|
Mechanisms for Active
Rifting in Tibet: Insight from Mechanical Modeling
(UA Faculty Small
Grant; 12/16/02-12/15/03)
Despite ongoing
convergence between India and Asia, active deformation of the
Tibetan Plateau is characterized by roughly E-W extension. This project,
funded by a UA faculty small grant, evaluated mechanisms of extension in
light of the distribution and orientations of normal faults. Results are
presented in a Geology article entitled "Indian Punch Rifts
Tibet", co-authored with Jerome Guynn (PhD). We show by using an elastic
model that Tibetan normal fault orientations can be attributed to collisional
stresses (an Indian "punch") localized along a southern part of the
Himalayan arc. We suggest that continued insertion of Indian crust into Tibet can explain the persistence of
extension and may be increasing plateau crustal thickness and elevation
coeval with rifting, in contrast to the widely held view that extension marks
the "fall" of the plateau.
Publication:
Kapp, P., and Guynn, J.H., 2004, Indian Punch
Rifts Tibet: Geology, v. 32, p. 993-996.
Press Releases:
http://uanews.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/UANews.woa/1/wa/SRStoryDetails?ArticleID=10067
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2566
http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/template.cfm?name=Tibet2
http://www.ecplanet.com/canale/scienza-1/geologia-58/1/0/15370/it/ecplanet.rxdf
|