Sedimentary facies analysis of the fluvial environment in the Siwalik Group of eastern Nepal: deciphering its relation to contemporary Himalayan tectonics, climate and sea-level change

The Siwalik Group, ranging from the Early Miocene to Pleistocene, is believed to be deposited in the fluvial environment and controlled by contemporary Himalayan tectonics and climate. In this study, we established the fluvial environment and its controlling factors responsible for the deposition of the Siwalik succession along the Muksar Khola section in the eastern Nepal Himalaya. Five sedimentary facies associations are identified; these are interpreted as the deposits of flood plain-dominated fine-grained meandering river (FA1), flood-dominated overbank environment (FA2), sandy meandering river (FA3), anastomosing river (FA4), and debris flow-dominated gravelly braided river (FA5). These changes in the fluvial system occurred around 10.5 Ma, 10.0 Ma, 5.9 Ma and 3.5 Ma, defined by existing magnetostratigraphy constraints, due to the effects of hinterland tectonics, climate and sea-level change and continuous drifting of the foreland basin towards the hinterland concerning depositional age. The thick succession of an intraformational conglomerate reveals intensification of the monsoon started around 10.5 Ma in the eastern Nepal Himalaya. The present study also shows asynchronous exhumation of the Himalaya from east to west brought a significant difference in the fluvial environment of the Neogene foreland basin.

Sedimentary Facies Analysis of the Fluvial Environment in the Siwalik Group of Eastern Nepal: Deciphering its Relation to Contemporary Himalayan Tectonics, Climate and Sea-Level Change.

The Siwalik Group, ranging from the Early Miocene to Pleistocene, is believed to be controlled by contemporary Himalayan tectonics and climate. In this study, we established the fluvial system responsible for the deposition of the Siwalik succession along the Muksar Khola section and its controlling factors. Five sedimentary facies associations are identified which are interpreted as the deposits of flood plain dominated fine-grained meandering river (FA1), flood dominated overbank environment (FA2), sandy meandering river (FA3), anastomosing river (FA4), and debris flow dominated gravelly braided river (FA5). These change in fluvial style occurred around 10.5 Ma, 10.0 Ma, 5.9 Ma and 3.5 Ma due to the effects of hinterland tectonics, climate and sea-level change. The thick succession of intraformational conglomerate reveals the intensification of monsoon started around 10.5 Ma in the eastern Nepal Himalaya. The present study show asynchronous exhumation of the Himalaya east to west brought significant difference on the fluvial environment of the Neogene foreland basin. Moreover, this study also reveals continuous drifting of the foreland basin towards the hinterland concerning depositional age.

The Bengal Fan sediment archive: a record of Himalayan tectonics, climate, and/or drainage routing change between source and sink?

<p>The Bengal Fan IODP Exp 354 core provides a Neogene re­cord of eastern and central Himalayan exhu­mation. U-Pb analyses of detrital zircons from this sediment archive shows that from ~ 4 Ma, there was a major increase in grains aged <300 Ma, indicating a major increase in contribution from the Trans-Himalaya (Blum et al., Nature SR, 2018). Detrital rutile U-Pb and detrital zircon fission track data from the same archive (Najman et al, GSAB 2019) indicates an approximately coeval increase in exhumation rate from the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. Thus an attractive explanation to explain the increase in Transhimalayan input may be that it was caused by initiation of exhumation of the syntaxis from beneath its Transhimalayan cover. However, a similar dataset obtained from the proximal foreland basin Siwalik deposits (Govin et al., in review) indicates an earlier onset to syntaxial exhumation, compared to that recorded in the distal sediment archive. We consider therefore whether climate change may be responsible for the increased Transhimalayan input: onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation may have increased the proportion of erosion in the higher, glaciated, regions of the Transhimalaya, compared to that part of the orogen south of the suture zone. Analyses of Hf isotopic composition of detrital zircons to assess the possibility that drainage basin changes may explain the increase in material at 4 Ma, are ongoing. The difference in timing of the syntaxial exhumational signal between the proximal and distal archives may be the result of downstream dilution, or may result from sequestration of material on the shelf, with release to the deep ocean during sea level low stands.</p>

A structural model for the South Tibetan detachment system in northwestern Bhutan from integration of temperature, fabric, strain, and kinematic data

Despite playing a fundamental role in all models of Himalayan tectonics, minimal data constraining the structural evolution, metamorphic history, and offset magnitude of the South Tibetan detachment system (STDS) are available. Here, we integrate petrofabric, finite strain, and kinematic data with metamorphic and deformation temperatures to generate a structural model for the STDS in northwestern Bhutan. We divide the STDS into an ∼2-km-thick lower level that accommodated ∼6–13 km of thinning via ≥30–76 km of simple shear-dominant displacement within Greater Himalayan rocks, and an ∼3-km-thick upper level that accommodated ≥21 km of displacement via an upward decrease (from 44% to 2%) in transport-parallel lengthening within Tethyan Himalayan rocks. Peak metamorphic temperatures in the lower level are ∼650–750 °C, and two distinct intervals of telescoped isotherms in the upper level define a cumulative upward decrease from ∼700 to ∼325 °C. These intervals are separated by an abrupt upward increase from ∼450 to ∼620 °C, which we interpret as the result of post-STDS thrust repetition. Above the upper telescoped interval, temperatures gradually decrease upward from ∼325 to ∼250 °C through a 7-km-thick section of overlying Tethyan Himalayan rocks. Telescoped isotherms lie entirely above the high-strain lower level of the STDS zone, which we attribute to progressive elevation of isotherms during protracted intrusion of granite sills. This study demonstrates the utility of using gradients in fabric intensity and thin section-scale finite strain to delineate shear zone boundaries when field criteria for delineating strain gradients are not apparent.