Underplating in the Himalaya-Tibet collision zone revealed by the Hi-CLIMB experiment.
We studied the formation of the Himalayan mountain range and the Tibetan Plateau by investigating their lithospheric structure. Using an 800-kilometer-long, densely spaced seismic array, we have constructed an image of the crust and upper mantle beneath the Himalayas and the southern Tibetan Plateau. The image reveals in a continuous fashion the Main Himalayan thrust fault as it extends from a shallow depth under Nepal to the mid-crust under southern Tibet. Indian crust can be traced to 31 degrees N. The crust/mantle interface beneath Tibet is anisotropic, indicating shearing during its formation. The dipping mantle fabric suggests that the Indian mantle is subducting in a diffuse fashion along several evolving subparallel structures.
Nábelek
John
J
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. nabelek@coas.oregonstate.edu
Hetényi
György
G
Vergne
Jérôme
J
Sapkota
Soma
S
Kafle
Basant
B
Jiang
Mei
M
Su
Heping
H
Chen
John
J
Huang
Bor-Shouh
BS