Tectonothermal evolution of the Lesser Himalaya, Nepal: Constraints from 40Ar/39Ar ages from the Kathmandu Nappe

Abstract The Himalaya is a fold‐and‐thrust wedge formed along the northern margin of the Indian continent, and consists of three thrust‐bounded lithotectonic units; the Sub‐Himalaya, the Lesser Himalaya, and the Higher Himalaya with the overlying Tethys Himalaya from south to north, respectively. The orogen‐scale, intracrustal thrusts which bound the above lithotectonic units are splays off an underlying subhorizontal dkcollement, and show a southward propagating piggy‐back sequence with an out‐of‐sequence thrust. Among these thrusts, the Main Central Thrust zone (MCT zone) has played a major role in Himalayan tectonics. The MCT zone represents a shear zone which has accommodated southward thrusting of the Higher Himalayan crystalline thrust sheet over the Lesser Himalayan sequence for ∼140 km. The Kathmandu Nappe in central Nepal has been transported over the Lesser Himalayan metasediments along the MCT zone, and is locally separated from the Higher Himalayan thrust sheet in the north by an out‐of‐sequence thrust. 40Ar/39Ar ages have been determined for one whole‐rock phyllite and six muscovite concentrates from metasedimenta‐ry rocks and variably deformed granites in the Kathmandu Nappe. These ages range from 44 Ma to 14 Ma, and suggest a record of both Eo‐Himalayan (Eocene) and Neo‐Himalayan (Miocene) tectonothermal events in the Tertiary Himalayan orogeny. The Miocene event was associated with translation along the MCT zone. No tectonothermal event of the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene ages have been reported near the MCT zone in southern Lesser Himalayan crystalline nappe or klippe, although such events have been documented within and around the MCT zone in the northern root zone of the Higher Himalaya. This suggests that out‐of‐sequence thrusting may have occurred between 14 Ma and 5 Ma, probably during the period 10‐7.5 Ma. Since then the frontal MCT zone below the Kathmandu Nappe has been inactive, but the MCT zone in the northern root zone has remained active. The rapid increase in denudation rates of the Higher Himalaya since the Late Miocene may have been caused by ramping along the out‐of‐sequence thrust at depth.