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Guevara VE, Smye AJ, Caddick MJ, Searle MP, Olsen T, Whalen L, Kylander-Clark ARC, Jercinovic MJ, Waters DJ. A modern pulse of ultrafast exhumation and diachronous crustal melting in the Nanga Parbat Massif. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabm2689. [PMID: 35930636 PMCID: PMC9355356 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm2689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2022] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
We combine monazite petrochronology with thermal modeling to evaluate the relative roles of crustal melting, surface denudation, and tectonics in facilitating ultrafast exhumation of the Nanga Parbat Massif in the western Himalayan syntaxis. Our results reveal diachronous melting histories between samples and a pulse of ultrafast exhumation (9 to 13 mm/year) that began ~1 Ma and was preceded by several million years of slower, but still rapid, exhumation (2 to 5 mm/year). Recent studies show that an exhumation pulse of similar timing and magnitude occurred in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis. A synchronous exhumation pulse in both Himalayan syntaxes suggests that neither erosion by rivers and/or glaciers nor a pulse of crustal melting was a primary trigger for accelerated exhumation. Rather, our results, combined with those of recent studies in the eastern syntaxis, imply that larger-scale tectonic processes impose the dominant control on the current tempo of rapid exhumation in the Himalayan syntaxes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor E. Guevara
- Geology Department, Amherst College, 220 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002, USA
| | - Andrew J. Smye
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, 332 Deike Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Mark J. Caddick
- Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, 4044 Derring Hall, 926 W. Campus Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Michael P. Searle
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
| | - Telemak Olsen
- Geology Department, Western Washington University, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA
| | - Lisa Whalen
- Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, 4044 Derring Hall, 926 W. Campus Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Andrew R. C. Kylander-Clark
- Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1006 Webb Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Michael J. Jercinovic
- Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, 627 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - David J. Waters
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
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Van Kranendonk MJ, Smithies RH, Griffin WL, Huston DL, Hickman AH, Champion DC, Anhaeusser CR, Pirajno F. Making it thick: a volcanic plateau origin of Palaeoarchean continental lithosphere of the Pilbara and Kaapvaal cratons. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014. [DOI: 10.1144/sp389.12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
AbstractHow and when continents grew and plate tectonics started on Earth remain poorly constrained. Most researchers apply the modern plate tectonic paradigm to problems of ancient crustal formation, but these are unsatisfactory because diagnostic criteria and actualistic plate configurations are lacking. Here, we show that 3.5–3.2 Ga continental nuclei in the Pilbara Craton, Australia, and the eastern Kaapvaal Craton, southern Africa, formed as thick volcanic plateaux built on a substrate of older continental lithosphere and did not accrete through horizontal tectonic processes. These nuclei survived because of the contemporaneous development of buoyant, non-subductable mantle roots. This plateau-type of Archean continental crust is distinct from, but complementary to, Archean gneiss terranes formed over shallowly dipping zones of intraoceanic underplating (proto-subduction) on a vigorously convecting early Earth with smaller plates and primitive plate tectonics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin J. Van Kranendonk
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia
- Australian Centre for Astrobiology, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - R. Hugh Smithies
- Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain St, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia
| | - William L. Griffin
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - David L. Huston
- Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
| | - Arthur H. Hickman
- Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain St, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia
| | | | - Carl R. Anhaeusser
- Economic Geology Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, South Africa
| | - Franco Pirajno
- Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain St, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia
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