Electromagnetic Images of Colliding Continents: a Magnetotelluric Survey of the Tsangpo Suture And Surrounding Regions of Tibet

In coordination with the INDEPTH seismic studies of the India-Asia collision zone (Zhao et al., 1993, Nelson et al., 1996), natural-source electromagnetic experiments, using the magnetotelluric (MT) technique, took place from April to July of 1995 along two profiles designed to study lithospheric structures at all scales. The primary goal was to try to differentiate between the two well-established, dichotomously-opposed, end-member models to account for the thickened crust of Tibet, invoking either underplating of the Asian crust by Indian crust and lithosphere (Argand, 1924), or compressional contraction of Asian crust (Dewey and Burke, 1973).