@article{ThiedeRobertStuebneretal.2017,
  author    = {Thiede, Rasmus Christoph and Robert, Xavier and Stuebner, Konstanze and Dey, Saptarshi and Faruhn, Johannes},
  title     = {Sustained out-of-sequence shortening along a tectonically active segment of the Main Boundary thrust: The Dhauladhar Range in the northwestern Himalaya},
  series = {Lithosphere},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Lithosphere},
  publisher = {American Institute of Physics},
  address   = {Boulder},
  issn      = {1941-8264},
  doi       = {10.1130/L630.1},
  pages     = {715 -- 725},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Competing hypotheses suggest that Himalayan topography is sustained and the plate convergence is accommodated either solely along the basal decollement, the Main Himalayan thrust (MHT), or more broadly, across multiple thrust faults. In the past, structural, geomorphic, and geodetic data of the Nepalese Himalaya have been used to constrain the geometry of the MHT and its shallow frontal thrust fault, known as Main Frontal thrust (MFT). The MHT flattens at depth and connects to a hinterland mid-crustal, steeper thrust ramp, located similar to 100 km north of the deformation front. There, the present-day convergence across the Himalaya is mostly accommodated by slip along the MFT. Despite a general agreement that in Nepal most of the shortening is accommodated along the MHT, some researchers have suggested the occurrence of persistent out-of-sequence shortening on interior faults near the Main Central thrust (MCT). Along the northwest Himalaya, in contrast, some of these characteristics of central Nepal are missing, suggesting along-strike variation of wedge deformation and MHT fault geometry. Here we present new field observations and seven zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) cooling ages combined with existing low-temperature data sets. In agreement with our previous findings, we suggest that the transect of cooling age patterns across the frontal Dhauladhar Range reveals that the Main Boundary thrust (MBT) is a primary fault, which has uplifted and sustained this spectacular mountain front since at least the late Miocene. Our results suggest that the MBT forms an similar to 40-km-long fault ramp before it soles into the MHT, and motion along it has exhumed rocks from depth of similar to 8-10 km. New three-dimensional thermokinematic modeling (using Pecube finite-element code) reveals that the observed ZHe and apatite fission track cooling ages can only be explained by sustained mean MBT slip rates between similar to 2.6 and 3.5 mm a(-1) since at least 8 Ma, which corresponds to a horizontal shortening rate of similar to 1.7-2.4 mm a(-1). We propose that the MBT is active today, despite a lack of definitive field or seismogenic evidence, and continues to accommodate crustal shorting by out-of-sequence faulting. Assuming that present-day geodetic shorting rates (similar to 14 +/- 2 mm a(-1)) across the northwest Himalaya have been sustained over geologic time scales, this implies that the MBT accommodated similar to 15\% of the total Himalayan convergence since its onset. Furthermore, our modeling results imply that the MHT is missing a hinterland mid-crustal ramp further north.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HansmanRingThomsonetal.2017,
  author    = {Hansman, Reuben J. and Ring, Uwe and Thomson, Stuart N. and den Brok, Bas and Stuebner, Konstanze},
  title     = {Late Eocene Uplift of the Al Hajar Mountains, Oman, Supported by Stratigraphy and Low-Temperature Thermochronology},
  series = {Tectonics},
  volume    = {36},
  journal   = {Tectonics},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {0278-7407},
  doi       = {10.1002/2017TC004672},
  pages     = {3081 -- 3109},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Uplift of the Al Hajar Mountains in Oman has been related to either Late Cretaceous ophiolite obduction or the Neogene Zagros collision. To test these hypotheses, the cooling of the central Al Hajar Mountains is constrained by 10 apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe), 15 fission track (AFT), and four zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) sample ages. These data show differential cooling between the two major structural culminations of the mountains. In the 3km high Jabal Akhdar culmination AHe single-grain ages range between 392 Ma and 101 Ma (2 sigma errors), AFT ages range from 518 Ma to 324 Ma, and ZHe single-grain ages range from 62 +/- 3Ma to 39 +/- 2 Ma. In the 2 km high Saih Hatat culmination AHe ages range from 26 +/- 4 to 12 +/- 4 Ma, AFT ages from 73 +/- 19Ma to 57 +/- 8 Ma, and ZHe single-grain ages from 81 +/- 4 Ma to 58 +/- 3 Ma. Thermal modeling demonstrates that cooling associated with uplift and erosion initiated at 40 Ma, indicating that uplift occurred 30 Myr after ophiolite obduction and at least 10 Myr before the Zagros collision. Therefore, this uplift cannot be related to either event. We propose that crustal thickening supporting the topography of the Al Hajar Mountains was caused by a slowdown of Makran subduction and that north Oman took up the residual fraction of N-S convergence between Arabia and Eurasia.},
  language  = {en}
}