Walter D. Mooney, Ph.D. US Geological Survey Menlo Park, California USA Lecture #10: Lithosphere of Young Mountain Belts IPRCC and SINOPROBE Short Course: Lithospheric Evolution through Time April 8-12, 2011

European Western Alps Compliled from Tethyan Plate Tectonic Home Page, At:

Area of Research

Tectonic Map of the Western Thetysides

Tectonic Setting and Crustal Scale Seismic Lines Swiss National Science Foundation research project NRP 20

Nappe Structures: Matter Valley NRP20-W3 Vibroseis line

Interpretation of the NRP20-W3 Seismic Line based on a Depth Migrated Section NRP20-W3 seismic line

Crustal Scale Interpretation: NRP20 Western Traverse

Lithospheric scale interpretation along the NRP20 Western traverse

Tectonic Setting and Crustal Scale Seismic Lines Swiss National Science Foundation research project NRP 20

Crustal Scale Interpretation: ECORS-CROP Traverse

Lithospheric Cross-Section: ECORS-CROP Traverse

Lithospheric scale interpretation Location map Tomographic cross-section from Spakman et al. (1993) Interpretation

Gravity Model: NRP20 Western Traverse

3D Model of the Western Alps Late Oligocene

Geology, Geophysics and Tectonic Evolution of the Archean Superior Craton, central Canada Ron M. Clowes Earth and Ocean Sciences University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC L ITHOPROBE

Superior Province Hearne Rae Trans-HudsonOrogen Grenville Province AppalachianOrogen Superior Province

Line 2: Reprocessed reflection data Evidence for paleo-subduction zones White et al., Geology, v. 31, 2003 After White et al., Geology, v. 31, 2003 Figure from van der Velden et al., AGU Monograph, in press Suture Ga Suture Ga Uchi terrane Winnipeg R – Wabigoon terrane Moho 20 km 20 km 50 km 50 km 20 km 50 km

Crustal Scale Interpretation: ECORS-CROP Traverse

South American Andes Compiled from: Fernando Barra, Robert Fromm, Victor Valencia, Dr. George Zandt

Topography and Depth to Moho Iso-depth curves of Moho every 25 km

Andes

Terrane map of South America Ramos and Aleman (2000)

Schematic Cross Section of the South American Margin (29º-33ºS) From Mpodizis and Ramos (1990). during Carboniferous to Early Triassic

There is erosion of the continental margin at some subduction zones, such as western South America. We can this subduction erosion. It erodes the continental crust and returns some of the crust into the mantle.

Source: Bowring, Samuel and Housh, The Earth’s Early Evolution, Science, 269, 1995 Overview : Crustal Growth Models early extraction of all the crust from the mantle, long-term growth or episodic periods of crustal growth? Did most of the crust form by the end of the Late Archean?

Landward migration of magmatic arc

The Andes – Geophysical Data

Bouguer Anomaly across the Central Andes Götze et al., 1994

Distribution of Seismicity seismicity recorded and located by NEIC-USGS between 1990 and 2000

Crustal Thickness across the Central Andes ( 12-22ºS) Swenson et al. (2000) station distribution of the BANJO/SEDA deployment (Beck, Zandt)

Average Cross Section through the Central Andes

India Asia Collision (before)

India - Asia collision (after)

INDEPTH I + II

Royden, Burchfiel, Van der Hilst (Science, 2008)

Li et al. (EPSL, 2008) Subduction of Indian lithosphere beneath Tibet: How far north does it go?

west Li et al. (EPSL, 2008) Subduction of Indian lithosphere beneath Tibet: How far north does it go? east

Subduction of Indian lithosphere beneath Tibet: How far north does it go? Li et al. (EPSL, 2008)

Subduction of Indian lithosphere beneath Tibet: How far north does it go? northeastern plateau not underlain by Indian lithosphere? Li et al. (EPSL, 2008)

Li et al. (in preparation)