Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August

19-29, 1996

A COMPARISON OF GEOLOGICAL FEATURES FROM

TWO ZONES OF CONTINENTAL COLLISION BY MEANS
OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS EVALUATION OF FIELD
DATA: EXAMPLES FROM THE TORNETRÄSK AND MT.
EVEREST SECTIONS.
by
Gerhard Bax
University of Karlstad
S-651 88 Karlstad

Abstract

Both the Scandinavian Caledonides and the Himalayas are results of continental collisions. Due to the
different ages of these orogens and the accumulated time spans of weathering, different crustal depths are
exposed in these mountain belts. In each of the mountain belts a minor area has been chosen to study the
structural development during continental collision and subsequent extensional faulting. The 400 million
years old Caledonides the Torneträsk -Lofoten section has been examined by means of remote sensing
combined with detailed geological fieldwork. In the Himalayas, where the Indian and the Asian continents
met around 50 million years ago, a similar study has been initiated in the Mt. Everest section. Both
sections reveal the crystalline cores of the orogens perpendicular to the trend of geological strike.

KEYWORDS: REMOTE SENSING,

GIS, GEOLOGY, TECTONICS, DUPLEX STRUCTURES,
CONTINENTAL COLLISION, SCANDINAVIAN CALEDONIDES, HIMALAYAS,
TORNETR ÄSK , MT. EVEREST

Introduction

In the Torneträsk-Lofoten section, an anastomozing lineament pattern in crystalline

rocks of the so called Lower Allochthon has been discovered during the study of
infrared aerial photographs (scale 1 : 60 000). Detailed field studies at selected
localities showed a pattern of imbricated slices of crystalline rocks forming huge duplex
structures. Similar lineament patterns have been observed in other parts of the
Torneträsk-Lofoten section during examination of Landsat TM data, but the spatial
resolution was too coarse to depict more detailed structures. Imbricate structures in
crystalline rocks of the Mt. Everest section have already been described in the literature
and they were also observed during fieldwork.

An important distinctive feature of both areas is the existence of mayor folds with axes
parallel to the axes of dominant compression. These cross folds mark corridors of
“tectonic turbulence ” accompanied along orogenic strike by relatively calm areas with

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Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August 19-29, 1996

simple structural patterns. Remote sensing using high resolution imagery has the
potential to elucidate the structural pattern of larger areas, whereas detailed field work
is necessary to study the structural relationship of different generations of lineament
producing faults.

Structural development

Northern Scandinavian Caledonides

The Scandinavian Caledonides are the result of collision between the former continents
Baltica and Laurentia during the Paleozoic (Stephens, 1988). The ancient ocean
Iapetus, a predecessor of the present Atlantic, was closed when several cratons
approached to form the mega-continent Pangea.

National Atlas of Sweden.

In the Torneträsk –Lofoten section, remnants of oceanic and continental crust form a
complicated nappe pile, traditionally subdivided into the Lower, Middle, Upper and
Uppermost Allochthon (Kulling, 1972). The Upper and Uppermost Allochthons
represent rocks of the ancient ocean floor of Iapetus together with minor terranes from
outboard of Baltica. The Middle and Lower Allochthons originated from the continental

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Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August 19-29, 1996

margin of Baltica. Detailed structural studies (Bax, 1989) showed that the nappe pile
represents a piggy back thrust sequence. This implies that the Uppermost Allochthon
was already on top of the Upper Allochthon, when both were thrusted on to the
continental margin of Baltica. During continued crustal shortening, this outer margin of
Baltica became imbricated, until the sole thrust of the present Middle Allochthon
developed. Internal shearing of the Middle Allochthon occurred under ductile
conditions, resulting in mylonitic and ultramylonitic rocks. A similar fate happened to
the crystalline and sedimentary rocks of the Lower Allochthon. During deformation of
these rocks, however, the nappe pile passed the brittle-ductile transition zone for
quartzo-feldspathic rocks on its southeast directed way upwards into shallower crustal
levels along the floor thrust of the Lower Allochthon. Therefore, the latest structures
show signs of brittle deformation, including pseudotachylites.

One characteristic structural feature are cross folds in the Middle and Upper
Allochthon with axes sub-parallel to the main direction of nappe transport. These folds
formed during thrusting along the floor thrust of the Middle Allochthon.
Contemporaneous northwest – southeast trending high angle faults in the underlying
Lower Allochthon acted as sidewall ramps for the over gliding nappes.

All mentioned structures are postdated by north –south trending high angle faults. In
most cases these structures show normal sense of movement, indicating local extension.
Some of these structures can be followed over tens of kilometers in the field where they
locally get steeper and in some cases even turn into reverse faults. These phenomena
are explained by rotation of large blocks of Lower Allochthon around vertical axes.

Southern Tibetan Himalayas

The Himalayan mountain belt was formed during convergence between the Asian and
Indian Plates in cainozoic times (Gansser, 1964; Sengör, 1990). Continental collision
occurred around 45 Ma ago and since then, north-south shortening resulted in crustal
thickening and uplift. Apart from structures indicating crustal shortening, normal faults
(Tapponier, P., et al. 1981; Armijo et al. 1986) have been observed, pointing out
conditions of local extension. These faults are described by Burchfiel et al. (1992) as
contemperaneous with compressional structures in the Himalayan orogen.

The rocks of the Himalayan mountain range were thrusted southwards during
subduction of the continental margin of India underneath Tibetan crust. From the
South to the north the following tectonostratigraphic members can be distinguished in
an upwards going sequence. The still active floor thrust of the Subhimalayan zone, the
so-called Main Frontal thrust (MFT), is over riding and truncating partly folded rock of
the Ganges foredeep. Above the overlying Main Boundary thrust (MBT), rocks of the
Lesser Himalayan zone reach altitudes of up to 3000 meters. The overlying thrust
complex of the Great Himalayan zone, including several peaks above 8000 meters, was
transported southwards along the Main Central thrust (MCT). The highest peak on
earth, Mt. Qomolangma, is surmounted by Ordovician limestone resting on the
Qomolangma detachment fault (Burchfiel et al., 1992). On the southern slope of

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Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August 19-29, 1996

Qomolangma (Sagarmatha) this detachment is marked by the notorious yellow band,

even known as Hillary step. In the North Face of Qomolangma, crystalline rocks can be
identified on slides taken by Cronlund (pers. comm) during his 1992 ascent through
the North Face of Mt. Everest at an altitude of 8600 meters. These limestones belong
the Tibetan sedimentary sequence that is bounded to the north by the steep northwards

Fig. 2: Tibetan study (including Mt. Everest) on a DEM of South - Central Asia.

dipping Yarlung Zangbo Suture. The lithology of the Tibetan sedimentary has been
described by Liu & Einsele (1994) and Willems et al. (1996).

Common features
Both orogens originated from A-type subduction zones, and both contain far travelled
nappes piled up during piggy back thrusting towards the foreland. In the Torneträsk –
Lofoten (Bax, 1986) and in the Qomolangma area (Wang & Zhen, 1975) huge
masses of crystalline rocks are imbricated – forming duplexes with considerable
elevations in their central parts. The crystalline rocks of Storsteinsfjellet southeast of
Narvik reach altitudes of more than 1900 m and in Qomolangma imbricated crystalline
rocks are found up to an altitude of 8600 m.

These basement highs are in both cases aligned in rows parallel to the orogenic strike.
In-between these basement duplexes we find along strike zones with tongues of

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Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August 19-29, 1996

overlying nappes perpendicular to the orogenic strike. These corridors (cf. Thomas,
1990) are characterized by complicated tectonic patterns, including the above
mentioned cross folds.

Remote sensing studies and results from field work

The geology of the SW part of the Torneträsk area has been mapped in detail (Bax,
1989) by means of traditional field work. Main emphasis was put on the structural
relationship between different tectonostratigraphic units.

10 m resolution. Pink
and dark green is used to show the granitoids and supracrustals of Rombak-Sjangeli Complex in the
tektonic Rombak - Sjangeli Window. Light blue and orange are rocks of the sedimentary cover. Floor
thrust of the Middle Allochthon is shown as black line with tags pointing towards upper unit.
Mylonitic granitiods and greenschsits are represented in red and green respectively.

Fig. 4:
Bending
of an
internal,
tectonic
horse
towards
the roof
thrust of
a duplex
in Håikan
valley.
Geologist
for scale,
looking
south.

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Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August 19-29, 1996

Fig. 5: Geo-rectified IR air-photo draped over DEM (as Fig. 3)

Fig. 6: Geo-rectified Landsat TM 742 draped over DEM (as Fig. 3)

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Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August 19-29, 1996

Fig. 7: Left: MOMS image of an imbricate structure NNE of Mt. Everest (Qomolangma Feng) in the
Tibetan sedimentary sequence. Blocks of sedimentary rocks are thrusted southwards along reverse
faults. Pixel resolution in this panchromatic (520 - 760 nm) MOMS image from 1993 is 4.5
meter. Right: Location of left picture (in red circle) on a geo-rectified MSS (421) image of the
Everest area. Mt. Everest located west of letter N.

Fig. 8: Left: Friendship Highway between Nyalam and Zhangmu W of Mt. Everest. Photo: Gerhard Bax
1995

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Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on High Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Karlstad - Kiruna - Troms ø, August 19-29, 1996

Conclusions
Despite their difference in age and in lithology, the Southern Tibetan Himalayas and the
Northern Scandinavian Caledonides show significant structural similarities. The applied
combination of traditional, geological field work and remote sensing studies has shown
good results in these areas of poor accessibility. In the Qomolangma section, fieldwork
in areas above 6000 m a.s.l. gets increasingly difficult from a logistic point of view.
Remote sensing becomes here an indispensable tool, and due to the thin and dry
atmosphere, the imagery is in many cases of superb quality.

For this study, multispectral Landsat MSS imagery (80 m resolution) and panchromatic
MOMS imagery (4.5 m resolution) was available. MOMS covers by now only a narrow
stripe through the area and for rock type discrimination multispectral imagery with
better resolution would be necessary. A high resolution DEM is furthermore necessary
for geometric correction of the imagery.

In the Torneträsk – Lofoten area the remote sensing and DEM facilities are by now
sufficient. Some minor areas with interesting structures depicted from the imagery need
to be mapped in detail for a better and more detailed understanding of the deformation
process.

Acknowledgements
This paper summarizes selected aspects of 18 years of research in Northern Scandinavia and 5 years in the
Himalayas. Maurits Lindström (Prof. emeritus at Stockholm university) introduced me to the geology of the
Torneträsk area, and Are Korneliussen (Geological Survey of Norway) invited me to continue my mapping on the
Norwegian side of the border. Many thanks to both of you. Liu Jiyuan (IRSA, CAS, Beijing) kindly invited me to
map the rocks of the Qomolangma area, and much of the fieldwork was done during the very pleasant expeditions
together with Manfred Buchroithner (TU Dresden). Financial support is acknowledged from the Geological Surveys
of Sweden and Norway, NFR, SSAG, and the University of Karlstad.

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