Crustal Architecture and Images

Updated: Nov 20, 2008

IGCP Project 559 - Seismic Images

Transcurrent / Strike-slip fault zones

Geophysical Profile 973 Transect, Tibet Plateau
Transect crosses a continent -scale dextral shear zone in the northeast margin of the Tibet Plateau. The transect shows the northward-moving Tibetan Plateau is squeezing the cratons of northern China eastwards ("tectonic escape process") and creating a series of continental-scale sinistral (left-lateral) shear zones (transcurrent fault zones).