Seismic Images of Crust and Upper Mantle beneath Tibet: Evidence for Eurasian Plate Subduction

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 298; no. 5596; pp. 1219 - 1221
• Main Authors: Kind, R., Yuan, X., Saul, J., Nelson, D., Sobolev, S. V., Mechie, J., Zhao, W., Kosarev, G., Ni, J., Achauer, U., Jiang, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 08-11-2002; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Climate; Crust; Crust (Geology); Earth; Evidence; Evolution; Lithospheres; Mantle; Mantle (Geology); Mohorovicic discontinuity; Plate tectonics; Plateaus; Seismology; Transition zones; Upper mantle; Tibet; China; India
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1078115

Seismic data from central Tibet have been combined to image the subsurface structure and understand the evolution of the collision of India and Eurasia. The 410- and 660-kilometer mantle discontinuities are sharply defined, implying a lack of a subducting slab beneath the plateau. The discontinuities appear slightly deeper beneath northern Tibet, implying that the average temperature of the mantle above the transition zone is about 300°C hotter in the north than in the south. There is a prominent south-dipping converter in the uppermost mantle beneath northern Tibet that might represent the top of the Eurasian mantle lithosphere underthrusting the northern margin of the plateau.