Formation of Himalaya in Pakistan.

1. PRESENTED BY
JUNAIDURREHMAN
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
ABDUL WALI KHAN UNIVERSITY MARDAN

2. HIMALAYAS
 Himalayas, great mountain system of Asia forming a
barrier between the Plateau of Tibet to the north and
the alluvial plains of the Indian subcontinent to the
south.
 The Himalayas include the highest mountains in the
world.
 With more than 110 peaks rising to elevations of
24,000 feet (7,300 m) or more above sea level. One of
those peaks is Mount Everest the world’s highest,
with an elevation of 29,032 feet (8,849 m).

3.  world's youngest and highest mountain range
 world's fastest uplift rate (10 mm/at Nanga Parbat)
 world's largest high plateau (Tibet, >5,000 m)

4. Himalayan mountain ranges

5. North Face of Mount Everest, above the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

6. During the Triassic Period
Geologic History

7. • During the Jurassic Period

8. • During the Late Cretaceous Period

9. • Eocene Epoch

10. • Miocene Epoch

11. • Present Day

13. GEOLOGICAL HISTORY
 Continental collision of India with Eurasia formed this vast
mountain range with a thick pile of intensely deformed
Phanerozoic sediments, a series of magmatic rocks and
affected by various metamorphic events.
 The geology of the Himalayas is thus quite complicated.
 Northward the Himalayan terrain terminates along the
Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone. Geophysical data (Molnar
1984, 1988) indicates that the continental crust in this
region is between 50 and 80 km thick which is twice the
normal crustal thickness.

14.  Feature- continued under-thrusting and underplating
of India beneath Asia.
 According to powell et al.(1973)
 Indian sheild- Broken into 2 slabs.
Frontal Block- collided with the Asian plate.
Rear Block- continued to be subducted.
 Collision of the block- obducted, widespread masses
of melanges and Ophiolites in the suture zone.

15.  It has formed south verging folds and thrust belts of
Phanerozoic sediments and volcanics.
 Continued under-thrusting of the rear block- scraped
off
-Phanerozoic sediments
- volcanoclastics
 And shoved southward- highly tectonised and
metamorphosed masses, nappes and thrust slices.

16. Divisions OF HIMALAYA
Sub-Himalayas
 The Himalyan foot-hills form the Sub-Himalayan zone
and from the Punjab to Assam these hills are
comprised of a narrow belt of folded Neogene Molasse
type sediments (Siwaliks).
 Northward this sequence is terminated by the Main
Boundary Thrust (MBT), the boundary between the
Sub-Himalayas and the Lesser Himalayas.

17. Lesser Himalayas
 Bounded in North - Main Central Thrust (MCT) and
to the south by MBT.
 This zone comprised of Precambrian to Late Paleozoic
sedimentary and volcanic rocks.

18.  This thrust was initially defined by Auden (1937) and
Heim et al. (1939) as a thrust fault which had brought
the high grade crystalline rocks over the lower grade
metasediments.
 Inverted metamorphic sequence.
Main Central Thrust (MCT)

19. Higher Himalayas
 The MCT forms the base of a huge 10-15 km thick slab
of high-grade metamorphic rocks which overlie the
Lesser Himalayan sequence.
 The basal part of the section is comprised of
Precambrian gneisses with whole rock ages of 1,500-
1,800 m.y.

20. Tethyan Himalayas
 The Tethyan Himalayas contain lower Ordovician
gneissic porphyritic granites, which are similar to the
gneisses in the Central Crystalline Zone of High
Himalayas.
 In the eastern part, complex folds and thrust zones
have formed due to buckling of the Tethyan sequence.

21. Divisions
 Trans himalaya
 Greater Himalaya
 Middle Himalaya
 Siwalik
 Trans-himalaya
-Karakoram Mt Ranges.
-Kohistan / Ladakh Island Arc.
-Kailash Mt Ranges.
-Zaskar Ranges.
Indo-Austrailian
Eurasian