Between Kongpo and Xanadu

10.1093/oso/9780190690779.003.0009 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ruth Gamble

Keyword(s):

The final chapter begins with Rangjung Dorjé in retreat in Kongpo, southern Tibet. Because of his growing reputation, however, he is soon forced to return to central Tibet to mediate between a group of rebels and members of the ruling Mongol-Sakya alliance. In 1329, the Mongol emperor summonses him to the capitals. He eventually arrives in Dadu nearly two years later, during the short reign of Irinjibal (1326–1332, r. 1332), and witnesses the enthronement of the final Mongol emperor, Toghon Temür (1320–1370, r. 1333–1370), who becomes his student. Once at the young emperor’s court, he is only allowed to return to Tibet briefly in 1334. He dies in Xanadu in the summer of 1339. According to his biographers, his death was enacted to facilitate his escape from the emperor’s decree that he stay in the capital. It enabled him, through rebirth, to return to his beloved mountains.

Download Full-text

Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) conodonts from southern Tibet, the Indian passive margin: implications for the age and correlation of the roof of the world

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756820001077 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-25

Author(s):

Svend Stouge ◽

David A. T. Harper ◽

Renbin Zhan ◽

Jianbo Liu ◽

Lars Stemmerik

Keyword(s):

Middle Part ◽

Passive Margin ◽

Continental Margins ◽

Oceanic Circulation ◽

Mount Everest ◽

Southern Tibet ◽

Middle Ordovician ◽

The North ◽

Carbon Isotope Excursion ◽

Central Tibet

Abstract New occurrences of middle–late Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) conodonts are reported from the Nyalam region, southern Tibet. The conodont-yielding strata, referred to the Chiatsun Group, accumulated on the north Indian continental margin of northern Gondwana. These Middle Ordovician conodonts include the informal species Histiodella sp. A in the middle part of the Lower Formation of the Chiatsun Group succeeded by a fauna of the Pygodus serra Zone in the upper part of that formation. Pygodus anserinus is recorded from the base of the Upper Formation of the Chiatsun Group. The Nyalam succession and its conodont taxa allow for precise correlation of the strata preserved on top of Mount Qomolangma (Mount Everest), eastern Tibet and the Peri-Gondwana Lhasa (north central Tibet), South China, North China, Tarim Basin and Thailand-Malaysia (Sibumasu Terrane) terranes and/or microcontinents. The middle Darriwilian positive increase in δ13Ccarb values (carbon isotope excursion, or MDICE) is recorded from most terranes, and can be related to a late middle Darriwilian global short-term cooling and sea-level drop. The cooling event prompted temperate- to warm-water taxa to migrate towards the palaeoequator and constrained the Australasian Province to locations near and at the palaeoequator. The intensified oceanic circulation and upwelling on continental margins probably caused some characteristic taxa to become extinct. The incoming fauna was mainly of cool-water taxa. The conodont specimens from southern Tibet are black to pale grey, corresponding to conodont colour index (CAI) values of 5 to 6, which demonstrates that the host sedimentary rocks were once heated to more than 360°C.

Download Full-text

Record of Crustal Thickening and Synconvergent Extension from the Dajiamang Tso Rift, Southern Tibet

Geosciences ◽

10.3390/geosciences11050209 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 209

Author(s):

William B. Burke ◽

Andrew K. Laskowski ◽

Devon A. Orme ◽

Kurt E. Sundell ◽

Michael H. Taylor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dynamic Models ◽

Hanging Wall ◽

Crustal Thickness ◽

Suture Zone ◽

Crustal Thickening ◽

Southern Tibet ◽

South Central ◽

Crustal Thinning ◽

Indian Lithosphere ◽

Central Tibet

North-trending rifts throughout south-central Tibet provide an opportunity to study the dynamics of synconvergent extension in contractional orogenic belts. In this study, we present new data from the Dajiamang Tso rift, including quantitative crustal thickness estimates calculated from trace/rare earth element zircon data, U-Pb geochronology, and zircon-He thermochronology. These data constrain the timing and rates of exhumation in the Dajiamang Tso rift and provide a basis for evaluating dynamic models of synconvergent extension. Our results also provide a semi-continuous record of Mid-Cretaceous to Miocene evolution of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogenic belt along the India-Asia suture zone. We report igneous zircon U-Pb ages of ~103 Ma and 70–42 Ma for samples collected from the Xigaze forearc basin and Gangdese Batholith/Linzizong Formation, respectively. Zircon-He cooling ages of forearc rocks in the hanging wall of the Great Counter thrust are ~28 Ma, while Gangdese arc samples in the footwalls of the Dajiamang Tso rift are 16–8 Ma. These data reveal the approximate timing of the switch from contraction to extension along the India-Asia suture zone (minimum 16 Ma). Crustal-thickness trends from zircon geochemistry reveal possible crustal thinning (to ~40 km) immediately prior to India-Eurasia collision onset (58 Ma). Following initial collision, crustal thickness increases to 50 km by 40 Ma with continued thickening until the early Miocene supported by regional data from the Tibetan Magmatism Database. Current crustal thickness estimates based on geophysical observations show no evidence for crustal thinning following the onset of E–W extension (~16 Ma), suggesting that modern crustal thickness is likely facilitated by an underthrusting Indian lithosphere balanced by upper plate extension.

Download Full-text

Revised chronology of central Tibet uplift and its implications

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14050 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaomin Fang ◽

Guillaume Dupont-Nivet ◽

Chengshan Wang ◽

Chunhui Song ◽

Qingquan Meng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

Tibetan Plateau ◽

International Society ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Surface Processes ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Fossil Plants ◽

Growth Mechanisms ◽

Southern Tibet ◽

Central Tibet

<p>Understanding the Tibetan Plateau (TP) topographic history is essential to determining its building mechanisms and its role in driving regional climate, environments and biodiversity. The Lunpola Basin (central-southern Tibet) is the key place to constrain the Tibet building because it deposits the most complete Cenozoic stratigraphy sequence in the central TP and bears many layers of tuffs, abundant fossil plants and mammals and paleosols. It is also the first place that stable isotope based paleoaltimetry was applied to, which suggested that similar to present elevation was attained in the central TP at least 35 Ma ago, implying a much earlier uplift of the TP than before. This view was soon widely accepted by international society but was challenged by recent discoveries of low elevations tropical fossil apparently deposited at 25.5 Ma. However, we use magnetostratigraphic and radiochronologic dating to robustly revise the chronology of regional elevation estimates both from the stable isotope and fossils in the Lunpola Basin. The results indicate that both ages estimated for the stable and fossil based elevations are wrong with the former from ~40 Ma revising to ~26-21 Ma and the later from ~26 Ma to ~40 Ma. Thus this revised chronology demonstrates that central Tibet was generally low (<2.3 km) since at least ~40 Ma and became high (3.5-4.5 km) since at least ~26 Ma. This supports the Eocene existence of a lowland between the Gangdese Shan and Tanggula Shan until their early Miocene uplift. This later uplift of central-southern Tibet has important implications for Tibetan Plateau (TP) growth mechanisms and agrees well with recently updated studies of the TP-imposed impacts on Asian atmospheric circulations, surface processes and biotic evolution and diversification differentiation.</p>

Download Full-text

On the History of Refining Mercury in Tibetan Medicine

Asian Medicine ◽

10.1163/15734218-12341290 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 75-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Olaf Czaja

Keyword(s):

Transmission Lines ◽

Turning Point ◽

Gifted Student ◽

Tibetan Medicine ◽

Southern Tibet ◽

Medical Expertise ◽

Local Schools ◽

Eastern Tibet ◽

History Of ◽

Central Tibet

In this brief study, the origin and spread of the alchemical process of refining mercury in Tibetan medicine will be explored. Beginning with early sources from the eighth to the twelfth centuries, it will be argued that Orgyenpa Rinchenpel (O rgyan pa Rin chen dpal) caused a turning-point in the processing of mercury in Tibet by introducing a complex alchemical process previously unknown. This knowledge, including the manufacturing of new pills containing mercury, soon spread through Tibet and was incorporated into the medical expertise of local schools such as the Drangti school (Brang ti). Later it was most prominently practised by Nyamnyi Dorjé (Mnyam nyid rdo rje) in southern Tibet. This particular tradition was upheld by Chökyi Drakpa (Chos kyi grags pa) of the Drigung school, who taught it to his gifted student Könchok Dropen Wangpo (Dkon mchog ’gro phan dbang po). During the seventeenth century, two main transmission lines for refining mercury emerged, one associated with the Gelukpa school (Dge lugs pa) in Central Tibet and one with the Kagyüpa school (Bka’ brgyud pa) and the Rimé movement (Ris med) in eastern Tibet. Both will be discussed in detail, highlighting important proponents and major events in their development. Finally, the situation in the twentieth century will be briefly explained.

Download Full-text

Combining geophysical and petrological estimates of the thermal structure of southern Tibet

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-4876 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tim Craig ◽

Peter Kelemen ◽

Bradley Hacker ◽

Alex Copley

Keyword(s):

Middle Miocene ◽

Thermal Structure ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Crustal Material ◽

Recent Past ◽

Southern Tibet ◽

Indian Lithosphere ◽

Earthquake Distribution ◽

Central Tibet ◽

Geochemical Constraints

<p>The thermal structure of the Tibetan plateau remains largely unknown. Numerous avenues, both geophysical and petrological, provide fragmentary pressure/temperature information, both at the present, and on the evolution of the thermal structure over the recent past. However, these individual constraints have proven hard to reconcile with each other. This study presents a series of models for the simple underthrusting of India beneath southern Tibet that are capable of matching all available constraints on its thermal structure, both at the present day and since the Miocene. Three consistent features to such models emerge: (i) present day geophysical observations require the presence of relatively cold underthrust Indian lithosphere beneath southern Tibet; (ii) geochemical constraints require the removal of Indian mantle from beneath southern Tibet at some point during the early Miocene, although the mechanism of this removal, and whether it includes the removal of any crustal material is not constrained by our models; and (iii) the combination of the southern extent of Miocene mantle-derived magmatism and the present-day geophysical structure and earthquake distribution of southern Tibet require that the time-averaged rate of underthrusting of India relative to central Tibet since the middle Miocene has been faster than it is at present.</p>

Download Full-text

Lithospheric foundering and underthrusting imaged beneath Tibet

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/ncomms15659 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Min Chen ◽

Fenglin Niu ◽

Jeroen Tromp ◽

Adrian Lenardic ◽

Cin-Ty A. Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Upper Mantle ◽

Wave Speed ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Uppermost Mantle ◽

Southern Tibet ◽

Surface Uplift ◽

South Central ◽

Plateau Uplift ◽

Central Tibet ◽

Potassic Volcanism

Abstract Long-standing debates exist over the timing and mechanism of uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and, more specifically, over the connection between lithospheric evolution and surface expressions of plateau uplift and volcanism. Here we show a T-shaped high wave speed structure in our new tomographic model beneath South-Central Tibet, interpreted as an upper-mantle remnant from earlier lithospheric foundering. Its spatial correlation with ultrapotassic and adakitic magmatism supports the hypothesis of convective removal of thickened Tibetan lithosphere causing major uplift of Southern Tibet during the Oligocene. Lithospheric foundering induces an asthenospheric drag force, which drives continued underthrusting of the Indian continental lithosphere and shortening and thickening of the Northern Tibetan lithosphere. Surface uplift of Northern Tibet is subject to more recent asthenospheric upwelling and thermal erosion of thickened lithosphere, which is spatially consistent with recent potassic volcanism and an imaged narrow low wave speed zone in the uppermost mantle.

Download Full-text