Introduction
The supercontinent Pangaea began to break apart during the late Carboniferous–early Permian period (ca.
300 Ma–272 Ma). This break-up is followed by the seafloor spreading, which produced new oceanic crust
and several smaller oceans and larger plates. The erstwhile Tethys Ocean, juxtaposed between the
Eurasian continent in the north and Gondwana in the south, ruptured, and culminated into the subsequent
opening and closing of nascent Neo-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys oceans, respectively. Several smaller
continental fragments existed between the two continental masses (Smith et al., 1981; Nie et al., 1990;
Scotese and Langford, 1995; Upadhyay et al., 1999b).
Paleogeographic reconstructions of Pangaea during the late Paleozoic (Smith et al., 1981; Nie et al.,
1990; Scotese and Langford, 1995) show that a southern belt of these continental fragments stretching
from Iran and Afghanistan, through Tibet to western Thailand, Malaysia, and Sumatra has been accreted to
Asia since the mid-Paleozoic (Şengör, 1987; Metcalfe, 2006). The Karakoram-Hindukush microplate in the
west and the Qiangtang-Lhasa block in central and southeastern Asia are among these blocks, which were
welded/sutured to Asia, probably around 130–120 Ma (Şengör, 1987; Dewey et al., 1988, and references
therein) (Fig. 1). The origin, migration path, timing of accretion, and assembly of all of these blocks
in their present tectonic position are little known. The paleogeography during the break-up of Gondwana
is poorly constrained, and scant geological information is available from Pamir, Northern Ladakh,
Karakoram, and western Tibet. However, based on temperate fauna, flora, and even glacial and
glaciomarine deposits (tillites or diamictites) from the Permian sequences, the Central Iran, Helmand,
Western Qiangtang, Lhasa, and Sibumasu blocks are interpreted as having rifted off the northern margin
of Gondwana in post-Early Permian times (Smith et al., 1981; Nie et al., 1990; Scotese and McKerrow,
1990; Scotese and Langford, 1995; Upadhyay et al., 1999b; Muttoni et al., 2009). These blocks belong to
a poorly defined continent named peri-Gondwana or Cimmeria (Şengör, 1987). Based on the occurrence of
Early Permian marine Gondwanan sediments, the Karakoram terrane is now (Fig. 1) identified as a
peri-Gondwanan microcontinent at a latitude ~35 S, somewhere between the Indian plate and the
Qiangtang-Lhasa blocks (Upadhyay et al., 1999b). Paleogeographic reconstruction of the Early Permian
shows that these peri-Gondwanian microcontinents were situated between ~20° and 40° southern latitudes
(Nie et al., 1990; Scotese and Langford, 1995; Muttoni et al., 2009).
Figure
1
(A) Geological map of the Himalaya showing location of Trans-Himalayan Plutonic Belt, suture zones, and
major boundary thrusts of Himalaya. (B) Detail of western Himalaya showing extension of Indus-Shyok
sutures in Kohistan-Ladakh block and Karakoram Terrane of India; Location of early Permian Gondwanic
palynomorphs bearing outcrops near Tirit Bridge and Skuru along the Shyok Suture Zone of Northern Ladakh
(modified after Kirstein et al., 2006). (C) Photograph showing the tectonic juxtaposition of Gondwanic
palynomorphs bearing outcrop across a geological section near Tirit Bridge. (D) Field photograph of
Gondwanic palynomorphs bearing highly cleaved outcrop of pebbly mudstone near the village of Skuru. (E)
Close-up of outcrop (D) showing dark gray to black fragmentary remains of unidentifiable plant fossils
near Skuru.
Thus, the origin and evolution of the Ladakh-Kohistan block and Karakoram terrane of northwest India and
Lhasa and Qiangtang blocks of western Tibet have now been widely accepted to have resulted from multiple
subduction/collisional events between Gondwana-derived terranes or continents and Eurasia since the late
Paleozoic (Gansser, 1977; Allégre et al., 1984; Şengör, 1987; Dewey et al., 1988; Scotese and McKerrow,
1990; Nie et al., 1990; Beck et al., 1995; Burg et al., 1996; Upadhyay et al., 1999b; Metcalfe, 2006;
Muttoni et al., 2009; Bouilhol et al., 2013; Upadhyay, 2002, 2014; Borneman et al., 2015).
In northwest India, the Ladakh block lies between the Indian Plate in the south and the Eurasian Plate in
the north. To the west, this block is separated from the Kohistan Complex by the Nanga Parbat–Haramosh
syntaxis, and to the east, it is separated from the Lhasa and Quiangtang blocks by the Karakoram fault
(Upadhyay, 2002, 2014) (Figs. 1 and 2). The Ladakh block is bounded by two suture zones—the Indus Suture
in the south and the Shyok Suture in the north. These sutures mark the closing of different branches of
the Tethys Ocean with the Indus Suture, recording the final collision of India with Asia at 60–50 Ma
(Gansser, 1977; Beck et al., 1995; Burg et al., 1996; Bouilhol et al., 2013; Upadhyay, 2002, 2014;
Borneman et al., 2015, and references therein). The more northerly Shyok Suture (Figs. 1 and 2)
separates Ladakh from Asian continental rocks of the Karakoram mountains to the north and contains
ophiolitic mélanges and thrust units derived from the southern Asian margin that were juxtaposed when
Kohistan/Ladakh collided with Asia at 102–85 Ma or 40 Ma (Gansser, 1977; Beck et al., 1995; Burg et al.,
1996; Bouilhol et al., 2013; Upadhyay, 2002, 2014; Borneman et al., 2015, and references therein). The
accreted arc units are well exposed along the Indus–Shyok sutures. All along its length, the Indus and
Shyok sutures are characterized by obducted remnants of Neo-Tethyan oceanic crust (Figs. 1 and 2).
Figure
2
Geological map showing different lithotectonic units of the Shyok Suture Zone (S.S.Z.) exposed in the
Nubra-Shyok river valleys, Northern Ladakh. Location of early Permian palynomorphs bearing locality
within the Shyok Ophiolitic Mélange—exposed near the village of Skuru and Tirit Bridge (modified after
Upadhyay et al., 1999a). K.K. fault—Karakoram fault; MBT—main boundary thrust; MCT—main central thrust;
MMT—main mantle thrust; N.S.Z.—northern suture zone.
In northern Ladakh, the rocks of the Shyok Suture Zone, trending northwest-southeast across the
Nubra-Shyok River valleys, occur within intensely deformed tectonic slices between the Ladakh
batholith—to the southwest—and the Karakoram batholith to the northeast (Figs. 1 and 2). The occurrence
of Aptian-Albian rudists and orbitolinids from the Shyok Suture Zone defines a minimum age for the
subduction-related volcanics associated with the Shyok Suture (Upadhyay, 2014) and establishes a strong
correlation with the equivalent suture zone in northern Pakistan (i.e., Northern Suture) to the west of
the Nanga Parbat–Haramosh syntaxis and in Lhasa-Quiangtang (i.e., Bangong Nujiang Suture) to the east
vis-à-vis their palaeo-geographic significance (Gansser, 1977). The geological structure of the Shyok
Suture Zone has recently been described and discussed elsewhere (Burg et al., 1996; Bouilhol et al.,
2013; Upadhyay, 2002, 2014; Borneman et al., 2015, and references therein).
Sample Location
The palynomorphs bearing tectonic slivers are ~50 m thick and crop out at two different localities; i.e.,
near the village of Skuru (on Diskit-Turtuk road section; 34°66′75″N and 77°29′66″E) and ~300 m ENE of
Tirit Bridge (on Diskit-Panamik road section; 34°31′59″N and 77°41′24″E) (Figs. 1 and 2). These outcrops
are tectonically juxtaposed by mafic volcanics and slates and are located ~400 m below the main
structure of the Shyok suture in Skuru and ~500 m below the Karakoram shear zone in Tirit Bridge
locality. The highly cleaved and deformed outcrops are pale brown to buff-colored and are made up of
pebbly mudstone with interspersed dark gray-black fragmentary, coaly, and sometimes powdery remains of
possible plant fossil fragments (Figs. 1C–1E). The pebbly mudstone is dominated by quartzite clasts and
is completely devoid of ophiolitic and volcanic arc-related debris-clasts, matrix, and cementing
material, defying its ophiolitic and arc origin.
Material and Methods
The dark gray-black portion of half a dozen samples of the pebbly mudstone and associated shale were
macerated to recover spore and pollen grains. Samples were cleaned with distilled water, and after
drying, crushed into smaller pieces (2–3 mm) and treated with hydrofluoric acid (40% concentration) to
dissolve the siliceous component. The samples were then treated with nitric acid to digest the organic
matter and treated with 5%–10% alkali to remove the humus. The samples were thoroughly washed with
distilled water, and the residue was mixed with polyvinyl alcohol and smeared over a cover glass and
kept for drying at room temperature. After complete drying, the cover glasses were mounted in Canada
balsam. For quantitative estimation, two hundred palynomorphs were counted per sample. These slides are
housed at the repository of the Museum of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, India.
Cisularian (Early Permian) Palynomorphs
In a significant breakthrough, we report Early Permian (Asselian-Sakmarian and Artinskian; 299 Ma to 276
Ma) palynomorphs from a metasedimentary sliver, which is tectonically sandwiched within the
litho-tectonic units of the Ophiolitic Mélange zone of the Shyok Suture (Figs. 1–3). The following 26
genera and 35 species have been identified from the Tirit Bridge locality (Fig. 3A): Barakarites
densicorpus Tiwari, 1965; Crescentipollenites korbaensis (Tiwari) Bharadwaj, Tiwari
and Kar, 1974; Distriatites bilateris Bharadwaj, 1962; Faunipollenites varius
Bharadwaj emend. Tiwari et al., 1989; Ibisporites diplosaccus Tiwari, 1968; Lacinitriletes
badamensis Venkatachala and Kar, 1965; Lahirites parvus Bharadwaj and Salujha, 1964;
Lunatisporites sp., Parasaccites korbaensis Bharadwaj and Tiwari, 1964;
Platysaccus brevizonatus Tiwari, 1968; Plicatipollenites trigonalis Lele, 1964;
Potonieisporites mutabilis Lele and Chandra, 1971; Primuspollenites, Rhizomaspora
indica, Scheuringipollenites tentulus Tiwari, 1973; Striatites subtilis
Bharadwaj and Salujha, 1964; Striasulcites ovatus Venkatachala and Kar, 1968;
Striatopodocarpites gondwanensis Lakhanpal, Sah and Dube, 1960; and
Verticipollenites secretus Bharadwaj, 1962. The genera found within the count (Fig. 3C) are
Callumispora (3%–8%); Parasaccites (10%–15%); Plicatipollenites (8%–12%);
Potonieisporites (5%–10%); Rhizomaspora (2%–3%); Primuspollenites (1%–2%);
Faunipollenites (2%–5%); Striatopodocarpites (3%–5%); Striatites (2%–3%);
Scheuring-ipollenites (3%–4%); Vesicaspora (2%–4%); Striasulcites
(1%–3%); Crescentipollenites (2%–3%); Hamiapollenites (1%–2%); Distriatites
(2%–3%); and the sporadic taxa (0%–1%) includes Lacinitriletes,
Vertici-pollenites, Barakarites, Leiotriletes,
Verrucosisporites, Ibisporites, Lunatisporites, Sahnites,
Caheniasaccites, Corisaccites, Ginkgocycadophytus, and Tetraporina
(Figs. 3A and 3C).
Figure
3
(A) Early Permian (Asselian-Sakmarian) palynomorphs recovered from Shyok Ophiolitic Mélange near Tirit
Bridge Northern Ladakh: 1.
Parasaccites korbaensis; 2.
Parasaccites diffuses; 3.
Plicatipollenites indicus; 4.
Barakarites densicorpus; 5.
Ginkgocycadophytus
vetu; 6.
Picatipollenites trigonalis; 7.
Potonieisporites mutabilis; 8.
Lacinitriletes badamensis; 9.
Leiotriletes adntoides; 10.
Striasulcites
ovatus; 11.
Scheurinipollenites tentulus; 12.
Rhizomaspora indica; 13.
Rhizomaspora fimbriata; 14.
Verticipollenites cf.
V. debilis; 15.
Ibisporites diplosaccus; 16.
Faunipollenites varius; 17.
Platysaccus
brevizonatus; 18.
Verticipollenites secretus; 19.
Striaties subtilis; 20.
Crescentipollenites korbaensis; 21.
Laharites parvus; 22.
Lunatisporites sp.;
23.
Distriatites bilateris. (B) Early Permian (Artinskian) palynomorphs recovered from Shyok
Ophiolitic Mélange near Skuru locality of Nothern Ladakh: 1.
Scheuringipollenites minutes; 2.
Scheuringipollenites barakarensis; 3.
Scheuringipollenites maximus; 4.
Faunipollenites varius; 5.
Faunipollenites perexiguus; 6.
Faunipollenites
magnus; 7.
Faunipollenites goraiensis; 8.
Faunipollenites congoensis; 9.
Striatopodocarpites sp.; 10.
Rhizomaspora indica; 11.
Striomonosaccites
ovatus; 12.
Parasaccites obscures; 13.
Ibisporites diplosaccus. (C)
Quantitative analysis shows the dominance and frequency of characteristic palynomorphs recorded in the
present study.
The dominance of Parasaccites and sub-dominance of Plicatipollenites in Tirit Bridge
samples point to an Asselian age (early Permian; 299–297 Ma); however, the presence of monosaccates
(Parasaccites, Plicatipollenites) in association with Callpumispora spp.
Faunipollenites spp., Straitopodocarpites spp., Crescentipollenites spp., and
the First Appearance Datum (FADs) species of Barakarites gondwanensis Maithy, 1965, and
Scheuringipollenites barakarensis Tiwari, 1973, points to a Sakmarian age (early Permian;
297–284 Ma). The aforementioned palynofloral assemblage is similar to those observed from the
Parasaccites korbaensis zone (Tiwari and Tripathi, 1992) of Upper Talchir (Asselian) and the
Karharbari Formation (Sakmarian) of Gondwana assemblage of peninsular India (Potonié and Lele, 1961),
Chhongtash Formation of Karakoram (Upadhyay et al., 1999b), Salt Range in Pakistan (Balme, 1970), Tethys
Himalaya (Gothan and Sahni, 1937), Arunanchal Pradesh (Srivastava and Bhattacharyya, 1996), Antarctica
(Barrett and Kyle, 1975), Australia (Kemp et al., 1977), South Africa (Manum and Tien, 1973), and South
America (Souza, 2006).
The assemblage at the Skuru locality (Fig. 3B) is dominated by a non-striate bisaccate pollen grain and
is represented by: Faunipollenites varius Bharadwaj and Salujha emend. Tiwari et al.,
1989; F. perexiguus Bharadwaj and Salujha emend. Tiwari et al., 1989; F. magnus (Bose
and Kar) Tiwari and Vijaya, 1989; F. goraiensis Potonie and Lele, 1961; F. congoensis
(Bose and Kar) Tiwari et al., 1989; Ibisporites diplosaccus Tiwari, 1968; Parasaccites
obscures Tiwari, 1965; Platysaccus hingirensis Tiwari, 1968; Rhizomaspora indica
Tiwari, 1965; Scheuringipollenites barakarensis Tiwari, 1973; S. minutes (Sinha)
Bharadwaj and Dwivedi, 1981; S. maximus (Hart) Tiwari, 1973; and Striomonosaccites ovatus
Bharadwaj, 1962, besides the occurrence of Platysaccus Naumova emend. Potonie and Klaus,
1954; Rhizomaspora Wilson, 1962; Striasulcites Venkatachala and Kar, 1968 and
Striatopodocarpites Soritscheva and Sedova emend. Bharadwaj, 1962. The palynofloral assemblage
is dominated by nonstriate bisaccate pollen Scheuringipollenites (40%) and striate bisaccate
pollen Faunipollenites (35%), Ibisporites (3%), monosaccates pollen
Parasaccites (8%–10%), whereas the forms Platysaccus, Rhizomaspora,
Striasulcites and Striatopodocarpites are sporadic (1%–2%) (Fig. 3B).
The dominance of nonstriate bisaccate pollen Scheuringipollenites (40%) and striate bisaccate
pollen Faunipollenites (35%) in the Skuru samples favors an Artinskian (late Cisuralian, ca.
284–276 Ma) age. These palynofloral assemblages are similar to those established from the Barakar
Formation of Gondwana assemblage of India (Tiwari and Tripathi, 1992); Antarctica (Kyle, 1977); Collie
Basin Australia (Kemp et al., 1977); Ketawaka and Songwe-Kiwira Coalfield in Tanzania, Africa (Manum and
Tien, 1973); and South America (Souza and Marques-Toigo, 2003).
Tectonic Implication
The palynoflora assemblages from the pebbly mudstone unit of the Shyok Suture Zone (Figs. 1–3) dates
these metasediments of Asselian to Artinskian age (ca. 299–276 Ma, early Permian) and record this age
for the first time, from the entire length and width of Indus-Shyok sutures across the tectonic collage
of India-Asia continental collision. It is remarkable to note that the palynoflora assemblages have a
strong affinity to those that were recorded from the Lower Gondwana stratigraphic units of peninsular
India and in other Gondwanic domains (Upadhyay et al., 1999b; Gothan and Sahni, 1937; Potonié and Lele,
1961; Balme, 1970; Manum and Tien, 1973; Barrett and Kyle, 1975; Kemp et al., 1977; Kyle, 1977;
Backhouse, 1991; Tiwari and Tripathi, 1992; Srivastava and Bhattacharyya, 1996; Souza and Marques-Toigo,
2003; Souza, 2006, and references therein).
Keeping in mind the global significance of the Permian period of Gondwana supercontinent with regard to
the palaeogeographic evolution of the Asian margin during the late Palaeozoic to Palaeogene, it is
prudent to denote that the existence of Permian rocks, together with Palaeozoic biogeographic data,
firmly establishes a Gondwanan origin for most of the peri-Gondwanian (Cimmerian) microcontinents. In
particular, the identification of extensive Early Permian pebbly mudstones in the region and the
subsequent interpretation of these pebbly mudstones as glacial-marine deposits (Stauffer and Lee, 1986;
Metcalfe, 2006, and references therein). Therefore, based on the assumption mentioned above, we suggest
that the early Permian palynomorphs bearing tectonic sliver of deformed pebbly mudstone, which is
entrapped in the Ophiolitic Mélange of the Shyok Suture, have a close affinity to those of
peri-Gondwanian (Cimmerian) origin.
It is well known that the peri-Gondwanan (Cimmerian) tectonic elements and early Permian exposures are
well distributed in the Shyok Suture vicinity; i.e., the Karakoram terrane to the north and the
Qiangtang-Lhasa blocks to the ENE and ESE, respectively. It is quite evident that a thin flake of active
continental margin of these peri-Gondwanic microcontinents/Kshiroda plate (Jagoutz et al., 2015) were
sliced off during the course of the subduction/collision process, between Ladakh and
Karakoram–Qiangtang-Lhasa blocks, and amalgamated with obducted remnants of accretionary prism of the
nascent Shyok Suture. The Shyok Suture closed during the mid- to Late Cretaceous period. Subsequent syn-
and post-collision synkinematic episodes were responsible for their tectonic juxtaposition and
exhumation in the tectonized zone of Shyok Ophiolitic Mélange.
Acknowledgments
RU is grateful to the APG, Dehradun (India), and Prof. Oliver Jagoutz (MIT, USA) for organizing several
field expeditions to Ladakh and Karakoram Mountains of Northern India. He thanks the Head, Department of
Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital (India), for extending the facility for research under CAS and FIST
programmes. SG and RA are grateful to the Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP),
Lucknow (India), for providing facilities for research. The authors are grateful to Prof. Peter
Copeland, science editor, GSA Today, and two anonymous reviewers for their encouragement and
constructive suggestions toward improving the initial version of this manuscript.
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