Lyell Collection
Journal of the Geological Society
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Harris, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 2007; v. 164; issue.3; p. 511-523;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-76492006-133
© 2007 Geological Society of London

Review Article

Channel flow and the Himalayan–Tibetan orogen: a critical review

Nigel Harris

Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK (e-mail: n.b.w.harris@open.ac.uk)

The movement of a low-viscosity crustal layer in response to topographic loading provides a potential mechanism for (1) eastward flow of the Asian lower crust causing the peripheral growth of the Tibetan Plateau and (2) southward flow of the Indian middle crust to be extruded along the Himalayan topographic front. Thermomechanical models for channel flow link such extrusion to focused orographic precipitation at the surface. Isotopic constraints on the timing of fault movement, anatexis and thermobarometric evolution of the exhumed garnet- to sillimanite-grade metasedimentary rocks support mid-crustal channel flow during the Early to Mid-Miocene. Exhumed metamorphic assemblages suggest that the dominant mechanism of the viscosity reduction that is a requirement for channel flow was melt weakening along the upper surface, defined by the South Tibetan Detachment System, and strain softening along the base, bounded by the Main Central Thrust. Neotectonic extrusion, bounded by brittle Quaternary faults south of the Main Central Thrust, is positively correlated with the spatial distribution of precipitation across a north–south transect, suggesting climate–tectonic linkage over a million-year time scale. A proposed orogen-wide eastward increase in extrusion rate over 20 Ma reflects current precipitation patterns but climate–tectonic linkage over this time scale remains equivocal.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
J.A. CHAMBERS, T.W. ARGLES, M.S.A. HORSTWOOD, N.B.W. HARRIS, R.R. PARRISH, and T. AHMAD
Tectonic implications of Palaeoproterozoic anatexis and Late Miocene metamorphism in the Lesser Himalayan Sequence, Sutlej Valley, NW India
Journal of the Geological Society, 2008; 165: 725 - 737.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]