Cenozoic cooling history of the North Qilian Shan, northern Tibetan Plateau, and the initiation of the Haiyuan fault: Constraints from apatite- and zircon-fission track thermochronology

Miocene Range Growth Along the Altyn Tagh Fault: Insights From Apatite Fission Track and (U‐Th)/He Thermochronometry in the Western Danghenan Shan, China

“…Our new thermochronological data combined with published data in the western Danghenan Shan indicate a period of accelerated deformation since the middle Miocene in the southwestern portion of the Qilian Shan. The accelerated deformation in the middle Miocene is observed not only in the southwestern portion of the Qilian Shan but also throughout the rest of the Qilian Shan: (1) Thermochronological data indicate that the northern margin of the Qilian Shan has undergone accelerated exhumation since ~10 Ma (George et al, ; B. Li et al, ; Zheng et al, , ; Zhuang et al, ); (2) a shift in provenance in the Hexi Corridor from the Bei Shan to the north to the northern Qilian Shan to the south, and facies change in the Hexi Corridor suggest that the deformation that created the high topography of the northern Qilian Shan began at the middle Miocene (Bovet et al, ; Wang, Zhang, Pang, et al, ); (3) rapid exhumation of the central Qilian Shan is reported to have occurred since the middle Miocene (Duvall et al, ; D. Yuan et al, , ; Yu et al, ; Zheng et al, ); (4) accelerated exhumation and depositional rates, sediment coarsening, development of growth strata, and climate change attributed to mountain building in the middle Miocene are widespread across the eastern portion of the Qilian Shan east of the Qinghai Lake, such as the Linxia, Xunhua, Guide, and Gonghe basins (see a review in Lease, ); and (5) new thermochronological data and magnetostratigraphy in the southern margin of the Qilian Shan and northern Qaidam Basin suggest that the region has experienced rapid exhumation since the middle Miocene (Fang et al, ; Pang et al, ; W. Wang, Zheng, Zhang, et al, ; Zhuang et al, ; Figure a).…”

“…Yuan et al (); 15—Zheng et al (); 16—Bovet et al (); 17—George et al (); 18—Wang, Zhang, Pang, et al (); 19—Zheng et al (); 20—Duvall et al (); 21—Yu et al (); 22—B. Li et al (); 23—W. Wang et al (); 24—Zheng et al (); 25—Lease et al (); 26—Lease et al (); 27—Fang et al (); 28—Garzione et al (); 29—Hough et al (); 30—Yan et al (); 31—Craddock et al (); 32—D.…”

Cenozoic Exhumation of the Qilian Shan in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau: Evidence From Low‐Temperature Thermochronology

“…We interpret this rapid cooling as a response to the onset of fast exhumation in the middle to late Miocene due to tectonic deformation (see Interpretation section above). There are two scenarios of deformational processes that may have resulted in rapid exhumation in the eastern Qilian Shan region: thrusting along the HSF that could uplift the rocks located in the hanging wall of the fault, and left‐lateral strike‐slip along the bending Haiyuan fault that could lead to regional rock uplift (Figure 1, Li et al, 2019). Three lines of evidence indicate that thrusting along the HSF in the middle to late Miocene is more likely than left‐lateral strike‐slip motion on the Haiyuan fault at this time interval.…”

The interplay between climate and tectonics during the upward and outward growth of the Qilian Shan orogenic wedge, northern Tibetan Plateau

“…Rapid exhumation across the entire Qilian Shan in the Miocene has been documented by several lines of investigation, mainly including bedrock and detrital mineral low-temperature thermochronology studies, provenance analysis, as well as seismic profile interpretation(Bovet et al, 2009; Cheng et al, 2016a; Cheng et al, 2019b; Cheng et al, 2016c;He et al, 2017;He et al, 2018;Jolivet et al, 2001;Li et al, 2019; Qi et al, 2016b;Wang et al, 2016a;Wang et al, 2016b;Yin et al, 2008a;Yin et al, 2008b;Yu et al, 2019;Zheng et al, 2010;Zheng et al, 2017;Zhuang et al, 2011b). Some relate Miocene deformation in the northern J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f Tibetan plateau to variation in the kinematic evolution of the ATF, while others associate it with the removal of lithospheric mantle beneath north-central Tibet(Molnar et al, 1993;Wang et al, 2016b;Zheng et al, 2017).…”