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Science 19 October 2001:
Vol. 294. no. 5542, pp. 574 - 577
DOI: 10.1126/science.1063647
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Reports

Present-Day Crustal Deformation in China Constrained by Global Positioning System Measurements

Qi Wang,1 Pei-Zhen Zhang,2* Jeffrey T. Freymueller,3 Roger Bilham,4 Kristine M. Larson,5 Xi'an Lai,1 Xinzhao You,1 Zhijun Niu,2 Jianchun Wu,2 Yanxin Li,6 Jingnan Liu,7 Zhiqiang Yang,8 Qizhi Chen3

Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in China indicate that crustal shortening accommodates most of India's penetration into Eurasia. Deformation within the Tibetan Plateau and its margins, the Himalaya, the Altyn Tagh, and the Qilian Shan, absorbs more than 90% of the relative motion between the Indian and Eurasian plates. Internal shortening of the Tibetan plateau itself accounts for more than one-third of the total convergence. However, the Tibetan plateau south of the Kunlun and Ganzi-Mani faults is moving eastward relative to both India and Eurasia. This movement is accommodated through rotation of material around the eastern Syntaxis. The North China and South China blocks, east of the Tibetan Plateau, move coherently east-southeastward at rates of 2 to 8 millimeters per year and 6 to 11 millimeters per year, respectively, with respect to the stable Eurasia.

1 Institute of Seismology, China Seismological Bureau, Wuhan 430071, China.
2 Center for Crustal Movement Studies and Institute of Geology, China Seismological Bureau, Beijing 100029, China.
3 Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.
4 Department of Geological Sciences and CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
5 Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
6 First Crustal Deformation Monitoring Center, China Seismological Bureau, Tianjin 300180, China.
7 School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China.
8 Department of Surveying Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: peizhen{at}public3.bta.net.cn.

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