Collaborative Research: Lithospheric-Scale Dynamics of Active Mountain Building Along the Himalayan-Tibetan Collision Zone

9909362Chen 该项目的总体目标是准确确定喜马拉雅山形成过程中大陆岩石圈在整个厚度上的变形情况。 P.I. 将部署一个独特的 700 公里。与尼泊尔、中国、法国和德国合作者合作，绘制了横跨喜马拉雅山-青藏高原的长、高密度宽带地震样线。 结果将用于确定三个相互竞争的模型中哪一个更合适：1）印度岩石圈逆冲西藏，几乎没有变形；2）喜马拉雅山是一系列逆冲层，涉及整个地壳和上地幔；或3）地壳和上地幔都明显缩短，地壳在它们之间很弱。 该项目将提供碰撞带关键部分下方深度缺失的关键信息，并将绘制出突出的地壳、莫霍面和上地幔界面的几何形状和运动学，这对于理解地幔如何与岩石圈部分相联系至关重要。具体研究目标包括：喜马拉雅山前陆与地幔有关的变形——变形有多深； 不同深度的推力面的配置以及推力的工作原理；以及雅鲁藏布江缝合带的结构及其向北范围和逆冲印度岩石圈的命运。***

9909362Chen The overall goal of this project is to determine exactly how the continental lithosphere deforms over its entire thickness during the building of the Himalayas. The P.I.s will deploy a unique 700 km. long, high-density broadband seismic transect across the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau in cooperation with Nepalese, Chinese, French and German collaborators. The results will be used to determine which of three competing models is more appropriate: 1) Indian lithosphere underthrusts Tibet with little deformation, 2)Himalaya is a sequence of thrust stacks that involve the entire crust and uppermost mantle, or 3) Both crust and uppermost mantle shorten appreciably and the crust is weak between them. The project will provide the critical information that is missing at depth beneath key segments of the collision zone, and will map out the geometry and kinematics of prominent crustal, Moho, and upper mantle interfaces that are key for understanding how the mantle is linked to portions of the lithosphere. Specific research targets include: Mantle-involved deformation in the Himalayan foreland - how deep does the deformation go; the configuration of various thrust surfaces at depth and how the thrusts work; and the structure of the Yarlung-Zangpo suture zone its northward extent and the fate of the underthrust Indian lithosphere.***