Defining the Limits of Greater India

Abstract

Abstract Greater India comprises a part of the Indian plate that subducted under Asia to help form the Tibetan Plateau. Defining the size of the Greater India is thus a key constraint to model the India‐Asia collision, growth of the plateau, and the tectonic evolution of the Neo‐Tethyan realm. We report Early Cretaceous paleomagnetic data from the central and eastern Tethyan Himalaya that yield paleolatitudes consistent with previous Early Cretaceous paleogeographic reconstructions. These data suggest Greater India extended at least 2,675 ± 720 and 1,950 ± 970 km farther north from the present northern margin of India at 83.6°E and 92.4°E, respectively. An area of lithosphere ≥4.7 × 10 6 km 2 was consumed through subduction, thereby placing a strict limit on the minimum amount of Indian lithosphere consumed since the breakup of Gondwanaland.