greater india’s northernmargin prior toits collision

Greater India’s northernmargin prior to its collisionwith AsiaJ. 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 India’s 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 India’s 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 Australia–Antarctica as theinner wall of a dextral ‘scything’ transform fault along the Wallaby–Zenith Fracture Zone off wes-tern Australia. Key features would have been (i) the very narrow (20–30 km wide) ocean–continenttransition zone marking the sub-continent’s eastern northern boundary, and (ii) similar to the region

offshore South Africa’s Garden Route coast, Greater India’s NE corner may have developed a series

of ‘perched’ half grabens due to shearing related to its motion along the Wallaby–Zenith FractureZone, from initial break-up until it passed the Zenith Plateau (ca. 110 Ma). Differences in the devel-

opment of NWGreater India may be reflected 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 continent–ocean 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 India–Asia collision.

INTRODUCTION

The Himalaya–Tibet orogen, which developed following

the Indian sub-continent’s 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), andsouth 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 India’s 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; Stampfli & 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 unmodified until its contact with Eurasia (Tibet) in

the Cenozoic. In this model, the sub-continent’s leading

edge is implied/depicted as being thinned and extended.

Thus from our knowledge of the classic rifted margins:

e.g. southern Brazil–Argentina, (Davison, 1997); Iberia,

(Whitmarsh et al., 2001); various Atlantic margins,

(Minshull, 2002), one might surmise that the ocean–con-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-continent’s 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 significant portion of

Greater India’s 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:[email protected].

© 2014 The AuthorsBasin Research © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd , European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists 73

Basin Research (2014) 26, 73–84, 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,

India’s 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 field evidence within the

India–Asia collision zone challenges these reconstructions

– see Aitchison & Ali, 2012].

CRETACEOUS NORTHERNGREATERINDIA

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-continent’s 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 modified 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 signfi-

cantly tempered during its collision with the Tethyan

intra-oceanic island arc that preceded continent–conti-nent collision. As India and Australia–Antarctica 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), theNE boundary to this basin being the Wallaby–Zenithfracture zone (Ali & Aitchison, 2005; Gibbons et al.,2012).

Pre-existingpassive margin(?Late Triassic)

Juvenilepassivemargin

Juvenilepassivemargin

Incipienttransforms

mid-Late Jurassic, 154.4 Ma

MEF

ZW

Activetransforms

Magnetochron M0, 120.4 MaBoth 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

finite 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).

© 2014 The AuthorsBasin Research © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd , European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists74

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

India’s northern margin had a very narrow ocean–conti-nent transition zone, possibly just 5–10 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 Africa’s 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

Wallaby–Zenith Fracture Zone, and several common

features can be identified along and adjacent to the fossil

transforms (Fig. 2).

KEY FEATURESASSOCIATEDWITH THEWALLABY–ZENITH FRACTURE ZONE

The NW-SE aligned Wallaby–Zenith 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 21.8°S, 102.1°E and 30.1°S, 113.7°E.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-floor

NE of the fracture zone is less deep, with prominent peaks

forming the Zenith (22.0°N, 104.4°E, ca. 1980 m) and

Wallaby (24.4°N, 108.3°E, 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

Wallaby–Zenith Fracture Zone is the Lost Dutchman

Ridge, elements of which stand >1500 m above the adja-

cent sea-floor (see IOC et al., 2003). Gibbons et al. (2012)interpret this feature as a former leaky transform.

KEY FEATURESASSOCIATEDWITH THEFALKLAND 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 floor (e.g. Smith & Sandwell, 1997)

concerns the remarkable similarity in the geometries of

the Wallaby–Zenith 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.


Greater India’s 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

Wallaby–Zenith 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 430–km-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 floor marked by the

6000 m isobath in the Argentine Abyssal Plain is

almost identical in shape, size and relative position to

the bathymetric low defined 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 Wallaby–Zenith Fracture Zone, it lies

some distance east of the Falkland Plateau-Maurice

Ewing Bank.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: AN ANALOGUEFOR NORTHERNGREATER INDIA

If the Wallaby–Zenith 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 ocean–continent transition, particularly

the 650-km-long stretch of the fault zone north-east

of 26.0°E (34.5°S).(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 (7.0°E, 43.5°Sto 16.0°E, 40.5°S) in the south-east Atlantic.

15°S120°E

35°S90°E

Ocean floor here not depicted(modified substantially by

Kerguelen LIP related volcanism)

Australia

Ocean floor herenot depicted

Land 0-200 m 200-2000 m 2000-4000 m 4000-5500 m >5500 m/6000 m

60°S70°W

40°S30°W

Scotia Sea(ocean floor onlyroughly depicted)

SouthAmerica

N

smallridge

(a) (b)

Fig. 3. Simplified 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).



(4) A short distance south of the western sector of the

fracture zone water depths is >5 km.

(5) The Natal Valley ocean floor immediately adjacent to

the eastern Agulhas Fracture Zone is relatively

shallow being only 2–4 km deep.

(6) The Mozambique Ridge (35°E, 33°S), 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 (K€onig & 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 ocean–continent transition in the area, which

previously abutted the Wallaby–Zenith 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 difficult.

(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 Himalaya–Tibet orogen, the following can be

inferred:

(1) Western northern India, which did not form next to

the Wallaby–Zenith 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-continent’s 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 (K€onig & Jokat,

2010) sitting north of India, and separated by a short

expanse of ocean floor can be excluded. No evidence

exists for such an element having been caught up in

the Indus-Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone.

POSSIBLE EARLYCRETACEOUSDEFORMATIONOF GREATER INDIA’SNORTH-EASTCORNER

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 Atlantic’s

early stages of opening. As the Falkland Plateau-Maurice

Ewing Bank was drawn clockwise around southern Africa

(Storey et al., 1999 fig. 6; MacDonald et al., 2003 figs 13and 15), the continental margin adjacent to the western

Agulhas Fracture Zone (20–26°E, the ‘Garden Route’

coast) was deformed in a complex manner. The conspicu-

ous east–west structural grain of the Cape Fold Belt was

NatalValley

Mozam.Ridge

AgulhasRidge

AgulhasFractureZone

45°S05°E

25°S35°E



South Africa

Land 0-200 m 200-2000 m 2000-4000 m 4000-5000 m >6000 m

“Garden Route” coast

BG A

PCapeAbyssalPlain

Namibia Mozam-bique

Fig. 4. Simplified 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 (K€onig & Jokat, 2010). The Agulhas Plateau (centred on 26°E, 41°S and covering ca. 3 9 105 km2) 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 floor 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).



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 fig. 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 Bank’s 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. 86°E to ca. 90°E) asaccumulating 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 (112.95–83.64 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) andHu et al. (2010) support the findings of Liu & Einsele

(1996). The former investigated several outcrops due east

of Gyantse in southern Tibet (at ca. 89.8°E, ca. 29.0°N),

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

Adie’s 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 PALEOCENECOLLISIONWITH ANINTRA-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-existingpassive margin(?Late Triassic)

Incipienttransform

mid-Late Jurassic, 154.4 Ma

AgulhasFracture

Zone

Modified by EarlyCretaceous motion ofsouthern S. America

IndianCraton

Africa

Cairo

Lagos

Passivemargin

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 modified version of the mid-Late Jurassic

reconstruction presented in Fig. 1 is also shown.



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; Corfield et al., 2001; Mah�eo et al., 2004; Petterson& Treloar, 2004; H�ebert et al., 2012). Based on paleonto-

logical data, the abrupt influx 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 confirmed the

Palaeocene first 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 modified 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 region’s mantle (Van der Voo et al.,1999; Hafkenscheid et al., 2006).

RESTRICTED DISTRIBUTIONOF UHPMETAMORPHIC ROCKS IN THEHIMALAYA: A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION

Ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic rocks have been

identified at two main localities within the western Hima-

laya, at Kaghan and Tso Morari (e.g. De Sigoyer et al.,1997; O’Brien 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). Inthis 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 continent–ocean 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 continent–continent collision between India

and Eurasia.

Presumably, if India and its northern neighbour were

only loosely coupled, when the basin was finally 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 India’s 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



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 (H�ebert et al., 2012).Regarding the Cretaceous margin, our analysis of a

number of former transform boundaries (Wallaby–Zenithin 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 ocean–continent transition

zone (possibly just 20–30 km wide). Also, the Indian

sub-continent’s breakout phase (132 Ma to around

110 Ma; the geological instant when Indo-Madagascar

and Australia–Antarctica had fully disconnected), may

have led to development of a series of half grabens on the

NE corner of India adjacent to the Wallaby–ZenithFracture 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) providesupport for this hypothesis.

Greater India’s northern boundary would have been

modified 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 reflect 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 India’s 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 metamorphicrocks formed on

NW Greater India

Narrow ocean-continent transition

Basin not “welded” toIndia as would be the case

with a classic passive margin

65 Ma

Detachedslab

Ophioliteemplacement

Deep continentalsubduction

A

B

A

B

A A

57 Ma

49 Ma

20°N

0°N

20°S

40°S

20°N

0°N

20°S

40°S

20°N

0°N

20°S

40°S

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 referencestherein). 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).



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 twoentities 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 India–Asia 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-

ified aspects of South Africa’s 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 07August 2013; Manuscript accepted 09 August 2013.



greater india’s northernmargin prior toits collision

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