A view from the roof the Earth on processes in its deep crust: the India-Asia suture zone, southwestern Tibet

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The collision of continental fragments following the subduction of intervening oceanic lithosphere results in a drastic change in the dynamics of plates, produces Earth’s most extensive mountain belts, determines the global distribution of sediment production, and influences the global climate dynamics by closing oceanic basins and raising topography. Although this represents a fundamental process in the dynamics of Earth and the shaping of its continents and oceans, our knowledge of the driving geodynamic mechanisms, in particular those that operate in the deep crust, are limited. To gain a better understanding of these mechanisms, this project focuses on the India-Asia Collision Zone (IASZ) of southwestern Tibet; an archetypal, yet understudied suture zone, which is still undergoing uplift and subduction. High-grade metamorphic rocks from the axial zone of this geological megastructure will be subjected to multidisciplinary research that integrates macro- and micro-tectonic, petrological, and geochronological (Lu-Hf, Sm-Nd, U-Pb, Ar-Ar) data. The study will clarify the boundary conditions of different styles of metamorphism in such settings and will make predictions from typical geological features of this suture zone about the anatomy and evolution of such mega-structures.