EVOLUTION OF GRAVITY-ANOMALIES ACROSS COLLISIONAL MOUNTAIN BELTS - CLUES TO THE AMOUNT OF CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE AND UNDERTHRUSTING

A series of density models illustrates the gross form of free air and Bouguer gravity anomalies anticipated during ocean basin closure and consequent development of collisional orogens. When compared to gravity anomalies observed across some mountain belts, the hypothetical anomalies provide a clue to the degree of underthrusting of crust associated with one lithospheric plate beneath crust of the opposing plate margin. The results of the study suggest very early stage collision in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and the Sulaiman Range of Pakistan, with thin transitional or oceanic crust still intact on the lower plate. In contrast, the Himalaya of Pakistan represent a much more advanced stage of collision, where continental crust may have underthrust the mountains for 600 km.