Afghanistan sits on the junction between the Indo-Australasian and Eurasian crustal plates and is composed of a series of terranes (Figure 1) that broke away from the main Gondwana supercontinent before colliding with and being accreted on to the Eurasian plate. The accretionary events began in the Cretaceous and have continued until recent times. The Herat or Hari Rod fault, which runs E-W acr...

Two main types of subduction zones can be distinguished: (1) those where the subduction hinge migrates away from the upper plate; and (2) those in which the subduction hinge migrates toward the upper plate. Apart from a few exceptions, this distinction seems to apply particularly for W-directed subduction zones and Eor NE-directed subduction zones, respectively. Moreover, the rate of subduction...

The Jinshajiang–Ailaoshan–Song Ma orogenic belt (JASB), as a vital segment of the eastern Paleo-Tethyan tectonic zone, is one most important zones in which to study evolution. We have undertaken an integrated geochronological, petrological, and geochemical mafic rocks from JASB reveal subduction closure processes Ocean during Permian Triassic. In conjunction with previous magmatic metamorphic r...

The pre-Alpine evolution of the Tethyan domains between Gondwana and Laurasia, in particular that Cimmerian continental blocks, remains poorly constrained. Central Iran is a key area to constrain closure Paleotethys collision Laurasia with blocks drifted from Gondwana. present study provides combined metamorphic geochronologic approach focused on two areas Iran: Kashmar-Kerman Tectonic Zone (KK...

Historic earthquake sequences on subduction zones that are similar to the Cascadia subduction zone are used to hypothesize the nature of shallow subduction earthquakes that might occur in the northwestern United States. Based on systematic comparisons of several physical characteristics, including physiography and seismicity, subduction zones that are deemed most similar to the Cascadia subduct...

Field observations from Gonto La (southern Tibet), a pass through the high Himalaya, reveal a continuous, planar, ~l&N-dipping detachment horizon (the Gonto La detachment). The detachment juxtaposes Tethyan dark slates over a footwall of extensive leucogranite of the Khula Kangri pluton, intruded into an injection complex layer regarded as an early Southern Tibet Detachment System (STDS) horizo...

The paleobiodiversity of the Volutidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of the Ranikot Group (Sindh, Pakistan) and particularly of the Lakhra Formation (SBZ 5 biozone, Earliest Eocene), is reconsidered on the basis of new material collected during recent field trips. Ten new species are described (Mitreola brohii sp. nov., Lyrischapa vredenburgi sp. nov., L. brevispira sp. nov., Athleta (Volutopupa) cith...