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Science 30 May 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5624, pp. 1424 - 1427
DOI: 10.1126/science.1082777
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Reports

Seismic Imaging of the Downwelling Indian Lithosphere Beneath Central Tibet

Frederik Tilmann,1*{dagger} James Ni,1 INDEPTH III Seismic Team2

A tomographic image of the upper mantle beneath central Tibet from INDEPTH data has revealed a subvertical high-velocity zone from ~100- to ~400-kilometers depth, located approximately south of the Bangong-Nujiang Suture. We interpret this zone to be downwelling Indian mantle lithosphere. This additional lithosphere would account for the total amount of shortening in the Himalayas and Tibet. A consequence of this downwelling would be a deficit of asthenosphere, which should be balanced by an upwelling counterflow, and thus could explain the presence of warm mantle beneath north-central Tibet.

1 Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA.
2 INDEPTHIII Seismic Team: T. Hearn, Y. S. Ma, R. Rapine (New Mexico State Univ.), R. Kind, J. Mechie, J. Saul (GFZ Potsdam), S. Haines, S. Klemperer (Stanford Univ.), L. Brown, P. Pananont, A. Ross (Cornell Univ.), K. D. Nelson (Syracuse Univ.), J. Guo, W. Zhao (Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences)


* Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tilmann{at}esc.cam.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cenozoic high Sr/Y volcanic rocks in the Qiangtang terrane, northern Tibet: geochemical and isotopic evidence for the origin of delaminated lower continental melts.
S. LIU, R.-Z. HU, C.-X. FENG, H.-B. ZOU, C. LI, X.-G. CHI, J.-T. PENG, H. ZHONG, L. QI, Y.-Q. QI, et al. (2008)
Geological Magazine 145, 463-474
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Pn Attenuation beneath the Tibetan Plateau.
J. Xie (2007)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 97, 2040-2052
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Crustal flow in Tibet: geophysical evidence for the physical state of Tibetan lithosphere, and inferred patterns of active flow.
S. L. Klemperer (2006)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 268, 39-70
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Cenozoic K-rich adakitic volcanic rocks in the Hohxil area, northern Tibet: Lower-crustal melting in an intracontinental setting.
Q. Wang, F. McDermott, J.-f. Xu, H. Bellon, and Y.-t. Zhu (2005)
Geology 33, 465-468
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U-Pb zircon constraints on the tectonic evolution of southeastern Tibet, Namche Barwa Area.
A. L. Booth, P. K. Zeitler, W. S.F. Kidd, J. Wooden, Y. Liu, B. Idleman, M. Hren, and C. P. Chamberlain (2004)
Am J Sci 304, 889-929
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Indian punch rifts Tibet.
(2004)
Geology 32, 993-996
Metastability, mechanical strength, and the support of mountain belts.
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Geology 32, 625-628
Detection of southward intracontinental subduction of Tibetan lithosphere along the Bangong-Nujiang suture by P-to-S converted waves.
D. Shi, W. Zhao, L. Brown, D. Nelson, X. Zhao, R. Kind, J. Ni, J. Xiong, J. Mechie, J. Guo, et al. (2004)
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)