Geomorphologic evidence of phased uplift of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau since 14 million years ago  

作　　者：LU Huayu1, WANG Xiaoyong1, AN Zhisheng1, MIAO Xiaodong1, ZHU Rixiang3, MA Haizhou2, LI Zhen4, TAN Hongbing2 & WANG Xianyan1 1. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710075 China 2. Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Xining 810008, China 3. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China 4. Department of Geography, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China 

出　　处：《Science China Earth Sciences》2004年第9期822-833,共12页中国科学（地球科学英文版）

基　　金：This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.40325007 and 90102017) ;the Outstanding Overseas Chinese Scholars Fund of the ChineseAcademy of Sciences (Grant No.2003-01-07).

摘　　要：A typical sequence of fluvial terraces and aeolian deposits overlying these ter- races were multidisciplinary investigated. New evidences for uplift process of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the past 14 million years were obtained. At least 11 river terraces along Huangshui, the first-class tributary of Yellow River, at the Xining-Huzhu region are identi- fied. While the first one (T1) is classified as an accumulation terrace, the others are all basement river terraces, which consist of the Tertiary sandstone and siltstone bedrock, fluvial gravel and pebbles and the overlying aeolian loess-Red Clay deposit. Samples from the aeolian deposits were examined for paleomagnetic stratigraphic reconstruction (1030 samples), luminescence dating (16 samples), magnetic susceptibility and grain-size distribution (more than 4000 sam- ples). The luminescence dating and stratigraphic correlation suggest that terraces of Tll, T10, T8, T7, T3, T2, T1 were formed at 14, 11.3, 1.55, 1.2, 0.15, 0.07 and 0.01 million years ago, re- spectively. Sedimentological analysis and geomorphological observation indicate that formation and evolution of these terraces were mainly driven by tectonic uplift. Therefore, the terrace se- quence provides an ideal geological record, of the uplift process of the northeastern during the past 14 million years, and the timings of the terraces formation are regarded as the timings of tectonic uplift. The significant uplifting events took place at 14, 11.3, 1.2 and 0.15 mil- lion years ago, respectively. The fluvial incision at the Xining-Huzhu region is less than 100 m during a period of ~12 million years in the Miocene era (between the Tll and T9), while the Huangshui River had incised 432 m during the past 1.2 million years (from T7 to the present floodplain). The river incision process clearly demonstrates that accelerated rising of the north- eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the late Cenozoic, and provides new evidence of previous thoughts. There was a significant readjustment of the flA typical sequence of fluvial terraces and aeolian deposits overlying these terraces were multidisciplinary investigated. New evidences for uplift process of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the past 14 million years were obtained. At least 11 river terraces along Huangshui, the first-class tributary of Yellow River, at the Xining-Huzhu region are identified. While the first one (T1) is classified as an accumulation terrace, the others are all basement river terraces, which consist of the Tertiary sandstone and siltstone bedrock, fluvial gravel and pebbles and the overlying aeolian loess-Red Clay deposit. Samples from the aeolian deposits were examined for paleomagnetic stratigraphic reconstruction (1030 samples), luminescence dating (16 samples), magnetic susceptibility and grain-size distribution (more than 4000 samples). The luminescence dating and stratigraphic correlation suggest that terraces of T11, T10,T8, T7, T3, T2, T1 were formed at 14, 11.3, 1.55, 1.2, 0.15, 0.07 and 0.01 million years ago, respectively. Sedimentological analysis and geomorphological observation indicate that formation and evolution of these terraces were mainly driven by tectonic uplift. Therefore, the terrace sequence provides an ideal geological record of the uplift process of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet during the past 14 million years, and the timings of the terraces formation are regarded as the timings of tectonic uplift. The significant uplifting events took place at 14, 11.3, 1.2 and 0.15 million years ago, respectively. The fluvial incision at the Xining-Huzhu region is less than 100 m during a period of ～12 million years in the Miocene era (between the T11 and T9), while the Huangshui River had incised 432 m during the past 1.2 million years (from T7 to the present floodplain). The river incision process clearly demonstrates that accelerated rising of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the late Cenozoic, and provides new evidence of previous thoughts. There was a significant readjustment of the fl

关 键 词：river terrace  tectonic uplift  loess-Red Clay  the past 14 MILLION years  northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. 

分 类 号：P531[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]