Strain partitioning along the Himalayan arc and the Nanga Parbat antiform

Shortening along the Himalayan are of continental convergence is approximately in the radial direction. If the underthrusting foot-wall block (India) is not deformed, the hanging-wall block (Tibet) needs to stretch along the are, as suggested by radial grabens in southern Tibet. In contrast, the Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif and the western Himalayan syntaxis are part of a 250-km-long antiform that strikes in the radial direction (northeast) and verges northwest. The Nanga Parbat antiform is the structural and topographic expression of are-parallel shortening that compensates for are-parallel extension in southern Tibet. This shortening is predicted to be as high as 12 mm/yr.