Yarlung Tsangpo, NW of Shigatse


SUMMARY

The suturing of continental fragments following the subduction of intervening oceanic lithosphere is a fundamental process in lithospheric dynamics and the shaping and growth of Earth’s continents. However, our understanding of this fundamental process remains limited. Ancient sutures manifest themselves in regional structural, sedimentary, and petrologic patterns across thousands of kilometers and record evidence of past plate dynamics. The suturing process itself results in drastic changes in plate dynamics, creates Earth’s largest mountain belts, and changes global climate dynamics by closing ocean basins and raising high topography. In terms of a fundamental and global tectonic process, suturing is on par with oceanic subduction and mid-ocean ridge formation, yet little more can be found in Earth-science textbooks than its definition and passing reference to the India-Asia collision. The primary aims of this project are to understand the geodynamic processes before, during, and after suturing, and how these processes change continental physiography and are expressed in the geological record. To achieve this goal, we are studying the India-Asia collision zone (IACZ) in southern Tibet and the northern Himalaya, employing a variety of techniques including structural geology, stratigraphy, geochronology, thermochronology, stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry, igneous and metamorphic petrology, paleomagnetism, and numerical geodynamic modeling of the associated processes. (from our NSF Continental Dynamics summary).


TEAM

  1. Paul Kapp (UA), Guillaume Dupont-Nivet (Rennes), Douwe van Hinsbergen (Olso), Lin Ding (CAS, ITPR), Pete DeCelles (UA), Jay Quade (UA), Barbara Carrapa (UA), Pete Reiners (UA), Mihai Ducea (UA), George Gehrels (UA), Jessica Kapp (UA), Kip Hodges (ASU), Brad Hacker (UCSB), Matthijs Smit (UBC), Chris Beaumont (Dalhousie), Becky Jamieson (Dalhousie), Carl Guilmette (U. Laval), Jared Butler (Dalhousie), and a slew of excellent graduate students.


FUNDING

  1. NSF Continental Dynamics, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, China NSF


PUBLICATIONS and SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

  1. Please see the Publications page.


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The Suturing Process:

Insight from the India-Asia collision zone