Bainang Terrane, Yarlung–Tsangpo suture, southern Tibet (Xizang, China): a record of intra-Neotethyan subduction–accretion processes preserved on the roof of the world

The Bainang terrane, an intra-oceanic island arc subduction complex into which Tethyan oceanic rocks were accreted during the Cretaceous, is preserved within the Yarlung–Tsangpo suture zone of Tibet. The lithostratigraphic succession established from field mapping records a long history of sedimentation in different portions of the central Tethyan domain from Late Triassic to mid-Cretaceous time. These rocks are preserved within a south-verging imbricate thrust stack of thin (≪1 km thick) northward younging tectonic slices. Five lithotectonic units were mapped in the terrane and these units are assigned to two distinct tracts. The northern tract, which accumulated on the north side of Neotethys, was probably separated from its southern counterpart by a mid-ocean ridge. Detailed radiolarian biostratigraphy is used to constrain the timing of depositional events within each tract. Oceanic plate stratigraphy of the northern tract records its northward travel and mid-Cretaceous (late Aptian) approach towards a south-facing intra-oceanic subduction zone. Rocks in the southern tract developed closer to the Indian subcontinent and experienced thermotectonic subsidence and Mid-Jurassic basic alkaline intraplate magmatism. They were probably accreted late in the Cretaceous. Variations in structural style across the terrane indicate deformation at different depths and vertical growth of the wedge rather than lateral accretion. The overall tectonostratigraphy of the terrane reflects its development in a remote intra-oceanic setting.