2. SALT RANGE
• The rocks of the Salt Range in Pakistan, with those of the Potwar
Plateau and the southern part of the Hazara District, were once in
the northwesternmost part of the Himalayan arc and aligned along its
trend.
• Displacement to their present position can be accomplished by a
counterclockwise rotation of 75°about a pole near the eastern end of
the Salt Range.
• A thrust southwards over locally high autochthonous Peninsular
Precambrian, uptilting the front edge of the thrust mass, and exposing
older rocks, has occurred.
3. PAMIR ARC
• The rotation was one of the consequences of large-scale
movement between major crustal units in Central Asia.
• in which aTuranian block moved towards aTarim Basin block to
form the tight Pamir Arc.
• Concentric folding of this arc in plan against the barrier of the
Tien Shan resulted in expulsion southwards of material near its
centre.
4.
5.
6. Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis
• Such a rotation would explain the sharp hairpin bend of the Kashmir
syntaxis.
• And be consistent with the sharp change of the trends of the folds in
theTertiary in passing from the Himalayan foothills into the Potwar.
• The Potwar and the Hazara District lie immediately west of the
“Kashmir syntaxis” described byWadia
•
7. Erroneous Concept
• Wadia explained the syntaxis by postulating the existence of a
“horst-block with a veneer of Murree (Lower Miocene) sediments
on it”.
• He rejected the concept of Argand of two independent
“directions of pressure” and the belief of Suess meeting of two
distinct mountain systems”.
8. REFERENCE:
THE SALT RANGE,THE KASHMIR SYNTAXIS ANDTHE PAMIR ARC By A.R.
CRAWFORD Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian NationalUniversity
Canberra, A.C.T. (Australia) Received April 22, 1974
