Decoupled Lithospheric Folding, Lower Crustal Flow Channels, and the Growth of Tibetan Plateau (original) (raw)

The Tibetan Plateau is a unique geophysical feature due to its extreme size and elevation, and is one of the most geologically active regions in the world with unique climatic and geodynamic processes. Modern geodetic, geophysical, and geological observations reveal that the Tibetan Plateau is subjected to the collisional environment between India and Eurasia tectonic plates, and is still undergoing convergent movement (Pan et al., 2018). However, there is no definitive consensus elucidating the growth process of the Plateau, which would completely explain the outstanding findings, including the extraordinary thick crust and subducting slabs (Zhao et al., 2010), widely spread crustal melts and channel flows (