NEPAL HIMALAYAS

Nepal has the longest division of himalayas. It extension

is about 800km and starts from west at Mahakali river
and ends by the Tista river.

FORMATION OF NEPAL HIMALAYAS

▪ The Himalayas range is one of the youngest

mountain range on the planet and consist mostly of
uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock.

▪ According to modern theory of plate tectonics, its

formation is a result of continental collision along
the convergent boundary between Indo-Australian
plate and the Eurasian plate (Tibetean plate).
▪ About 70 millions years ago(MI), during the upper
cretaceous period the north moving Indo-Australian
plate, (which has subsequently split into the Indian
plate and Australian plates) was moving about 15
centimeter per year
▪ About 50 millions years ago this fast moving Indo-
Australian plate had completely closed Tethys
ocean.
▪ both of these two plates are composed of lower
density continental crust; they were thrust faulted
(pushed upward ) and folded into mountain range
rather than sub-deducting into mantle along oceanic
trench.
▪ The summit of Mount Everest is made of marine
limestone from the ancient ocean Tethys.
▪ Today the Indian plate continues to be driven
horizontally at the Tibetean plateaus, which force
the plateaus to continue the move upward. The
Indian plate is still moving at 67 mm per year and
over the next 10 million years it will travels about
1500 km into Asia.
▪ About 20 mm of the Indian-Asian converges
distance is absorbed by the thrust fault along the
Himalayan southern front. The absorption pushes
about 5 mm per year making them geologically
active. The moment of Indian plate into Asian plate
also makes these entire region seismically active
leading to the earthquake from time to time.
Fig: Collision of Indian plate with Tibetan plate and
formation of Himalaya (modified after USGS, 1999)
Geological Framework of Nepal Himalaya
Nepal occupies the central sector of Himalayan arc.
Nearly one third of the 2400 km long Himalayan
range lies within Nepal. Similar to other parts of the
Himalaya, from south to north, Nepal can be also
subdivided into the following five major tectonic
zones.
 Gangetic Plain
 Sub-Himalayan (Siwalik) Zone
 Lesser Himalayan Zone
 Higher Himalayan Zone
 Tibetan-Tethys Himalayan Zone
 Each of these zones is characterized by their
own lithology, tectonics, structures and geological
history. The generalized geological map is given in
Fig.


 Geological map of Nepal

 These all tectonic zones are separated from
each other by the thrust faults. The southernmost
fault, the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) separates the
Sub-Himalayan (Siwalik) Zone from Gangetic Plains.
The Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) separates the
Lesser Himalayan Zone from Siwalik. The Main
Central Thrust (MCT) separates the Higher
Himalayan Zone from the Lesser Himalayan Zone.
The South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS)
marks the boundary between the Higher Himalayan
Zone and the overlying fossiliferous sequence of the
Tibetan-Tethys Himalayan Zone. The Indo-Tsangpo
Suture Zone is the contact knot between Indian
plate and Tibetan (Eurasian) Plate in terms of plate
tectonics.


Geological Zones and Types of Materials

The main geological zones of the Nepal Himalaya
are described below.

Gangetic Plain

The Gangetic Plain is also called as Terai Zone and

it is the Nepalese portion of the Gangetic Plain that
extends from the Indian Shield in the South to the
Sub-Himalayan (Siwalik) Zone to the North. The
plain is in less than 200 meters above sea level and
usually has thick (nearly 1500 m) alluvial sediments.
The alluvial sediments contain mainly boulder,
gravel, silt and clay. The width of Terai Zone varies
from 10 to 50 km and forms a nearly continuous belt
from east to west. Exceptionally at two place,
Chitwan and Rapti valleys, the Terai Zone is
interrupted by Siwalik for 70 km and 80 km
respectively. Terai Zone is a foreland basin and has
sediment originated from peaks of Northern part. To
 the north, this zone is separated by an active thrust
system called as the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) with
Siwalik. At some places along MFT, the Siwalik
rocks are observed to rest over the recent
sediments of the Terai (Dahal 2006).
A large number of borehole logs and geophysical
investigation made during the groundwater
investigation and petroleum exploration in Terai play
a lead role to study the surface and subsurface
geology of the Terai. It further helps to classify the
Terai into Northern Terai or Bhabhar Zone, Middle
Terai and Southern Terai.

Northern Terai (Bhabar Zone)

The northern Terai is adjoining to the foothills of Siwalik

and continues southward to a maximum width of 12 km.
This part of Terai is also known as Bhabar Zone. This
zone is mainly composed of boulders, pebbles, cobbles
and coarse sand derived from the rocks of Siwalik and
Lesser Himalaya. These boulders, pebbles, and cobbles
are mostly made up of sandstones (Fig 1.5) and the
rocks from the immediate northern vicinity. Bhabhar
Zone acts as a recharge zone for the groundwater of
Terai. Most of the rivers loose their water while passing
through this zone. In this Zone, water tables in wells
show very sharp fluctuations between the summer and
rainy seasons. At some places the wells become
completely dry in summer. Due to the very course nature
of the sediments, low water table and quick percolation
of rainwater, this zone is particularly not productive for
agriculture and therefore ideal for the development of
forest resources.

Middle Terai (Marshy) Zone

This is a narrow zone of about 10-12 km wide and lying

between the Northern Terai Zone and the Southern Terai
Zone. This zone is characterized by pebbly and brown to
grey colored unconsolidated sandy sediments with few
clay partings. Clay is mostly dark grey colored and
intercalated with brown colored sand layers. The
medium to coarse grained sandy layers possesses good
groundwater reservoir. Because of marked change in
elevation from Bhabar Zone, this zone comprises marked
development of spring line, natural ponds, marshland
and lakes (Dahal 2006). Immediate south of spring lines,
there are many artesian layers are found in depth of 25
m to 200 m. The permeability of Middle Terai Zone
diminishes towards south and finally non permeable
layers are encountered in boundary of the Southern Terai
Zone.

Southern Terai Zone

Southern Terai Zone is southern most part of Terai up to

Nepal-India border and also continues into India. This
zone consists of main sediments of Gangetic Plain.
Basically, sand, silt and clay (Fig 1.5) are the main
sediments of this zone. This zone is composed of finer
sediments than the Middle Terai Zone. To the extreme
south bordering the Indian Plains, the sediments
become finer and also show change of facies. The water
table is about 3 m below the surface and aquifers are
poor . Only in old river channels area north-south
extending better aquifers are found. Therefore, except at
the northern part and along old river channels, there are
particularly no good aquifers in the lower horizons . For
this reason, in the southern Terai of Nepal, the
development of the groundwater also appears to be
difficult by deep tube wells.
7 Subsurface condition of Terai Zone of Nepal (modified
after GRDP, 1994)

Sub-Himalayan (Siwalik) Zone

The Sub-Himalaya Zone is also called as Siwalik Zone

and is delimited on the south by the Main Frontal Thrust
(MFT) and on the north by the Main Boundary Thrust
(MBT). It consists basically of fluvial deposits of the
Neogene age (23 millions years to 1.6 millions years old).
This Zone extends all along the Himalaya forming the
southernmost hill range with width of 8 to 50 km. The
Lesser Himalayan rocks thrust southward over the rocks
of Siwalik along the MBT . The general dip of beds of
Siwalik has northward trend with varying angles and the
overall strike is east-west. The Siwalik Zone has number
of east-west running thrusts. Siwalik Zone is also rich
with fossils. Fossils of plants, pisces, reptiles and
mammals (Carnivora, Proboscidea, Artiodactyla,
Rodentia and Primates) have been reported from
Siwalik. The three-fold classification of Siwalik in Potwar
region of Pakistan and western Indian Himalaya was
freely applied to the equivalent Siwalik of Nepal
(Burbank et al., 1996) from the beginning of the
geological studies in Nepal. According to three fold
classification, Siwalik can be classified as follow.
Lower Siwalik
Middle Siwalik
Upper Siwalik
The example of geological map of Siwalik around
Hetauda area is given in fig. The map illustrates the
Upper, Middle and Lower Siwalik in the Hetauda and
Amalekhgunj area. The other geological names
(formations) of Upper, Middle and Lower Siwalik are also
provided in map as formation names.

Geological Map of Hetauda-Bakiya Khola area (Adopted

from Ulak and Nakayama, 1999)

Lower Siwalik
The Lower Siwalik consist of irregularly laminated beds
of fine grained greenish sandstone and siltstone with
mudstone. The alternating mudstone beds are thickly
bedded and are variegated, red, purple, and brown
coloured. The best exposures of Lower Siwalik are found
in Surainaka, Amlekhgunj, Arun Khola, Barahchhetra and
Rato Khola area of Nepal.

Middle Siwalik

The Middle Siwalik are comprised of medium to coarse

grained salt-and-pepper (looks like mixture of salt and
black pepper) sandstones interbedded with mudstone.
This is differentiated from the Lower Siwalik in lacking
variegated mudstone and sandstone. In upper part of the
Middle Siwalik, pebbly sandstone beds are also found. In
Middle Siwalik the sandstone beds have thickness
mostly ranges from 1 m to 45 m. The exposures of
Middle Siwalik are found mainly in Surkhet, Surai Khola,
Hetauda, and Butwal.
Interbedding sandstone and mudstone in Middle Siwalik,
Butwal-Tansen section of Siddhartha Highway

The Upper Siwalik is comprised of conglomerate and

boulder beds and subordinately sand and silt beds. The
mudstone beds of the

Upper Siwalik

Upper Siwalik are massive and irregularly bedded and

contain many invertebrate fossils including Brachiopods
and Gastropods. The upper part of this sequence
contains conglomerate beds, which have mostly boulder
and cobble size rounded to subangular fragments of
Lesser Himalayan rocks. In Bardibas, Hetauda,
Bhalubang, and Chitwan the good exposure of Upper
Siwalik can be seen.

Lesser Himalayan Zone

The Lesser Himalayan Zone is bounded to the north by
the Main Central Thrust (MCT) and to the south by Main
Boundary Thrust (MBT). MBT can be traced out in whole
Nepal Himalaya and it can be also well observed in
aerial photographs also . The rocks of Lesser Himalayan
Zone have been transported southwards in several
thrust slices. Generally two types of sequences namely
autochthonous and allochthonous can be distinguished
in this Zone throughout the Himalayas. The both
sequences of the Lesser Himalaya mainly have
unfossiliferous, sedimentary, and metasedimentary
rocks such as slate, phyllite, schist, quartzite, limestone,
dolomite, etc, ranging in age from Precambrian to
Eocene. There are also some granitic intrusions in this
zone.
 Aerial photograph of Udaypur district (eastern Nepal),
well marked Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) is passing
through middle of photograph

MBT observed in Butwal-Tansen section of Siddhartha

Highway

From east to west, the Lesser Himalayan Zone of Nepal

varies in rock type, age, structures, and igneous rock
intrusion. Eastern Nepal is characterized by the
development of extensive thrust sheets (allochthonous)
of high grade metamorphic rocks (gneiss and schist)
which have moved southwards. Below this sequence,
due to erosion, large exposure of the low-grade
metamorphic rocks (autochthonous) can be seen. In
Central Nepal, a large thrust sheet called the
Kathmandu Nappe (allochthonous) covers a wide area
around the Kathmandu region. Whereas west of
Kathmandu, between the Budhi Gandaki and Bheri
rivers, amount of transported high grade metamorphic
rocks (allochthonous) is very low and the area is
generally covered by autochthonous sequence. But in
west of the Bheri River, up to the western border of
Nepal (Dadeldhura-Baitadi) high-grade metamorphic
rocks reappear and cover much of the terrain.

The Higher Himalayan Zone

The Higher Himalayan zone mainly consists of huge pile

of strongly metamorphosed rocks. Geologically, the
Higher Himalayan Zone includes the rocks lying north of
the Main Central Thrust (MCT) and below the highly
fossiliferous Tibetan-Tethys Zone. This zone is separated
with Tibetan-Tethys Zone by normal fault system called
as South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS). Higher
Himalayan Zone consists of an approximately 10 km
thick succession of strongly metamorphosed coarse
grained rocks. It extends continuously along the entire
length of the country as in whole Himalaya, and its width
varies from place to place . The kyanite - sillimanite
minerals bearing gneisses, schists, and marbles of the
zone form the basement of the Tibetan-Tethys Zones.
Granites are found in the upper part of the unit.
The Tibetan-Tethys Zone

The Tibetan-Tethys Zone lies in northern part of the

country. It begins from the top of the STDS and extends
to the north in Tibet. In Nepal, the fossiliferous rocks of
the Tibetan-Tethys Zone are well-developed in Mustang ,
Manang and Dolpa area. In eastern part, amount of
exposure of the Tibetan Tehys Zone is almost negligible
and found only in top of the Mount Everest . Most of the
other Great Himalayan peaks of Nepal such as Manaslu,
Annapurna, and Dhaulagiri have rocks of Tibetan-Tethys
Zone. This zone is composed of sedimentary rocks, such
as shale, limestone, and sandstone, ranging in age from
Cambrian to Eocene. This zone in some area is found as
continuous deposits of Higher Himalayan Zone without
normal fault.

Fig above: South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS)

separating Higher Himalayan Zone from Tibetan-Tethys
Zone, Chhaktan Khola, north west from Kokhethati,
Mustang

Cliff of limestone belongs to Tibetan-Tethys Zone,

Jomsom, Mustang