Uplift of the Longmen Shan and Tibetan plateau, and the 2008 Wenchuan (M = 7.9) earthquake

Judith Hubbard () and John H. Shaw
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Judith Hubbard: Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
John H. Shaw: Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 458, issue 7235, 194-197

Abstract: A short step to an earthquake The Longmen Shan mountain range, which defines the eastern margin of the Himalayas, exhibits greater topographic relief than anywhere else in the Tibetan plateau. It was the site of the devastating 2008 Wenchuan magnitude-7.9 earthquake. Prior to the earthquake, geodetic and geologic surveys measured little shortening across the range front, prompting vigorous debate about the forces producing the topography of this mountain belt. Now Judith Hubbard and John Shaw present evidence from balanced geologic cross-sections that suggests that crustal shortening is a primary driver for uplift of the Longmen Shan and the Tibetan plateau, and that the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was a product of this shortening process.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07837

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