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This map outlines the location of plate boundaries and
active faults in the Himalayan region. The collision of India with
Asia is causing crustal shortening. The compression is taken up by
the Himalayan Frontal Thrust, by deformation in
the Himalaya, and by strike slip faulting in multiple fault zones behind the
Himalayan front and along the Flanks of the Himalayan Frontal thrust. The
large white arrows indicate the direction of plate motion. Sorkhabi
et al. (1996) wrote; "The Himalaya-Tibet region is
fundamentally a product of crustal shortening, the east-west extensional
grabens in Tibet suggest that the plateau spread due to gravitational
force. Furthermore, over the past decade, discovery of a basement-cover
detachment fault the so-called South Tibetan Detachment in the Himalaya
has drawn widespread interest among geologists. The South Tibetan
Detachment, as mapped in several areas of the Himalaya, essentially
separates the Paleozoic sedimentary formations of the Tibetan Himalaya to
the north from the high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Greater Himalaya to
the south. Interestingly, this north-dipping detachment fault is parallel
to the east-west strike of the Himalaya, and the extant geochronological
data and structural analysis indicate temporal and spatial links between
the tectonic compression and crustal extension."
Eos
Vol. 77, No. 39, October 1, 1996, pp. 383-385. © 1996 American Geophysical
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