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Thrust Shear Sense and Shear Zone Fabrics in the Higher Himalaya, Siyom Valley, Eastern Arunachal Himalaya, India

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

The Higher Himalayan Crystallines (HHC) in the Siyom river section of eastern Arunachal Himalaya, display top-to- ESE compressional ductile shear from Pene to Menchuka. In this part of the Himalayan Metamorphic Belt (HMB), the base of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) is the southern boundary of the ductile shear fabrics in HHC. Across the MCT, a significant break in the grade of metamorphism is observed between the HHC and the Lesser Himalayan Sequences (LHS). The ductile shear fabrics documented in the HHC are primary S-C and S-C’ fabrics, asymmetric folds, porphyroclasts and porphyrobalsts, brittle-ductile structures and asymmetric boudins. Three phases of folding representing three deformation episodes (D1-D3) in HHC are recorded in the area. The rocks of the HHC in Siyom valley are completely transposed by the D2 deformation into NNW dipping C- plane. Ductile shear represented by grain scale structures include sigmoidal foliation, rotation of the inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts, asymmetric folds with consistent top-to-ESE sense of shear. The ductile to brittle-ductile shear fabrics in the area indicate that the thrust sense of shear in the HHC is consistent without any shear sense reversal from Pene to Menchuka. These compressional shear fabrics provide invaluable field evidences for constraining the evolution of this part of the Higher Himalaya.

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Acknowledgements

The paper is the outcome of the research work carried out with the financial assistance of the DST pilot project (No.SR/S4/ES/531/2010 dated 16.05.2012) to TKG, which is gratefully acknowledged. The erudite comments of the two anonymous reviewers have helped us greatly to improve the quality of the manuscript and the authors are greatly thankful to them. The authors are also grateful to Prof. A.K Jain for his comments on the manuscript which helped modification of the manuscript immensely. The authors are also thankful to Prof. Manish A. Mamtani for providing helpful comments for further modification of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Applied Geology, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, 786 004, India

    Tapos Kumar Goswami, Pranjit Kalita & Polash Bora

  2. Pare Hydroelectric Project, NEEPCO Ltd., Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh, 791112, India

    Sukumar Baruah

  3. Geological Survey of India, Shillong, Meghalaya, 793 003, India

    Bashab Nandan Mahanta

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Goswami, T.K., Baruah, S., Mahanta, B.N. et al. Thrust Shear Sense and Shear Zone Fabrics in the Higher Himalaya, Siyom Valley, Eastern Arunachal Himalaya, India. J Geol Soc India 96, 447–457 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-020-1582-1

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