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Article
Nature 387, 37-43 (1 May 1997) | doi:10.1038/387037a0; Received 15 July 1996; Accepted 11 March 1997
Implications of crustal property variations for models of Tibetan plateau evolution
Thomas J. Owens* & George Zandt†‡
- * Department of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA
- † Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
- ‡ IGPP, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Abstract
Shear-coupled teleseismic P waves sampling the interior of the Tibetan plateau provide evidence of systematic variations in crustal structure. The crust thins by up to 20 km from south to north with a concomitant increase in Poisson's ratio from normal values in the south to unusually high values in the north. This suggests that the crust of the northern plateau is partially melted due to high temperatures. These changes imply spatial and perhaps temporal variations in the way the elevation of the high plateau is created and maintained.
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