TY - JOUR A1 - Stübner, Konstanze A1 - Grujic, Djordje A1 - Dunkl, Istvan A1 - Thiede, Rasmus Christoph A1 - Eugster, Patricia T1 - Pliocene episodic exhumation and the significance of the Munsiari thrust in the northwestern Himalaya JF - Earth & planetary science letters N2 - The Himalayan thrust belt comprises three in-sequence foreland-propagating orogen-scale faults, the Main Central thrust, the Main Boundary thrust, and the Main Frontal thrust. Recently, the Munsiari–Ramgarh–Shumar thrust system has been recognized as an additional, potentially orogen-scale shear zone in the proximal footwall of the Main Central thrust. The timing of the Munsiari, Ramgarh, and Shumar thrusts and their role in Himalayan tectonics are disputed. We present 31 new zircon (U–Th)/He ages from a profile across the central Himachal Himalaya in the Beas River area. Within a ∼40 km wide belt northeast of the Kullu–Larji–Rampur window, ages ranging from to constrain a distinct episode of rapid Pliocene to Present exhumation; north and south of this belt, zircon (U–Th)/He ages are older ( to ). We attribute the Pliocene rapid exhumation episode to basal accretion to the Himalayan thrust belt and duplex formation in the Lesser Himalayan sequence including initiation of the Munsiari thrust. Pecube thermokinematic modelling suggests exhumation rates of ∼2–3 mm/yr from 4–7 to 0 Ma above the duplex contrasting with lower (<0.3 mm/yr) middle-late Miocene exhumation rates. The Munsiari thrust terminates laterally in central Himachal Pradesh. In the NW Indian Himalaya, the Main Central thrust zone comprises the sheared basal sections of the Greater Himalayan sequence and the mylonitic ‘Bajaura nappe’ of Lesser Himalayan affinity. We correlate the Bajaura unit with the Ramgarh thrust sheet in Nepal based on similar lithologies and the middle Miocene age of deformation. The Munsiari thrust in the central Himachal Himalaya is several Myr younger than deformation in the Bajaura and Ramgarh thrust sheets. Our results illustrate the complex and segmented nature of the Munsiari–Ramgarh–Shumar thrust system. KW - Himalaya KW - Himachal Pradesh KW - Munsiari thrust KW - thermochronology KW - thermokinematic modelling KW - Pliocene Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.10.036 SN - 0012-821X SN - 1385-013X VL - 481 SP - 273 EP - 283 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eugster, Patricia A1 - Thiede, Rasmus Christoph A1 - Scherler, Dirk A1 - Stübner, Konstanze A1 - Sobel, Edward A1 - Strecker, Manfred T1 - Segmentation of the Main Himalayan Thrust Revealed by Low-Temperature Thermochronometry in the Western Indian Himalaya JF - Tectonics N2 - Despite remarkable tectonostratigraphic similarities along the Himalayan arc, pronounced topographic and exhumational variability exists in different morphotectonic segments. The processes responsible for this segmentation are debated. Of particular interest is a 30- to 40-km-wide orogen-parallel belt of rapid exhumation that extends from central Nepal to the western Himalaya and its possible linkage to a midcrustal ramp in the basal decollement, and the related growth of Lesser Himalayan duplex structures. Here we present 26 new apatite fission track cooling ages from the Beas-Lahul region, at the transition from the Central to the Western Himalaya (77 degrees-78 degrees E) to investigate segmentation in the Himalayan arc from a thermochronologic perspective. Together with previously published data from this part of the orogen, we document significant lateral changes in exhumation between the Dhauladar Range to the west, the Beas-Lahul region, and the Sutlej area to the east of the study area. In contrast to the Himalayan front farther east, exhumation in the far western sectors is focused at the frontal parts of the mountain range and associated with the hanging wall of the Main Boundary Thrust fault ramp. Our results allow us to spatially correlate the termination of the rapid exhumation belt with a midcrustal ramp to the west. We suggest that a plunging anticline at the northwestern edge of the Larji-Kullu-Rampur window represents the termination of the Central Himalayan segment, which is related to the evolution of the Lesser Himalayan duplex. Key Points KW - exhumation KW - Himalaya KW - duplex KW - fission track thermochronology KW - MHT Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2017TC004752 SN - 0278-7407 SN - 1944-9194 VL - 37 IS - 8 SP - 2710 EP - 2726 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER -