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

青藏高原的崛起，深刻改变了地球的大气环流和气候。出于这个原因，它一直是了解构造和气候变化之间的联系以及大陆碰撞过程的主要地点。青藏高原的崛起有几种相互矛盾的假说：青藏高原的海拔迅速而广泛地上升，高原通过下地壳的持续粘性流动而扩张，或者青藏高原通过连贯的地壳和地幔块体之间的顺序和局部剪切而扩张。相互竞争的情景的核心是这样一个问题：随着时间的推移，高原是整体向上增长还是向外增长。解决这个问题的最佳地点是青藏高原东北部，那里的高原正处于萌芽阶段，地壳和浅地幔的特征和动力学过程是理解可能对整个青藏高原起作用的机制的关键。这个由美国和中国机构合作的项目从青藏高原东北部获取地震数据。这项研究包括详细的研究，以成像该地区的地壳和地幔结构，对照地震观测来检验当前的假设，并开发将地震观测和其他地质约束相结合的新模型。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灾害。

The rise of the Tibetan plateau has profoundly changed the Earth's atmospheric circulation and climate. For this reason, it has been the prime site to understand the link between 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 and broad increase in the elevation of the plateau, an expansion of the plateau by continuous viscous flow of lower crust, or an expansion of the plateau by sequential and localized shear between coherent crust and mantle blocks. At the center of the competing scenarios is the question whether the plateau has grown upward en masse or outward over time. The best place to address this question is the northeast Tibetan plateau, where the plateau is at a nascent stage with features and dynamic processes in the crust and shallow mantle that are keys to the understanding of the mechanisms that may have operated for the entire Tibetan plateau.This collaborative project between U.S. and Chinese institutions acquires seismic data from the northeast Tibetan plateau. The research includes detailed studies to image the crust and mantle structures in the region, to test the current hypotheses against seismic observations, and to develop new models that integrate seismic observations and other geological constraints. The research also includes focused studies to analyze regional earthquake activity, which helps to mitigate earthquake hazards in one of the seismically most active areas in the interior of a continental plate.