Palaeomagnetic constraints on Greater India's underthrusting of the Tibetan Plateau

A minimum estimate of the magnitude of Greater India's underthrusting along the Main Central Thrust beneath its former leading edge and beneath the Tibetan Plateau to the north is reported here. A comparison of newly obtained late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic palaeomagnetic results from the Tibetan Sedimentary Series (Thakkhola Graben, north central Nepal) with results from the Indian subcontinent indicates an excess anticlockwise rotational movement of Greater India with respect to its former leading edge of 10-15°. Assuming that the pivot point for this differential rotation is located to the west of the Western Himalayan Syntaxis, this magnitude corresponds to a minimum underthrusting of continental lithosphere of 200-350 km at the longitude of central Nepal.