Abstract
Magnetotelluric studies in southern Tibet along a north–south traverse, 200 km long, crossing the Yarlung–Zangbo suture zone near Lhasa, have enabled us to construct a two-dimensional model in which layers of anomalously high conductivity exist at depths shallower than 33 km. The electrical properties of these layers are different on the two sides of the suture zone. We show here that the most plausible explanation of the high conductivity is the existence of partial melting zones in the upper part rather than the lower part of a crust ˜70 km thick. This represents a powerful constraint for thermo-mechanical models of continental collisions.
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Pham, V., Boyer, D., Therme, P. et al. Partial melting zones in the crust in southern Tibet from magnetotelluric results. Nature 319, 310–314 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/319310a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/319310a0
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