Full title: Structural and Thermal Evolution of the Himalayan Thrust Belt in Midwestern Nepal

Authors: P.G. DeCelles, B. Carrapa, T.P. Ojha, G.E. Gehrels, and D. Collins

Spanning eight kilometers of topographic relief, the Himalayan fold-thrust belt in Nepal has accommodated more than 700 km of Cenozoic convergence between the Indian subcontinent and Asia. Rapid tectonic shortening and erosion in a monsoonal climate have exhumed greenschist to upper amphibolite facies rocks along with unmetamorphosed rocks, including a 5-6-km-thick Cenozoic foreland basin sequence. This Special Paper presents new geochronology, multisystem thermochronology, structural geology, and geological mapping of an approximately 37,000 km² region in midwestern and western Nepal. This work informs enduring Himalayan debates, including how and where to map the Main Central thrust, the geometry of the seismically active basal Himalayan detachment, processes of tectonic shortening in the context of postcollisional India-Asia convergence, and long-term geodynamics of the orogenic wedge.

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Published: 5/20/2020

ISBN Number: 978-0-8137-2547-5

Pages: 77 plus map insert

Product Category: Special Papers