Tibetan Plateau Formation: tracing material flow around the East-Himalayan syntaxis

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Critical aspects such as the timing and nature of India-Asia collision and the initiation and evolution of the height and width of the Tibetan Plateau are disputed, untested, or unknown. It has been argued that Miocene to Recent geologic, geodetic, paleomagnetic, geomorphic, and geophysical features of the eastern Plateau are best explained by flow of low-viscosity material within the middle-lower crust; this model contrasts with the classic escape model that calls for large-scale displacement of lithospheric blocks toward SE-Asia. Both models have fundamental implications for crustal rheology, vertical coupling in the lithosphere, and Plateau formation and growth. Here, we test these fundamental models of continental lithosphere deformation by studying the geometry, timing, and magnitude of thermal and mechanical changes and material flow around the E-Himalayan syntaxis (SE-Tibet, W-Yunnan). This interdisciplinary project will integrate, in close cooperation with ITP colleagues, data from geology (structural geometry, kinematics, rheology, depth-temperature-time histories), paleomagne-tism (degree and distribution of crustal block rotation), and remote sensing/tectonic geomorphology (drainage development and river capture reflecting current deformation).