GRAVITY MODEL FOR BELA OPHIOLITES AT WESTERN MARGIN OF THE INDO-PAKISTAN CONTINENTAL PLATE

Abstract

The oroclinal axial fold-thrust mountain belt has notable features in the geology of Pakistan. The southern part of this belt is of particular importance because it includes the southern branch of the main Himalayan ophiolitic zone, the Bela ophiolites, and its continuation into the Arabian Sea. A number of geological models and hypotheses have been proposed for explanation of the tectonic setting of the area based on surface geological investigations. A gravity study was carried out to provide a model for the tectonic setting of the investigated area. The results of interactive gravity modeling point to the underthrusting of a narrow segment of the Arabian oceanic plate (Bela-Hingol micro-oceanic plate) under the western rifted margin of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinental plate, characterized by a well developed accretionary wedge, an ophiolite complex and a tectonically eroded green schist unit derived from the over-ridding continental plate.