Collaborative Research: Strain and Tectonics of the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayan Arc

随着时间的推移，青藏高原的变形比地球上其他任何一块大陆地壳都要大得多。与大多数构造活动区不同，那里的板块运动的影响并不局限于印度和亚洲之间的狭窄边界，而是从喜马拉雅山麓到蒙古，跨越数千公里。这种变形发生在高原的什么地方仍然是个未知数，驱动它的基本物理机制也是如此。这项由这笔资金支持的工作旨在通过改进地壳变形的数学模型，以包括假设的喜马拉雅边界的边缘和表面效应，并通过使用GPS大地测量直接测量西藏偏远地区的速度，来破解这两个谜团。现有的西藏动力学模型尚未解决喜马拉雅弧形的发展问题。现有的观测到的西藏地表速度地图大多仍然是空白的。目前，基于对地表运动或地理形状的预测，无法区分关于西藏如何发展和移动的相互竞争的假说。

The Tibetan Plateau deforms over time much more than any other large piece of continental crust on earth. Unlike most tectonically active regions, the effects of plate motion there are not localized to a narrow boundary separating India and Asia, but are spread across thousands of kilometers, from the Himalayan foothills to Mongolia. Where this deformation occurs within the Plateau is still mostly unknown, as are the basic physical mechanisms driving it. The work supported by this funding intends to attack both of these mysteries by improving mathematical models of crustal deformation to include edge and surface effects hypothesized for the Himalayan boundary, and by making direct measurements of the velocities of remote parts of Tibet using GPS geodesy. Existing models of Tibetan dynamics have not yet addressed the development of the shape of the Himalayan arc. Existing maps of observed Tibetan surface velocities are still mostly blank. It is currently impossible to differentiate among competing hypotheses of how Tibet grows and moves based on predictions of surface motions or of geographic shapes.