Oblique convergence and strain partitioning in the outer deformation front of NE Himalaya

Abstract

Himalayan-Tibetan orogeny has considered as a natural black box in the context of geodynamic evolution and tectonic complexity. The eastward extrusion model of Tibetan crust contradicts with the oblique convergence model in the NE-Himalaya (Bhutan/Arunachal region), where the overall convergence rate accommodated in the Himalaya is about 20-25% less than that in the neighbouring central Himalaya and Eastern Himalayan syntaxis (EHS). We propose that instead of partitioning in the backarc, the NE-Himalaya has developed an active sliver along the Assam-Brahmaputra valley in the outer deformation front, in order to accommodate the deficiency in long-term plate convergence between Himalaya and southern Tibet. We argue that the strong eastward extrusion of Tibetan crust along NE-Himalaya is the main driving force for the unusual development of the Assam-Brahmaputra sliver. This new hypothesis can explain active convergence along EHS, low convergence and subdued topography in Bhutan and Arunachal Himalaya, kinematic and space-problem of Indo-Burmese wedge, and finally solves the contradiction between Tibetan extrusion and oblique convergence model of the HimalayanTibetan orogeny.