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

合作研究：青藏高原的生长——祁连山及周边构造块的地震调查

• 批准号: 0738879
• 负责人: Aibing Li
• 金额: $ 12.05万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-05-01 至 2012-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0738879&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Growth; Tibetan; Plateau

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.

青藏高原的隆升深刻地改变了地球的大气环流和气候。因此，青藏高原一直是了解构造与气候变化以及大陆碰撞过程之间联系的主要场所。对于青藏高原的崛起，有几种相互竞争的假设：高原高度迅速而广泛的增加，下地壳的持续粘性流使高原扩张，或者是由于连续的地壳和地幔块体之间的连续和局部剪切导致的高原扩张。竞争场景的中心是这样一个问题：随着时间的推移，高原是向上生长还是向外生长。解决这一问题的最佳地点是青藏高原东北部，那里的高原正处于新生阶段，地壳和浅地幔的特征和动态过程是理解可能影响整个青藏高原的机制的关键。美国和中国机构之间的这一合作项目从青藏高原东北部获取地震数据。这项研究包括对该地区的地壳和地幔结构进行详细研究，根据地震观测结果测试目前的假设，并开发整合地震观测和其他地质约束的新模型。该研究还包括分析区域地震活动的重点研究，这有助于减轻大陆板块内部地震最活跃地区之一的地震灾害。