Fig 4. Cartoon structure sections prior to Nanga Parbat massif uplift and exhumation
1) Preferred interpretation - large frontal ramp in MMT. This model explains both the dominant thrust motion seen on the MMT around the north end and along the eastern side of NPHM, and the occurence of basement high in the thick Indian cover west and south of the Nanga Parbat region, as well as the occurrence of significant mylonites that map in the right position to be a floor thrust to the inferred duplex in the Indian cover created by the ramp in the MMT.
3) While this interpretation provides a possible explanation for the thinning of the Indian cover past the NPHM, it does not explain the Niat and other basement occurrences south of the latitude of the NPHM, nor is it consistent with the absence of significant evidence for normal motion on the MMT prior to NPHM uplift.
2) Large pre-thrusting lateral fault ramp(s) in the Indian basement might be a possible explanation for some of the variation in thickness in the Indian cover, but do not provide an explanation for the direction of the sense of shear seen in most places on the MMT subparallel with the length of the NPHM, nor for the distribution of basement within the cover, nor for the mylonites located near the base of the cover sequence on both sides of the NPHM.