Surface uplift, tectonics, and erosion of eastern Tibet from large‐scale drainage patterns

Abstract

A new regional compilation of the drainage history in southeastern Tibet suggests that the modern rivers draining the plateau margin were once tributaries to a single, southward flowing system which drained into the South China Sea. Disruption of the paleo‐drainage occurred by river capture and reversal prior to or coeval with the initiation of Miocene (?) uplift in eastern Tibet, including ∼2000 m of surface uplift of the lower plateau margin since reversal of the flow direction of the Yangtze River. Despite lateral changes in course due to capture and reversal, the superposition of eastward and southward draining rivers that cross the southeastern plateau margin suggests that uplift has occurred over long wavelengths (>1000 km), mimicking the present low‐gradient topographic slope. Thus reorganization of drainage lines by capture and reversal events explains most of the peculiar patterns of the eastern plateau rivers, without having to appeal to large‐magnitude tectonic shear.

Uplift of the Tibetan plateau: Evidence from divergence times of glyptosternoid catfishes

“…The C1 calibration point is based on the fossil record of Bagarius yarrelli from the Pliocene (5.3-1.8 Ma ago) of the Siwalik Hills in India (Lydekker, 1886). C2 and C3 each represents an upper bound of 4 Ma, derived from the capture of the Tsangpo by the Brahmaputra River, which occurred prior to about this time (Clark et al, 2004).…”

Phylogeography of the freshwater catfish Hemibagrus guttatus (Siluriformes, Bagridae): Implications for South China biogeography and influence of sea-level changes

“…The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, especially, has experienced extremely intense uplift from around 1000 m to 4000-5000 m above sea-level (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1980). These events have led to profound changes of the trajectories of major Chinese rivers (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1980;Clark et al, 2004). In southern China, several important rivers, e.g.…”

Phylogeny and biogeography of Chinese sisorid catfishes re-examined using mitochondrial cytochrome b and 16S rRNA gene sequences

“…Such a perspective is therefore still far from clear promoting us to pursue further studies of the molecular phylogenetics of the sisorid catfishes. It has long been recognized that paleo-drainages of major continental East Asian Rivers, draining the south-eastern Tibet plateau margin, differed markedly from their current drainage patterns (Brookfield, 1998;Clark et al, 2004;Gregory, 1925;Gregory and Gregory, 1923;Hallet and Molnar, 2001;Métivier et al, 1999;Seeber and Gornitz, 1983;Zeitler et al, 2001). In a recent study, Clark et al (2004) suggested that these rivers were once tributaries to a single southward flowing system, which drained into the South China Sea (Fig.…”

“…3A). Subsequent reorganization into modern major river drainages was primarily caused by river capture and reversal events associated with the initiation of Miocene uplifts in eastern Tibet (Clark et al, 2004). Although large-magnitude tectonic shear, prompted by the Indian-Asian collision around the eastern Himalayan syntaxis (especially in the ''Three River'' area where the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers run parallel, see Fig.…”

“…Although large-magnitude tectonic shear, prompted by the Indian-Asian collision around the eastern Himalayan syntaxis (especially in the ''Three River'' area where the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers run parallel, see Fig. 3), river capture and reversal events cannot be ruled out as an additional factor influencing these large-scale changes in drainage patterns (Clark et al, 2004;Hallet and Molnar, 2001). As reviewed by Rü ber et al (2004), the evolution of drainage systems in Asia can be summarized in four stages (Fig.…”