Collaborative Research: The Growth of the Tibetan Plateau - A Seismic Investigation of the Qilian Shan and Surrounding Tectonic Blocks

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The rise of the Tibetan plateau has profoundly changed the Earth's atmosphericcirculation and climate. For this reason, it has been the prime site to understand the linkbetween tectonics and climate change as well as the processes of continental collision.There are several competing hypotheses for the rise of the Tibetan plateau: a rapid andbroad increase in the elevation of the plateau, an expansion of the plateau bycontinuous viscous flow of lower crust, or an expansion of the plateau by sequential andlocalized shear between coherent crust and mantle blocks. At the center of thecompeting scenarios is the question whether the plateau has grown upward en masseor outward over time. The best place to address this question is the northeast Tibetanplateau, where the plateau is at a nascent stage with features and dynamic processesin the crust and shallow mantle that are keys to the understanding of the mechanismsthat may have operated for the entire Tibetan plateau.This collaborative project between U.S. and Chinese institutions acquires seismic datafrom the northeast Tibetan plateau. The research includes detailed studies to image thecrust and mantle structures in the region, to test the current hypotheses against seismicobservations, and to develop new models that integrate seismic observations and othergeological constraints. The research also includes focused studies to analyze regionalearthquake activity, which helps to mitigate earthquake hazards in one of theseismically most active areas in the interior of a continental plate.