Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-06T02:52:06.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Evidence for late Precambrian to early Cambrian orogeny in northwest Himalaya, Pakistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

M. S. Baig
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A.
R. D. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A.
L. W. Snee
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, M.S. 905, Box 25046, Denver, CO 80225, U.S.A.

Abstract

An angular unconformity below Cambrian rocks is present in the northwest Himalaya in the Hazara district, Pakistan. Low-grade metamorphism and folding with axial planar cleavage present in Precambrian rocks below the unconformity, but not in those above it, confirm orogenic deformation at this time. This is the first clear evidence for such a deformation episode and it may be referred to locally as the Hazaran orogeny. Anatectic peraluminous granites of the Himalaya are of only slightly younger age and may be related to this orogenic episode.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmad, A. & Alam, J. M. 1978. The Ganga Basin, its subsurface sequences, their affinity, sedimentological. and tectonic implications. Himalayan Geology 8, 583608.Google Scholar
Bhargava, O. N. 1980. Pre-Tertiary orogenies in the Himalaya: A review of various evidences. Geologische Rundschau 69, 811–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calkins, J. A., Offield, T. W., Abdullah, S. K. M. & Ali, S. T. 1975. Geology of the Southern Himalayas in Hazara, Pakistan. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 716-C.Google Scholar
Coward, M. P., Windley, B. F., Broughton, R., Luff, I. W., Petterson, M. G., Pudsey, C., Rex, D. & Khan, M. A. 1986. Collision tectonics in the NW Himalayas. In Collision Teconics (ed. Coward, M. P., Ries, A. C.), pp. 203–19. Geological Society of London Special Paper 19.Google Scholar
Crawford, A. R. & Davies, R. G. 1975. Ages of pre-Mesozoic formations of the Lesser Himalaya, Hazara district, northern Pakistan. Geological Magazine 112, 509–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gansser, A. 1964. Geology of the Himalayas. New York: Wiley Interscience.Google Scholar
Gansser, A. 1981. The geodynamic history of the Himalaya. In Zagros–Hindu Kush–Himalaya Geodynamic Evolution (ed. Gupta, H., Delany, F.), pp. 111–21. American Geophysical Union Geodynamic series 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghazanfar, M., Baig, M. S. & Chaudhry, M. N. 1983. Geology of Tithwal-Kel, Neelum Valley, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir Journal of Geology 1, 110.Google Scholar
Ghaznavi, M. I., Karim, T. & Maynard, J. B. 1983. A bauxitic paleosol in phosphate-bearing strata of northern Pakistan. Economic Geology 78, 144–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, S. S. 1964. Possible subsurface structures below the Himalayas and the Gangetic Plains. Proceedings 22nd International Geological Congress, Part XI: 335–52.Google Scholar
Jain, A. K., Goel, R. K. & Nair, N. G. K. 1980. Implications of Pre-Mesozoic orogeny in the geologic evolution of the Himalaya and Indo-Gangetic plains. Tectono-physics 62, 6786.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kazmi, A. H. & Rana, R. A. 1982. Tectonic Map of Pakistan, 1:2000000. Quetta: Geological Survey of Pakistan.Google Scholar
Krummenacher, D. 1966. Népal central. Géochrono-metrique des séries de Lesser Himalaya. Schweizerische Mineralogische und Petrographische Mitteilungen 46, 4354.Google Scholar
Kumar, R. & Pande, I. C. 1972. Deformation of the rocks of Simla Hills. Geologische Rundschau 61, 430–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, R., Shah, A. N. & Bingham, D. K. 1978. Positive evidence of a Precambrian tectonic phase in central Nepal, Himalaya. Journal of the Geological Society of India 19, 519–22.Google Scholar
Latif, M. A. 1970. Explanatory notes on the geology of south eastern Hazara, to accompany the revised geological map. Jahresberichte Geologische Bundesan-stalt Österreich 15, 519.Google Scholar
Latif, M. A. 1972. Lower Paleozoic (Cambrian?) Hyolithes from Hazira shale, Pakistan. Nature Physical Science 240, 52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latif, M. A. 1974. A Cambrian age for the Abbottabad Group of Hazara, Pakistan. Geological Bulletin, Punjab University 10, 120.Google Scholar
le Fort, P. 1975. Himalaya: The collided range: Present knowledge of the continental arc. American Journal of Science 275A, 144.Google Scholar
le Fort, P. 1986. Metamorphism and magmatism during Himalaya collision. In Collision Tectonics (ed. Coward, M. P., Ries, A. C.), pp. 159–72. Geological Society of London Special Publication 19.Google Scholar
le Fort, P., Debon, F. & Sonet, J. 1980. The ‘Lesser Himalayan’ cordierite granite belt: Typology and age of the pluton of Mansehra (Pakistan). Geological Bulletin of the University of Peshawar 13, 5161.Google Scholar
le Fort, P., Debon, F. & Sonet, J. 1983. The Lower Paleozoic ‘Lesser Himalayan’ granite belt: emphasis on the Simchar pluton of central Nepal. In Granites of Himalayas Karakorum and Hindu Kush (ed. Shams, F. A.), pp. 235–55. Institute of Geology, Punjab University, Lahore.Google Scholar
Maruo, Y. & Kizaki, K. 1983. Thermal structure in the nappes of the eastern Nepal Himalayas. In Granites of Himalayas Karakorum and Hindu Kush (ed. Shams, F. A.), pp. 271–86. Institute of Geology, Punjab University, Lahore.Google Scholar
Mehta, P. K. 1977. Rb–Sr geochronology of the Kulu-Mandi belt: its implications for the Himalayan tectogenesis. Geologische Rundschau 66, 156–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehta, P. K. 1980. Tectonic significance of the young mineral dates and the rates of cooling and uplift in the Himalaya. Tectonophysics 62, 205–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molnar, P. 1986. The geologic history and structure of the Himalaya. American Scientist 74, 144–54.Google Scholar
Naha, K. & Ray, S. K. 1971. Evidence of overthrusting in the metamorphic terrane of the Simla Himalaya. American Journal of Science 270, 3042.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pareek, H. S. 1981. Petrochemistry and petrogenesis of the Malani igneous suite, India. Geological Society of America Bulletin 92, 206–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, C. M. & Conaghan, P. J. 1973. Polyphase deformation in Phanerozoic rocks of the central Himalayan gneiss, northwest India. Journal of Geology 81, 127–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, C. M. & Conaghan, P. J. 1978. Rb/Sr geochronology of the Kulu-Mandi belt: its implications for the Himalayan tectogenesis – discussion. Geologische Rundschau 68, 380–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, C. M., Crawford, A. R., Armstrong, R. L., Prakash, R. & Wynne-Edwards, H. R. 1979. Reconnaissance Rb/Sr dates for the Himalayan central gneiss, northwest India. Indian Journal of Science 6, 139–51.Google Scholar
Raina, B. N., Pati, U. C. & Srimal, N. 1980. Phases of Himalayan Orogeny. Himalayan Geology 10, 1223.Google Scholar
Rushton, A. W. A. 1973. Cambrian fossils from Hazira shale, Pakistan. Nature Physical Science 243, 142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saxena, M. N. 1980. Orogenic and epeirogenic cycles in the Himalaya. Himalayan Geology 10, 191210.Google Scholar
Sharma, K. K. 1983. Granitoid belts of the Himalaya. In Granites of Himalayas Karakorum and Hindu Kush (ed. Shams, F. A.), pp. 1137. Institute of Geology, Punjab University, Lahore.Google Scholar
Singh, I. B. 1978. Some thoughts on the evolution of Himalaya and the northern limit of the Indian shield. Geologische Rundschau 68, 342–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdiya, K. S. 1976. Himalayan transverse faults and folds and their parallelism with subsurface structures of north India plains. Tectonophysics 32, 353–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdiya, K. S. 1980. Geology of Kumaun Lesser Himalaya. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun.Google Scholar
Valdiya, K. S. 1984. Evolution of the Himalaya. Tectonophysics 105, 229–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Virdi, N. S. 1981. Geotectonic evolution of the Indus suture zone. In Contemporary Geoscientific Researches in Himalaya, Vol. 1 (ed. Sinha, A. K.), pp. 131–6. Dehra Dun.Google Scholar
Windley, B. F. 1983. Metamorphism and tectonics of the Himalaya. Journal of the Geological Society of London 140, 849–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeats, R. S. & Lawrence, R. D. 1984. Tectonics of the Himalayan thrust belt in northern Pakistan. In Marine Geology and Oceanography of Arabian Sea and Coastal Pakistan (ed. Haq, B. U., Milliman, J. D.), pp. 177–98. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.Google Scholar