At last!
I've been waiting for this for almost 2 years. Friday, I will be departing for the little town of Munsiyari in the Kumaon Himalayas of Uttarakhand to begin an eight day trek northwards towards the Milam and Rilam glaciers.
Just take a look!
Geology?
The Munsiyari Thrust named after the town of Munsiyari is the lower bounding fault of the Main Central Thrust Zone along which the High Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) rock sequences have been extruded over the Lesser Himalayan Metamorphic Sequence. The HHC is considered to be the Proterozoic leading edge of the Indian plate which on collision with Asia was broken up into south directed thrust sheets. The HHC is overlain by the Tethyan Sedimentary Series (TSS), a sequence of Paleozoic to Eocene marine sediments. This cover sequence has been detached during Miocene orogeny from the HHC along the Southern Tibetan Detachment Zone. The initial sense of motion along this zone may be a north directed normal sense motion, but sections have been reactivated and thrust southwards or sideways. Its crazy out there!
I hope to see as I walk northwards from Munsiyari a mostly medium to high grade metamorphic terrain of the HHC with the grade of metamorphism increasing northwards. Intruding this sequence are Miocene granitic bodies. I hope to see a few of those too. And at the northern limits of the trek in the Milam and Rilam glacier area maybe I will be close enough to glimpse the TSS.
That's all for now. I am so excited! I'll be posting pictures when I get back and hopefully fill the above images with some geology too.. See you in mid March.
I've been waiting for this for almost 2 years. Friday, I will be departing for the little town of Munsiyari in the Kumaon Himalayas of Uttarakhand to begin an eight day trek northwards towards the Milam and Rilam glaciers.
Just take a look!
Geology?
The Munsiyari Thrust named after the town of Munsiyari is the lower bounding fault of the Main Central Thrust Zone along which the High Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) rock sequences have been extruded over the Lesser Himalayan Metamorphic Sequence. The HHC is considered to be the Proterozoic leading edge of the Indian plate which on collision with Asia was broken up into south directed thrust sheets. The HHC is overlain by the Tethyan Sedimentary Series (TSS), a sequence of Paleozoic to Eocene marine sediments. This cover sequence has been detached during Miocene orogeny from the HHC along the Southern Tibetan Detachment Zone. The initial sense of motion along this zone may be a north directed normal sense motion, but sections have been reactivated and thrust southwards or sideways. Its crazy out there!
I hope to see as I walk northwards from Munsiyari a mostly medium to high grade metamorphic terrain of the HHC with the grade of metamorphism increasing northwards. Intruding this sequence are Miocene granitic bodies. I hope to see a few of those too. And at the northern limits of the trek in the Milam and Rilam glacier area maybe I will be close enough to glimpse the TSS.
That's all for now. I am so excited! I'll be posting pictures when I get back and hopefully fill the above images with some geology too.. See you in mid March.
Congratulations, and a belated "best wishes" for a great trip. Looking forward to photos!
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ReplyDeleteCongratulations and look forward to the your trip details with photos. Wish I could join you for a future himalayan hike :)
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