Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (95) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Zheng, H. Articles by Dong, G. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Pliocene uplift of the northern Tibetan Plateau

¹ State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xian 710054, China
² Tectonics Special Research Centre, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6907, Australia
³ Institute of Desert Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

Neogene redbeds passing upward into upward-coarsening conglomerate and debris-flow deposits at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains record the change in paleoslope related to uplift of the surface of the northern Tibetan Plateau. Detailed magnetostratigraphy of a 4.5 km section near Yecheng in the western Kunlun Mountains shows that the change from deposition on distal alluvial plains to proximal alluvial fans occurred during the Gilbert reversed chron (4.5–3.5 Ma). The change in depositional facies was accompanied by an increase in sedimentation rate from an average 0.15 mm/yr between the earliest Oligocene and the earliest Pliocene to 1.4 mm/yr in the Gauss normal chron (3.6–2.6 Ma). We interpret the change in depositional facies and increase in sedimentation rate as indicating that the main uplift of the northwestern Tibetan Plateau began ca. 4.5 Ma.

Key Words: Tibet • Kunlun • magnetostratigraphy • Pliocene • uplift

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Sun, Z. Zhang, and L. Zhang New evidence on the age of the Taklimakan Desert Geology, February 1, 2009; 37(2): 159 - 162. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. E. Saylor, J. Quade, D. L. Dettman, P. G. DeCelles, P. A. Kapp, and L. Ding The late Miocene through present paleoelevation history of southwestern Tibet Am J Sci, January 1, 2009; 309(1): 1 - 42. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Nie, J. W. King, and X. Fang Tibetan uplift intensified the 400 k.y. signal in paleoclimate records at 4 Ma Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2008; 120(9-10): 1338 - 1344. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N.S. Raterman, E. Cowgill, and D. Lin Variable structural style along the Karakoram fault explained using triple-junction analysis of intersecting faults Geosphere, April 1, 2007; 3(2): 71 - 85. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. I. Dutch The Earth Has a Future Geosphere, May 1, 2006; 2(3): 113 - 124. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Wang, T. Deng, and D. Biasatti Ancient diets indicate significant uplift of southern Tibet after ca. 7 Ma Geology, April 1, 2006; 34(4): 309 - 312. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. A. Graham, C. P. Chamberlain, Y. Yue, B. D. Ritts, A. D. Hanson, T. W. Horton, J. R. Waldbauer, M. A. Poage, and X. Feng Stable isotope records of Cenozoic climate and topography, Tibetan plateau and Tarim basin Am J Sci, February 1, 2005; 305(2): 101 - 118. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. M. WILLIAMS, S. P. TURNER, J. A. PEARCE, S. P. KELLEY, and N. B. W. HARRIS Nature of the Source Regions for Post-collisional, Potassic Magmatism in Southern and Northern Tibet from Geochemical Variations and Inverse Trace Element Modelling J. Petrology, March 1, 2004; 45(3): 555 - 607. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Jia, P. Peng, Q. Zhao, and Z. Jian Changes in terrestrial ecosystem since 30 Ma in East Asia: Stable isotope evidence from black carbon in the South China Sea Geology, December 1, 2003; 31(12): 1093 - 1096. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Late Paleozoic depositional history of the Tarim basin, northwest China: An integration of biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic constraints AAPG Bulletin, August 1, 2003; 87(8): 1323 - 1354.

				A. K. Gupta and E. Thomas Initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation and strengthening of the northeast Indian monsoon: Ocean Drilling Program Site 758, eastern equatorial Indian Ocean Geology, January 1, 2003; 31(1): 47 - 50. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Yin, P.E. Rumelhart, R. Butler, E. Cowgill, T.M. Harrison, D.A. Foster, R.V. Ingersoll, Z. Qing, Z. Xian-Qiang, W. Xiao-Feng, et al. Tectonic history of the Altyn Tagh fault system in northern Tibet inferred from Cenozoic sedimentation Geological Society of America Bulletin, October 1, 2002; 114(10): 1257 - 1295. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Clift and C. Gaedicke Accelerated mass flux to the Arabian Sea during the middle to late Miocene Geology, March 1, 2002; 30(3): 207 - 210. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. D. Clift, D. Kroon, C. Gaedicke, and J. Craig Tectonic and climatic evolution of the Arabian Sea region: an introduction Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2002; 195(1): 1 - 5. [Abstract] [PDF]