episode occurred in the late Paleocene
when the sub-continent collided with a sub-equatorially
located intra-oceanic arc system (e.g. Aitchison & Davis,
2004; Aitchison et al., 2007). Within a short period,
Indias margin experienced subduction, shortening, ophi-
olite emplacement, and slab break-off, before eventually
suturing, albeit weakly, to the oceanic plate behind/to the
north of the arc. [We acknowledge recent models involv-
ing additional continental rafts that lay ahead of Greater
India immediately prior to its collision with the arc (van
Hinsbergen et al., 2011, 2012) but note that our current
understanding of geological eld evidence within the
IndiaAsia collision zone challenges these reconstructions
see Aitchison & Ali, 2012].
CRETACEOUS NORTHERNGREATER
INDIA
Our attempts to delimit the shape and size of India
[Greater India: present-day Indian craton plus a postu-
lated northern extension, portions of which have either
been subducted beneath Tibet (upper mantle and lower
crust: Kosarev et al., 1999; Tilmann & Ni, 2003; Zhou &
Murphy, 2005)] or have been forced into thrust-bound
packages that dominate the geology of the Himalaya (lar-
gely upper crustal rocks) prior to its arrival at Asia indi-
cate that sub-continents eastern northern boundary
developed not as a rifted passive margin, but instead as a
dextral continental transform fault (Ali & Aitchison,
2005; see Fig. 1). Although northern India has been dra-
matically modied following its collision with Asia, much
can be inferred about its original geometry from its conju-
gate in the SE Indian Ocean, west of Australia (Fig. 1).
By analogy with extant arc-continent collision systems
such as Taiwan and Timor, we herein note that the north-
ern margin of India would likely also have been sign-
cantly tempered during its collision with the Tethyan
intra-oceanic island arc that preceded continentconti-
nent collision. As India and AustraliaAntarctica moved
away from one another in the Early Cretaceous (starting
ca. 132 Ma), the counter-part of northern India was pre-
served as the Perth Abyssal Plain (IOC et al., 2003), the
NE boundary to this basin being the WallabyZenith
fracture zone (Ali & Aitchison, 2005; Gibbons et al.,
2012).
Pre-existing
passive margin
(?Late Triassic)
Juvenile
passive
margin
Juvenile
passive
margin
Incipient
transforms
mid-Late Jurassic, 154.4 Ma
ME
F
Z
W
Active
transforms
Magnetochron M0, 120.4 Ma
Both transforms
now ocean-ocean
Start Late Cretaceous, 99.6 Ma
Fig. 1. Plate tectonic reconstructions
showing key phases in the break-up of
Gondwana (generated using the GMAP
program: Torsvik & Smethurst, 1999).
Key to this study is the development of
the dextral scything transform faults
between northern Greater India-western
Australia, and southern Africa-southern
South America. Positioning of the major
blocks is based on the Central Africa
apparent pole path and the crustal block
nite rotation model of Schettino &
Scotese (2005); stencil for Greater India
follows Ali & Aitchison (2005). F, Falk-
land Islands; ME, Maurice Ewing Bank;
W, Wallaby Plateau; Z, Zenith Plateau.
In the two older reconstructions, the
Wallaby and Zenith plateaus have been
nudged back to their original sites to
accommodate SE-NW extension in
region due to the separation of India and
Australia. Additionally, in the Early
Cretaceous and start Late Cretaceous
scenarios, a number of submarine large
igneous provinces (e.g. Kerguelen
Plateau, Maud Rise, Mozambique Ridge)
are depicted see Ali & Krause (2011).
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Basin Research 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd , European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists 74
J.R. Ali and J.C. Aitchison
In our 2005 publication, the Romanche Fracture Zone
south of Ghana was used as an analogue to suggest that
Indias northern margin had a very narrow oceanconti-
nent transition zone, possibly just 510 km (Edwards
et al., 1997; Mascle et al., 1997). Having considered the
matter further, we now think that deeper insights can be
gleaned from southern Africas Indian Ocean margin
(Agulhas Fracture zone) and its conjugate, the Falkland
Fracture Zone, which lies immediately north of the Falk-
land Plateau-Maurice Ewing Bank in the SW Atlantic
(Fig. 1). Kinematic reconstructions (e.g. N urnberg &
M uller, 1991; Marks & Tikku, 2001; Jokat et al., 2003;
Eagles, 2007) indicate that this boundary formed in a
manner almost identical to that associated with the
WallabyZenith Fracture Zone, and several common
features can be identied along and adjacent to the fossil
transforms (Fig. 2).
KEY FEATURESASSOCIATEDWITHTHE
WALLABYZENITH FRACTURE ZONE
The NW-SE aligned WallabyZenith Fracture Zone is a
prominent structural discontinuity in the SE Indian
Ocean, west of Australia (Figs 1 and 3a) (Ali & Aitchison,
2005; Gibbons et al., 2012). Based on bathymetry (IOC
et al., 2003) and data from other types of geophysical
investigations (e.g. Brown et al., 2003), we infer its termi-
nations to lie at 21.8S, 102.1E and 30.1S, 113.7E.
Allowing for the slight curvature of this feature (it bows
to the NE and thus has the appearance of a scythe blade),
its length is ca. 1500 km. The Perth Abyssal Plain, which
began forming ca. 132 Ma (Johnson et al., 1980; Gibbons
et al., 2012; also see Zhu et al., 2007, 2009), lies SW of
the fault, and water depths there are in excess of 6 km
(some elevated areas in the basin are related to volcanism,
118 Ma, associated with the Kerguelen Plateau-Broken
Ridge large igneous province). In contrast, the sea-oor
NE of the fracture zone is less deep, with prominent peaks
forming the Zenith (22.0N, 104.4E, ca. 1980 m) and
Wallaby (24.4N, 108.3E, ca. 2460 m) plateaus, the crust
of which is continental (Daniell et al., 2010; Quilty, 2011;
Stilwell et al., 2012). Together, these two blocks, which
are separated by a narrow neck of oceanic or composite
crust (Symonds et al., 1998; Brown et al., 2003; Daniell
et al., 2010), effectively extending the west Australian
margin >1100 km into the Indian Ocean. Just south of the
WallabyZenith Fracture Zone is the Lost Dutchman
Ridge, elements of which stand >1500 m above the adja-
cent sea-oor (see IOC et al., 2003). Gibbons et al. (2012)
interpret this feature as a former leaky transform.
KEY FEATURESASSOCIATEDWITH THE
FALKLAND FRACTURE ZONE
One of the features we have noticed in bathymetric (IOC
et al., 2003) and a variety of geophysically derived charts
of the global ocean oor (e.g. Smith & Sandwell, 1997)
concerns the remarkable similarity in the geometries of
the WallabyZenith and Falkland fracture zones and their
adjacent areas. The latter developed in the Early
(a)
(c)
(b)
(d)
Fig. 2. Cartoon sequence depicting the
hypothetical evolution of a dextral
scything transform fault system.
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Greater Indias northern margin
Cretaceous as the South Atlantic opened and the south-
eastern tail of South America was drawn clockwise
around southern Africa (Reeves & De Wit, 2002; Mac-
Donald et al., 2003). To aid comparisons (both the
WallabyZenith and Falkland and Agulhas fracture zones
operated as dextral systems), we took a SW map gener-
ated using the software and rotated it counterclockwise
through 140 (Fig. 3b). From this image, we observe the
following:
(1) The Argentine Basin (delineated by the 4000 m
isobath) is similar in shape and size to the Perth Abys-
sal Plain.
(2) There is a sharp transition across the Falkland frac-
ture zone, from the Argentine Basin to the elevated
ground of the Maurice Ewing Bank (the shallowest
point on this feature being ca. 1470 m) (see also Lore-
nzo & Wessel, 1997).
(3) The 2000 m isobaths on the Falkland Plateau and
Maurice Ewing Bank are separated by a 430km-wide
stretch of deeper ground, termed the Falkland Plateau
Basin. As with the bathymetric low separating the
Wallaby and Zenith plateaus, the continental crust
here has the appearance of being boudinaged, a view
compatible with various proposals (e.g. Marshall,
1994; Thomson, 1998; Barker, 1999; MacDonald
et al., 2003).
(4) The delta-shaped deep ocean oor marked by the
6000 m isobath in the Argentine Abyssal Plain is
almost identical in shape, size and relative position to
the bathymetric low dened by the 5500 m isobath in
the Perth Abyssal Plain (see also Lorenzo & Wessel,
1997).
(5) A long sliver of high ground (Falklands Ridge) is also
present, but unlike the Lost Dutchman Ridge that sits
next to the WallabyZenith Fracture Zone, it lies
some distance east of the Falkland Plateau-Maurice
Ewing Bank.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: ANANALOGUE
FOR NORTHERNGREATERINDIA
If the WallabyZenith and Falkland fracture zones share
so many features, then it is not unreasonable to use the
conjugate of the latter, the ca. 1200-km-long Agulhas
Fracture Zone off eastern South Africa, as a model for
northern Greater India. Based on the IOC et al. (2003)
data for the South Africa-SW Indian Ocean margin
(Fig. 4, see also Ben-Avraham et al., 1997; Thomson,
1999) the following features appear important:
(1) The sharp oceancontinent transition, particularly
the 650-km-long stretch of the fault zone north-east
of 26.0E (34.5S).
(2) The fault zone has a distinctive curved geometry and
bows out to the SE.
(3) A sliver-like ridge (Agulhas) of probable continental
origin (see Uenzelmann-Neben & Gohl, 2004) is pres-
ent along-strike from the fracture zone (7.0E, 43.5S
to 16.0E, 40.5S) in the south-east Atlantic.
15S
120E
35S
90E
Ocean floor here not depicted
(modified substantially by
Kerguelen LIP related volcanism)
Australia
Ocean floor here
not depicted
Land 0-200 m 200-2000 m 2000-4000 m 4000-5500 m >5500 m/6000 m
60S
70W
40S
30W
Scotia Sea
(ocean floor only
roughly depicted)
South
America
N
small
ridge
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Simplied bathymetric charts (Miller cylindrical projection) of the south-east Indian Ocean region adjacent to western
Australia (a) and the SW Atlantic next to southern South America (b) based on the IOC et al. (2003) chart. To aid comparisons, the
latter has been rotated counterclockwise through 140. In (a), we have omitted the volcanically overprinted bathymetry of a number
of areas due to the complex Cretaceous development of the region (Gaina et al., 2007) that resulted from ridge jumps and the
migration of the Kerguelen Plume. Note that in (b) the Scotia Sea is a basin that developed behind the east-migrating Scotia arc in the
middle and late Cenozoic (e.g. Livermore et al., 2005).
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J.R. Ali and J.C. Aitchison
(4) A short distance south of the western sector of the
fracture zone water depths is >5 km.
(5) The Natal Valley ocean oor immediately adjacent to
the eastern Agulhas Fracture Zone is relatively
shallow being only 24 km deep.
(6) The Mozambique Ridge (35E, 33S), forms a promi-
nent topographic feature (minimum water depth ca.
1480 m) due east of the Natal Valley. It is a submarine
large igneous province (Konig & Jokat, 2010).
Using southern Africa as an analogue, we suggest the
following for the northern margin of Greater India (a
present-day geographic reference frame is used to
describe relative positions):
(1) A sharp oceancontinent transition in the area, which
previously abutted the WallabyZenith Fracture
Zone.
(2) Eastern northern India would have curved gently
northwards.
(3) It is possible that one or more continental ridge slivers
existed to the north and east of the sub-continent
(similar to the Argulas Ridge SW of southern Africa).
However, these would be very small (effectively
micro-terranes) and recognizing fossil versions of
them in Asia would be very difcult.
(4) At the start of the Cenozoic, relatively old (then
>65 Myr
1
) oceanic lithosphere lay to the west, north
and east of the craton and was thus presumably
susceptible to subduction.
From the HimalayaTibet orogen, the following can be
inferred:
(1) Western northern India, which did not form next to
the WallabyZenith transform fault, developed
sometime earlier as a rifted passive margin (Yin &
Harrison, 2000; Metcalfe, 2013). Notably, though,
regional correlations indicate very similar along-strike
structure and geology across the Himalaya, thus the
sub-continents boundary here was unlikely to have
been excessively extended, or to have had a substan-
tial promontory (also see Ali & Aitchison, 2005).
(2) Furthermore, the possibility of a Mozambique Ridge-
like submarine large igneous province (Konig & Jokat,
2010) sitting north of India, and separated by a short
expanse of ocean oor can be excluded. No evidence
exists for such an element having been caught up in
the Indus-Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone.
POSSIBLE EARLYCRETACEOUS
DEFORMATIONOF GREATERINDIAS
NORTH-EAST CORNER
If southern Africa is to be used as an analogue for north-
ern India, it is worth considering a second-order tectonic
feature that developed there during the South Atlantics
early stages of opening. As the Falkland Plateau-Maurice
Ewing Bank was drawn clockwise around southern Africa
(Storey et al., 1999 g. 6; MacDonald et al., 2003 gs 13
and 15), the continental margin adjacent to the western
Agulhas Fracture Zone (2026E, the Garden Route
coast) was deformed in a complex manner. The conspicu-
ous eastwest structural grain of the Cape Fold Belt was
Natal
Valley
Mozam.
Ridge
Agulhas
Ridge
Agulhas
Fracture
Zone
45S
05E
25S
35E
Ocean floor here
not depicted
Ocean floor here
not depicted
South Africa
Land 0-200 m 200-2000 m 2000-4000 m 4000-5000 m >6000 m
Garden Route coast
B
G
A
P
Cape
Abyssal
Plain
Namibia
Mozam-
bique
Fig. 4. Simplied bathymetric chart (Miller cylindrical projection) for the oceans adjacent to southern Africa based on the IOC et al.
(2003) chart. The Mozambique Ridge is a submarine large igneous province that was emplaced in four pulses between 140 and
122 Ma (Konig & Jokat, 2010). The Agulhas Plateau (centred on 26E, 41S and covering ca. 3 9 10
5
km
2
) is not shown as this
feature is thought to be a start Late Cretaceous oceanic large igneous province (Gohl & Uenzelmann-Neben, 2001) and showing the
bathymetric overprinting obscures the basic message concerning the original ocean oor in these areas. The abbreviations B, P, G
and A respectively denote the Bredarsdorp, Pletmos, Gamtoos and Algoa basins offshore the Garden Route coast (e.g. de Wit &
Ransome, 1992; Paton, 2006).
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Greater Indias northern margin
rotated clockwise by up to 70 in areas adjacent to the
transform (e.g. Thomson, 1999 Fig. 1; Johnston, 2000
Fig. 1b). Also, a series of half grabens (Fig. 4, Bredars-
dorp, Pletmos, Gamtoos, Algoa; de Wit & Ransome,
1992; MacDonald et al., 2003 g. 13; Paton, 2006)
formed along the coast, each with their own structural-
stratigraphic histories (e.g. Thomson, 1999). Therefore,
as western South Africa experienced the longest period
of transform fault shearing related to the Falkland
Plateau-Maurice Ewing Banks dextral scything motion,
it is possible that NE India experienced similar defor-
mation.
Interestingly, Liu (1992, Chapter 4) and Liu & Einsele
(1996, Figs 3a and 5) depict the Lower Cretaceous Hima-
laya sequences in southern Tibet (ca. 86E to ca. 90E) as
accumulating in outer shelf and deeper settings close to a
number of active seabed exposed NE-SW (present-day
reference frame) oriented faults. For the Albian-Santo-
nian (112.9583.64 Ma using timescale of Gradstein
et al., 2012) and Campanian-Maastrichian (83.64
66.04 Ma) intervals (Liu, 1992; Chapter 4; Liu & Einsele,
1996; Fig. 3b, c) the region is tectonically quieter, the
depositional settings being typical of those found on the
outer shelf of a stable margin. Interestingly, our modelling
indicates that transform fault shearing between the Zenith
Plateau and Greater India would have ceased at around
the start of the Albian. The studies of Li et al. (2005) and
Hu et al. (2010) support the ndings of Liu & Einsele
(1996). The former investigated several outcrops due east
of Gyantse in southern Tibet (at ca. 89.8E, ca. 29.0N),
demonstrating considerable local variation in the thick-
nesses of the Lower Cretaceous outer shelf sequences.
The regional synthesis presented in Hu et al. (2010)
proposes a tectonically active period up until the early Al-
bian (ca. 105 Ma). Thereafter deep-water sedimentation
was established.
OTHERCONSIDERATIONS
Well over a decade before plate tectonic theory became
widely accepted, Adie (1952) outlined one of the more
radical hypotheses to explain the tectonic development of
the South Atlantic. He suggested that the Falkland Pla-
teau originally lay east of South Africa and that it was
rotated through ca. 180, as Africa and South America
separated and moved apart. The paleomagnetic study by
Mitchell et al. (1986) provided quantitative support for
Adies model (see also Marshall, 1994; Storey et al.,
1999). Based on seismic stratigraphy and sedimentological
data, Thomson (1998) suggested that the rotation took
place during the earliest phase of motion between Africa
and South America, in the Valanginian (ca. 138 Ma).
Thus, if the Agulhas and Falkland fracture zones and
their adjacent areas are used to model northern India and
offshore western Australia, it is entirely possible that the
Zenith and Wallaby plateaus underwent large scale verti-
cal-axis rotations similar to those experienced by the Falk-
land Islands (both entities occupy similar relative
positions). A test of this proposal would involve carrying
out paleomagnetic studies on oriented piston cores drilled
into one or both terrains: large declination differences
should be recorded in the sedimentary sequences depos-
ited before ca. 110 Ma as compared to those that accumu-
lated later on.
LATE PALEOCENECOLLISION WITH AN
INTRA-OCEANICARC SYSTEM
Ophiolites within the Indus-Yarlung Tsangpo suture
zone were formerly considered to have represented
mid-ocean ridge material that had formed within the
Neotethys (e.g. Molnar & Tapponnier, 1975; Searle et al.,
Pre-existing
passive margin
(?Late Triassic)
Incipient
transform
mid-Late Jurassic, 154.4 Ma
Agulhas
Fracture
Zone
Modified by Early
Cretaceous motion of
southern S. America
Indian
Craton
Africa
Cairo
Lagos
Passive
margin
end-Cretaceous comparison, 67.7 Ma
Fig. 5. Orthogonal projection showing how southern Africa might provide a useful stencil for modelling Greater India in the mid-
Cretaceous to Paleocene (generated using the GMAP program: Torsvik & Smethurst, 1999). In (a), Africa has been rotated so that the
South Africa-Namibia Atlantic coast parallels eastern India in its end-Late Cretaceous position (67.7 Ma). Collision with the sub-equ-
atorially located arc happened a short time later at ca. 57 Ma. To emphasize the similarity, a modied version of the mid-Late Jurassic
reconstruction presented in Fig. 1 is also shown.
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J.R. Ali and J.C. Aitchison
1987; Burg, 1992). However, more recent studies have
argued that, although they formed in Neotethys, such
ophiolites are mostly remnants of one or more intra-oce-
anic arc systems (e.g. Aitchison et al., 2000, 2002, 2004,
2007; Coreld et al., 2001; Maheo et al., 2004; Petterson
& Treloar, 2004; Hebert et al., 2012). Based on paleonto-
logical data, the abrupt inux of ophiolitic detritus onto
the passive margin of northern India (Ding et al., 2005)
was interpreted by Aitchison et al. (2007) to mark the
beginning of the arc collision in the late Paleocene, ca.
57 Ma. Furthermore, recent studies have conrmed the
Palaeocene rst arrival of ophiolite-derived Cr-spinel
grains at both Sangdanlin (Wang et al., 2011) and Tingri
(Zhu et al., 2005). Given a moderate-sized extension for
Greater India (Ali & Aitchison, 2005, 2012), plate tectonic
modelling indicates that the initial contact would have
been at low northern latitudes (Aitchison et al., 2007; Ali
& Aitchison, 2008). Critically, this matches the position
of a large slab of oceanic lithosphere now deep in the man-
tle that was imaged in the tomography study of Van der
Voo et al. (1999, Fig. 3). Furthermore, this episode must
have modied the margin of northern Greater India as it
was forced into the subduction zone, presumably in a
manner similar to that in Taiwan today where the eastern
Eurasian margin in China is being driven under the Lu-
zon arc on the western Philippine Sea Plate (Huang et al.,
2000). Following collision, numerous supra-subduction
zone ophiolitic massifs derived from the overriding plate
were transported atop the leading edge of India as, for
example, has also occurred in New Caledonia (Aitchison
et al., 1995; Cluzel et al., 2001), New Guinea (Ali & Hall,
1995) and Oman (Searle et al., 2004). Soon afterwards,
the subducted oceanic lithosphere directly north of India
broke-off; the remnant slab is today visible on tomo-
graphic images of the regions mantle (Van der Voo et al.,
1999; Hafkenscheid et al., 2006).
RESTRICTEDDISTRIBUTIONOF UHP
METAMORPHICROCKS INTHE
HIMALAYA: APOSSIBLE EXPLANATION
Ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks have been
identied at two main localities within the western Hima-
laya, at Kaghan and Tso Morari (e.g. De Sigoyer et al.,
1997; OBrien et al., 2001; Leech et al., 2005; Guillot
et al., 2007). It is generally agreed that the Indian crust
from which the UHP rocks formed was subducted to
depths in excess of 90 km and at least some authors
regard this event to be related to arc-continent collision
(Searle, 2001; Aitchison et al., 2007). Analogous high P/
T metamorphic rocks occur in the regionally extensive
eclogite belt on New Caledonia where, in the Eocene,
thinned continental crust derived from the rifted margin
of Gondwana was subducted under an intra-oceanic
island arc (Aitchison et al., 1995; Clarke et al., 1997). In
this area, there is no evidence indicating that the collision
necessarily involved two continents. Curiously, Kaghan
and Tso Morari are from a part of northern Greater India
where the continentocean boundary (COB) was an old
passive margin (possibly Late Triassic: Metcalfe, 2013).
Thus with the continental crust in this area likely
extended due to the earlier rifting, it may have facilitated
subduction of the leading edge of India to the coesite
UHP window. In contrast, the narrow COB to the east
may have made deep subduction of northern India impos-
sible. First, the continent here was not thinned and would
have been relatively buoyant. Second, the basin to the
north, having formed on the other side of a transform
fault, was likely less strongly attached to India and hence
its ability to drag sub-continental lithosphere as it entered
the subduction zone beneath the intra-Tethyan arc may
have been considerably less than was the case in the west.
POST-PALEOCENECONFIGURATION
Another important consideration concerns the fate of any
basin north of the arc after the late Paleocene collision.
There is no evidence of any subduction polarity reversal
immediately after the arc-continent collision, a phenome-
non that is commonly portrayed in models of such sys-
tems (see Dewey, 2005). Instead, it appears that this
convergent plate boundary was extinguished and oceanic
lithosphere became part of the Indo-Australian plate.
Critically, the two crustal entities were likely not welded
strongly to one another as would be the case with a rifted
passive margin. The northward motion of the composite
plate resulted in the much of the basin north of India
eventually being consumed beneath the Lhasa block prior
to eventual continentcontinent collision between India
and Eurasia.
Presumably, if India and its northern neighbour were
only loosely coupled, when the basin was nally con-
sumed, its ability to drag buoyant lithosphere of the
Indian sub-continent may have been appreciably less than
if it had formed as a rifted passive margin to northern
India. Release from the asthenosphere-bound slab-pull
associated with subducting oceanic lithosphere may have
enhanced the role of buoyant continental crust of Greater
India allowing it to act as a horizontal indentor impinging
into Asia and resulting in attendant orogenesis (e.g.
Aitchison et al., 2007; Fig. 6).
CONCLUSIONS
In an attempt to establish the geometry and nature of
Greater Indias northern margin prior to its collision with
Asia, we examined how the boundary initially formed as
the sub-continent broke-out of East Gondwana in the
Early Cretaceous, and how it might have been reshaped in
the late Paleocene following collision with an NW-SE
aligned, sub-equatorially located intra-Tethyan
2014 The Authors
Basin Research 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd , European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists 79
Greater Indias northern margin
subduction system elements of which are now preserved
as ophiolites along and south of the Indus River-Yarlung
Tsangpo suture zone. These include Nidar, Spontang,
Saga, Dazhuqu, Luobusa, but not Dras or Kohistan,
which are considered to have formed above a different
subduction system (Hebert et al., 2012).
Regarding the Cretaceous margin, our analysis of a
number of former transform boundaries (WallabyZenith
in the SE Indian Ocean; Falkland in the SW Atlantic;
Agulhas in the SW Indian Ocean) and the adjacent areas
of continental and oceanic crust, suggests that South
Africa is a good analogue for northern Greater India at
this time. Although NW India may have formed in the
Late Triassic as a rifted passive margin (although it was
probably not excessively extended otherwise the Hima-
laya would not exhibit such uniform along-strike charac-
teristics), it is probable that the eastern sector of the
boundary had a very sharp oceancontinent transition
zone (possibly just 2030 km wide). Also, the Indian
sub-continents breakout phase (132 Ma to around
110 Ma; the geological instant when Indo-Madagascar
and AustraliaAntarctica had fully disconnected), may
have led to development of a series of half grabens on the
NE corner of India adjacent to the WallabyZenith
Fracture Zone. We note sedimentological investigations
from the southern Tibet (Liu, 1992; Liu & Einsele, 1996;
Li et al., 2005; Hu et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2011) provide
support for this hypothesis.
Greater Indias northern boundary would have been
modied in the late Paleocene because at ca. 57 Ma it col-
lided with an equatorially located island arc. It was then
partially subducted resulting in widespread ophiolite
emplacement followed by a slab break-off event. The
restricted presence of UHP metamorphic minerals to the
western Himalaya may reect the fact that this portion of
the sub-continent formed as a rifted passive margin, and
thus permitted the NW corner of the block to be subduct-
ed to depths of ca. 90 km. The oceanic lithosphere adja-
cent to Greater Indias NE corner would not have had the
same anchoring effect; it would have been less strongly
attached being separated from the continental block by an
extinct transform.
Following the arc-continent collision, the Indo-Austra-
lian plate amalgamated with the oceanic lithosphere north
Perched
half grabens
Rifted margin
Narrow ocean-
continent transition
A
B
A
B
UHP metamorphic
rocks formed on
NW Greater India
Narrow ocean-
continent transition
Basin not welded to
India as would be the case
with a classic passive margin
65 Ma
Detached
slab
Ophiolite
emplacement
Deep continental
subduction
A
B
A
B
A
A
57 Ma
49 Ma
20N
0N
20S
40S
20N
0N
20S
40S
20N
0N
20S
40S
Fig. 6. Cartoon sequence focusing on
the boundary of northern Greater India
at 65, 57 and 49 Ma before, during and
after its collision with the Dazhuqu arc
and its along-strike equivalents based on
Aitchison et al. (2007 and references
therein). The image was constructed
using the GMAP program (Torsvik &
Smethurst, 1999). The steep subduction
angle associated with the ocean slab due
north of India in the 65 and 57 Ma recon-
structions follows Leech et al. (2005).
2014 The Authors
Basin Research 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd , European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists 80
J.R. Ali and J.C. Aitchison
of the intra-oceanic arc. As the composite plate advanced
north, the basin was consumed beneath the Lhasa block
and the adjacent areas leading to the eventual collision of
India with Asia (Aitchison et al., 2007). Because the two
entities could not have been strongly sutured, when
northern India entered the subduction zone below Tibet
it was not dragged down into the mantle and could thus
have begun deforming Asia geologically immediately.
For future modelling of the IndiaAsia collision sys-
tem, it is recommended that the two episodes which
shaped the northern edge of the sub-continent be
critically assessed. Assuming that a simple rifted passive
margin impacted with Tibet and adjacent parts of Asia is
almost certainly incorrect.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Helmut Willems kindly shared with us his knowledge of
the Cretaceous Himalaya sequences. Kerry Downing clar-
ied aspects of South Africas geography. David Wilms-
hurst reviewed a draft of the manuscript. We are grateful
for the detailed formal critiques by Peter Clift and an
anonymous reviewer who helped us improve the manu-
script.
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Manuscript received 28 January 2013; In revised form 07
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J.R. Ali and J.C. Aitchison