The genus Pristosia Motschulsky, 1865 was so far only known to be highly diverse in the North-Western Himalaya and present in the Eastern Himalaya. Only a single female specimen has been documented in the literature from the Nepal Himalaya and was described as P. dahud Morvan, 1994. During a study of comprehensive carabid beetle material collected throughout Nepal, which has been deposited at s...

We present a kinematic model for the Himalayan thrust belt that satisfies structural and metamorphic data and explains recently reported late Miocene–Pliocene geochronologic and thermochronologic ages from rocks in the Main Central thrust zone in central Nepal. At its current exposure level, the Main Central thrust juxtaposes a hanging-wall flat in Greater Himalayan rocks with a footwall flat i...

Balanced cross-sections across the Zagros fold–thrust belt in Iran are used to analyze the geometry of deformation within the sedimentary cover rocks, and to test the hypothesis of basement involved thrusting throughout the fold–thrust belt. Although the Zagros deformation front is a relatively rectilinear feature, the sinuous map-view morphology of the mountain front is a result of a 6 km stru...

We present geochronological evidence in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis (Namche Barwa) for high-pressure (HP) granulite-facies metamorphism and explain its importance for understanding both the deep continental subduction of the Indian plate beneath Asia and its subsequent exhumation. The timing of peak and retrograde metamorphism in part constrains these processes but is debated. We present zir...

The thinning patterns of debris-covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia are not well understood. Here we calculate the effect supraglacial ice cliffs on mass balance all a Himalayan catchment, using process-based cliff melt model. We show that responsible for higher than expected rates glacier tongues, leading to an underestimation their loss 17% ± 4% catchment if considered. also do enhance whe...

The relative role of block versus continuum deformation of continental lithosphere is a current subject of debate. Continuous deformation is suggested by distributed seismicity at continental plate margins and by cumulative seismic moment sums which yield slip estimates that are less than estimates from plate motion studies. In contrast, block models are favored by geologic studies of displacem...

The sub-Himalayan thrust belt is an active thrust wedge which progresses southward over the northdipping Indian plate. The north–south compression resulted in severe deformation of sedimentary rocks in this belt. Distinct thrust geometries and topography have evolved under the interaction between tectonic and erosional environments. To better understand the relationship between tectonics and to...

[1] The linear correlation between modern sediment yields and mean drainage-basin elevation suggests that mountainbelt topography is denuded exponentially with a time scale of approximately 50 Myr following the cessation of active uplift. Some Paleozoic orogens, however, still exist as highelevation terrain. Here I explore this paradox within the broader question of what variables control the d...

Perhaps the best known occurrence of an inverted metamorphic sequence is that found immediately beneath the Himalayan Main Central Thrust (MCT), generally thought to have been active during the Early Miocene. However, in situ 208Pb/ 232Th dating of monazite inclusions in garnet indicates that peak metamorphic recrystallization of the MCT footwall occurred in this portion of the central Himalaya...