Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau - the Nepal Himalaya and the provenance of their foreland basins

The Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan region formed after 55-50Ma, as a result of the intracontinental collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, occupying the east-west trending, high-altitude Himalaya and Karakorum ranges in the south and the vast Tibetan Plateau to the north of central Asia. The tectonic evolution of Tibet began between the late Palaeozoic and the Cenozoic, and the Himalayan mountain system evolved in a series of stages beginning 50-35Ma and is still active. Active tectonics significantly affect upheaval and the rate of erosion in the Himalaya. Therefore, different foreland basins of the Tibetan Plateau (e.g. the Lhasa terrane, the Hoh Xil Basin, the Qaidam Basin, and the Jiuquan Basin) and the Himalayan foreland basins (e.g. Gondwanaland Basin and the Siwalik and Quaternary basin) experience direct effects in terms of tectonic and sedimentary evolution. For the tectonic evolution and provenance analysis of foreland basins in the Tibetan Plateau and the Nepal Himalaya, researchers have adopted various techniques in past studies: This paper discusses petrography, U-Pb geochronology, and seismic reflection. Provenance analyses have illustrated that the sediments of the Southern Tibetan foreland basin (i.e. the Lhasa terrane) derive from the Qiangtang, Tethys Himalaya, and southwest Australia. Similarly, the sediments of the Central Tibetan basin derive from the Qilian, Kunlun-Qimantagh, and the Altyn Mountains; the sediments of northern side of the Tibetan foreland basin, from Qilian Shan Mountain; and the sediments of the Nepal Himalayan foreland basin, from the Tethys, Higher, and Lesser Himalaya. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.