Evolving Yangtze River reconstructed by detrital zircon U‐Pb dating and petrographic analysis of Miocene marginal Sea sedimentary rocks of the Western Foothills and Hengchun Peninsula, Taiwan

Abstract

The timing of the establishment of the Yangtze River, whether prior to the early Miocene (~24 Ma) or more recently (~2 Ma), has been a point of much debate. Here we applied detrital zircon U‐Pb dating to Miocene sedimentary rocks from Taiwan and to estuary sands from modern rivers in SE China to trace sediment provenance and to further constrain the evolution of the Yangtze River. Detrital zircon U‐Pb ages from Miocene sandstones of the Western Foothills show similar age spectra to Miocene and modern sediments in the Yangtze River drainage and some similarity to the Minjiang River sediments. However, they differ significantly from ages in some sandstones from the Hengchun Peninsula accretionary prism and from the estuary sands of the Jiulongjiang River. This information, together with petrographic and sedimentary facies analysis, argues that the Jiulongjiang and Minjiang Rivers were major sources to some Hengchun Peninsula turbidites (~12 Ma), while synchronous sedimentation in the Western Foothills was supplied from the Yangtze, Minjiang (or similar river), and possibly even the Yellow River. These sediments were transported southward/eastward via rivers or channels to the marginal sedimentary basins now inverted in the Western Foothills in Taiwan. The Yangtze River must have been established prior to the middle Miocene.

Tectonic Topography Changes in Cenozoic East Asia: A Landscape Erosion‐Sediment Archive in the South China Sea

“…However, the mechanism of transport of the sediments in the Yangtze Block and/or northern Cathaysia to northern Taiwan remains unclear. Alternately, the materials in the Yangtze Block and/or northern Cathaysia were transported to the East China Sea by the Yangtze River, further southward reaching the middle of the Taiwan Strait (Zhang et al, 2017). Beyssac et al, 2007;Clark et al, 2005;Godard et al, 2009;Hsu et al, 2016;Kirby et al, 2002;Lei et al, 2006Lei et al, , 2008Liao et al, 2005;Maluski et al, 2001;Richardson et al, 2010;Shi et al, 2006Shi et al, , 2011Viola & Anczkiewicz, 2008;Wan et al, 1997;Wang et al, 1994Wang et al, , 2012Wu et al, 2002;Yan et al, 2009Yan et al, , 2011aZhou et al, 2003Zhou et al, , 2005; supporting information Dataset 7 and references therein).…”

“…Zircon U-Pb age probability density plots of samples from northern Taiwan. Data from the modern Minjiang River is fromZhang et al (2017). Note the near identical zircon age distribution of Middle-Upper Miocene samples and the modern sands from the Yangtze River and the different spectrum from the modern Minjiang River.…”

Source‐To‐Sink Links Between East Asia and Taiwan From Detrital Zircon Geochronology of the Oligocene Huagang Formation in the East China Sea Shelf Basin

“…As shown in Figure 5b, the age spectrum is characterized by pronounced early Mesozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Mesoproterozoic peaks, and subordinate early Paleozoic and Paleoproterozoic peaks . The Neoproterozoic grains differentiate sediment sources in the Yangtze Block from the North China and Cathaysia blocks (Zhang et al, 2017). (Vermeesch, 2012) for the zircon U-Pb ages of modern river sands from the East China mainland, Eocene to Miocene passive margin strata in western Taiwan Island, and Oligocene strata in the Xihu sag.…”

Spatial and temporal replicability of meteoric and in situ10Be concentrations in fluvial sediment

“…These assumptions are most likely to break down in landscapes subjected to intensive human land use and those affected by stochastic erosional processes, such as landslides due to tectonic activity, steep slopes or large rain events (Niemi et al, 2005). Conversely, some research relies on the breakdown of these assumptions and uses temporal and spatial variability in sediment to discern changing landscape processes (Clapp et al, 2002;Schaller et al, 2002;Ruhl and Hodges, 2005;Vermeesch, 2007;McPhillips and Brandon, 2010;Reusser and Bierman, 2010;Lupker et al, 2012;McPhillips et al, 2014;West et al, 2014;Herman et al, 2015;Schaller et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2017). However, when the goal is to determine basin average values, studies assume that sediment is well mixed.…”