Abstract

The continental lithosphere of the northern Indian Gondwanan margin has witnessed an array of tectonic episodes since Permo-Carboniferous to Jurassic. The lithosphere broke as a result of the episodes of continental rifting and subsequent opening of the Neo-Tethys Ocean. The occurrence of pre-syn- and post rift sediments in the Tethyan realm of the NW Himalaya testifies their evolution in an extensional regime. Between Jurassic and Cretaceous the northern Indian margin already became an evolved passive continental margin with deposition of prolific shelf carbonates and associated argillaceous sediments of different bathymetric regimes. The process of rifting and evolution of passive continental margin continued until the Neo-Tethyan ocean floor started converging beneath the Asian continent during Cretaceous. Finally the northern Indian margin collided with the Asian plate at about 50-60 Ma. The collision between the Indian and the Asian plates gave rise birth to the gigantic folded and thrusted mountain belt known as the Himalaya. Keeping in mind the pre-collisional evolution of the Tethyan realm of the NW Himalaya during Permo-Carboniferous to Cretaceous/Early Eocene, it is quite likely that several petroleum systems might have evolved in areas of distinct plate tectonic regimes i.e. rift-passive margin-syncollision and post collision etc. One such petroleum system along with hydrocarbon show could be discernible in the Middle-Late Cretaceous-Eocene shelf sequence of the Zanskar Tethys Himalaya. The present paper highlights the observation made during an exploratory field investigation in Zanskar Mountains in 2014.