Zagros, Hindu Kush, Himalaya

Book excerpt: Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geodynamics Series, Volume 3. The International Geodynamics Project focussed attention on processes within the earth responsible for the movement of the lithospheric blocks. At anyone time, strong tectonic activity appears limited to a few mobile belts. Most of the present-day seismic activity is confined to the Circum-Pacific belt, the Alpide belt and the mid-oceanic ridges. These belts include oceanic and continental rift systems, the island arcs and young folded mountains. Continent to continent collision of the Eurasian and the Indian plates is generally believed to be responsible for the origin of the Himalaya, the tectonics of this region and the neighbouring south and central Asia. To focus attention on geodynamic problems in this relatively much less known Alpine-Himalayan region bounded by Iran in the West and Burma in the East, the Inter-Union Commission on Geodynamics formed a separate Working Group 3b under the Chairmanship of Hari Narain. Later, in 1975, this Working Group 3b on "Geodynamics of the Alpine-Himalayan region, East" was given independant status and re-numbered as Working Group 6.