U.S.-China Cooperative Research (Geology): Geological Studyof the Tonghai-Jianshui-Kunming Area, Yunnan

这是麻省理工学院的B. Clark burchfield和中国科学院云南地质科学研究所的陈吉辰合作的一个为期两年的合作研究项目。该项目由美国国家科学基金会和中国科学院共同资助。这是一项为期四年的关于云南通海、建水、昆明地区新生代和活动变形研究的第一阶段。近期目标是记录青藏高原东缘附近地区的新生代变形史，这与青藏高原及中国周边地区的构造发展有关。该项目最广泛的目标是更好地了解西藏、中国和东南亚大陆内变形的性质。西藏是地球上大陆碰撞活动最壮观的例子，西藏内部的变形通常被认为是大陆内收敛变形的一个模型。然而，西藏的野外资料很少，对其新生代变形的解释提出了各种各样的假说。这些不同的假设有不同的……而且是可测试的……在青藏高原东部边缘的地质研究中，它们可能是最有效的检验。通海地区的研究将为西藏及其周边地区的新生代和活动形变的稀疏观测资料提供重要补充。PI将验证他们的假设，即青藏高原下的地壳增厚是北分布的结果。高原内地壳由南向东北缩短。

This is a two year collaborative research project between B. Clark Burchfiel of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chen Jichen of the Yunnan Institute of Geological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The project is sponsored jointly by NSF and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This is the first phase of a projected four year study on Cenozoic and active deformation in the Tonghai.Jianshui.Kunming region of Yunnan Province. The immediate goal is to document the Cenozoic deformation history of an area adjacent to the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau, which is related to the tectonic development of the plateau and surrounding regions of China. The broadest aim of the project is to develop a better understanding of the nature of intracontinental deformation in Tibet, China and southeast Asia. Tibet is the most spectacular example of active continental collision on earth, and deformation within Tibet is commonly assumed to provide a model for convergent intracontinental deformation. However, there is little field data available for Tibet and a wide range of hypotheses have been proposed to explain its Cenozoic deformation. These various hypotheses have different .. and testable .. implications for deformation along and adjacent to the eastern margin of Tibet, so that they may perhaps be most efficiently tested by geological studies along the eastern margin of the plateau. The proposed study of the Tonghai region should provide a major addition to the sparse observational data that document the Cenozoic and active deformation of Tibet and its environs. The PI's will test their hypothesis that the thickened crust beneath the Tibetan plateau is the result of distributed north.south to northeast crustal shortening within the plateau.