Evidence of growth fault and forebulge in the Late Paleocene (∼57.9–54.7 Ma), western Himalayan foreland basin, India

The evolution of the Himalayan foreland is the result of continent–continent collision and related large-scale tectonics in the region. The initial foredeep basin sequences are exposed in limited areas of the western Himalaya, which makes these areas very significant in unraveling the earliest evolution of the foreland system. The basal interval of the Himalayan foredeep is exposed in the Jammu area (India), which preserves silicified breccia formed by the erosion of hanging walls of shallow faults. Two Paleocene sections are analyzed that suggest the existence of growth faults which developed in response to the India–Asia collision in the Late Paleocene (∼57.9–54.7 Ma). The pebble-size clasts and their derivation entirely from the basement demonstrate rapid sedimentation in response to rapid subsidence at the onset of basin evolution. The angular unconformity showing effects of erosion associated with a thin soil horizon may be due to a forebulge at the site of the unconformity. The reworked bauxite above this soil horizon demonstrates erosion of another forebulge from the cratonward side.