Geology, structural, metamorphic and mineralization studies along the mandi-kullu-manali-rohtang section of himachal pradesh, nw-india

Abstract

In the Himachal region of the NW-Himalaya almost all the lithotectonic units of the Himalayan fold-thrust belts. This field excursion guide is designed to showcase the structural geological marvels of the Mandi-Kullu-Manali section along the Beas River valley from the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) to the South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS). This dip-section along the road provides an excellent opportunity to study the structural imprints of MBT, Panjal/Chail Thrust (also known as Main Central Thrust), Vaikrita Thrust and the position of STDS. In this field guide chapter, we mainly present the deformation structures metamorphism and economic mineral occurrences in the study area. This field excursion guide encounters the following litho units: (i) metasedimentary rocks of Lesser Himalayan Sequence (LHS), (ii) low- to medium-grade crystalline rocks of Lesser Himalayan Crystalline thrust sheets including Chail and Jutogh groups and intrusive Paleozoic granites, (iii) High-grade crystallines and migmatites of the Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) including intrusive Paleozoic leucogranites, (iv) Tethyan Himalayan Sequence (THS). Based on our field, structural and metamorphic observation, we try to distinguish the Chail formation, Jutogh and Vaikrita Groups, which have been considered as a single unit ‘Haimanta group’ (Webb et al. 2011 and reference therein).