Lithospheric Deformation of Far-Field Terranes in Response to the India-Asia Collision

The influence of the India-Asia collision is far-reaching on the Cenozoic continental deformation in East Asia. Several cratonic lithospheres surrounding Tibet exhibit distinct lithospheric morphologies. However, the mechanisms driving these diverse responses of strong terranes remain incompletely understood. Here, we conduct thermo-mechanical models to explore the effects of the width of the mobile belts, lithospheric properties and convergence rate on the deformation of the strong terranes. The model results reveal three different deformation modes. Far-field strong terranes are vulnerable to delamination or underthrusting when the mobile belt is narrow and detached, whereas they remain largely undeformed when it is wide and strong. These deformation patterns align with the observed lithospheric structures around the Tibetan Plateau and are primarily influenced by the convergence rate and proximity to the collision front. Our findings provide new insights into the lithospheric deformation mechanisms of cratonic terranes in response to continental collision.