Qaidam Basin leaf fossils show northeastern Tibet was high, wet and cool in the early Oligocene

Song, Biao; Spicer, Robert A.; Zhang, Kexin; Ji, Junliang; Farnsworth, Alexander; Hughes, Alice C.; Yang, Yibo; Han, Fengbin; Yong, Xu; Spicer, Teresa E.V.; Shen, Tianyi; Lunt, Daniel J.; Shi, Gongle

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116175

Cited by 89 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…1), revealing that central Tibet only became part of the interior Asian steppe-desert biome sometime in the Miocene. The EOT and Oligocene thus remain poorly documented periods for the Central Asian steppe, but to date, known vegetation shifts in the interior of Central Asia are consistent with previous studies from late Eocene and early Oligocene sections documenting conifer taxa in the peripheral mountains, broad-leaved deciduous woodland on slopes and in river valleys, and xerophytic shrubs dominating lower-altitude valley basins (5,12,14,17,38). This illustrates the complexity of the topographic relief in eastern Central Asia at this time, supporting the view that an extensive high plateau only formed in this region later (52).…”

Section: Evidence For Biotic Collapse At the Eotsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…3). This response is also observed in other Central Asian basins including Tarim and Qaidam, although dating is less well constrained (12,68,69). This "aridification pathway" in response to the drying of the Tarim Basin after the final proto-Paratethys Sea regression is also clear from our modeling results [ Reaching the threshold for a permanent shift at the EOT Before the EOT, we hypothesize that Nitrariaceae-Ephedraceae shrub vegetation endured late Eocene aridification and cooling in the same way as modern arid systems.…”

Section: A Regime Shift At the Greenhouse To Icehouse Transitionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…3) and climate simulations for the region suggesting CMMT below freezing ( Fig. 4), Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP) analysis on fossil leaves from the Qaidam Basin also indicates near-freezing (1.4° ± 3.5°C) winters in the early Oligocene (12).…”

Section: Evidence For Biotic Collapse At the Eotmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…A markedly different steppe-desert existed in Paleogene times. Ancient Central Asian floras likely already exhibited high biodiversity and spatial variation (10), but overall, they were characterized by a predominance of shrubs, forest, and ferns rather than herbs (5,(11)(12)(13)(14). Today, these plant groups form fairly minor components of the steppe-desert flora across this region (1,7,15), but how, when, and why this change occurred remain to be revealed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cenozoic evolution of the steppe-desert biome in Central Asia

et al. 2020

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The origins and development of the arid and highly seasonal steppe-desert biome in Central Asia, the largest of its kind in the world, remain largely unconstrained by existing records. It is unclear how Cenozoic climatic, geological, and biological forces, acting at diverse spatial and temporal scales, shaped Central Asian ecosystems through time. Our synthesis shows that the Central Asian steppe-desert has existed since at least Eocene times but experienced no less than two regime shifts, one at the Eocene–Oligocene Transition and one in the mid-Miocene. These shifts separated three successive “stable states,” each characterized by unique floral and faunal structures. Past responses to disturbance in the Asian steppe-desert imply that modern ecosystems are unlikely to recover their present structures and diversity if forced into a new regime. This is of concern for Asian steppes today, which are being modified for human use and lost to desertification at unprecedented rates.

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Section: Evidence For Biotic Collapse At the Eotsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: A Regime Shift At the Greenhouse To Icehouse Transitionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Evidence For Biotic Collapse At the Eotmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cenozoic evolution of the steppe-desert biome in Central Asia

et al. 2020

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“…The forming ages of these strata have been previously delineated by ostracods, fossil mammals, lithostratigraphic correlations, and magnetostratigraphy [22][23][24][25][26][27]. The stratigraphic chronologies of the Cenozoic strata derived from the Dahonggou section by Wang et al (2017) [13] is in conflict with other regional chronologies in the Qaidam Basin [28] and not adopted in this article. A more widely accepted division scheme of stratigraphic chronologies is that the Lulehe Fm.…”

Section: Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

Provenance Analysis of the Paleogene Strata in the Northern Qaidam Basin, China: Evidences from Sediment Distribution, Heavy Mineral Assemblages and Detrital Zircon U‒Pb Geochronology

Yin

Zhang

2020

Minerals

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Using provenance analysis to build an accurate source-to-sink relationship is the key to infer mountain building scenarios around the Qaidam Basin, and also important to understanding the uplift and expansion of the Tibetan Plateau. However, some conflicting provenance inferences are caused by different interpretations for the prevalent existence of the late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic age group in detrital zircon U‒Pb age spectra of the Paleogene strata at the northern Qaidam Basin, and these need to be resolved. In this article, an integrated study of sediment distribution, heavy mineral assemblages, and detrital zircon U‒Pb geochronology is carried out to analyze provenance of the Paleogene strata at the northern Qaidam Basin. The decreasing trends of the net sand to gross thickness ratios and conglomerate percentages away from the Qilian Mountains and Altyn Tagh range to basin interior clearly support they are the provenance areas. Sedimentation of materials from the Altyn Tagh range is spatially confined to a small area in front of the mountains. A large sandy body with a uniform distribution of detrital zircon ages (containing a lot of the late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic zircon ages) and heavy mineral assemblages in the Xiaganchaigou Formation is supplied by the Qilian Mountains.

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The Late Cenozoic crustal deformation in the northeastern periphery of the Qaidam Basin, northwest China

Wang,

Shi,

Zhong

et al. 2024

Geological Journal

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The northeastern periphery of the Qaidam Basin is a crucial region for comprehending the northeastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau, as it documents Late Cenozoic crustal deformation that elucidates the plateau's growth process. In this study, we reconstruct three stages of crustal deformation in the northeastern periphery of the Qaidam Basin during the Late Cenozoic based on interpretation of growth strata from five seismic profiles, structural mapping of the typical superimposed folds and detailed detrital zircon analysis within the study area. (1) During the Early Miocene to Late Miocene period (23–8.6 Ma), there was NW–SE extensional deformation in the northeast margin of the Qaidam Basin, which exerted control over the deposition of the Youshashan Formation. (2) The NW–SE shortening occurred during the Late Miocene period (8.6–8.1 Ma), subsequent to the deposition of the Youshashan Formation and preceding the deposition of the Shizigou Formation, resulting in a parallel unconformity between these two geological units. (3) The intense shortening of the NE–SW direction occurred during the Late Miocene and Pliocene epochs (8.1–2.5 Ma). The timing of this deformation aligns with the sedimentary age of the Shizigou Formation, suggesting that the initial deformation age may represent the onset of NE extrusion from the Tibetan Plateau towards the northeast margin of the Qaidam Basin. The present study not only delineates a Late Cenozoic structural dome resulting from two‐stage crustal shortening in the northeastern periphery of the Tibetan Plateau, but also provides a crucial evidence for reconstructing the Late Cenozoic intracontinental deformation process in this region.

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Qaidam Basin leaf fossils show northeastern Tibet was high, wet and cool in the early Oligocene

Cited by 89 publications

References 46 publications

Cenozoic evolution of the steppe-desert biome in Central Asia

Cenozoic evolution of the steppe-desert biome in Central Asia

Provenance Analysis of the Paleogene Strata in the Northern Qaidam Basin, China: Evidences from Sediment Distribution, Heavy Mineral Assemblages and Detrital Zircon U‒Pb Geochronology

The Late Cenozoic crustal deformation in the northeastern periphery of the Qaidam Basin, northwest China

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