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Journal Article

Deep India meets deep Asia: Lithospheric indentation, delamination and break-off under Pamir and Hindu Kush (Central Asia)

Authors
/persons/resource/kufner

Kufner,  Sofia-Katerina
4.1 Lithosphere Dynamics, 4.0 Geomaterials, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

/persons/resource/schurr

Schurr,  B.
4.1 Lithosphere Dynamics, 4.0 Geomaterials, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

/persons/resource/sippl

Sippl,  Christian
4.1 Lithosphere Dynamics, 4.0 Geomaterials, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

/persons/resource/yuan

Yuan,  Xiaohui
2.4 Seismology, 2.0 Geophysics, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Ratschbacher,  Lothar
External Organizations;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Akbar,  Arib s/of Mohammad
External Organizations;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Ischuk,  Anatoly
External Organizations;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Murodkulov,  Shohrukh
External Organizations;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

/persons/resource/felix

Schneider,  F. M.
2.4 Seismology, 2.0 Geophysics, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

/persons/resource/jimmy

Mechie,  James
2.2 Geophysical Deep Sounding, 2.0 Geophysics, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

/persons/resource/tilmann

Tilmann,  F.
External Organizations;
GEOFON, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

, 

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Fulltext (public)

1415904.pdf
(Postprint), 3MB

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Citation

Kufner, S.-K., Schurr, B., Sippl, C., Yuan, X., Ratschbacher, L., Akbar, A. s. M., Ischuk, A., Murodkulov, S., Schneider, F. M., Mechie, J., Tilmann, F. (2016): Deep India meets deep Asia: Lithospheric indentation, delamination and break-off under Pamir and Hindu Kush (Central Asia). - Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 435, 171-184.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.11.046


Cite as: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_1415904
Abstract
Subduction of buoyant continental lithosphere is one of the least understood plate-tectonic processes. Yet under the Pamir–Hindu Kush, at the northwestern margin of the India–Asia collision zone, unusual deep earthquakes and seismic velocity anomalies suggest subduction of Asian and Indian lithosphere. Here, we report new precise earthquake hypocenters, detailed tomographic images and earthquake source mechanisms, which allow distinguishing a narrow sliver of Indian lithosphere beneath the deepest Hindu Kush earthquakes and a broad, arcuate slab of Asian lithosphere beneath the Pamir. We suggest that this double subduction zone arises by contrasting modes of convergence under the Pamir and Hindu Kush, imposed by the different mechanical properties of the three types of lithosphere involved. While the buoyant northwestern salient of Cratonic India bulldozes into Cratonic Asia, forcing delamination and rollback of its lithosphere, India's thinned western continental margin separates from Cratonic India and subducts beneath Asia. This torn-off narrow plate sliver forms a prominent high-velocity anomaly down to the mantle transition zone. Our images show that its uppermost section is thinned or already severed and that intermediate depth earthquakes cluster at the neck connecting it to the deeper slab, providing a rare glimpse at the ephemeral process of slab break-off.