Extrusion of the Greater Himalayan Crystalline in Himachal Pradesh, NW India

• Applicant: Dr. Konstanze Stübner
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2010 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 166713538

Extrusion of the Greater Himalayan Crystalline (GHC), a topic of ongoing debate about mechanisms of middle to lower crustal deformation in the India-Asia and other collision zones worldwide, ends laterally in the NW Himalaya. I have developed three models for the tectonic evolution of the NW Himalaya, which are discriminated based on the vorticity of pervasive ductile deformation in the GHC and on timing of deformation. To investigate the validity of these models, I propose a threefold approach: (1) vorticity and kinematic analysis, (2) multi-chronometer thermochronology, and (3) in-situ Th/Pb dating of metamorphic monazite and allanite. The latter is a relatively new method and this work will be an important step towards developing a new tool for dating greenschist-grade metamorphism and syn-metamorphic deformation. This work contributes to the understanding of the tectonic response of the middle to lower crust during collisional orogeny; specifically, it investigates extrusion of the GHC and interaction of its bounding faults, the South Tibetan detachment and the Main Central thrust.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Host: Professor Dr. Hilmar von Eynatten