Bainang Terrane, Yarlung-Tsangpo suture, southern Tibet (Xizang, China): A record of intra-Neotethyan subduction-accretion processes preserved on the roof of the world

The Bainang terrane, an intra-oceanic island are subduction complex into which Tethyan oceanic rocks were accreted during the Cretaceous, is preserved within the Yarlung-Tsangpo suture zone of Tibet. The lithostratigraphic succession established from field mapping records a long history of sedimentation in different portions of the central Tethyan domain from Late Triassic to mid-Cretaceous time. These rocks are preserved within a south-verging imbricate thrust stack of thin (≪ 1 km thick) northward younging tectonic slices. Five lithotectonic units were mapped in the terrane and these units are assigned to two distinct tracts. The northern tract, which accumulated on the north side of Neotethys, was probably separated from its southern counterpart by a mid-ocean ridge. Detailed radiolarian biostratigraphy is used to constrain the timing of depositional events within each tract. Oceanic plate stratigraphy of the northern tract records its northward travel and mid-Cretaceous (late Aptian) approach towards a south-facing intra-oceanic subduction zone. Rocks in the southern tract developed closer to the Indian subcontinent and experienced thermotectonic subsidence and Mid-Jurassic basic alkaline intraplate magmatism. They were probably accreted late in the Cretaceous. Variations in structural style across the terrane indicate deformation at different depths and vertical growth of the wedge rather than lateral accretion. The overall tectonostratigraphy of the terrane reflects its development in a remote intra-oceanic setting.published_or_final_versio

Precise radiolarian age constraints on the timing of ophiolite generation and sedimentation in the Dazhuqu terrane, Yarlung-Tsangpo suture zone, Tibet

Well-preserved, abundant radiolarians provide high-precision biostratigraphic age constraints on the timing of the eruption of ophiolitic basalts exposed along the Yarlung-Tsangpo suture zone in southern Tibet. Dazhuqu terrane ophiolites were generated in an intra-oceanic supra-subduction zone setting within a relatively short (<10 Ma) interval from late Barremian to late Aptian. Accumulation of sediments upon the newly generated ophiolite initially occurred in a series of discrete rift-controlled sub-basins associated with various spreading centres. An increasing flux of arc-derived volcaniclastic sediment up-section indicates nearby volcanic are activity. The Dazhuqu terrane developed in an intra-oceanic setting within Tethys where it was isolated from any continental influence.published_or_final_versio

Neotethys and the India-Asia collision: Insights from a palaeomagnetic study of the Dazhuqu ophiolite, southern Tibet

Since 1999, independently derived geophysical and geological models have been published arguing for an intra-oceanic subduction system along essentially the entire width of the India-Eurasia collision belt. This idea conflicts with earlier proposals, where in the eastern part of the convergence zone Neotethyan mid-ocean ridge-generated lithosphere directly north of the Indian craton was consumed beneath Eurasia in Tibet in an Andean-type plate configuration. New palaeomagnetic data are reported from three Barremian-Aptian (∼ 120 Ma) sequences of chert, siliceous mudstones and volcaniclastic rocks. These rocks form the uppermost part of the Dazhuqu supra-subduction zone ophiolite terrane, which crop out along substantial portions of the India-Eurasia (= Yarlung Tsangpo) suture zone in southern Tibet. The declination data provide little regionally-useful tectonic information; they are dominated by local rotations, presumably related to the Dazhuqu terrane's initial obduction onto the India plate in the Palaeocene and subsequent movement(s) as India later collided and indented into Eurasia. The inclination data are, however, useful because they yield consistent sub-equatorial formation sites (2.7 °S ± 3.0°, 7.9 °N ± 2.7°, 1.4 °N ± 5.7°), which correspond with the location of the Neotethyan intra-oceanic subduction system inferred from the seismic tomographic data. At the time these Dazhuqu terrane rocks formed, the intra-Tethyan subduction zone would have been about 2500 km south of Eurasia. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Stratigraphic and sedimentological constraints on the age and tectonic evolution of the Neotethyan ophiolites along the Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone, Tibet

Ophiolitic rocks distributed along the Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone in southern Tibet are the few remaining fragmentary remnants of many thousands of kilometres of the ocean space that formerly existed between India and Eurasia. Portions of mid-Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous intra-oceanic island arcs can be recognized amongst those rocks that have been studied in detail. Complete suprasubduction zone ophiolite successions are preserved in the Dazhuqu terrane, which crops out both east and west of Xigaze. Radiolarians in inter-pillow cherts and immediately overlying sedimentary rocks indicate a Barremian ophiolite generation event. Palaeomagnetic data show that this ophiolite formed at equatorial latitudes south of the Lhasa terrane before its south-directed emplacement onto the northern margin of India. Highly refractory ultramafic rocks in the Luobusa ophiolite appear to be of Mid-Jurassic age and are potentially related to intra-oceanic island arc remnants in the nearby Zedong terrane. Ophiolitic massifs along the suture in western Tibet are thrust southwards onto northern India and record Late Jurassic ocean-floor development. Miocene north-directed back-thrusting associated with India-Asia collision has further complicated interpretation of regional geology. The ophiolitic rocks of the Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone provide evidence for the former existence of multiple oceanic island arc segments within Neotethys and suggest that consumption of the oceanic space between India and Asia was more complicated than has been predicted by existing models. © The Geological Society of London 2003.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Remnants of a Cretaceous intra-oceanic subduction system within the Yarlung-Zangbo suture (southern Tibet)

Extensive field investigations along the Yarlung-Zangbo suture zone in southern Tibet reveal the presence of now fragmented remnants of a south-facing intra-oceanic subduction system. This system developed within Tethys during the Cretaceous. The associated arc, forearc ophiolite, and subduction complex were emplaced onto the leading edge of India at the end of the Cretaceous. Rapid sedimentation in oblique-slip basins and disruption of water-saturated sediments into melange was widespread and concomitant with ophiolite emplacement. We describe the tectonic entities that developed during this previously unrecognized phase of Tethys-Tibet evolution and present a new model for the evolution of this portion of Tibet. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex