Resource accompaniment to 'Insights on the kinematics of the India-Eurasia collision from global geodynamic models'

The EarthByte group has released an open access dataset containing input plate motion models and results from a study by Zahirovic et al. (2012) on the India-Eurasia collision using linked kinematic and geodynamic models.

Two end-member scenarios of the India-Eurasia collision were tested. The conventional model invokes long-lived Andean-style subduction along southern Eurasia until continental collision between a maximum extent Greater India and Lhasa at ~60 million years ago (Ma). The alternative scenario includes Tethyan intra-oceanic subduction, with back-arc opening along southern Eurasia from 120 to 50 Ma, and an initial collision between a smaller Greater India and the intra-oceanic subduction system at ~60 Ma. The back-arc is then subducted along an Andean-style margin until final continental collision at ~40 Ma.

GPlates input files, CitcomS output temperature and lateral mantle flow velocities are are available for download from the EarthByte website. Files include:

GPlates plate motion models* (~4 Mb)

Plate model animations (~110 Mb)

Comparison of vertical slices between conventional and alternative models through time (~ 10 Mb)

Regional time and depth-coded grids of temperature (~210 Mb)

Regional time and depth-coded horizontal mantle flow velocity (~40 Mb)

Vertical grids of CitcomS profile through time(~510 Mb)

Note: *GPlates input files are an earlier version of the final models used in the paper by Zahirovic et al. (2012). The final models are in-house only because they contain not-yet-published deforming continental regions.

For further information, refer to the EarthByte website and the associated publication.