Vast early Miocene lakes of the central Tibetan Plateau

Wu, Zhenhan; Barosh, Patrick J.; Wu, Zhonghai; Hu, Daogong; Xun, Zhao; Ye, Peisheng

doi:10.1130/b26043.1

Cited by 77 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our modeling of thermochronologic data (Figure 8) and geochronologic data from undeformed volcanic rocks presented in Staisch et al [2014] suggests that exhumation continued until at latest 27.3 Ma (Figure 9c, panel 6). Wu et al, 2008;Polissar et al, 2009;Sun et al, 2015]. This suggests that crustal shortening alone may not be responsible for elevation gain in northern Tibet.…”

Section: Timing and Spatial Distribution Of Deformationmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The youngest absolute age control on crustal shortening in the Hoh Xil Basin is a deformed rhyodacitic flow dated at 33.5 Ma [Staisch et al, 2014]. This, along with 27.3 Ma flat-lying basalts [Staisch et al, 2014] and widespread, flat-lying Miocene (24-14 Ma) carbonates in the northern Tibetan Plateau [Wu et al, 2008], provides strong evidence for the cessation of upper crustal shortening within the Hoh Xil Basin to be between 33.5 and 27.3 Ma (Figure 10). The thermal histories of the north and south FFTB constrained by modeling of apatite fission track and (U-Th)/He data presented above suggest that rapid cooling ceased by 31-25 Ma and are generally consistent with evidence for the cessation of deformation by 27.3 Ma [Staisch et al, 2014].…”

Section: Cessationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In northern Tibet, paleoelevation estimates are comparatively sparse, but available evidence suggests that low to moderate elevations persisted until late Eocene time and that modern elevations were achieved after the mid-Miocene [Q. Duan et al, , 2008Wu et al, 2008;Polissar et al, 2009;Miao et al, 2015;Sun et al, 2015]. The extent of early Cenozoic crustal shortening and high-altitude paleoelevations suggests that precollisional uplift and deformation spanned from the Gangdese retroarc thrust belt, located just north of the Indus-Yarlung Suture, northward to the Tanggula Shan (Figures 1 and 2) [Burg et al, 1983;Chang et al, 1986;England and Searle, 1986;Dewey et al, 1988Dewey et al, , 1989Murphy et al, 1997;Kapp et al, 2003Kapp et al, , 2005Kapp et al, , 2007aKapp et al, , 2007bDeCelles et al, 2007b;Volkmer et al, 2007Volkmer et al, , 2014Miao et al, 2015].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Eocene to late Oligocene history of crustal shortening within the Hoh Xil Basin and implications for the uplift history of the northern Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The timing and magnitude of deformation across the northern Tibetan Plateau are poorly constrained but feature prominently in geodynamic models of the plateau's evolution. The Fenghuoshan fold and thrust belt, located in the Hoh Xil Basin, provides a valuable record of the Cenozoic deformation history of the northern Tibetan Plateau. Here we integrate fault gouge geochronology, low‐temperature thermochronology, geologic mapping, and a balanced cross section to resolve the deformation history of Hoh Xil Basin. Chronologic data suggest that deformation initiated in the mid‐Eocene continued until at least 34 Ma and ceased by 27 Ma. The balanced cross section resolves 34 ± 12 km upper crustal shortening (24 ± 9%). We explore whether the observed Cenozoic shortening can account for the modern elevation and lithospheric thickness in the northern Tibetan Plateau. For a range of reasonable preshortening conditions, we conclude that the observed shortening alone cannot achieve modern crustal and mantle lithospheric thicknesses or modern elevation without either the removal of lithospheric mantle, the influx of lower crustal material, or some combination of these processes. Our results, along with previous studies, suggest that crustal shortening propagated into the northern Tibetan Plateau shortly after the onset of the Indo‐Asian collision. The small magnitude of shortening and the late Oligocene cessation of deformation in the northern Tibetan Plateau raise questions of how and where the remaining Indo‐Asian convergence was accommodated between Eocene to mid‐Miocene time, prior to the approximately late Miocene establishment of the deformation patterns observed in the present day.

show abstract

Section: Timing and Spatial Distribution Of Deformationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Cessationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Eocene to late Oligocene history of crustal shortening within the Hoh Xil Basin and implications for the uplift history of the northern Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Studies by Horton et al [2002] indeed suggest that the present headwaters of the Lancang Jiang south of Yushu were established during the Neogene, well after the development of the red‐bed basins. In the Hoh Xil basin (90–94°E and 34–36°N), part of which is currently drained by the Jinsha Jiang, widely distributed lacustrine carbonates of early Miocene age (∼23.0–16 Ma) and sandstones including organic rich shales [ Yi et al , 2000; Liu and Wang , 2001; Liu et al , 2001; Zhenhan et al , 2008] imply restricted internal drainage until at least 15 Ma. Roughly coeval lake deposits were found in regions to the east (Z. Liu, personal communication, 2004), but the evidence becomes patchier, possibly because of later removal by erosion.…”

Section: Interpretation and Model Of Topographic Development Of Tibetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying landscape differences across the Tibetan plateau: Implications for topographic relief evolution

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We quantify the bulk topographic characteristics of the Tibet‐Qinghai plateau with specific focus on three representative regions: northern, central, and southeastern Tibet. Quantitative landscape information is extracted from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission digital elevation models. We find that the morphology of the Tibetan plateau is nonuniform with systematic regional differences. The northern and central parts of the plateau are characterized by what we suggest to call “positive topography,” i.e., a topography in which elevation is positively correlated with relief and mean slope. A major change from the internally drained central part of Tibet to the externally drained part of eastern Tibet is accompanied by a transition from low to high relief and from positive to “negative topography,” i.e., a topography where there is an inverse or negative correlation between elevation and relief and between elevation and mean slope. Relief in eastern Tibet is largest along rivers as they cross an ancient, eroded plateau margin at high angle to the major strike‐slip faults, the Yalong‐Yulong thrust belt, implying strong structural control of regional topography. We propose that the evolution of river systems and drainage efficiency, the ability of rivers to transport sediments out of the orogen, coupled with tectonic uplift, is the simplest mechanism to explain systematic regional differences in Tibetan landscapes. Basin filling due to inefficient drainage played a major role in smoothing out the tectonically generated structural relief. This mode of smoothing started concurrently with tectonic construction of the relief, as most clearly illustrated today in the Qilian Shan‐Qaidam region of the northeastern plateau. In the interior of Tibet, further “passive” filling, due to internal drainage only, continued to smooth the local relief millions of years after the cessation of major phases of surface uplift due to crustal shortening. Thus, diachronous beveling at high elevation produced the low‐relief surface of the high plateau. In southeast Tibet, headward retreat of external drainages brought back “in” the global ocean base level, first disrupting then interrupting the relief‐reduction process. It produced a transitional topography by dissecting the “old” remnant plateau surface, which introduced younger and steeper incision of this hitherto preserved high base level. This provides a unifying mechanism for the formation of the low‐relief plateau interior, and for the origin of the high‐elevation, low‐relief relict surface in southeastern Tibet. Our analysis brings forth the importance of surface processes, in particular drainage efficiency, in shaping plateau morphology and landscape relief. Such key processes appear to have been mostly ignored in numerical models of plateau deformation. Our results also cast doubt on and provide a more realistic alternative to the fashionable contention that a continuous preuplift, low‐relief surface first formed at low elevation, extending all the way to the South China Sea shore, b...

show abstract

“…More recently, Wu Zhenhan, a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences's Institute of Geomechanics in Beijing, and his colleagues studied two groups of ancient lake basins in the central Tibetan plateau at 4,500 metres, which were excavated during the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway 15 . "They are beautifully horizontal, probably untouched for about 20 million years," says Wu.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%