Existence of a continental-scale river system in eastern Tibet during the late Cretaceous–early Palaeogene

Abstract

The establishment of continental-scale drainage systems on Earth is largely controlled by topography related to plate boundary deformation and buoyant mantle. Drainage patterns of the great rivers in Asia are thought to be highly dynamic during the Cenozoic collision of India and Eurasia, but the drainage pattern and landscape evolution prior to the development of high topography in eastern Tibet remain largely unknown. Here we report the results of petro-stratigraphy, heavy-mineral analysis, and detrital zircon U-Pb dating from late Cretaceous–early Palaeogene sedimentary basin strata along the present-day eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Similarities in the provenance signatures among basins indicate that a continental-scale fluvial system once drained southward into the Neo-Tethyan Ocean. These results challenge existing models of drainage networks that flowed toward the East Asian marginal seas and require revisions to inference of palaeo-topography during the Late Cretaceous. The presence of a continent-scale river may have provided a stable long-term base level which, in turn, facilitated the development of an extensive low-relief landscape that is preserved atop interfluves above the deeply incised canyons of eastern Tibet.

Chain Actions Generated High-Elevation and High-Relief Topography of the Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau: From Deep Earth Forces to Earthquake-Induced Dams

“…However, such characteristics can't always be observed in a river, such as in the upstream of Min-Jiang River. We prone to consider the feature of NW-to-NS is the primary form of antecedent stream as the latest study by Zhao et al (2021). In the process of landform uplifting, the hydrographic system of original Tibet Plateau showed NW-to-NS flowing and endured spatial transformation lately (Zhao et al, 2021).…”

“…We prone to consider the feature of NW-to-NS is the primary form of antecedent stream as the latest study by Zhao et al (2021). In the process of landform uplifting, the hydrographic system of original Tibet Plateau showed NW-to-NS flowing and endured spatial transformation lately (Zhao et al, 2021). These south-flowing rivers coincides with the active faults in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and affected by active fault (Li et al, 2010;Yan and Lin, 2015), showing similar features as those of the two large arc-shaped fault zone aforementioned (Figures 1, 2).…”

Evolution of drainage patterns in active fold-thrust belts: A case study in the Qilian Mountains

“…The establishment of the evolution processes of drainage networks is the essential precondition for understanding the response of drainage patterns to tectonic movement. The historical evolution of drainage networks can be reconstructed by landform records (Pan et al, 2011;Fan et al, 2018), provenance analyses (Clift et al, 2012;Ma et al, 2020;Zhao et al, 2021), historical records or modern observations (Chen et al, 2012;Shugar et al, 2017;Stokes et al, 2018). The evolutionary trends of the drainage network can be assessed by topographic metrics (Willett et al, 2014;Forte and Whipple, 2018;Lin et al, 2021).…”

Provenance and evolution of East Asian large rivers recorded in the East and South China Seas: A review

“…Detrital zircon U-Pb age distributions of Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleogene strata from a range of inland basins along the eastern and southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, using the compiled dataset (Chen et al, 2017b;Li et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2014b;Zhao et al, 2021) of Zhao (2021). Note that their raw dataset is slightly modified by excluding replicate samples (CX-25-2 and CX-31-2; Zhao et al, 2021) and implementing the strategy of this study in data treatment. Samples are grouped into stratigraphic intervals and compared by kernel density estimation (KDE) spectra, with grey bars marking different ages or magnitudes of key peaks within individual basins.…”