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

青藏高原的上升深刻地改变了地球的大气环流和气候。因此，它一直是了解构造和气候变化以及大陆碰撞过程之间联系的主要地点。青藏高原的上升有几种相互竞争的假说：高原海拔的迅速而广泛的增加，由下地壳的连续粘性流动引起的高原扩张，或由连贯的地壳和地幔块体之间的连续和局部剪切引起的高原扩张。这些相互矛盾的设想的核心问题是，随着时间的推移，高原是向上还是向外增长的。解决这个问题的最佳地点是青藏高原东北部，那里的高原正处于初期阶段，地壳和浅地幔的特征和动力过程是理解整个青藏高原可能运作的机制的关键。美国和中国机构之间的这个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地壳和地幔结构成像的详细研究，以测试当前针对地震观测的假设，并开发整合地震观测和其他地质约束的新模型。这项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危害。

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.