In the context of stratigraphy and structure.

This book addresses the geology of the entire Himalayan range in Nepal, i.e., from the Gangetic plain in the south to the Tethyan zone in the north. Without a comprehensive look at the various Himalayan zones, it is practically impossible to fully grasp the processes at work behind the formation and development of the spectacular Himalaya. However, the goal is not merely to document all the scientific ontology but rather to reveal a sound basis for the prevailing concepts. Both the early literature on Himalayan geology and contemporary trends are fully covered. For the first time, the origin, use, and abuse of common Himalayan geological terms such as the Siwaliks, Lesser Himalaya, Main Boundary Thrust, Main Central Thrust, and Tethys are discussed. The book will help readers to progress from a cognitive approach to a constructive one by linking various types of knowledge, such as seeking relations between various geological structures as well as between earlier thoughts or views and contemporary approaches.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geodynamics Series, Volume 3. The International Geodynamics Project focussed attention on processes within the earth responsible for the movement of the lithospheric blocks. At anyone time, strong tectonic activity appears limited to a few mobile belts. Most of the present-day seismic activity is confined to the Circum-Pacific belt, the Alpide belt and the mid-oceanic ridges. These belts include oceanic and continental rift systems, the island arcs and young folded mountains. Continent to continent collision of the Eurasian and the Indian plates is generally believed to be responsible for the origin of the Himalaya, the tectonics of this region and the neighbouring south and central Asia. To focus attention on geodynamic problems in this relatively much less known Alpine-Himalayan region bounded by Iran in the West and Burma in the East, the Inter-Union Commission on Geodynamics formed a separate Working Group 3b under the Chairmanship of Hari Narain. Later, in 1975, this Working Group 3b on "Geodynamics of the Alpine-Himalayan region, East" was given independant status and re-numbered as Working Group 6.

This volume comprises 17 contributions that address the architecture and geodynamic evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram–Tibet (HKT) system, covering wide aspects, from the active seismicity of the present day to the remnants of the Proterozoic orogen. The articles investigate the HKT system at different scales, blending field research with laboratory studies. The role of various lithospheric components and their inheritance in the geodynamic and magmatic evolution of the HKT system through time, and their links to global geological events, are studied in the field. The laboratory research focuses on the (sub-)micrometre scale, detailing micro-structural geology, crystal chemistry, geochronology, and the study of circulating fluids, their preservation (trapped in fluid inclusions) and their evolution, distribution, migration and interaction with the solid host. An orogen over 2000 km long can be understood only if the processes at the nanometre and micrometre scales are taken into account. The contributions in this volume successfully combine these scales to enhance our understanding of the HKT system.

The Himalayan mountain belt, which developed during the India–Asia collision starting about 55 Ma ago, is a dramatically active orogen and it is regarded as the classic collisional orogen. It is characterized by an impressively continuous 2500 km of tectonic units, thrusts and normal faults, as well as large volumes of high-grade metamorphic rocks and granites exposed at the surface. This constitutes an invaluable field laboratory, where amazing crustal sections can be observed directly in very deep gorges. It is possible to unravel the tectonic and metamorphic evolution of litho-units, to observe the mechanisms of exhumation of deep-seated rocks and the propagation of the deformation. Himalayan tectonics has been the target of many studies from numerous international researchers over the years. In the last 15 years there has been an explosion of data and theories from both geological and geophysical perspectives. This book presents the results of integrated multidisciplinary studies, including geology, petrology, magmatism, geochemistry, geochronology and geophysics, of the structures and processes affecting the continental lithosphere. These processes and their spatial and temporal evolution have major consequences on the geometry and kinematics of the India–Eurasia collision zone.

This book presents more than 600 eye-catching structural geological photographs and explanatory descriptions, from different Indian terrains. This book will enable easy identification of deformation features, one of the most important tasks in structural geology at the meso- and micro-scales. The book focuses on ductile and brittle shear sense indicators. This book suits for the undergraduate and graduate geoscience students. The book will be of considerable interest to tectonicians and structural geologists, given the enormous international importance of Indian terrains for exploration and other purposes.

"Spanning eight kilometers of topographic relief, the Himalayan fold-thrust belt in Nepal has accommodated more than 700 km of Cenozoic convergence between the Indian subcontinent and Asia. Rapid tectonic shortening and erosion in a monsoonal climate have exhumed greenschist to upper amphibolite facies rocks along with unmetamorphosed rocks, including a 5-6-km-thick Cenozoic foreland basin sequence. This Special Paper presents new geochronology, multisystem thermochronology, structural geology, and geological mapping of an approximately 37,000 km2 region in midwestern and western Nepal. This work informs enduring Himalayan debates, including how and where to map the Main Central thrust, the geometry of the seismically active basal Himalayan detachment, processes of tectonic shortening in the context of postcollisional India-Asia convergence, and long-term geodynamics of the orogenic wedge"--Publisher's website