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Significance Our regional-scale geochemical dataset (3He/4He) resolves the geometry of the continental collision between India and Asia. Geophysical images have led to contradictory interpretations that India directly underthrusts Tibet as… Click to show full abstract
Significance Our regional-scale geochemical dataset (3He/4He) resolves the geometry of the continental collision between India and Asia. Geophysical images have led to contradictory interpretations that India directly underthrusts Tibet as a horizontal plate or India subducts steeply into the mantle. Helium transits from mantle depths to the surface within a few millennia, such that the ratio of mantle-derived 3He to dominantly crust-derived 4He provides a snapshot of the subsurface. 3He/4He data from 225 geothermal springs across a >1,000-km-wide region of southern Tibet define a sharp boundary subparallel to the surface suture between India and Asia, just north of the Himalaya, delineating the northern limit of India at ∼80-km depth. The India–Asia collision resembles oceanic subduction with an asthenospheric mantle wedge.
Journal Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Year Published: 2022
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