Limits of Greater Indian Plate during Gondwana time
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.1987.1588Keywords:
Gondwana, Greater Indian Plate, Palaeogeography, Plate Tectonics, Continental DriftAbstract
Limits of the Greater Indian Gondwana continent varied with its break-up and collisional episodes. Late Palaeozoic basal Gondwana type glaciogene and associated sediments containing cold-water marine fauna, with or without Glossopteris, Cathaysian floral remains or admixtures occur in and across the Himalaya, in south Pamir, Tibet and in Shan-Tenesserim-Malaysian area, i.e., across the Late Mesozoic peri-Indian ophiolite belts. Cathaysian Flora with or without Glossopteris intercalations also occurs in western Iraq and New Guinea, both representing parts of the Gondwanic shield. Thus during Late Palaeozoic the Gondwana continents also hosted Cathaysian flora, especially in low palaeolatitudinal positions. The Himalaya, parts of Middle-East, Tibet, Shan-Tenesserim and Malaysian continental blocks therefore possibly formed parts of the Greater Indian Gondwanic continent.
The Late Cretaceous and Eocene olistostromal flysch belts tectonically flooring the ophiolite mélange of the Indus-Tsangpo and Naga-Chin Hills Andaman belts respectively delineate the northern and eastern continental margins of the Indian Plate. The present subduction zone beneath the Andaman island arc represents a westerly relayed Neogene margin of the Indian Plate.