Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Structural characteristics of middle and southern Xainza-Dinggye Normal Fault System and its relationship to Southern Tibetan Detachment System

  • Paper
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

The Xainza-Dinggye Normal Fault System (XDNFS) is a large-scale nearly-north-south trending extensional structure across central and southern Tibet. Its middle segment developed in Tethys Himalaya with features of earlier magmatic core complex and later normal faults dipping moderately to northwest-west. The magmatic core complex is made up by mylonitic leucogrante with a low-angle detachment fault on the top of it and overlain by lower-grade meta-sedimentary rocks. The structural pattern of the southern segment of XDNFS take the shape of a detachment fault dipping to southeast-east with the High-Himalayan rock series as the lower plate. The Southern Tibetan Detachment System (STDS) is expressed as a ductile shear zone composed of mylonitic leucogranite in the studied area of this note. STDS was cut by the later XDNFS, which presents that nearly-east-west striking STDS is not the controlling or adjusting structure of the nearly-north-south trending extensional structures. The origin of nearly-north-south trending extensional structures in Tibet may be the result of deform ational partition of north-south compression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Molnar, P., Tapponnier, P., Active tectonics of Tibet, J. Geophys. Res., 1978, 83: 5361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Burchfiel, B. C., Royden, L. H., North-south extension within the convergent Himalayan region, Geology, 1985, 13: 679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. England, P. C., Houseman, G. A., The mechanics of the Tibetan plateau, Phil. Tans. R. Soc. Lond., 1986, 326: 301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Armijo, R., Tapponnier, P., Mercier, J. P. T. et al., Quaternary extension in southern Tibet, J. Geophys. Res., 1986, 91: 13803.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Armijo, R., Tapponnier, P., Han, T., Late Cenozoic right-lateral strike-slip faulting across southern Tibet, J. Geophys. Res., 1989, 94: 2787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Le Fort, P., Manaslu leucogranite, a collisional signature of the Himalaya, a model for its genesis and emplacement, J. Geophs. Res., 1981, 86: 10545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Searle, M. P., Cooling history, erosion, exhumation, and kinematics of Himalaya-Karakoram-Tibet orogenic belt, (eds. Yin, A., Harrison, T. M.) The tectonic evolution of Asia, New York: Cambridge Unversity Press, 1996, 109–137.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Yin, A., Kapp, P. A., Murphy, M. A. et al., Significant late Neogene east-west extension in northern Tibet, Geology, 1999, 27: 787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Yin, A., Harrison, T. M., Geologic evolution of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 2000, 28: 211.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Blisniuk, P. M., Hacker, B. R., Glodny, T. et al., Normal faulting in central Tibet since at least 13.5 Myr ago, Nature, 2001, 412: 628.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Coleman, M., Hodges, K., Evidence for Tibetan plateau uplift before 14 Myr age from a new minimum age for east-west extension, Nature, 1995, 374: 49.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Searle, M. P., The rise and fall of Tibet, Nature, 1995, 347: 17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Seeber, L., Pêcher, A., Strain partitioning along the Himalayan arc and the Nanga Parbat antiform, Geology, 1998, 26: 791.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhang, J., Ding, L., Zhong, D. et al., Orogen-parallel extension in Himalaya: Is it the indicator of collapse or the product in process of compressive uplift? Chinese Science Bulletin, 2000, 45: 114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hurtado, J. M., Hodges, K. V., Whipple, K. X., Neotectonics of the Takkhola Graben and implications for recent activity on the South Tibetan Fault System in the central Nepalese Himalaya, Geol. Sco. Am. Bull., 2001, 113: 222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Edwards, M. A., Harrison, T. M., When did the roof collapse? Late Miocene north-south extension in the high Himalaya revealed by Th-Pb monazite dating of the Khula Kangri granite, Geology, 1997, 25: 543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wu, C., Nelson, K. D., Wortman, G. et al., Yadong cross structure and South Tibetan Detachment in the east central Himalaya (89° –90° E), Tectonics, 1998, 17: 28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Liu, J., Liu, Y., Chen, H. et al., The inner zone of the Liaoji Paleorift: its early structural style and structural evolution, J. Asian Earth Sciences, 1997, 15(1): 19

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Burg, J. P., Brunei, M., Gapais, D. et al., Deformation of the crystalline main central sheet in south Tibet (China), J. Struct. Geol., 1984, 6: 535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Copeland, P., Parrish, R. R., Harrison, T. M., Identification of inherited radiogenic Pb in mozazite and its implications for U-Pb systematics, Nature, 1988, 333: 760.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Burchfiel, B. C., Chen, Z., Hodges, K. V. et al., The south Tibetan detachment system, Himalayan orogen, Extension contemporaneous with and parallel to shortening in a collisional mountain belt, Geol. Soc. Am. Special Paper, 1992, 269: 41.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Harrison, T. M., Copeland, P., Kidd, W. et al., Activation of the Nyainqentanglha Shear Zone, applications for uplift of the southern Tibet Plateau, Tectonics, 1995, 14: 658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Fielding, E. J., Tibet uplift and erosion, Tectonophysics, 1996, 260: 55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Murphy, M. A., Harrison, T. M., Relationship between leucogranite and the Qomolangma detachment in Rongbuk Valley, south Tibet, Geology, 1999, 27: 831.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Noble, S. R., Searle, M. P., Age of crustal melting and leucogranite formation from U-Pb zircon and monazite dating in the western Himalaya, Zanskar, India, Geology, 1995, 23: 1135.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. McCafery, R., Nabelek, J., Role of oblique convergence in the active deformation of the Himalaya and southern Tibetan Plateau, Geology, 1998, 26: 691.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Ratschbacher, L., Frisch, W., Liu, G. et al., Distributed deformation in southern and western Tibet during and after the India-Asia collision, J. Geophys. Res., 1994. 99: 19917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Harrison, T. M., Copeland, P., Kidd, W. S. F. et al., Raising Tibet, Science, 1992, 255: 1663.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Pan, Y., Kidd, W. S. F., Nyainqentanghla shear zone. A late Miocene extensional detachment in the southern Tibetan Plateau, Geology, 1993, 20: 775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Li, J., A discussion on the period, amplitude and type of the uplift of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Scietia Sinica (in Chinese), 1979, 6: 608.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Ding, L., Zhong, D., Pan, Y., Fission-track evidence for Neogene to Quaternary uplift of eastern Himalayan Sytaxis, Chinese Science Bulletin (in Chinese), 1995, 40: 1497.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Zhong, D., Ding, L., Rising process of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau and its mechanism, Science in China, Series D, 1996, 39: 369.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Pan, Y., Results of modeling experiment on the deformation of Tibetan Plateau, Scientia Geologica Sinica (in press).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China

    Jinjiang Zhang & Lei Guo

  2. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100029, Beijing, China

    Lin Ding

Authors
  1. Jinjiang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lei Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lin Ding
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinjiang Zhang.

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, J., Guo, L. & Ding, L. Structural characteristics of middle and southern Xainza-Dinggye Normal Fault System and its relationship to Southern Tibetan Detachment System. Chin.Sci.Bull. 47, 1063–1069 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1360/02tb9239

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/02tb9239

Keywords

Search

Navigation