Foreword

China has 46 377 glaciers with a total area of 59 425 km2, which accounts for 11%-14.5% of the total area of mountain glaciers in the world. As one of the largest mountain ranges in Central Asia and Northwest China, the Tianshan contains 15 935 gla-ciers with a total area of 15 416 km2. These glaciers are a vital source of water for more than 100 million people and for wildlife ecosystems in this vast arid and semi-arid land. Urumqi Glacier No. 1, the best monitored glacier in China, is located at the h...     

Foreword

The Qinghai-Tibet plateau is a fast uplifting area that constitutes the world's highest and thickest, and newest piece of continental plate which has unusual geometric configurations and landscapes. The Qinghai-Tibet plateau consists of multiple terranes, with a complex geological history, including the evolution of the Tethys Ocean basin, the convergence of terranes and island arcs, multiple subductions, multiple collisions and multiple orogens, over a long period of action of continental dynamic processes. Before the Indian and the Asian plates collided, during the Early Paleozoic, it was already a large orogen and terrane collision complex.     

Foreword

The Chinese Geophysical Society and China University of Geosciences (CUG) hosted the last three International Conferences on Environmental and Engineering Geophysics (ICEEG) on the campus of CUG in Wuhan, China, biannually from 2004 to 2008.