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The Songpan block in the northeastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) located at the junction of the E–W- and N–S-trending tectonic belts has affected the formation and evolution of the Chinese continent since Mesozoic and is a tectonic node in the central part of the Chinese continent. In this study, the Hezuo-Tangke deep seismic reflection profiling of the 257 km-long was conducted in 2004, which is the first profile across the Songpan block and the West Qinling orogen. We reprocessed the data in 2009, and the results revealed the fine lithosphere structure of the northern margin of the Songpan block and the West Qinling orogen. The results also revealed the connection between the Songpan block and East Kunlun–West Qinling orogeny, indicating that the Songpan block and the West Qinling orogen belong to the same stable continental block and that their lower crusts are both characterized by north-dipping strong reflectors, which provide seismic evidence for subduction of the lower crust of the Songpan block beneath the West Qinling orogen. We found that the sub-horizontal Moho reflectors beneath the West Qinling orogen indicate that it underwent intensive extension after collisional orogeny. The results of this study also indicate that the Kunlun fault did not cut off the Moho. Actually, it terminated at a sub-horizontal decollement in the lowermost crust of Tibet at a depth of ~ 35 km. The data provided through the investigation also are helpful in evaluating prospective oil and gas resources in the Songpan block.

The Sulu–Dabie high-pressure (HP)–ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt as the product of subduction-collision between the northern China plate and Yangtze plate underwent a process of formation and evolution from deep subduction→exhumation→extension→slow uplift. The study of its modern tectonic stress field has great significance for a complete understanding of the process of formation and evolution of the HP–UHP metamorphic belt, especially the exhumation and uplift of the belt. Wellbore breakouts are the most visual tectonic phenomenon which can characterize the modern stress action in the main borehole of Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD). Ultrasonic borehole televiewer reflection wave data show that wellbore breakouts began to occur at 1216 m depth of the main borehole. A total of 143 borehole televiewer images were collected from 1216 to 5118 m depth (hole completion depth). After data processing and statistics, the average azimuth of the long dimension of the wellbore breakout obtained was 319.5° ± 3.5°, indicating that the average azimuth of the maximum horizontal principal stress causing wellbore breakout initiation was 49.5° ± 3.5°. The maximum and minimum horizontal principal stress values at 52 depths in the interval of 1269 to 5047 m were estimated using the elements of wellbore shapes (wellbore depth and width), combined with the cohesive strength and internal frictional angle of the rock obtained by rock mechanical tests on samples, and the static load stresses at corresponding depths were calculated according to the rock density logging data. The results indicate that: the maximum and minimum horizontal principal stresses are 41.4 and 25.3 MPa at 1269 m depth respectively and 164.7 and 122 MPa at 5047 m depth respectively; the maximum vertical stress is 141.3 MPa at 5047 m depth with a density of 2.8 g/cm 3 ; the in-situ stresses increase nearly linearly with depth. The magnitudes and directions of the three principal stresses reflect that the regional stress field around the CCSD main borehole is mainly in a strike-slip state, which is consistent with the basic features of the regional stress field determined using other methods.

The Tibetan plateau as one of the youngest orogen on the Earth was considered as the result of continent-continent collision between the Eurasian and Indian plates. The thickness and structure of the crust beneath Tibetan plateau is essential to understand deformation behavior of the plateau. Active-source seismic profiling is most available geophysical method for imaging the structure of the continental crust. The results from more than 25 active-sources seismic profiles carried out in the past twenty years were reviewed in this article. A preliminary cross crustal pattern of the Tibetan Plateau was presented and discussed. The Moho discontinuity buries at the range of 60–80 km on average and have steep ramps located roughly beneath the sutures that are compatible with the successive stacking/accretion of the former Cenozoic blocks northeastward. The deepest Moho (near 80 km) appears closely near IYS and the crustal scale thrust system beneath southern margin of Tibetan plateau suggests strong dependence on collision and non-distributed deformation there. However, the ∼20 km order of Moho offsets hardly reappears in the inline section across northern Tibetan plateau. Without a universally accepted, convincing dynamic explanation model accommodated the all of the facts seen in controlled seismic sections, but vertical thickening and northeastern shorten of the crust is quite evident and interpretable to a certain extent as the result of continent-continent collision. Simultaneously, weak geophysical signature of the BNS suggests that convergence has been accommodated perhaps partially through pure-shear thickening accompanied by removal of lower crustal material by lateral escape. Recent years the result of Moho with ∼7 km offset and long extend in south-dip angle beneath the east Kunlun orogen and a grand thrust fault at the northern margin of Qilian orogen has attract more attention to action from the northern blocks. The broad lower-velocity area in the upper-middle crust of the Lhasa block was once considered as resulted from partially melted rocks. However the low normal νP/νS ratio and the Moho stepwise rise fail to support significant partial melting in the middle-lower crust of the central-northern Tibetan plateau. Furthermore, the lower-velocity of crust occasionally disappears, and/or local thinned exhibits their non-stationary spatial distribution.

A comparative analysis of paleolatitudes and latitudinal displacements was undertaken for the South China, Simao, Baoshan, Shan–Thai, Indochina, Qiangtang, Lhasa and Himalayan blocks by using available paleomagnetic data to determine the collisional and amalgamation history of the main blocks in the Three Rivers region, western Yunnan. The results show that (1) the Simao Block is a South China-derived block; (2) the Baoshan and Shan–Thai blocks were subjected to rapid northward drift during the period from Late Carboniferous to Late Permian; (3) the Baoshan Block collided with the Simao Block in the Late Permian and continued to drift rapidly northwards, together with the South China and Shan–Thai blocks, until the Late Triassic; (4) the Paleo-Tethys separating the Baoshan and Simao blocks was possibly opened in the Early Silurian; (5) the Meso-Tethys ranged in age from Early Permian time to Early Cretaceous time, and reached its greatest width of about 42° latitude in the Late Triassic.

A comparative study of the amount of latitudinal shift of the Siberian Plate, the Lhasa Block, the Himalayan Block and the Indian Plate using palaeomagnetic data shows that the Himalayan Block belongs to the Indian Plate. The Neo-Tethys Ocean, which separated the Himalayan and Lhasa Blocks, opened to its greatest width of 31.9° in latitude in the Early Cretaceous. The extent of shortening of the latitudinal distance between the Siberian and Indian Plates amounts to 58.2° since the Early Cretaceous. It was found that after the determination of the greatest width of Neo-Tethys Ocean, the latitudinal shortening of the crust between the Indian and Siberian Plates reached 26.3°, or about 2760 km. On the basis of the palaeomagnetic data obtained from the Qaidam Block, the latitudinal shortening between the Himalayan and Qaidam Blocks reached 50.2° since the Early Cretaceous. It was concluded that over the past 50 Ma, since the Early Cretaceous, the latitudinal shift of the southern blocks or plates was larger than that of the northern ones, and that shortening between the Qaidam and Himalayan blocks was greater than the shortening between the Qaidam Block and the Siberian Plate. This differential latitudinal movement is the main cause of convergence, resulting in the compression and uplift of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau.

Fine structures of the crust and upper mantle of the basin-and-range juncture on the northwestern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are first delineated by the deep seismic reflection profile across the juncture zone between the Tarim Basin and the West Kunlun Mountains. Evidence is found for the northward subduction of the northwest marginal lithosphere of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its collision with Tarim lithosphere beneath the West Kunlun Mountains. The lithosphere image of the face-to-face subduction and collision determines the coupling relationship between the Tarim Basin and the West Kunlun Mountains at the lithosphere scale and reflects the process of continent-continent collision.