The collision of India and Asia formed the Himalayas and caused the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Greater India comprises the part of the Indian plate that was subducted beneath Asia and the Tethyan Himalaya. Quantitative constraints on the extent of Greater India are needed to study the process of the India-Asia collision. However, such constraints are lacking and the topic remains debated. We present paleomagnetic data from late Paleocene (∼58 Ma) mafic rocks from the western Tethyan Himalaya. The mean paleomagnetic direction is Ds/Is = 348.5°/+6.5° with k = 38.7 and a95 = 5.2°, which passed the fold, reversals, and paleosecular variation tests. The results define the paleolatitude of the Tethyan Himalaya as 3.3 ± 4.5°N at ∼ 58 Ma for the reference site of 29.9°N/83.3°E. A comparison of the Paleogene paleolatitudes of the Tethyan Himalaya shows that the terrane moved northward by 1540 ± 290 km between ∼ 60 Ma and ∼ 50 Ma, with a rate of movement of 15.4 ± 2 cm/yr. The new paleomagnetic result confirms that the extent of Greater India was 1130 ± 400 km and was essentially uniform from east to west. This finding implies that the collision between India and Asia was nearly be quasi-synchronous from the middle-eastern to western segments along the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone.

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限制大印度的范围：来自青藏高原特提斯喜马拉雅山的晚古新世古地磁数据


印度和亚洲的碰撞形成了喜马拉雅山，并导致了青藏高原的隆起。大印度包括俯冲到亚洲和特提斯喜马拉雅山下方的印度板块的一部分。需要对大印度范围进行定量约束，以研究印度-亚洲碰撞的过程。然而，这些限制是缺乏的，这个话题仍然存在争议。我们展示了来自特提斯喜马拉雅山脉西部古新世晚期（∼58 马）镁铁质岩石的古地磁数据。平均古地磁方向为 Ds/Is = 348.5°/+6.5°，k = 38.7 和 a95 = 5.2°，通过了折叠、反转和古长期变异测试。结果将特提斯喜马拉雅山的古纬度定义为 3.3 ± 4.5°N，参考地点为 29.9°N/83.3°E，温度为 ∼ 58 马。 对特提斯喜马拉雅山古近纪古纬度的比较表明，地层在 1540 ± ∼ 60 马 到 ∼ 50 马之间向北移动了 290 公里，移动速度为 15.4 ± 2 厘米/年。新的古地磁结果证实，大印度的范围为 1130 ± 400 公里，并且从东到西基本上是均匀的。这一发现意味着印度和亚洲之间的碰撞几乎是沿着印度河-藏布缝合带从中东到西部的准同步的。