evidence: The importance of the India–Tibet surface wave model to this study is that the lower Indian crust underlying southern Tibet is insulated from the hot asthenosphere by a thick layer of cool lithospheric mantle (Fig. 3). [...] Open in new tabDownload slide 8 (a) Map of India and Tibet showing the relative motion between India and Tibet (large black arrows) and the location of the change in SKS-splitting characteristics in Tibet (red line). The locations of the transition from small SKS-splitting and weak anisotropy in the south to large SKS-splitting and strong anisotropy in the north, and the deep crustal earthquakes in NW and SE Tibet (solid black line) may mark the northern limit of India's penetration beneath Tibet or the limit of the Indian Shield as a strong entity. This might also mark the northern edge of the strong ‘India’ lower crust beneath south Tibet, over which the middle and upper crust of Tibet flow (Copley & McKenzie 2007). (b) Schematic cross-section from central India to central Tibet. The crystalline crust of central India is ∼35 km thick and geological observations suggest its upper part is granodiorite and its lower part is granulite (Percival et al. 1992). Below this, there is a high-velocity, depleted mantle layer (Priestley & McKenzie 2006).