Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics of the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau: fission-track constraints

Jolivet, Marc; Brunel, Maurice; Seward, Diane; Xu, Zhiqin; Yang, J.; Roger, Françoise; Tapponnier, Paul; Malavieille, Jacques; Arnaud, Nicolas; Wu, Cailai

doi:10.1016/s0040-1951(01)00196-2

Cited by 509 publications

(478 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…~23 Ma (Wang, 1995;Zhang Guojun, 1993). In the more distant Hexi foreland basin Cenozoic sedimentation (fluvio-lacustrine intercalated with volcanic rocks) only increased after the Oligocene (Jolivet et al, 2001;Li and Yang, 1998). Based on this widespread regional evidence we consider the post Oligocene acceleration in cooling recorded in the AFT models to be real.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Mesozoic–Tertiary exhumation history of the Altai Mountains, northern Xinjiang, China: New constraints from apatite fission track data

et al. 2006

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Abstract:This study uses apatite fission track (FT) analysis to constrain the exhumation history of bedrock samples collected from the Altai Mountains in northern Xinjiang, China. Samples were collected as transects across the main structures related to Palaeozoic crustal accretion events. FT results and modeling identify three stages in sample cooling history spanning the Mesozoic and Tertiary. Stage one records rapid cooling to the low temperature part of the fission track partial annealing zone circa 70±10°C. Stage two, records a period of relative stability with little if any cooling taking place between ~ 75 Ma and ~25-20 Ma suggesting the Altai region had been reduced to an area of low relief. Support for this can be found in the adjacent Junngar Basin that received little if any sediment during this interval. Final stage cooling took place in the Miocene at an accelerated rate bringing the sampled rocks to the Earth's surface. This last stage, linked to the far field effects of the Himalayan collision, most likely generated the surface uplift and relief that define the present-day Altai Mountains.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Mesozoic–Tertiary exhumation history of the Altai Mountains, northern Xinjiang, China: New constraints from apatite fission track data

et al. 2006

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“…Matching same-year SPI history with NDVI corroborated the implied moisture-based relationship between the two indices and encourages further work investigating drought and vegetation cover as related proxies in drylands. Identifying significant landform features, such as the Qilian Mountains and Kuruktag Uplift, integrated topography and prior scientific research to determine the Gobi's southern border [45,47]. The expansion and contraction of the Gobi echoes patterns recorded in the Sahara, Thar, Lut and other deserts [5,6].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Topographical maps show a great altitudinal gradation from the desert (~1500 m asl) to the northern Qilian Range of the Tibetan Plateau (>5000 m) which has been used to identify the southern boundary [14,45,46]. Unlike Yu et al [21], we exclude the Taklamakan in our assessment because, although it is joined to the Gobi by a dryland corridor, the Taklamakan has a distinct topographical setting in the Tarim Basin which is separated by the Kuruktag Uplift from the Gobi [47].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contraction of the Gobi Desert, 2000–2012

2015

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Deserts are critical environments because they cover 41% of the world's land surface and are home to 2 billion residents. As highly dynamic biomes desert expansion and contraction is influenced by climate and anthropogenic factors with variability being a key part of the desertification debate across dryland regions. Evaluating a major world desert, the Gobi in East Asia, with high resolution satellite data and the meteorologically-derived Aridity Index from 2000 to 2012 identified a recent contraction of the Gobi. The fluctuation in area, primarily driven by precipitation, is at odds with numerous reports of human-induced desertification in Mongolia and China. There are striking parallels between the vagueness in defining the Gobi and the imprecision and controversy surrounding the Sahara desert's southern boundary in the 1980s and 1990s. Improved boundary definition has implications for understanding desert "greening" and "browning", human action and land use, ecological productivity and changing climate parameters in the region. The Gobi's average area of 2.3 million km 2 in the 21st century places it behind only the Sahara and Arabian deserts in size.

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“…Nonetheless, further to the north, between the Kunlun Ranges and the Tarim Basin, low temperature thermochronology and sediment analysis do indicate some small-scale Cretaceous vertical movements potentially linked to the Lhasa collision (e.g. Vincent and Allen, 1999;Jolivet et al, 1999Jolivet et al, , 2001Marshallsea et al, 2000). Within the Chinese part of the Tian Shan Range, the low temperature thermochronology data indicate that the near isothermal stage that started during the Middle Jurassic still prevailed during the Cretaceous (e.g.…”

Section: Cretaceous -Early Palaeogene Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, topographic highs were certainly not important and the peneplanation phase probably reached its maximum during the Middle or Late Jurassic like in most of Central Asia (e.g. Vassallo et al, 2007b;Jolivet et al, 2001Jolivet et al, , 2007.…”

Section: Jolivet Et Al: Mesozoic Tian Shan Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing the Late Palaeozoic – Mesozoic topographic evolution of the Chinese Tian Shan: available data and remaining uncertainties

et al. 2013

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Abstract. The topographic evolution of continents and especially the growth and dismembering of mountain ranges plays a major role in the tectonic evolution of orogenic systems, as well as in regional or global climate changes. A large number of studies have concentrated on the description, quantification and dating of relief building in active mountain ranges. However, deciphering the topographic evolution of a continental area submitted to recurrent tectonic deformation over several hundred millions of years remains a challenge. Here we present a synthesis of the tectonic, geochronological and sedimentological data available on the intracontinental Tian Shan Range to describe its general topographic evolution from Late Palaeozoic to Early Tertiary. We show that this evolution has occurred in two very distinct geodynamic settings, initiating during the Carboniferous in an ocean subduction -continent collision tectonic context before becoming, from Early Permian, purely intra-continental. We show that during most of the Mesozoic, the topography is mostly characterized by a progressive general decrease of the relief. Nonetheless localized, recurrent deformation induced the formation of small-scale reliefs during that period. These deformations were driven by far field effects of possibly several geodynamic processes in a way that still remains to be fully understood.

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Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics of the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau: fission-track constraints

Cited by 509 publications

References 63 publications

Mesozoic–Tertiary exhumation history of the Altai Mountains, northern Xinjiang, China: New constraints from apatite fission track data

Mesozoic–Tertiary exhumation history of the Altai Mountains, northern Xinjiang, China: New constraints from apatite fission track data

Contraction of the Gobi Desert, 2000–2012

Reconstructing the Late Palaeozoic – Mesozoic topographic evolution of the Chinese Tian Shan: available data and remaining uncertainties

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