A New Model to Study Slab Tectonics in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Its adjacent areas
论青藏高原及邻区板片构造的一个新模式

The paper first reviews the process to put forward the plate tectonic theory and its some problems,especially the problem of taking the mantle convection as the dynamic mechanism to drive lithosphere plates.Then on the basis of study results about regional geology, ophiolite,structure,and seismic depth-sounding in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and its adjacent areas, this paper promotes a new model to interpret tectonics.This new model thinks that in this large area there was not simple B-type subduction which is accompanied with ocean-floor spreading at mid-ocean ridges to form ocean basins appearing as new oceans and new ocean plates,but intercontinental seas due to ocean-floor spreading,obduction of ophiolite tectonic slice as oceanic crust slabs and complex A-type subduction of continental lithosphere slabs.In the new model the tectonic driving force is not the mantle convection, but the relative movement of horizontal shear between the continental lithosphere slab due to A-type subduction characterized by spreading and separating and the asthenosphere.