Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bhattacharya, G., Robinson, D. M., Orme, D. A., Najman, Y., & Carter, A. (2020). Low‐temperature thermochronology of the Indus Basin in central Ladakh, northwest India: Implications of Miocene‐Pliocene cooling in the India‐Asia collision zone. Tectonics, 39, e2020TC006333. doi: 10.1029/2020TC006333 which has been published in final form at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020TC006333 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Low-temperature thermochronology of the Indus Basin in central Ladakh, northwest India
T2 - Implications of Miocene–Pliocene cooling in the India-Asia collision zone
AU - Bhattacharya, Gourab
AU - Robinson, Delores
AU - Orme, Devon
AU - Najman, Yani
AU - Carter, Andrew
N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bhattacharya, G., Robinson, D. M., Orme, D. A., Najman, Y., & Carter, A. (2020). Low‐temperature thermochronology of the Indus Basin in central Ladakh, northwest India: Implications of Miocene‐Pliocene cooling in the India‐Asia collision zone. Tectonics, 39, e2020TC006333. doi: 10.1029/2020TC006333 which has been published in final form at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020TC006333 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
PY - 2020/10/1
Y1 - 2020/10/1
N2 - The India‐Asia collision zone in Ladakh, northwest India, records a sequence of tectono‐thermal events in the interior of the Himalayan orogen following the intercontinental collision between India and Asia in early Cenozoic time. We present zircon fission track, and zircon and apatite (U‐Th)/He thermochronometric data from the Indus Basin sedimentary rocks that are exposed along the strike of the collision zone in central Ladakh. These data reveal a postdepositional Miocene‐Pliocene (~22–4 Ma) cooling signal along the India‐Asia collision zone in northwest India. Our zircon fission track cooling ages indicate that maximum basin temperatures exceeded 200°C but stayed below 280–300°C in the stratigraphically deeper marine and continental strata. Thermal modeling of zircon and apatite (U‐Th)/He cooling ages suggests postdepositional basin cooling initiated in Early Miocene time by ~22–20 Ma, occurred throughout the basin across zircon (U‐Th)/He partial retention temperatures from ~20–10 Ma, and continued in the Pliocene time until at least ~4 Ma. We attribute the burial of the Indus Basin to sedimentation and movement along the regional Great Counter thrust. The ensuing Miocene‐Pliocene cooling resulted from erosion by the Indus River that transects the basin. An approximately coeval cooling signal is well documented east of the study area, along the collision zone in south Tibet. Our new data provide a regional framework upon which future studies can explore the possible interrelationships between tectonic, geodynamic, and geomorphologic factors contributing to Miocene‐Pliocene cooling along the India‐Asia collision zone from NW India to south Tibet.
AB - The India‐Asia collision zone in Ladakh, northwest India, records a sequence of tectono‐thermal events in the interior of the Himalayan orogen following the intercontinental collision between India and Asia in early Cenozoic time. We present zircon fission track, and zircon and apatite (U‐Th)/He thermochronometric data from the Indus Basin sedimentary rocks that are exposed along the strike of the collision zone in central Ladakh. These data reveal a postdepositional Miocene‐Pliocene (~22–4 Ma) cooling signal along the India‐Asia collision zone in northwest India. Our zircon fission track cooling ages indicate that maximum basin temperatures exceeded 200°C but stayed below 280–300°C in the stratigraphically deeper marine and continental strata. Thermal modeling of zircon and apatite (U‐Th)/He cooling ages suggests postdepositional basin cooling initiated in Early Miocene time by ~22–20 Ma, occurred throughout the basin across zircon (U‐Th)/He partial retention temperatures from ~20–10 Ma, and continued in the Pliocene time until at least ~4 Ma. We attribute the burial of the Indus Basin to sedimentation and movement along the regional Great Counter thrust. The ensuing Miocene‐Pliocene cooling resulted from erosion by the Indus River that transects the basin. An approximately coeval cooling signal is well documented east of the study area, along the collision zone in south Tibet. Our new data provide a regional framework upon which future studies can explore the possible interrelationships between tectonic, geodynamic, and geomorphologic factors contributing to Miocene‐Pliocene cooling along the India‐Asia collision zone from NW India to south Tibet.
KW - Indus Basin
KW - exhumation
KW - cooling
KW - thermochronology
KW - India-Asia collision zone
KW - Ladakh
U2 - 10.1029/2020TC006333
DO - 10.1029/2020TC006333
M3 - Journal article
VL - 39
JO - Tectonics
JF - Tectonics
SN - 0278-7407
IS - 10
M1 - e2020TC006333
ER -