[Skywise]

First View of Weird Rock Beneath Tibetan Plateau Revealed by Satellites

Quote: A new glimpse into the boundary between the Earth's mantle and its crust, located up to 50 miles (82 kilometers) below the surface comes from a surprising source — space.

Satellite measurements have provided a new view of the Moho under the Tibetan Plateau, where the Indian plate is violently butting into and diving beneath the Eurasian plate. The Moho, short for Mohorovičić (the Croatian seismologist who discovered it), is the layer at the deepest edge of Earth's light crust, before the mantle's dense, flowing, soft rock. Below continents, the Moho is usually found about 21 miles (35 km) down from the surface. But at the Tibetan Plateau, where the crust is particularly thick, the Moho is found 40 miles (65 km) down; at the western part of the plateau, it dives as far as 50.9 miles (82 km) deep.

The new data also shows that the Moho under the plateau is not a flat layer, but is rucked into a series of bumps and troughs, like a kicked-up rug.

Full story and images at link.

Brian