Sedimentary evolution of the Dawan travertines and their geological environmental significance, Huanglong, China

Abstract

The Huanglong travertine landscape, which is located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau, is a World Natural Heritage Site with important tourism, aesthetic and scientific research value. However, no convincing travertine sedimentary age data have been reported for this area, and these late Cenozoic terrestrial carbonates have not been effectively included in studies of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau geological environment. In this study, U‐series dating of the travertines was carried out using a multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer to determine a time series for travertine deposition in the Dawan Valley (only a mountain away from Huanglong). The analyses of the processes operating during travertine deposition as the trench system evolved are performed based on a comprehensive study of the geological setting, structure and glacial landforms. The results suggest that travertine deposition in the Dawan Valley started at ca 13 ka and had begun to wane by the early Holocene (ca 7 ka). At the same time, the Huanglong Valley travertines began to be deposited on a large scale in response to a hydrological transition event. This event might reflect tectonic activity in particular, or possibly earthquakes or glacial retreat caused by climate warming. The findings reported here provide age data for late Cenozoic geological and environmental events such as climate variations and continental activity on the eastern margin of the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau. It also presents new insights for research on glaciation, tectonic activity and seismicity; however, depositional breaks and forcing factors need to be explored further.

Water Environmental Characteristics and Eutrophication Evaluation of Alpine Karst Mountains in Huanglong, Sichuan, China

“…In general, cation exchange will change some major ions in surface water, which is also an important role in the hydrochemical formation of surface water . The ratio ρ­(K + + Na + + Cl – )/ρ­(Ca 2+ + Mg 2+ ) determines whether cation exchange has occurred in the surface water, and if strong ion exchange has occurred, the slope of the two fits should be −1 .…”

“…In general, cation exchange will change some major ions in surface water, which is also an important role in the hydrochemical formation of surface water. 26 The ratio ρ(K + + Na + + Cl − )/ρ(Ca 2+ + Mg 2+ ) determines whether cation exchange has occurred in the surface water, and if strong ion exchange has occurred, the slope of the two fits should be −1. 27 As can be seen from Figure 13, the slopes between surface water and groundwater samples are −1.314 and −0.76, respectively, indicating that ion exchange occurs between surface water and groundwater in Huanglong.…”

Non‐marine carbonate: Wherefore art thou?

“…The list includes sites such as Plitvice (Croatia) and its calcareous tufa, Carlsbad (USA) and most of the world caves for their speleothems, Pamukkale (Turkey) and Yellowstone (USA) for their travertine depositional systems. One of these examples is the Huanglong travertine landscape, located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai -Tibet Plateau, where Qiu et al (2021) provide age data for the late Cenozoic environmental events such as climate variation and continental activity on the eastern margin of the Qinghai -Tibet Plateau. Similarly, the manuscript by Scalera et al ( 2021) also discusses the last evolutionary stages of another of these historical sites by means of sedimentological, petrographic and diagenetic studies.…”