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GPS measurements from the Ladakh Himalaya, India: Preliminary tests of plate-like or continuous deformation in Tibet

Sridevi Jade¹, B.C. Bhatt², Z. Yang³, R. Bendick^,4,5, V.K. Gaur^,6,7, P. Molnar^,8, M.B. Anand^,9 and Dilip Kumar^,9

¹ CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation, Bangalore 5650037, India
² Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034, India
³ Department of Surveying Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, People's Republic of China
⁴ Department of Geological Sciences, and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0399, USA
⁵ COMET, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK
⁶ CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation, Bangalore 5650037, India
⁷ Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034, India
⁸ Department of Geological Sciences, and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0399, USA
⁹ CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation, Bangalore 5650037, India

Observations of relative motion in a geodetic network in Ladakh, India, and across southern Tibet indicate slow shear on the Karakorum fault, rapid east-west extension across the whole of southern Tibet, and constant arc-normal convergence between India and southern Tibet along the Himalayan arc. Measurements of ten campaign-style and six permanent sites with global positioning system (GPS) precise geodesy provide these bounds on the style and rates of the large-scale deformation in the Tibet-Himalaya region. Divergence between sites at Leh, Ladakh, India, and Shiquanhe, western Tibet, as well as slow relative motion among sites within the Ladakh network, limit right-lateral slip parallel to the Karakorum fault to only 3.4 ± 5 mm/yr. This low rate concurs with a recent estimate of 3–4 mm/yr for Late Holocene time, but disagrees with the much higher rate of 30–35 mm/yr that has been used to argue for plate-like behavior of the Tibetan Plateau. Convergence between Ladakh and the Indian subcontinent at 18.8 ± 3 mm/yr at 224° ± 17° (1) differs little from estimates of convergence across the central segment of the Himalaya. Finally, lengthening of the baseline between Leh, Ladakh, and Lhasa (in southeastern Tibet) at 17.8 ± 1 mm/yr or between Leh and Bayi (farther to the southeast) at 18 ± 3 mm/yr, is consistent with an extrapolation of rates of east-west extension of the Tibetan Plateau based both on shorter GPS baselines (e.g., Lhasa-Simikot) and on diverging slip vectors of earthquakes in the Himalaya. We interpret these results to indicate that Tibet behaves more like a fluid than like a plate.

Key Words: geodesy • geodynamics • Tibetan Plateau • Himalaya • Karakorum • continuum mechanics

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