Abstract Reconstructing the stratigraphic architecture of deposits prior to Cenozoic Himalayan uplift is critical for unravelling the structural, metamorphic, depositional and erosional history of the orogen. The nature and distribution of Proterozoic and lower Paleozoic strata have helped elucidate the relationship between lithotectonic zones, as well as the geometries of major bounding faults. Stratigraphic and geochronological work has revealed a uniform and widespread pattern of Paleoproterozoic strata >1.6 Ga that are unconformably overlain by <1.1 Ga rocks. The overlying Neoproterozoic strata record marine sedimentation, including a Cryogenian diamictite, a well-developed carbonate platform succession and condensed fossiliferous Precambrian–Cambrian boundary strata. Palaeontological study of Cambrian units permits correlation from the Indian craton through three Himalayan lithotectonic zones to a precision of within a few million years. Detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis shows the differentiation of a proximal realm of relatively condensed, nearshore, evaporite-rich units to the south and a distal realm of thick, deltaic deposits to the north. Thus, Neoproterozoic and Cambrian strata blanketed the northern Indian craton with an extensive, northward-deepening, succession. Today, these rocks are absent from parts of the inner Lesser Himalaya, and the uplift and erosion of these proximal facies explains a marked change in global seawater isotopic chemistry at 16 Ma.

Abstract Current tectonic understanding of the Nanga Parbat–Haramosh massif (NPHM) is reviewed, developing new models for the structure and deformation of the Indian continental crust, its thermorheological evolution, and its relationship to surface processes. Comparisons are drawn with the Namche Barwa–Gyala Peri massif (NBGPM) that cores an equivalent syntaxis at the NE termination of the Himalayan arc. Both massifs show exceptionally rapid active denudation and riverine downcutting, identified from very young cooling ages measured from various thermochronometers. They also record relicts of high-pressure metamorphic conditions that chart early tectonic burial. Initial exhumation was probably exclusively by tectonic processes but the young, and continuing emergence of these massifs reflects combined tectonic and surface processes. The feedback mechanisms implicit in aneurysm models may have been overemphasized, especially the role of synkinematic granites as agents of rheological softening and strain localization. Patterns of distributed ductile deformation exhumed within the NPHM are consistent with models of orogen-wide gravitation flow, with the syntaxes forming the lateral edges to the flow beneath the Himalayan arc.

Abstract: Establishing a Permian brachiopod biochronological scheme for global correlation is difficult because of strong provincialism during the Permian. In this paper, a brief overview of brachiopod successions in five major palaeobiogeographical realms/zones is provided. For Gondwanaland and peri-Gondwanan regions including Cimmerian blocks, Bandoproductus and Punctocyrtella (or Cyrtella ) are characteristic of the lower Cisuralian, as is Cimmeriella for the middle Cisuralian. As the Cimmerian blocks continued drifting north during the late Kungurian, accompanied by climate amelioration, contemporaneous brachiopods inhabiting these blocks showed a distinct shift from cold-water to mixed or warm-water affinities. However, coeval brachiopods in the Northern Transitional Zone (NTZ) are characterized by warm-water faunas and are associated with fusulinids in the lower Cisuralian. The Guadalupian brachiopods of the NTZ were clearly mixed between the Boreal and palaeoequatorial affinities. The end-Guadalupian is marked by the disappearance of a few characteristic genera, such as Vediproductus , Neoplicatifera and Urushtenoidea , in the Palaeotethyan region. The onset of the end-Permian mass extinction in the latest Changhsingian is clearly exhibited by the occurrence of the dwarfed and thin-shelled brachiopods commonly containing Paracrurithyris .

Abstract Several advances have been made for the reconstruction of fluid circulations and diagenetic history in subthrusted petroleum reservoirs because of the combination of the in-situ microanalysis of hydrocarbon fluid inclusions by Synchrotron Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and PVTX modeling coupled to diagenetic history and tectonic setting. Integrated study has been made in the Eocene Chorgali formation (North Potwar Basin, Pakistan), where the shallow-marine carbonates formed important fractured reservoirs. Hydrocarbon fluid inclusions recognized in authigenic quartz and calcite from hydroveins show atypical association of CO 2 -rich light oil depleted in H 2 O in sulfates-quartz-calcite along simultaneous dissolution recrystallization processes at micrometer scale. Synchrotron Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses, microthermometry, and pressure-volume-temperature modeling led to the beginning of quartz and calcite recrystallization at no more than 75–85°C and 150–180 bar in conditions of sulfate-calcite transformation. Temperatures of 150°C measured in aqueous fluid inclusions from calcite hydroveins are in favor of a thermosulfatoreduction mechanism. Early diagenetic sulfates are reduced by organic acids, and CO 2 comes from organic matter decomposition and/or previous decarbonation. A second phase of quartz growth is evidenced by the homogeneous entrapment in fluid inclusions of more mature oil in 60% CH 4 and a large amount of water at temperatures reaching 150–170°C. This late production of CH 4 agrees with δ 13 C depletion (−20 and −36%o) measured in veins and the crystallization of saddle dolomite. Thrustpack ® modeling shows that the onset of hydrofracturing and quartz precipitation at 1.5 km (1 mi) depth and 15–10.8 Ma (middle Siwalik) began when temperatures of 65 ± 10°C were reached at the end of sedimentation in the basin. It lasted until 4–6 km (2.5–4 mi) depth at temperatures as much as 170°C and reached the development of the thrust sheet at 5 Ma. Thus, circulations of hydrocarbon-rich fluids may be considered in thermal equilibrium with host rocks in both cases. The oil could then be derived from source rocks in the deep Mesozoic formation for the first input. The second input originated from the deep part of the basin itself and mixed with tectonic and meteoric water along the circulation pathways. The fluids are mainly driven by tectonics. They are expelled from the hinterland farther to the north and move updip toward the south in the Chorgali conduits, below the Kuldana seals. The potential source rock for organic matter is known as type II and type III kerogens in coal and black shales from the Paleocene.