Indian plate blocked by the thickened Eurasian crust in the middle of the continental collision zone of southern Tibet

Abstract

The relationship of the crustal contact between the Indian and Eurasian plates is a key issue in understanding crustal thickening and the subduction of the Indian lithosphere beneath the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Across the middle of the Yarlung-Zangbo Suture (YZS), we deployed an ∼450-km-long SN-trending wide-angle reflection/refraction profile to observe the P-wave velocity (vP) structure beneath the northern Himalaya and the southern plateau. Our results show that, 1. the high vP (∼7.1 ​km/s) indicates that the Indian lower crust extends no more than 50 ​km north of the YZS. 2. The lower crust beneath the southern part of the plateau features an extremely low vP (<6.7 ​± ​0.2 ​km/s). 3. Compared with the velocities of several typical crustal lithologies in different temperature regimes, the low vP in the lower crust can be explained by felsic-intermediate granulite, which has prevented the lower crust from further eclogitization. We propose that the dip angle of the Indian lithospheric slab beneath the YZS is partly controlled by the composition of the lower crust of the plateau. In the northern middle YZS, the crust of the southern plateau is too thick and blocks the northward advancement of the Indian lower crust, resulting in the subduction of the Indian lithospheric slab into the upper mantle. The lower crust in western and eastern Lhasa is dominated by a mafic composition, and it was delaminated after eclogitization before the Miocene. The void zone generated by delamination favors the flattening and underthrusting of the Indian lower crust.