Tectonics of western Tibet, between the Tarim and the Indus

Ph Matte; P. Tapponnier; N. Arnaud; L. Bourjot; J. P. Avouac; Ph Vidal; Liu Qing; Pan Yusheng; Wang Yi

Tectonics of western Tibet, between the Tarim and the Indus

Ph Matte
, P. Tapponnier
, N. Arnaud
, L. Bourjot
, J. P. Avouac
, Ph Vidal
, Liu Qing
, Pan Yusheng
, Wang Yi

School of Geog & Environmental Scs

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

617 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A Tarim to Indus traverse provides insight into the tectonics of western Tibet. The Kunlun was the site of a Mid-Paleozoic collision. At least three phases of post-Paleozoic accretion have thickened the blanket of sediments that covers western Tibet. Sizeable parts of western Qiangtang have remained stable, however, since the Mid-Mesozoic. Since the Neogene, deformation and volcanism have been localized near the edges of the Plateau. Strike-slip motion along the Karakorum and Altyn Tagh faults has been coeval with overthrusting in the Himalayas and Kunlun. Such slip partitioning, and the volcanism, appear to result simply from northward subduction of India and southward subduction of the Tarim as Tibet is extruded eastwards by India's penetration into Asia.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	311-330
Number of pages	20
Journal	Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume	142
Issue number	3-4
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - Aug 1996

Funding

This work was part of the multidisciplinary West-em Kunlun-Karakorum project, jointly supportedb y the CNRS (France), the National Science Foundation of China and Academia Sinica. We thank Professors Sun Shu, Zheng Du and G. Aubert for launching and coordinating the project and M. Moullade and J. Philip for fossil determinations.T he field expedition logistics were set up by the Institute of Geography of Academia Sinica. Financial support for the French team by programs ‘Dynamique et Bilan de la Terre’. ‘Imagerie et Structured e la Terre’ of INSU-CNRS, and by the Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, is gratefully acknowledged. Two anonymous referees helped clarify and shorten the initial manuscript. Fruitful discussions with G. Peltzer, M. Brunei, M. Fort, 0. Dollfus, F. Gasse, M. Mattauer, V. Cour-tillot and F. Proust are also aknowledged.W e thank Guy Aveline and Georges Garcia for the quality of drawings. This is IPGP contribution number 1436.

Keywords

Kunlun Mountains
Tectonics
Xizang China

Cite this

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title = "Tectonics of western Tibet, between the Tarim and the Indus",

abstract = "A Tarim to Indus traverse provides insight into the tectonics of western Tibet. The Kunlun was the site of a Mid-Paleozoic collision. At least three phases of post-Paleozoic accretion have thickened the blanket of sediments that covers western Tibet. Sizeable parts of western Qiangtang have remained stable, however, since the Mid-Mesozoic. Since the Neogene, deformation and volcanism have been localized near the edges of the Plateau. Strike-slip motion along the Karakorum and Altyn Tagh faults has been coeval with overthrusting in the Himalayas and Kunlun. Such slip partitioning, and the volcanism, appear to result simply from northward subduction of India and southward subduction of the Tarim as Tibet is extruded eastwards by India's penetration into Asia.",

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T1 - Tectonics of western Tibet, between the Tarim and the Indus

AU - Matte, Ph

AU - Tapponnier, P.

AU - Arnaud, N.

AU - Bourjot, L.

AU - Avouac, J. P.

AU - Vidal, Ph

AU - Qing, Liu

AU - Yusheng, Pan

AU - Yi, Wang

PY - 1996/8

Y1 - 1996/8

N2 - A Tarim to Indus traverse provides insight into the tectonics of western Tibet. The Kunlun was the site of a Mid-Paleozoic collision. At least three phases of post-Paleozoic accretion have thickened the blanket of sediments that covers western Tibet. Sizeable parts of western Qiangtang have remained stable, however, since the Mid-Mesozoic. Since the Neogene, deformation and volcanism have been localized near the edges of the Plateau. Strike-slip motion along the Karakorum and Altyn Tagh faults has been coeval with overthrusting in the Himalayas and Kunlun. Such slip partitioning, and the volcanism, appear to result simply from northward subduction of India and southward subduction of the Tarim as Tibet is extruded eastwards by India's penetration into Asia.

AB - A Tarim to Indus traverse provides insight into the tectonics of western Tibet. The Kunlun was the site of a Mid-Paleozoic collision. At least three phases of post-Paleozoic accretion have thickened the blanket of sediments that covers western Tibet. Sizeable parts of western Qiangtang have remained stable, however, since the Mid-Mesozoic. Since the Neogene, deformation and volcanism have been localized near the edges of the Plateau. Strike-slip motion along the Karakorum and Altyn Tagh faults has been coeval with overthrusting in the Himalayas and Kunlun. Such slip partitioning, and the volcanism, appear to result simply from northward subduction of India and southward subduction of the Tarim as Tibet is extruded eastwards by India's penetration into Asia.

KW - Kunlun Mountains

KW - Tectonics

KW - Xizang China

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M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:0030485320

SN - 0012-821X

VL - 142

SP - 311

EP - 330

JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters

IS - 3-4

ER -

Tectonics of western Tibet, between the Tarim and the Indus

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

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