In the eastern Qilian Shan, a flight of fluvial terraces developed along the Jinta River valley are deformed across the Nanying anticline. Four individual fluvial terraces are preserved at different elevations above the river, and higher terrace treads are draped by systematically thicker aeolian loess. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of deposits at the base of the loess provides constraints on the timing of surface abandonment; terraces were abandoned at 69 ± 4 ka B.P. (T4), 57 ± 4 ka B.P. (T3), and between 34 ± 3 ka B.P. (T2), respectively. Differential GPS measurement of the terrace profile across the anticline allows reconstruction of subsurface fault geometry; we model terrace deformation above a listric thrust fault with a tip line at 2.2 ± 0.1 km depth and whose dip shallows systematically to 23 ± 3°at depth of 5.8 ± 1.1 km. Combining terrace ages with this model of fault geometry, we estimate a shortening rate of 0.8 ± 0.2 mm/a across the Nanying fold and a shortening rate of~0.1 mm/a across the mountain front fault since~70 ka B.P. This rate suggests that the frontal fault system along the eastern Qilian Shan accomplishes crustal shortening at rates of approximately 0.9 ± 0.3 mm/a during late Pleistocene time.
10.1002/2015TC003978Key Points:• Fluvial terraces are deformed across the range front of the eastern Qilian Shan • Terrace deformation constrains fault geometry and displacement • Chronology of terrace deposits constrains slip rates of~1 mm/yr
Abstract. In order to monitor the changes of the glaciers in the Gongga Mountain region on the south-eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, 74 monsoonal temperate glaciers were investigated by comparing the Chinese Glacier Inventory (CGI), recorded in the 1960s, with Landsat MSS in 1974, Landsat TM in 1989, and ASTER data in 2009. The remote sensing data have been applied to map the glacier outline by threshold ratio images (TM4/TM5). Moreover, the glacier outlines were verified by GPS survey on four large glaciers (Hailuogou (HLG), Mozigou (MZG), Yanzigou (YZG), and Dagongba (DGB)) in 2009. The results show that the area dominated by the 74 glaciers has shrunk by 11.3 % (29.2 km 2 ) from 1966 to 2009. Glacier area on the eastern and western slopes of the Gongga Mountains decreased by 9.8 % and 14.6 % since 1966, respectively. The loss in glacier area and length is, respectively, 0.8 km 2 and 1146.4 m for the HLG Glacier, 2.1 km 2 and 501.8 m for the MZG Glacier, 0.8 km 2 and 724.8 m for the YZG Glacier, and 2.4 km 2 and 1002.3 m for the DGB Glacier. Decades of climate records obtained from three meteorological stations in the Gongga Mountains were analyzed to evaluate the impact of the temperature and precipitation on glacier retreat. The mean annual temperatures over the eastern and western slopes of the Gongga Mountains have been increasing by 0.34 K decade −1 and 0.24 K decade −1 , respectively. Moreover, mean annual precipitation has only increased by 1 % in the past 50 yr. The increasing amount of precipitation could not compensate for the glacier mass loss due to the temperature increase in the Gongga Mountains. This suggests that the warming of the climate is probably also responsible for the glacier retreat in the study region. At the region scale, glacier changes were also controlled by local topographical factors.
The rate and distribution of deformation along the Qilian Mountain, on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, is needed to understand the evolution of high topography associated with the plateau. Recently, a number of empirical studies have provided support for the contention, common to most models of fluvial incision, that rock uplift rate exerts a first-order control on the gradient of longitudinal river profiles. Along the northern Qilian Mountain, this method is used to extract information about the spatial patterns of differential rock uplift. Analysis of the longitudinal profiles of bedrock channels reveals systematic differences in the channel steepness index along the trend of the frontal ranges. Local comparisons of channel steepness reveal that lithology and precipitation have limited influence on channel steepness. Similarly, there is little evidence suggesting that channel steepness is influenced by differences in the sediment loads. We argue that the distribution of channel steepness in the Qilian Mountain is mostly the result of differential rates of rock uplift. Thus, channel steepness indices reveal a lower rock uplift rate in the eastern portion of the Qilian Mountain and a higher rate in the middle and west. The highest rates appear to occur in the middle-west portions of the range, just to the west of the Yumu Shan. Qilian Mountain, stream power erosion model, channel steepness, rock uplift rate, river profile Citation: Hu X F, Pan B T, Kirby E, et al. Spatial differences in rock uplift rates inferred from channel steepness indices along the northern flank of the Qilian Mountain, northeast Tibetan Plateau.
Intramontane basins in actively deforming regions contain significant information about the evolution of orogenic belts. We explored the tectonic characteristics and evolution of an intramontane basin between the Qilian Shan and Yumu Shan mountains on the NE Tibetan Plateau. We utilized the deformation of fluvial terraces along the Dahe River to constrain the rate and pattern of Quaternary deformation across the basin. Fluvial landforms include a widespread Mid-Pleistocene alluvial-fluvial fan surface and five terrace levels inset below this surface. We dated deposits associated with these landforms by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) analyses on eolian loess and fluvial sediments. Our results yield ages of 142.8 ± 11.3 ka (Fs), 103-125 ka (T5), 96-115 ka (T4), 87-104 ka (T3), and 13-15 ka (T2), which we interpret to reflect the abandonment of fluvial terrace surfaces. Elevation surveys indicate that the terrace surfaces are folded along the Dahe anticline and are gently tilted northward across the basin. Analysis of terrace deformation suggests that the Dahe anticline grew by limb rotation and accommodated upper-crustal shortening at a rate of 0.14 +0.14/−0.03 mm/a. We determined the onset of deformation to have occurred between 0.3 and 0.9 Ma, based on the rotation rate of the southern limb of the anticline. This age is significantly younger than the onset ages of the thrust faults along the Qilian Shan (ca. 10 Ma) and the Yumu Shan (ca. 3.7 Ma). The character of the terrace deformation suggests that the Dahe anticline was growing from a south-dipping décollement, which also induced surface tilting across the entire basin. The Late Quaternary activation of the Dahe anticline folding and the detachment slipping provide evidence that the deformation of the intramontane basin occurred much later than that of the surrounding mountain ranges and accommodated part of the crustal shortening through basin narrowing.
The exhumation history and tectonic evolution of the Qilian Shan at the north‐eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau has been widely debated. Here, we present apatite fission‐track (AFT) data for 12 Ordovician granodiorite samples along a vertical transect in the eastern Qilian Shan. These thermochronometry data indicate that the eastern Qilian Shan experienced a three‐stage cooling history, including: (i) rapid initial cooling in the late Cretaceous; (ii) a stage of quasi isothermal quiescence from ~ 80 to 24 Ma; and (iii) rapid subsequent cooling beginning in the early Miocene. The inferred cooling rates for the three stages are 6.8 ± 4.9 °C Ma−1, 0.6 ± 0.2 °C Ma−1 and 2.7 ± 0.9 °C Ma−1 respectively (±1 σ). Assuming a geothermal gradient of 25 °C km−1, the exhumation rates for the three stages are 0.27 ± 0.20 mm a−1, 0.017 ± 0.007 mm a−1 and 0.11 ± 0.04 mm a−1 respectively (±1 σ). We suggest that the late Cretaceous cooling records collision of the Lhasa block with the Eurasian continent and that the Miocene cooling represents uplift/exhumation of the Qilian Shan.
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