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Science 6 December 1996:
Vol. 274. no. 5293, pp. 1684 - 1688
DOI: 10.1126/science.274.5293.1684
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Reports

Partially Molten Middle Crust Beneath Southern Tibet: Synthesis of Project INDEPTH Results

K. D. Nelson, * Wenjin Zhao, L. D. Brown, J. Kuo, Jinkai Che, Xianwen Liu, S. L. Klemperer, Y. Makovsky, R. Meissner, J. Mechie, R. Kind, F. Wenzel, J. Ni, J. Nabelek, Chen Leshou, Handong Tan, Wenbo Wei, A. G. Jones, J. Booker, M. Unsworth, W. S. F. Kidd, M. Hauck, D. Alsdorf, A. Ross, M. Cogan, Changde Wu, E. Sandvol, M. Edwards

INDEPTH geophysical and geological observations imply that a partially molten midcrustal layer exists beneath southern Tibet. This partially molten layer has been produced by crustal thickening and behaves as a fluid on the time scale of Himalayan deformation. It is confined on the south by the structurally imbricated Indian crust underlying the Tethyan and High Himalaya and is underlain, apparently, by a stiff Indian mantle lid. The results suggest that during Neogene time the underthrusting Indian crust has acted as a plunger, displacing the molten middle crust to the north while at the same time contributing to this layer by melting and ductile flow. Viewed broadly, the Neogene evolution of the Himalaya is essentially a record of the southward extrusion of the partially molten middle crust underlying southern Tibet.

K. D. Nelson, M. Cogan, C. Wu, Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
W. Zhao, J. Che, X. Liu, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China.
L. D. Brown, M. Hauck, D. Alsdorf, A. Ross, Institute for the Study of the Continents, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
J. Kuo, Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA.
S. L. Klemperer and Y. Makovsky, Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
R. Meissner, Institut für Geophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel, 24098 Kiel, Germany.
J. Mechie and R. Kind, GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
F. Wenzel, Geophysikalisches Institut, Universitaet Karlsruhe, 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany.
J. Ni and E. Sandvol, Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA.
J. Nabelek, College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
L. Chen, H. Tan, W. Wei, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China.
A. G. Jones, Geological Survey of Canada, 1 Observatory Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
J. Booker and M. Unsworth, Geophysics Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
W. S. F. Kidd and M. Edwards, Department of Geosciences, SUNY-Albany, Albany, NY 12222, USA
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)