U.S.-China Cooperative Research (Geology): Geological Studyof the Tonghai-Jianshui-Kunming Area, Yunnan

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This is a two year collaborative research project between B. Clark Burchfiel of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chen Jichen of the Yunnan Institute of Geological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The project is sponsored jointly by NSF and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This is the first phase of a projected four year study on Cenozoic and active deformation in the Tonghai.Jianshui.Kunming region of Yunnan Province. The immediate goal is to document the Cenozoic deformation history of an area adjacent to the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau, which is related to the tectonic development of the plateau and surrounding regions of China. The broadest aim of the project is to develop a better understanding of the nature of intracontinental deformation in Tibet, China and southeast Asia. Tibet is the most spectacular example of active continental collision on earth, and deformation within Tibet is commonly assumed to provide a model for convergent intracontinental deformation. However, there is little field data available for Tibet and a wide range of hypotheses have been proposed to explain its Cenozoic deformation. These various hypotheses have different .. and testable .. implications for deformation along and adjacent to the eastern margin of Tibet, so that they may perhaps be most efficiently tested by geological studies along the eastern margin of the plateau. The proposed study of the Tonghai region should provide a major addition to the sparse observational data that document the Cenozoic and active deformation of Tibet and its environs. The PI's will test their hypothesis that the thickened crust beneath the Tibetan plateau is the result of distributed north.south to northeast crustal shortening within the plateau.