“…However, the mechanism of this late Oligocene drainage expansion of the paleo‐Pearl River remains poorly constrained. Several investigations attributed this event to the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau (Cao et al., 2018; He et al., 2020; Jin et al., 2022), as similar Oligocene drainage network reorganization has been recognized in the other large rivers originating from SE Tibet, including the Red and Yangtze Rivers (Clift et al., 2006, 2020; Zheng et al., 2013). However, other studies have indicated that the opening of the South China Sea also influenced the progressive headward erosion of the major rivers in southeastern China (Lan et al., 2016; C. Liu et al., 2022; Z. Zhang, Daly, Tian, et al., 2022; Z. Zhang, Daly, Yan, et al., 2022).…”