The Possible Distribution Range of Crustal Flow in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau

Tibetan Plateau, with its highest elevation and thickest crust, is the result from the convergence and collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates over the past 70 – 50 Ma. When the temperature and pressure are in a certain condition, the material of middle-lower crust can start to flow as crustal flow or lower-crust flow. Numerous studies have shown that crustal flow may exist on a large region within the Tibetan Plateau, and it should play an important role in the evolution of the plateau. However, it is still far to have a consensus on the extent and connectivity of crustal flow, and its interaction with other tectonic deformation processes to regulate the evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan Plateau is expanding along its eastern margin, hence it is necessary to make a summary review of all available geophysical results at eastern Tibet, and then discuss the distribution of crustal flow and its contribution to the evolution, which may provide good guidance for geological and geophysical studies in the future. In this paper, we summarized the distribution of the low-velocity zone in middle-lower crust based on different seismological studies. Combined with the results from magnetotelluric and seismic anisotropy analysis, we discussed the extent and scale of crustal flow in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, and its contribution to the evolution of the plateau. We suggested that the crustal flow has various distribution characteristics among the southeastern margin, eastern margin and northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, where the deformation pattern is significantly different. © 2022 Science Press. All rights reserved.