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Tetang Formation
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Tetang Fm base reconstruction

Tetang Fm


Period: 
Neogene

Age Interval: 
late Miocene


Province: 
Nepal Tethyan Himalaya

Type Locality and Naming

Thakkhola-Mustang graben fill succession. This formation is well exposed in the vicinity of the village of Tetang and in the Dhinkyo Khola.


Lithology and Thickness

Basal conglomerate (ca. 65 m). Followed by fluvial conglomerates and sandstones, with some intercalated lacustrine limestone, calcareous silt, and siltstone. In it, some thin beds of lignite are also present (Yoshida et al. 1984). The conglomerate contains rounded to subrounded pebbles and cobbles of quartzite, limestone, phyllite, shale, sandstone, and granite. The Tetang Formation is more than 200 m thick


Lithology Pattern: 
Sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Major unconformity onto mid-Cretaceous uplifted Muding Fm.

Upper contact

Unconformity (5 to 10 degrees), then Thakkhola Fm.

Regional extent

Southeast part of Thakkhola-Mustang graben fill succession. This Cenozoic east–west extensional phase of Tibet has created many small and some large grabens dated about 14 or 8 Ma (Coleman and Hodges 1995; Harrison et al. 1995; Blisniuk et al. 2001). Some of the important ones are the Thakkhola–Mustang Graben, Gyirong Graben, and Yadong Graben. The Thakkhola–Mustang Graben is about 90 km long and 20–30 km wide.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

Plant fossils


Age 

Late Miocene (constrained to be older than Messinian by the overlying Thakkhola Fm span. Onset could be ca. 10.6 Ma. Terminated by the angular unconformity.

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Tortonian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.2

    Beginning date (Ma): 
10.75

    Ending stage: 
Tortonian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.8

    Ending date (Ma):  
8.13

Depositional setting

The sediments in the Thakkhola–Mustang graben were deposited in alluvial fan, braided river, glacio-fluvial, and lacustrine environments. The paleocurrent directions measured on imbricated pebbles from all formations of the basin show a generally southwards flow, whereas limestone microfacies analysis indicates a flat and shallow lacustrine environment of carbonate deposition (Adhikari 2009).


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Descriptions from Megh Raj Dhital (2015, Geology of Nepal: Regional Perspective of the Classic Collided Orogen, Springer Publ., 499 pp.).