Bayesian inference of plastosphere viscosities near the Kunlun Fault, northern Tibet

[1] Flow of the mid-crust in the Tibetan Plateau may strongly influence the patterns of deformation and topography within this area. This flow requires the lowercrust to have low viscosity and so quantifying this viscosity may be used to test the idea of channel flow. An application of Bayesian methods to geologic and geodetic data from north central Tibet yields lower-crustal viscosities (assumed Newtonian) of 1 10 Pa s and 2 10 Pa s (95% bounds). The lower bound is larger than the value of 10–10 Pa s required by models of flow of the lower-crust of Tibet, unless the entire lower crust participates in channel flow. Citation: Hilley, G. E., R. Bürgmann, P.-Z. Zhang, and P. Molnar (2005), Bayesian inference of plastosphere viscosities near the Kunlun Fault, northern Tibet, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L01302, doi:10.1029/ 2004GL021658.