Quaternary alluvial fan sedimentation in the Dehradun Valley Piggyback Basin, NW Himalaya: tectonic and palaeoclimatic implications

Abstract

The Dehradun Valley, a synclinal intermontane valley piggyback basin within the Siwalik Group rocks in the NW Himalaya, is separated from the Lesser Himalayan formations in the north by a major intraplate thrust, the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and from the Indogangetic Plains in the south by the Himalayan Frontal Fault (HFF). Major parts of the Dehradun Valley are covered by three fans, from west to east the Donga, Dehradun and Bhogpur fans, deposited by streams following the topography produced by activity of the MBT and probable footwall imbricate thrusts, starting at about 50 ka. The Donga and Dehradun fans were fed by small streams and characterized mainly by sediment gravity-flow deposits (debris flow and mudflow deposits) in the proximal zone, and mostly mudflow deposits and minor braided stream deposits in the middle zone during the period 50-10 ka. Palaeosols were weakly developed in the proximal zone and moderately to strongly developed in the middle zone. The degree of development of palaeosol was mainly a function of rate of sedimentation and to some extent entrenchment of streams into the fan surface. Since 10 ka, deposition has been typically by braided streams. The Bhogpur fan has been marked by deposition from relatively larger braided streams since 50 ka. The fan sequences in the Dehradun Valley are synorogenic and their deposition started due to activity of the southern footwall imbricate of the MBT, i.e. Bhauwala Thrust on the Donga and Dehradun fans. In these fans, major fan sequences show retrogradation (50-10 ka) related to a decrease in the activity of the MBT and related imbricates and activity of more hinterlandward imbricates with time. After 10 ka a thin prograding sequence was deposited due to uplift of the fans, which resulted from the activity on a thrust in the distal parts of the fans. It suggests an out-of-sequence activity of faults in the MBT imbricate system. Cross-faults divide the Siwalik formations in the footwall of the MBT into three blocks, which were marked by decreasing subsidence or possibly uplift from east to west. Thrusting on the HFF was not piggyback type but synchronous with activity of the MBT and its imbricates. The development of the Mohand fault-bend anticline above the HFF changed the nature of the basin from foreland to piggyback type, shed minor colluvial deposits prior to 10 ka, and folded the southernmost fan deposits in the western, narrow parts of the valley. A major change in climate from a cold, dry climate with strong seasonal variations prevailing since 50 ka to warm and humid climate at about 10 ka resulted in a change in depositional processes from sediment gravity-flows to braided streams.