Timing of Tibetan uplift constrained by analysis of volcanic rocks

Turner, Simon; Hawkesworth, Chris J.; Liu, Jiaqi; Rogers, Nick; Kelley, S. P.; Calsteren, Peter van

doi:10.1038/364050a0

Cited by 386 publications

(205 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Thus reactivation of these structures probably began prior to the transition from N-S compression to E-W extension of the Tibetan Plateau between 5 and 10 Ma (Mercier et al, 1987;Pan and Kidd, 1992). Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau itself remains a topic of some debate (Molnar, 1989;Harrison et al, 1992;Burbank et al, 1993;England, 1993;Turner et al, 1993), as timing constraints are indirectly inferred from palaeobotanical studies, thermochronological data or lithospheric modelling. Molnar et al (1993), England (1993), and Burbank et al (1993) present arguments for a substantial period of uplift of the Tibetan Plateau at ---8 Ma, broadly coincident with the onset of E-W extension.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

et al. 1997

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

et al. 1997

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“…These data suggest that southern Tibet must have had a very thick crust (70-90 km) at this time. Turner et al (1993) related the shoshonitic volcanism in Tibet to convective thinning of the lithosphere and its replacement by hot asthenosphere. However, recent surface-wave tomography studies imply a high-velocity lithospheric mantle beneath the whole plateau today (except the far north under the Kun Lun) to a depth of 225-250 km Priestley & McKenzie 2006), arguing against lithospheric detachment or sinking.…”

Section: Volcanism In Tibetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crustal–lithospheric structure and continental extrusion of Tibet

Searle

Elliott

Phillips

et al. 2011

JGS

237

154

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Crustal shortening and thickening to c. 70-85 km in the Tibetan Plateau occurred both before and mainly after the c. 50 Ma India-Asia collision. Potassic-ultrapotassic shoshonitic and adakitic lavas erupted across the Qiangtang (c. 50-29 Ma) and Lhasa blocks (c. 30-10 Ma) indicate a hot mantle, thick crust and eclogitic root during that period. The progressive northward underthrusting of cold, Indian mantle lithosphere since collision shut off the source in the Lhasa block at c. 10 Ma. Late Miocene-Pleistocene shoshonitic volcanic rocks in northern Tibet require hot mantle. We review the major tectonic processes proposed for Tibet including 'rigid-block', continuum and crustal flow as well as the geological history of the major strikeslip faults. We examine controversies concerning the cumulative geological offsets and the discrepancies between geological, Quaternary and geodetic slip rates. Low present-day slip rates measured from global positioning system and InSAR along the Karakoram and Altyn Tagh Faults in addition to slow long-term geological rates can only account for limited eastward extrusion of Tibet since Mid-Miocene time. We conclude that despite being prominent geomorphological features sometimes with wide mylonite zones, the faults cut earlier formed metamorphic and igneous rocks and show limited offsets. Concentrated strain at the surface is dissipated deeper into wide ductile shear zones.

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“…They have been reported from numerous locations across the Tibetan Plateau (Arnaud et al 1992;Turner et al 1993Turner et al , 1996Miller et al 1999;Williams et al 2001Williams et al , 2004Nomade et al 2004;Chung et al 2005). Previously reported rocks are all of continental affinity, and most are Late Cenozoic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Shoshonites in Southern Tibet Record Late Jurassic Rifting of a Tethyan Intraoceanic Island Arc

Aitchison¹,

McDermid²,

Ali³

et al. 2007

The Journal of Geology

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. A B S T R A C TDetailed field mapping combined with a petrologic and geochemical investigation of the Zedong terrane within the Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone provides insights to the evolution of now mostly subducted portions of Tethys during the Late Jurassic. The terrane is dominated by volcanic rocks of shoshonitic affinity, which were erupted in a submarine oceanic island arc setting. The volcanic island arc was built on a basement of oceanic crust, and the shoshonites locally overlie a thin section of pillowed island arc tholeiites and red ribbon-bedded radiolarian cherts. Geochemistry of the shoshonites suggests that their development occurred in a setting analogous to that of Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Fiji and was associated with an arc rifting. We speculate that this event may have been a far-field response to developments associated with Gondwana breakup.

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Timing of Tibetan uplift constrained by analysis of volcanic rocks

Cited by 386 publications

References 25 publications

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Crustal–lithospheric structure and continental extrusion of Tibet

Shoshonites in Southern Tibet Record Late Jurassic Rifting of a Tethyan Intraoceanic Island Arc

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