PI: Junmeng Zhao, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Period：2016-2019
Funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China

The uplift of the Tibetan plateau and the elevation of the Himalaya mountains are primarily caused by the continental collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates. At the western Himalaya syntaxis (WHS), significant crustal shorting has taken place. The focal depths are as much as 300 km. These observations suggest that the continental slab may have subducted beneath the deep mantle. Therefore, the WHS is an ideal natural laboratory for studying the continental subduction and the transition mechanism from oceanic–continental subduction to continental-continental subduction. In this study, we plan to deploy a broadband seismic array and MT sounding to investigate detailed structures of crust and upper mantle beneath the WHS. In combination with the data from the International Seismological Centra and the China Earthquake Data Center, and with a number of advanced data analyzing techniques, we can obtain detailed structures of the crust and upper mantle, and reveal the behaviours of the subducing Indian continental lithospheric mantle and its relation with the subducting Asian lithospheric mantle; set up or further enrich the 3D geodynamic model; discuss the constrain mechanics of the deep structure to the shallow one; and provide some deep tectonic evidences for evaluation and prevention of seismological and geological disasters in WHS region.