Himalayas, Pamir-Hindu Kush and Foredeep Region

Abstract

The geophysical data in the Indian ocean floor suggest that India got separated from the Antarctica and Australia during Cretaceous (e.g. Le Pichon, 1968; McKenzie and Sclater, 1971; Bowin, 1973; Sclater and Fisher, 1974; Johnson et al., 1976; Curray et al., 1982; Powell et al., 1980). The Indian plate travelled north and north-eastward in between the Ninety East Ridge and Chagos-Laccedive transform fault during Cenozoic (Gansser, 1966), (Fig. 5.1). The Indian continent had to travel 1000 km before achieving its initial contact with the Eurasian plate in late Cretaceous to early Eocene (McKenzie and Sclater, 1971). This contact in the north is demarcated as the Himalayan arc and in the east as the Burmese arc. Many authors (e.g. Dewey and Bird, 1970; Verma et al., 1977; Seeber and Armbruster, 1981) have suggested that the Himalayan arc is now involved in a continent-continent collision, whereas the Burmese arc is involved in a subduction process (e.g. Fitch, 1970; Verma et al. 1976a; Nandy, 1976; Mukhopadhyay and Dasgupta, 1988; Kayal, 1989 and 1996a; Satyabala, 2003).