Molnar Peter, Houseman Gregory A, England Philip C
Department of Geological Sciences and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES), University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0399, USA.
Nature. 2006 Nov 16;444(7117):E4; discussion E4-5. doi: 10.1038/nature05368.
The determination of palaeo-elevation has emerged in the past 15 years as an important tool for constraining physical processes that govern the formation of mountain belts. Rowley and Currie report palaeo-elevations for the Lunpola basin within the Tibetan plateau and claim that these elevations are incompatible with 'mantle-thickening models' for mountain formation. We show here that their data do not support this conclusion and, indeed, are consistent with its opposite. The Tibetan plateau could have risen by a kilometre or more as its dense lower lithosphere sank into the underlying mantle.
在过去15年里，古海拔的测定已成为一种重要工具，用于限制控制山脉形成的物理过程。罗利和柯里报告了青藏高原伦坡拉盆地的古海拔，并声称这些海拔与山脉形成的“地幔增厚模型”不相符。我们在此表明，他们的数据并不支持这一结论，事实上，与该结论相反的数据是一致的。随着青藏高原致密的岩石圈下层沉入下地幔，其海拔可能上升了一公里或更多。
