Magnetostratigraphy of the Zanda basin in southwest Tibet Plateau and its tectonic implications

The Zanda basin is one of the very important basins at the north slope of the Himalaya Range. Thus the study of the basin strata will provide critical information about the tectonic evolution of the Himalayan Orogenic Belt. 268 oriented block samples were collected in the 750-m-thick sections of the Zanda basin. The characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) was isolated that decays linearly to the origin between 500°C and 690°C for most studied samples. An age range of 9.5–2.6 Ma was estimated from the correlation between our observed polarity column and the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS). The age of the Zanda basin does not support the models that the South Tibetan Detach system (STDS) is one of the basin controlling faults. Given the sedimentological features in the basin and the tectonic features at the north edge of the basin, the Zanda basin was a half graben that was possibly controlled by the Karakorum fault on the northeast. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40672142 and 40334038) and China National Key Project (Grant Nos. 2005CB422000 and 2002CB412601)