South Tibetan Detachment System 21/10/2005—16/04/2017

Rocks from the South Tibetan Detachment shear zone, illustrating the typical fabrics. The first set (E03 and ME samples) are from Mount Everest, where the shear zone is ~900m thick, and the rocks are dominated by semipelitic or metapelitic clastic sediments.

The second series (KA samples, John Cottle thesis) is from the Dzakaa Chu, 50 km NE of Mt Everest, where the shear zone is ~1000m wide, and developed mostly in calcareous rocks. The images are arranged in order of increasing structural depth: there is a systematic progression downwards from the top of the zone involving increasing metamorphic grade, and for at least the upper half of the zone, increasing intensity and complexity of the fabrics.