No high Tibetan Plateau until the Neogene

Abstract

The Late Paleogene surface height and paleoenvironment for the core area of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) remain critically unresolved. Here, we report the discovery of the youngest well-preserved fossil palm leaves from Tibet. They were recovered from the Late Paleogene (Chattian), ca. 25.5 ± 0.5 million years, paleolake sediments within the Lunpola Basin (32.033°N, 89.767°E), central QTP at a present elevation of 4655 m. The anatomy of palms renders them intrinsically susceptible to freezing, imposing upper bounds on their latitudinal and altitudinal distribution. Combined with model-determined paleoterrestrial lapse rates, this shows that a high plateau cannot have existed in the core of Tibet in the Paleogene. Instead, a deep paleovalley, whose floor was <2.3 km above mean sea level bounded by (>4 km) high mountain systems, formed a topographically highly varied landscape. This finding challenges prevailing views on tectonic processes, monsoon dynamics, and the evolution of Asian biodiversity.

Phylogeny of spiny frogs Nanorana (Anura: Dicroglossidae) supports a Tibetan origin of a Himalayan species group

“…The relatively recent divergence time between the alpine N. parkeri and the subalpine N . pleskei / N. ventripunctata from the eastern Plateau margin (< 5 Mya) fits the concept of a final uplift of the Tibetan Plateau rather late in the Neogene (Su et al, ). An almost identical biogeographic history has been demonstrated in Scutiger boulongeri , the Tibetan alpine toad (Hofmann et al, ).…”

“…Indeed, genetic separation, diversity, and geographical distribution of Himalayan spiny frogs seem to be best explained by a South Tibetan origin rather than by the alternative immigration or strict vicariance scenario. A Tibetan origin of high-montane faunal elements of the Himalaya is coherent with isotope records as well as with fossil evidence of Late Paleogene and Miocene subtropical to temperate vegetation north of the Greater Himalaya (Su et al, 2019;Wang, Deng, & Biasatti, 2006;Xu et al, 2012), suggesting the existence of cloud forests in Paleo-Tibet.…”

“…Yet, although the collision time is widely accepted, various lines of geoscientific evidence have suggested—partly substantially—different elevational scenarios for the respective parts of the Himalaya–Tibet orogen (HTO) (Deng & Ding, ; Mulch & Chamberlain, ; Murphy et al, ; Tapponnier et al, ; C. Wang et al, ). Consequently, our understanding of the origin and historic biogeography of the terrestrial faunas inhabiting the HTO is far from conclusive, and has been hindered by a lack of and potential misinterpretation of data (Favre et al, ; Renner, ; Spicer, ; Su et al, ).…”

“…Consequently, our understanding of the origin and historic biogeography of the terrestrial faunas inhabiting the HTO is far from conclusive, and has been hindered by a lack of and potential misinterpretation of data (Favre et al, 2015;Renner, 2016;Spicer, 2017;Su et al, 2019).…”

East Asian origins of European holly oaks (Quercus section Ilex Loudon) via the Tibet‐Himalaya

“…Meanwhile, although proto‐Tibet reached 4.5 km in the mid‐Eocene, recent study based on a palm fossil from the Lunpola Basin has demonstrated the existence of a deep east‐west valley with elevation below 2.3 km in Tibet during the late Oligocene (Su, Farnsworth, et al, ). This valley and the surrounding high mountains formed a highly heterogeneous environment, including tropical and subtropical climates well suited to an Oligocene oak forest (Su, Farnsworth, et al, ). Several recent biogeographic studies of various subtropical disjunct lineages (e.g.…”