EXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAU

The Tibetan plateau is the product of crustal thickening caused by the collision between India and Asia and is the largest active example of extensional tectonics in a zone of continental collision. Throughout most of the Tertiary, the tectonics of the plateau were dominated by north-south shortenin...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: England, P, Houseman, G
Formato: Journal article
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 1989
_version_ 1826258126304706560
author England, P
Houseman, G
author_facet England, P
Houseman, G
author_sort England, P
collection OXFORD
description The Tibetan plateau is the product of crustal thickening caused by the collision between India and Asia and is the largest active example of extensional tectonics in a zone of continental collision. Throughout most of the Tertiary, the tectonics of the plateau were dominated by north-south shortening, a significant proportion of which took place on east-west striking thrust faults. For the last 5 m.a. or so the plateau has been thinning by the mechanism of extension on north-south trending normal faults. Previous investigations of the collision have been able to account for the large-scale features of the Tertiary deformation but have failed to explain the transition, in the late Tertiary to Quaternary strain rate field of the plateau, from north-south compression to east-west extension. The transition could, in principle, be effected by a reduction in the rate of convergence between India and Asia or by a uniform reduction in strength of the whole continental lithosphere of Asia. Numerical experiments show that for a range of lithospheric parameters, the increase in surface height (as much as 2 km) and of potential energy (5 to 10 × 1012 N m-1) resulting from convective instability of the lower lithosphere are sufficient for east-west extension to replace north-south compression as the dominant feature of the stress field of the Tibetan plateau. -from Authors
first_indexed 2024-03-06T18:29:06Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:0903524e-7f43-455c-9d21-34ceca9940ac
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T18:29:06Z
publishDate 1989
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:0903524e-7f43-455c-9d21-34ceca9940ac2022-03-26T09:15:56ZEXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAUJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0903524e-7f43-455c-9d21-34ceca9940acEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford1989England, PHouseman, GThe Tibetan plateau is the product of crustal thickening caused by the collision between India and Asia and is the largest active example of extensional tectonics in a zone of continental collision. Throughout most of the Tertiary, the tectonics of the plateau were dominated by north-south shortening, a significant proportion of which took place on east-west striking thrust faults. For the last 5 m.a. or so the plateau has been thinning by the mechanism of extension on north-south trending normal faults. Previous investigations of the collision have been able to account for the large-scale features of the Tertiary deformation but have failed to explain the transition, in the late Tertiary to Quaternary strain rate field of the plateau, from north-south compression to east-west extension. The transition could, in principle, be effected by a reduction in the rate of convergence between India and Asia or by a uniform reduction in strength of the whole continental lithosphere of Asia. Numerical experiments show that for a range of lithospheric parameters, the increase in surface height (as much as 2 km) and of potential energy (5 to 10 × 1012 N m-1) resulting from convective instability of the lower lithosphere are sufficient for east-west extension to replace north-south compression as the dominant feature of the stress field of the Tibetan plateau. -from Authors
spellingShingle England, P
Houseman, G
EXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
title EXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
title_full EXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
title_fullStr EXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
title_full_unstemmed EXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
title_short EXTENSION DURING CONTINENTAL CONVERGENCE, WITH APPLICATION TO THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
title_sort extension during continental convergence with application to the tibetan plateau
work_keys_str_mv AT englandp extensionduringcontinentalconvergencewithapplicationtothetibetanplateau
AT housemang extensionduringcontinentalconvergencewithapplicationtothetibetanplateau