The elevation history of the Tibetan Plateau and its implications for the Asian monsoon

2006 ◽  
Vol 241 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Harris
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals Evolutionary history of zoogeographical regions surrounding the Tibetan Plateau

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiekun He ◽  
Siliang Lin ◽  
Jiatang Li ◽  
Jiehua Yu ◽  
Haisheng Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
History Of ◽  
Striking Change ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe Tibetan Plateau (TP) and surrounding regions have one of the most complex biotas on Earth. However, the evolutionary history of these regions in deep time is poorly understood. Here, we quantify the temporal changes in beta dissimilarities among zoogeographical regions during the Cenozoic using 4,966 extant terrestrial vertebrates and 1,278 extinct mammal genera. We identify ten present-day zoogeographical regions and find that they underwent a striking change over time. Specifically, the fauna on the TP was close to the Oriental realm in deep time but became more similar to the Palearctic realms more recently. The present-day zoogeographical regions generally emerged during the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (ca. 5 Ma). These results indicate that geological events such as the Indo-Asian Collision, the TP uplift, and the aridification of the Asian interior underpinned the evolutionary history of the zoogeographical regions surrounding the TP over different time periods.

scholarly journals Late Cenozoic Denudation and Topographic Evolution History of the Lhasa River Drainage in Southern Tibetan Plateau: Insights From Inverse Thermal History Modeling

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongxu Cai ◽  
Xianyan Wang ◽  
Guangwei Li ◽  
Wenbin Zhu ◽  
Huayu Lu
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Surface Erosion ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Monsoon Precipitation ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
River Drainage ◽  
History Of ◽  
Southern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lhasa River ◽  
Topographic Evolution

The interaction of surface erosion (e.g., fluvial incision) and tectonic uplift shapes the landform in the Tibetan Plateau. The Lhasa River flows toward the southwest across the central Gangdese Mountains in the southern Tibetan Plateau, characterized by a low-relief and high-elevation landscape. However, the evolution of low-relief topography and the establishment of the Lhasa River remain highly under debate. Here, we collected thermochronological ages reported in the Lhasa River drainage, using a 3D thermokinematic model to invert both late Cenozoic denudation and relief history of the Lhasa River drainage. Our results show that the Lhasa River drainage underwent four-phase denudation history, including two-stage rapid denudation at ∼25–16 Ma (with a rate of ∼0.42 km/Ma) and ∼16–12 Ma (with a rate of ∼0.72 km/Ma). In the latest Oligocene–early Miocene, uplift of the Gangdese Mountains triggered the rapid denudation and the formation of the current main drainage of the Lhasa River. In the middle Miocene, the second stage of the rapid denudation and the high relief were associated with intense incision of the Lhasa River, which is probably due to the enhanced Asian summer monsoon precipitation. This later rapid episode was consistent with the records of regional main drainage systems. After ∼12 Ma, the denudation rate decreases rapidly, and the relief of topography in the central Gangdese region was gradually subdued. This indicates that the fluvial erosion resulting from Asian monsoon precipitation increase significantly impacts on the topographic evolution in the central Gangdese region.

Paleoaltitudinal histories for the northern and southern margins of the Tibetan Plateau during the Late Cenozoic: revealed by GDGTs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chihao Chen ◽  
Yan Bai ◽  
Xiaomin Fang ◽  
Haichao Guo ◽  
Weilin Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Surface ◽  
Terrestrial Organic Matter ◽  
Plant Fossils ◽  
History Of ◽  
Monsoon System ◽  
Uplift History

<p>As an important driver of global climate change during the Cenozoic, the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has strongly influenced the origination and evolution of the Asian monsoon system, and therefore the aridification of central Asia. Over the last two decades, the application of stable isotope paleoaltimeters and the discoveries of mammal and plant fossils have greatly promoted the understanding of the uplift history of the TP. However, paleoaltitudinal reconstructions based on different paleoaltimeters have suggested differing outcomes and therefore remain controversial. Novel paleoaltimeters have therefore needed to be developed and applied to constrain the uplift history of the TP more accurately and effectively by comparing and verifying multi-proxies. Paleothermometers based on glyceryl dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are widely used in terrestrial and ocean temperature reconstructions. In this study, GDGT-based paleothermometers were tentatively applied to the Gyirong Basin on the southern TP, and the Xining Basins on the northern TP, in an attempt to quantitatively reconstruct their paleoaltitudes.</p><p>Both soil and aquatic-typed branched GDGTs have been identified from Late Miocene to Mid-Pliocene (7.0-3.2 Ma) samples taken from the Gyirong Basin; their reconstructed paleotemperatures were 7.5±3.3°C and 14.2±4.5°C, respectively. The former temperature may represent the mean temperature of the terrestrial organic matter input area, while the latter may represent the lake surface temperature. The results would suggest that the lake surface of the Gyirong Basin during the Late Miocene to Mid-Pliocene was 2.5±0.8 km and that the surrounding mountains exceeded 3.6±0.6 km, implying that the central Himalayas underwent a rapid uplift of ~1.5 km after the Mid-Pliocene.</p><p>GDGT-based paleotemperature reconstructions using MBT'<sub>5ME</sub> values show that the Xining Basin dropped in temperature by ~10°C during the ~10.5-8 Ma period, exceeding that in sea surface temperatures and low-altitude terrestrial temperatures during these periods. By combining these results with contemporaneous tectonic and sedimentary records, we infer that these cooling events signaled the regional uplift with the amplitude of ~1 km of the Xining basins. Our results support that the TP was still growing and uplifting substantially since the Late Miocene, which may provide new evidence for understanding the growth, expansion and uplift patterns of the TP.</p>

Origin and development of Artemisia (Asteraceae) in Asia and its implications for the uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau: A review

2011 ◽  
Vol 236 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miao Yunfa ◽  
Meng Qingquan ◽  
Fang Xiaomin ◽  
Yan Xiaoli ◽  
Wu Fuli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
History Of ◽  
Uplift History

Complex Role of the Tibetan Plateau and its Surrounding Topography in the Formation of Asian Climate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Sha ◽  
Zhengguo Shi
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Indian Monsoon ◽  
Arid Climate ◽  
Monsoon Circulation ◽  
Main Body ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Strengthening Effect ◽  
Maximum Rainfall ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality

<p>The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has undoubtedly played an essential role in the evolution and strengthening of the coupled climate system of the Asian monsoon and inland arid climate since the Cenozoic. However, a growing number of studies have found that regional and relatively smaller scale topography also has significant impact on Asian climate.<br>By using high resolution atmospheric circulation model, we analyzed the effect of the main body of the TP and its surrounding topography on the evolution of Asian climate. The surrounding topography includes the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau (YG) at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the Pamir Plateau (Pr) and Tian Shan mountains (TS) at the northern margin and the Mongolian Plateau (MP) further north. The results show that different from the strengthening effect of the main TP, the YG significantly weakens the Indian monsoon. With the uplift of the YG, an anomalous anticyclonic circulation appeared in the lower troposphere over the southwest, resulting in the weakening of monsoon circulation from the Bay of Bengal to the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian sea. The decline in Indian monsoon precipitation caused by the YG accounts for one-third of the total increase in precipitation caused by the entire TP.<br>For the arid interior Asia, the main TP, YG, Pr and TS, as well as the MP all have reduced the annual precipitation in some extent. However, different from the consistent inhibiting effect of the main TP on the precipitation over the arid interior Asia throughout the year, the decreasing effect of the YG and the MP is mainly effective in boreal winter, which is closely related to the mechanical blocking effect. In addition, the Pr and TS play a key role in the temporal and spatial differentiation of precipitation in the arid interior Asia. Before the appearance of the Pr and TS, the precipitation seasonality over the eastern sub-region was characterized with maximum rainfall in spring and winter and minimum rainfall in summer. With the uplift of Pr and TS, the precipitation over the eastern part decreases in winter and significantly increases in summer, which leads to the change of precipitation seasonality to summer dominated.<br>The above results indicate that different part of the extensive-third pole have different influences on the Asian monsoon and inland aridity. It suggests that the Asian monsoon-inland arid climate may have undergone complex evolutionary processes on tectonic scale.</p>

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