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Building the Pamir‐Tibetan Plateau—Crustal stacking, extensional collapse, and lateral extrusion in the Central Pamir: 2. Timing and rates
Author(s) -
Rutte Daniel,
Ratschbacher Lothar,
Khan Jahanzeb,
Stübner Konstanze,
Hacker Bradley R.,
Stearns Michael A.,
Enkelmann Eva,
Jonckheere Raymond,
Pfänder Jörg A.,
Sperner Blanka,
Tichomirowa Marion
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
tectonics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.465
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1944-9194
pISSN - 0278-7407
DOI - 10.1002/2016tc004294
Subject(s) - geology , doming , crust , thermochronology , lithosphere , metamorphism , seismology , nappe , shear zone , gneiss , continental crust , thrust fault , main central thrust , geomorphology , paleontology , metamorphic rock , fault (geology) , tectonics
Geothermochronologic data outline the temperature‐deformation‐time evolution of the Muskol and Shatput gneiss domes and their hanging walls in the Central Pamir. Prograde metamorphism started before ~35 Ma and peaked at ~23–20 Ma, reflecting top‐to‐ ~N thrust‐sheet and fold‐nappe emplacement that tripled the thickness of the upper ~7–10 km of the Asian crust. Multimethod thermochronology traces cooling through ~700–100°C between ~22 and 12 Ma due to exhumation along dome‐bounding normal‐sense shear zones. Synkinematic minerals date normal sense shear‐zone deformation at ~22–17 Ma. Age‐versus‐elevation relationships and paleoisotherm spacing imply exhumation at ≥3 km/Myr. South of the domes, Mesozoic granitoids record slow cooling and/or constant temperature throughout the Paleogene and enhanced cooling (7–31°C/Myr) starting between ~23 and 12 Ma and continuing today. Integrating the Central Pamir data with those of the East (Chinese) Pamir Kongur Shan and Muztaghata domes, and with the South Pamir Shakhdara dome, implies (i) regionally distributed, Paleogene crustal thickening; (ii) Pamir‐wide gravitational collapse of thickened crust starting at ~23–21 Ma during ongoing India‐Asia convergence; and (iii) termination of doming and resumption of shortening following northward propagating underthrusting of the Indian cratonic lithosphere at ≥12 Ma. Westward lateral extrusion of Pamir Plateau crust into the Hindu Kush and the Tajik depression accompanied all stages. Deep‐seated processes, e.g., slab breakoff, crustal foundering, and underthrusting of buoyant lithosphere, governed transitional phases in the Pamir, and likely the Tibet crust.