EPSS Colloquium fall-2016

The Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau are dramatic results of the collision of the Indian subcontinent and Eurasia. The crust in the region has responded to the collision by increasing elevation, creating the highest peaks on the planet. But it is also in motion as the Tibetan crust is squeezed between the Indian and Eurasian pincers. What accommodates this motion? The main hypothesis is that the lower crust is a weak, ductile, flowing channel that carries the upper crust as it moves. Much of the evidence supporting this model comes from studies of topography. Prof. Hacker uses seismology and the record of metamorphic and igneous rocks to evaluate this hypothesis.