Active tectonics and erosional unloading at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau |
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| Authors: | Alexander L Densmore Yong Li Michael A Ellis Rongjun Zhou |
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| Institution: | (1) Institute of Geology, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zentrum, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland;(2) National Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Chengdu University of Technology, 610059 Chengdu, China;(3) Center for Earthquake Research and Information, University of Memphis, 3890 Central Avenue, 38152 Memphis, TN, USA;(4) Institute of Earthquake Engineering, Seismological Bureau of Sichuan Province, 610041 Chengdu, China |
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| Abstract: | The eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is marked by an extremely steep mountain front with relief of over 5 km. This topography, coupled with abundant Mesozoic thrusts within the margin, explains why tectonic maps of the India-Asia collision typically show the eastern margin as a major thrust zone. Actually, it does not like that. Field observations suggest that the margin is better characterized as a zone of NNE-directed dextral shear with extensive strike-slip faulting and secondary thrusting. The high relief and steep gradients are partially explained by erosional unloading of an elastic lithosphere; the pre-erosion inherited topography may be the inherited Mesozoic thrust belt landscape modified by a component of Cenozoic tectonic shortening. |
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| Keywords: | Tibetan Plateau tectonic erosional unloading faulting |
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