"Extruded by the Indian Plate, the whole Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is moving towards northeast at the speed of 7-30 millimeters annually", said Tan Kai when interviewed by reporters in the city of Geremu, Qinghai Province on August 15.

Tan Kai, a doctor with the Seismological Research Institute of the China Seismological Bureau, is doing GPS (global position system) data-collecting work along Kunlun and Wudaoliang mountains, reports People's Daily on August 16.

From 1991 to the present, the GPS office of the research institute has applied global position system for a long-term monitoring of the crustal movement of the Chinese mainland, obtaining the most elaborate crustal movement graph of the mainland so far, especially the description of the crustal movement of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau - the third pole of the world, which is advanced internationally.

Tan Kai said the latest research results show that the Lhasa landmass, the southern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is moving towards the northeast 38 degrees at the annual speed of about 30 millimeters; the Kunlun landmass in the central part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau towards northeast 61 degrees at the average annual speed of 21 millimeters; and the Qilian Mountains in the north towards the northeast 80 degrees at the speed of 7-14 millimeters. That is to say that the whole plateau is moving north and east at the annual speed of 7-30 millimeters.

Tan Kai added the movements change very little, by millimeters, which will not bring great changes to Chinese plate. However, in several million years, the variation will still be very considerable.

By People's Daily Online