Late Cenozoic Uplift of Southeastern Tibet
Author | : Marin Kristen Clark |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 452 |
Release | : 2003 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:54664866 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (66 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: (Cont.) This "transient condition" of the landscape in southeastern Tibet reflects the initiation of rapid bedrock incision into a developing plateau margin, and the altitude of the remnant erosion surface can also be used as a datum by which to measure the total amount of erosion since the beginning of plateau uplift. 2.1 Introduction The continent-continent collision between India and Eurasia is largely responsible for creating the Tibetan Plateau, the most extensive region of elevated topography on Earth [Figure 2.1]. The development of such an anomalously high landmass has been of interest to scientists in a broad range of disciplines ranging from lithospheric dynamics to the inter action between tectonics, climate and surface processes. Studies of the Tibetan Plateau have raised several first-order questions such as: 1) how is plate convergence accommodated in the continents and what are the relative contributions of continental subduction, uniform or differential shortening in the upper and lower crust, and lateral extrusion of rigid lithospheric blocks?; 2) how do spatial (or temporal) variations in crust and mantle rheology partition deformation throughout theorogen?; 3) does the convective removal of the mantle lithosphere contribute to surface uplift and high plateau elevation? ...