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

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>

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

Geosciences ◽  
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.

Revised chronology of central Tibet uplift and its implications

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>

A history of the Asian monsoon and its interactions with solid Earth tectonics in Cenozoic South Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 483 (1) ◽  
pp. 631-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Clift ◽  
A. Alexander G. Webb
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
East Central ◽  
Monsoon Intensity ◽  
Indian Lithosphere ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shallow Seas ◽  
Continental Climate

AbstractAlthough there is some evidence for an Eocene monsoon, the most important intensification of rainfall appears to start at c. 24 Ma in the Early Miocene. Many palaeoceanographical proxies for monsoon intensity are linked to wind and do not correlate well with humidity of the continental climate over tectonic timescales. Rainfall peaked in the middle Miocene (c. 15 Ma) with strong drying after 8 Ma. This timing does not correlate well with either initial uplift of the Tibetan Plateau or with the retreat of shallow seas from central Asia. The c. 24 Ma onset of strengthening rainfall is associated with the initiation of rapid erosion and cooling of Himalayan metamorphic rocks. The progressive detachment of the subducting Indian lithosphere from the eastern and western syntaxes at c. 25 Ma to the east-central Himalaya at c. 13–11 Ma would have produced corresponding propagation of rising Himalayan topography following release of the weight of the detached slab. Rapid uplift of the Himalayan barrier, blocking moisture-laden winds, is considered the most likely trigger for a stronger summer monsoon in South Asia, which in turn allowed faster erosion and exhumation of the Greater Himalaya after 24 Ma.

scholarly journals Lithospheric foundering and underthrusting imaged beneath Tibet

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
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.

Between Kongpo and Xanadu

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Gamble
Keyword(s):  
Southern Tibet ◽  
Central Tibet

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.

scholarly journals Geochronological and geochemical constraints on Mesozoic suturing in east central Tibet

Tectonics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Roger ◽  
Nicolas Arnaud ◽  
Stuart Gilder ◽  
Paul Tapponnier ◽  
Marc Jolivet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Central ◽  
Central Tibet ◽  
Geochemical Constraints

Three stages of arc migration in the Carboniferous-Triassic in northern Qiangtang, central Tibet, China: Ridge subduction and asynchronous slab rollback of the Jinsha Paleotethys

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Liu ◽  
Wenjiao Xiao ◽  
Brian F. Windley ◽  
Kefa Zhou ◽  
Rongshe Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Ridge Subduction ◽  
Temporal Relationships ◽  
Slab Rollback ◽  
Geodynamic Processes ◽  
Central Tibet

Carboniferous-Triassic magmatism in northern Qiangtang, central Tibet, China, played a key role in the evolution of the Tibetan Plateau yet remains a subject of intense debate. New geochronological and geochemical data from adakitic, Nb-enriched, and normal arc magmatic rocks, integrated with results from previous studies, enable us to determine the Carboniferous-Triassic (312−205 Ma), arc-related, plutonic-volcanic rocks in northern Qiangtang. Spatial-temporal relationships reveal three periods of younging including southward (312−252 Ma), rapid northward (249−237 Ma), and normal northward (234−205 Ma) migrations that correspond to distinct slab geodynamic processes including continentward slab shallowing, rapid trenchward slab rollback, and normal trenchward rollback of the Jinsha Paleotethys rather than the Longmuco-Shuanghu Paleotethys, respectively. Moreover, varying degrees of coexistence of adakites/High-Mg andesites (HMAs)/Nb-enriched basalt-andesites (NEBs) and intraplate basalts in the above-mentioned stages is consistent with the magmatic effects of slab window triggered by ridge subduction, which probably started since the Late Carboniferous and continued into the Late Triassic. The Carboniferous-Triassic multiple magmatic migrations and ridge-subduction scenarios provide new insight into the geodynamic processes of the Jinsha Paleotethys and the growth mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau.

A lake-level chronology based on feldspar luminescence dating of beach ridges at Tangra Yum Co (Southern Tibet)

2015 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eike F. Rades ◽  
Sumiko Tsukamoto ◽  
Manfred Frechen ◽  
Qiang Xu ◽  
Lin Ding
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Southern Tibet ◽  
Beach Ridges ◽  
Slow Decline ◽  
Fast Decline

Many lakes on the Tibetan Plateau exhibit strandplains with a series of beach ridges extending high above the current lake levels. These beach ridges mark former lake highstands and therefore dating their formation allows the reconstruction of lake-level histories and environmental changes. In this study, we establish a lake-level chronology of Tangra Yum Co (fifth largest lake on the Tibetan Plateau) based on luminescence dating of feldspar from 17 beach-ridge samples. The samples were collected from two strandplains southeast and north of the lake and range in elevation from the current shore to 140 m above the present lake. Using a modified post-infrared IRSL protocol at 170°C we successfully minimised the anomalous fading in the feldspar IRSL signal, and obtained reliable dating results. The luminescence ages indicate three different stages of lake-level decline during the Holocene: (1) a phase of rapid decline (~ 50 m) from ~ 6.4 to ~ 4.5 ka, (2) a period of slow decline between ~ 4.5 and ~ 2.0 ka (~ 20 m), and (3) a fast decline by 70 m between ~ 2 ka and today. Our findings suggest a link between a decrease in monsoonal activity and lake-level decline since the early Holocene.

scholarly journals Evolution of the Yangtze River network, southeastern Tibet: Insights from thermochronology and sedimentology

Lithosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Loraine Gourbet ◽  
Rong Yang ◽  
Maria Giuditta Fellin ◽  
Jean-Louis Paquette ◽  
Sean D. Willett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Fluvial Incision ◽  
Upper Yangtze River ◽  
Southeastern Margin ◽  
The Upper Yangtze River ◽  
Southeastern Tibet

Abstract We performed apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He dating on a granitic pluton that has been offset by ∼10 km by motion on the sinistral strike-slip Xiangcheng fault in SW Sichuan, SE Tibetan plateau, where the Shuoqu River incises a deep valley before joining the upper Yangtze River. Mean ZHe cooling ages range from 49.5 ± 2.2 Ma to 68.6 ± 6.0 Ma. Samples located above 3870 m yield mean apatite (U-Th)/He ages ranging from 30.6 ± 1.4 Ma to 40.6 ± 2.7 Ma, whereas samples at lower elevations range from 9.8 ± 1.3 Ma to 14.6 ± 2.7 Ma. In the same region, Cenozoic continental sediments are exposed on the flanks of deep valleys. They consist of unsorted conglomerates and sandstones that partly fill a paleotopography. The sediments were deposited during an episode of rapid sedimentation, followed by incision that varies between 0.5 and 1.2 km. Thermal and exhumational modeling of the granite thermochronometric data indicates rapid cooling during the middle Miocene that was likely related to fluvial incision. Our findings suggest that the upper Yangtze River and its tributary (Shuoqu) were connected by the middle Miocene. Our modeling also supports the idea that the exhumation pattern during the Cenozoic in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is spatially and temporally heterogeneous.

The role of pre-existing weak zones in the formation of the Himalaya and Tibetan plateau: 3-D thermomechanical modelling

2020 ◽  
Vol 221 (3) ◽  
pp. 1971-1983
Author(s):  
Lin Chen ◽  
Lijun Liu ◽  
Fabio A Capitanio ◽  
Taras V Gerya ◽  
Yang Li
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Weak Zone ◽  
Orogenic Wedge ◽  
Orogenic Plateau ◽  
Weak Zones

SUMMARY The Tibetan crust is sliced by several east–west trending suture zones. The role of these suture zones in the evolution of the Himalayan range and Tibetan plateau remains unclear. Here we use 3-D thermomechanical simulations to investigate the role of pre-existing weak zones within the Asian Plate in the formation of orogen and plateau growth during continental collision. Our results show that partitioning of deformation along the convergent margin leads to scraping off of crustal material into an orogenic wedge above the margin and crustal thickening in the retro-continent, eventually forming a large orogenic plateau in front of the indenter. Pre-existing weak zone(s) within the retro-continent is reactivated at the early stage of convergence, and facilitates the northward propagation of strain and widening of the orogenic plateau. The northernmost weak zone sets the northern limit of the Tibetan plateau. Our models also show rheological weakening of the congested buoyant crust within the collisional zone drives wedge-type exhumation of deeply buried crust at the southern flank of the plateau, which may explain the formation of the Greater Himalayan Sequence.

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