Full Title: Geological and Geophysical Evidence for Deep Subduction of Continental Crust Beneath the Pamir
Authors: V.S. Burtman and Peter Molnar
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Summarizes and synthesizes published geological, geophysical, and geodetic observations, largely by Russian and Tadjik scientists, and merges them with an analysis of earthquakes to suggest subduction of intact continental lithosphere to a depth of 200 km beneath the Pamir in Central Asia. Some evidence suggests lithospheric subduction and studies imply it occurs along the northern margin of the Pamir at a rate of as much as 20 mm/a. Mapping and paleomagnetic observations indicate hundreds of kilometers of bending of tectonic belts across the Pamir consistent both with 300 km of underthrusting beneath the Pamir and with a comparable shortening within the range. Geophysical studies of deep structure corroborate the inference that only part of the convergence across the Pamir can be absorbed by shortening within the range, but that the subducted continental crust was thinner than normal.
Published: 8/11/1993
ISBN Number: 0813722810
Pages: 76
Product Category: Special Papers