An argument for channel flow in the southern Canadian Cordillera and comparison with Himalayan tectonics
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Published:January 01, 2006
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CiteCitation
Richard L. Brown, H. Daniel Gibson, 2006. "An argument for channel flow in the southern Canadian Cordillera and comparison with Himalayan tectonics", Channel Flow, Ductile Extrusion and Exhumation in Continental Collision Zones, R. D. Law, M. P. Searle, L. Godin
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Abstract
Crustal thickening in excess of 55 km, and high heat flow, suggest that a high-standing plateau region in the Cordilleran hinterland was present in the Late Cretaceous. A low strength middle crust developed beneath the plateau, and parts of this layer were exhumed to upper crustal levels in Late Cretaceous to Eocene time. During Late Cretaceous time, structures in the hinterland were reactivated. Strata, buried to mid-crustal depths since the Jurassic, began to flow upward to higher levels; earlier structures were refolded and tightened, and a new transposition fabric developed. Some 10–20 km of the middle crust was involved...
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Contents
Channel Flow, Ductile Extrusion and Exhumation in Continental Collision Zones

This collection of 27 review and research papers provides an overview of the geodynamic concepts of channel flow and ductile extrusion in continental collision zones. The focal point for this volume is the proposal that the middle or lower crust acts as a ductile, partially molten channel flowing out from beneath areas of over-thickened crust, such as the Tibetan plateau, towards the topographic surface at plateau margins. This controversial proposal explains many features related to the geodynamic evolution of the plateau and, for example, extrusion and exhumation of the crystalline core of the Himalayan mountain chain to the south. In this volume thermal-mechanical models for channel flow, extrusion and exhumation are presented, and geological and geophysical evidence both for and against the applicability of such models to the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau system, as well as older continental collision zones such as the Hellenides, the Appalachians and the Canadian Cordillera, are discussed.