Foreword

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet plateau is a fast uplifting area that constitutes the world's highest and thickest, and newest piece of continental plate which has unusual geometric configurations and landscapes. The Qinghai-Tibet plateau consists of multiple terranes, with a complex geological history, including the evolution of the Tethys Ocean basin, the convergence of terranes and island arcs, multiple subductions, multiple collisions and multiple orogens, over a long period of action of continental dynamic processes. Before the Indian and the Asian plates collided, during the Early Paleozoic, it was already a large orogen and terrane collision complex. As a result of the collision of the Indian and Asian plates, the fast uplift of QinghaiTibet plateau became the most magnificent event on the earth during the Cenozoic. It formed a vast, seemingly boundless high plateau with borders consisting of mountain chains with very high peaks, and steep gorges.Twenty articles collected in this special issue on Continental Dynamics of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are based on the exploration of continental structures, crustal development features, and driving forces. These include studies on the microscopic and the macroscopic, materials and mechanics, determination and quantities, geometry, kinematics and dynamics near the surface and at depth, geology, geochemistry, and geophysics. Information obtained by these approaches has been used to establish the basic tectonic structure, the terrane configuration and terrane boundaries, the mechanism of structural distortion, as *Corresponding author: yangjingsui@yahoo.com.cn well as the relative movements of tectonic units, the history of the opening and closing of small oceanic basins, terranes before and after the collisions of the Indian and Asian plates, of the orogens themselves, of the huge strike slip faults, and of the uplift of the plateau, the formation of the adjacent orogenic zones of the margins coupled with the exploration of the deep crust and mantle structures and recognition of the dynamic forces. (ULTRA) HIGH-PRESSURE METAMORPHIC ROCKS, OPHIOLITE AND SUBDUCTION RELATED ROCKSThe discovery and description of (ultra) highpressure metamorphic (HPM) zones and ophiolites are the key to the understanding of the terrane margins of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and the tectonic structure of the plateau. In this issue, Li C et al. (this issue) ) constructed a quantitative P-T path based on interpretation of reaction textures, chemical zoning of minerals in the Danba domal metamorphic terrane, eastern Tibet, and thus provided important constraints on the crustal thickening processes in the Danba area of the Songpan-Ganze orogenic belt. These are not only contributed to the knowledge of HPM zones in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, but also to other places in China and the rest of the world. In turn, these discoveries will have an important impact on the further understanding of the tectonic structure and the characteristic configuration of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, and the converging dynami...