Underplating in the Himalaya-Tibet Collision Zone Revealed by the Hi-CLIMB Experiment

Nabelek, J. and Hetényi, György and Vergne, J. and Sapkota, S. and Kafle, B. (2009) Underplating in the Himalaya-Tibet Collision Zone Revealed by the Hi-CLIMB Experiment. SCIENCE, 325 (5946). pp. 1371-1374. ISSN 0036-8075

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Abstract

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.

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