The collision of India with Asia
Date
2012
Authors
White, Lloyd
Lister, Gordon
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Publisher
Pergamon-Elsevier Ltd
Abstract
We review the relative motion of India and Asia for the last 100 million years and present a revised reconstruction for the India-Antarctica-Africa-North America-Eurasia plate circuit based on published motion histories. Deformation of these continental masses during this time introduces uncertainties, as does error in oceanic isochron age and location. Neglecting these factors, the data ipso facto allow the inference that the motion of India relative to Eurasia was distinctly episodic. Although motion is likely to have varied more smoothly than these results would allow, the geological record also suggests a sequence of distinct episodes, at about the same times. Hence we suggest that no single event should be regarded as the collision of India with Asia. The deceleration of the Indian plate commencing at ~65. Ma is matched by an equally significant prior acceleration and this aspect must be taken into account in geodynamic scenarios proposed to explain the collision of India with Asia.
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Keywords
Keywords: African plate; collision zone; deformation; Eurasian plate; Indian plate; North American plate; orogeny; plate motion; plate tectonics; reconstruction; Tethys; Himalayas; India Collision; Himalaya; India; Orogen; Reconstruction; Tectonics; Tethys
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Source
Journal of Geodynamics
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Journal article
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2037-12-31
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