Geology of the eastern part of the Tso Morari nappe, the Nidar Ophiolite and the surrounding tectonic units (NW Himalaya, India)

Abstract

The Tso Morari nappe is well known for having suffered ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism in the northwest Himalaya. Its pressure-temperature evolution has been widely studied and debated since the end of the 1990s. However, the lithostratigraphy, structures and metamorphism of the tectonic units around the Tso Morari nappe are poorly known, especially in the eastern part of the nappe. Here, a detailed geologic map based on recent field work is presented. The survey area is the eastern part of the ultrahigh-pressure Tso Morari nappe, the surrounding tectonic units and the Nidar Ophiolite. This map improves the knowledge of the geology and geometry of the North Indian continental plate and the ocean-derived units south of the Eurasian continent in eastern Ladakh. Knowledge of the present-day geometry will help to reconstruct the initial setting in the kinematic models of the formation and exhumation of the Tso Morari nappe in relation to its surrounding tectonic units.