Late Cenozoic deformation subsequence in northeastern margin of Tibet —Detrital AFT records from Linxia Basin

Two events of Tibet uplifting are revealed by detrital apatite fission track (AFT) age data from Linxia Basin. They occurred at about 14 and 5.4-8.0 MaBP respectively. We interpret the first one to be related to the uplifting of the northern Tibet, which might have resulted from convectively removing the thickened lower lithosphere. The second one is a result of Laji Mountain uplifting. Numerous studies of the Tibetan Plateau suggest that the onset time of the deformation in the northeastern margin of Tibetan Plateau and the time of Tibet attaining to its present elevation is about 8 MaBP. They are approximately coincident with the uplift of Lajishan Mountain. It suggests that the northeastern margin of Tibet propagated northeastwardly to its present site in about 8 MaBP for accommodating the sustained convergence between India-Eurasia plate and for keeping its high elevation. The active block pattern dominating the strong earthquake distribution of Chinese continent probably formed at about 8.0-5.4 MaBP.

     

Late Cenozoic deformation subsequence in northeastern margin of Tibet --Detrital AFT records from Linxia Basin

Two events of Tibet uplifting are revealed by detrital apatite fission track (AFT) age data from Linxia Basin. They occurred at about 14 and 5.4-8.0 MaBP respectively. We interpret the first one to be related to the uplifting of the northern Tibet, which might have resulted from convectively removing the thickened lower lithosphere. The second one is a result of Laji Mountain uplifting. Numerous studies of the Tibetan Plateau suggest that the onset time of the deformation in the northeastern margin of Tibetan Plateau and the time of Tibet attaining to its present elevation is about 8 MaBP. They are approximately coincident with the uplift of Lajishan Mountain. It suggests that the northeastern margin of Tibet propagated northeastwardly to its present site in about 8 MaBP for accommodating the sustained convergence between India-Eurasia plate and for keeping its high elevation. The active block pattern dominating the strong earthquake distribution of Chinese continent probably formed at about 8.0-5.4 MaBP.     

The uplifting and environmental change of Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau in the past 0.9 Ma inferred from core RM of Zoige Basin

According to the synthetic multi-disciplinary study on the lake sediments from core RM of Zoige Basin, i.e. the deepest wholly-collected core in Tibetan Plateau, the palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment for the basin in the past 0.9 Ma have been reconstructed. The analytical results suggest that there distinctively exist 3 accelerated uplifting periods for the east Plateau in the past 0.9 Ma, i.e. 800, 360 and 160 kaB.P., with the study on the sedimentary characteristics, the texture of sedimentary cycles and variations of depositional rates, in conjunction with the environment features of cold/warm to dry/wet combination. The paper also probes into the environmental effect under the 3 accelerated tectonic-upliftings on the background of global change.     

Late Cenozoic magnetic polarity stratigraphy in the Jiudong Basin,northern Qilian Mountain

Late Cenozoic sediments in the Hexi Corridor, foreland depression of the Qilian Mountain preserved reliable records on the evolution of the Northern Tibetan Plateau. Detailed magnetic polarity dating on a 1150 m section at Wenshushan anticline in the Jiudong Basin, west of Hexi Corridor finds that the ages of the Getanggou Formation, Niugetao Formation and Yumen Conglomerate are >11-8.6 Ma, 8.6-4.5 Ma and 4.5-0.9 Ma respectively. Accompanying sedimentary analysis on the same section suggests that the northern Tibetan Plateau might begin gradual uplift since 8.6-7.6 Ma, earlier than the northeastern Tibetan Plateau but does not suppose that the plateau has reached its maximum elevation at that time. The commencement of the Yumen Conglomerate indicates the intensive tectonic uplift since about 4.5 Ma.

     

The structure of Circum-Tibetan Plateau Basin-Range System and the large gas provinces

Northward subduction of the Cenozoic Tethys ocean caused the convergence and collision of Eurasia-Indian Plates, resulting in the lower crust thickening, the upper crust thrusting, and the Qinghai-Tibet uplifting, and forming the plateau landscape. In company with uplifting and northward extruding of the Tibetan plateau, the contractional tectonic deformations persistently spread outward, building a gigantic basin-range system around the Tibetan plateau. This system is herein termed as the Circum-Tibetan Plateau Basin-Range System, in which the global largest diffuse and the most energetic intra-continental deformations were involved, and populations of inheritance foreland basins or thrust belts were developed along the margins of ancient cratonic plates due to the effects of the cratonic amalgamation, crust differentiation, orogen rejuvenation, and basin subsidence. There are three primary tectonic units in the Circum-Tibet Plateau Basin-Range System, which are the reactivated ancient orogens, the foreland thrust belts, and the miniature cratonic basins. The Circum-Tibetan Plateau Basin-Range System is a gigantic deformation system and particular Himalayan tectonic domain in central-western China and is comparable to the Tibetan Plateau. In this system, northward and eastward developments of thrust deformations exhibit an arc-shaped area along the Kunlun-Altyn-Qilian-Longmenshan mountain belts, and further expand outward to the Altai-Yinshan-Luliangshan-Huayingshan mountain belts during the Late Cenozoic sustained collision of Indo-Asia. Intense intra-continental deformations lead ancient orogens to rejuvenate, young foreland basins to form in-between orogens and cratons, and thrusts to propagate from orogens to cratons in successive order. Driven by the Eurasia-Indian collision and its far field effects, both deformation and basin-range couplings in the arc-shaped area decrease from south to north. When a single basin-range unit is focused on, deformations become younger and younger together with more and more simple structural styles from piedmonts to craton interiors. In the Circum-Tibetan Plateau Basin-Range System, it presents three segmented tectonic deformational patterns: propagating in the west, growth-overthrusting in the middle, and slip-uplifting in the east. For natural gas exploration, two tectonic units, both the Paleozoic cratonic basins and the Cenozoic foreland thrust belts, are important because hydrocarbon in central-western China is preserved mainly in the Paleozoic cratonic paleo-highs and the Meso-Cenozoic foreland thrust belts, together with characteristics of multiphrase hydrocarbon generation but late accumulation and enrichment.     

Flexural subsidence by 29 Ma on the NE edge of Tibet from the magnetostratigraphy of Linxia Basin, China

This study provides a detailed magnetostratigraphic record of subsidence in the Linxia Basin, documenting a 27 Myr long sedimentary record from the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Deposition in the Linxia Basin began at 29 Ma and continued nearly uninterruptedly until 1.7 Ma. Increasing rates of subsidence between 29 and 6 Ma in the Linxia Basin suggest deposition in the foredeep portion of a flexural basin and constrain the timing of shortening in the northeastern margin of the plateau to Late Oligocene–Late Miocene time. By Late Miocene–Early Pliocene time, a decrease in subsidence rates in the Linxia Basin associated with thrust faulting and a 10° clockwise rotation in the basin indicates that the deformation front of the Tibetan plateau had propagated into the currently deforming region northeast of the plateau.     

Sedimentary and geochemical evidence of Eocene climate change in the Xining Basin,northeastern Tibetan Plateau

The northeastern Tibetan Plateau began to grow during the Eocene and it is important to understand the climatic history of Asia during this period of so-called ‘doubthouse' conditions. However, despite major advances in the last few decades,the evolutionary history and possible mechanisms of Eocene climate change in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau remain unclear.The Xining Basin in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau contains a continuous sequence of Early to Late Eocene non-marine sediments which provides the opportunity to resolve long-term climate changes during this period. In this study, we report the results of analyses of lithofacies, sediment color and geochemistry of bulk samples collected from the Xijigou section of the Xining Basin. An abrupt lithofacies change between the Early(~52–40 Ma) and Late Eocene(~40–34 Ma) indicates a change in the depositional environment from a shallow lake to a playa lake in response to a significant climatic shift. During ~52–40 Ma,higher values of sediment redness(a*), redness/lightness(a*/L*) and higher modified Chemical Index of Weathering(CIW′)indicate a relatively warm and humid climate, while from ~40–34 Ma the lower values of a*, a*/L*and lower CIW′ imply subhumid to semi-arid climatic conditions. The paleoclimatic records indicate a long-term(~52–34 Ma) trend of decreasing chemical weathering, consistent with global climate change. An abrupt sharp excursion of the proxy records during ~42–40 Ma suggests a relatively brief warm interval, corresponding to the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum(MECO). We suggest that global cooling substantially reduced humidity in inner Asia, resulting in sub-humid to semi-arid climatic conditions after 40 Ma in the Xining Basin, which may have been responsible for the long-term trend of decreasing chemical weathering during the Eocene.     

Chronological dating and tectonic implications of late Cenozoic volcanic rocks and lacustrine sequence in Oiyug Basin of southern Tibet

Reconstruction of uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau is crucial for understanding its environmental impacts. The Oiyug Basin in southern Tibet contains multiple periods of sedimentary sequences and volcanic rocks that span much of the Cenozoic and has great potential for further studying this issue. However, these strata were poorly dated. This paper presents a chronological study of the 145 m thick and horizontally-distributed lacustrine sequence using paleomagnetic method as well as a K-Ar dating of the underlying volcanic rocks. Based on these dating results, a chronostratigraphic framework and the basin-developmental history have been established for the past 15 Ma, during which three tectonic stages are identified. The period of 15-8.1 Ma is characterized by intense volcanic activities involving at least three major eruptions. Subsequently, the basin came into a tectonically quiescent period and a lacustrine sedimentary sequence was developed. Around 2.5 Ma, an N-S fault occurred across the southern margin of the basin, leading to the disappearance of the lake environment and the development of the Oiyug River. The Gyirong basin on northern slope of the Himalayas shows a similar basin developmental history and thus there is a good agreement in tectonic activities between the Himalayan and Gangdise orogenic belts. Therefore, the tectonic evolution stages experienced by the Oiyug Basin during the past 15 Ma could have a regional significance for southern Tibet. The chronological data obtained from this study may provide some constraints for further studies with regard to the tectonic processes and environmental changes in southern Tibetan Plateau.     

塔里木盆地东北缘晚新生代钻孔岩心磁性地层年代学及其构造意义

塔里木盆地的高分辨率沉积记录对于理解青藏高原隆升、亚洲内陆干旱化乃至全球气候变化至关重要.建立可靠的地层年代标尺对于研究塔里木盆地晚新生代沉积环境演化、构造运动及古气候变化具有重要意义.本文对塔里木盆地东北缘库尔勒地区的两个全取心钻孔ZK3（深500 m）、ZK5（深300 m）进行详细的磁性地层学研究,结果表明,ZK3孔中更新统底界为54.8 m,下更新统底界为167.0 m,上新统底界为432.0 m,钻孔底部年龄约为6.2 Ma,属上中新统上部;ZK5孔中更新统底界为64.7 m,下更新统底界为241.5 m,钻孔底部年龄约为3.2 Ma,属上上新统.基于上述磁性地层年代标尺,通过沉积速率分析发现ZK3孔在3.0—3.6 Ma之间沉积速率明显增大,反映了塔里木盆地北部天山在此期间的快速隆升.通过东西部多个盆地地质剖面沉积速率的对比分析发现,这期构造活动在区域上具有准同期活动特征,在时代上与晚中新世以来青藏高原快速隆升的时代一致,可能与青藏高原的隆升扩展效应有关.     

青藏高原东缘龙门山逆冲构造深部电性结构特征

通过对汶川地震前观测的碌曲—若尔盖—北川—中江大地电磁剖面的数据处理和反演解释,揭示了沿剖面的松潘—甘孜地块、川西前陆盆地、龙门山构造带及秦岭构造带50 km深度的电性结构特征及相互关系,表明青藏高原东缘向东挤压,迫使向东流动的地壳物质沿高原东缘堆积,并向扬子陆块逆冲推覆.龙门山恰好位于松潘—甘孜地块与扬子陆块对挤部位,主要受松潘—甘孜地块壳内高导层滑脱和四川盆地基底高阻体阻挡的约束,地壳深部存在着西倾且连续展布的壳内低阻层,表明龙门山深部确实存在着逆冲推覆构造,其逆冲断裂系中的三条断裂不仅以不同的倾角向西北倾斜,并且向深部逐渐汇集,但茂县—汶川断裂可能在深部与北川—映秀断裂是分离的.龙门山两翼的四川盆地和松潘甘孜褶皱带的电性结构既具有明显差异性,又具有一定的相关性.四川盆地显示巨厚的低阻沉积盖层和连续稳定的高阻基底的二元电性结构,而松潘—甘孜地块则表现为反向二元结构,即上部大套高阻褶皱带,下部整体为低阻的变化带,龙门山逆冲构造带本身又表现为松潘地块逆冲上覆在四川盆地之上,构成上部高阻褶皱带、中部低阻逆冲断裂带和底部盆地高阻基底的三层电性结构.对比龙门山逆冲构造断裂带的西倾延伸上下盘两侧的两个反对称的二元电性结构,松潘区块深部推断的结晶基底与龙门山断裂带下盘推断的下伏盆地结晶基底又存在某种内在对应关系,推断可能存在一个西延至若尔盖地块的泛扬子陆块.因此,龙门山构造带地壳电性结构研究对于揭示青藏高原东缘陆内造山动力过程,探索汶川大地震的深部生成机理都具有重要意义.     

Paleogene-Neogene stratigraphic realm and tectonic-sedimentary evolution of the Qilian Mountains and their surrounding areas

The Cenozoic uplift of Qilian Mountains is critical to comprehend the uplift and extension of the Tibet Plateau as well as the formation of the first and second steps in China's topography. This study summarized dynamic stratigraphic realm comprehensively on the basis of stratigraphic correlation of different Cenozoic sedimentary basin regions of the Qilian Mountains and adjacent mountains. This facilitated the re-creation of the tectonic-sedimentary evolutionary process of the Qilian Mountains and their surrounding areas. The results indicate that during the Early Paleogene(Paleocene-Eocene), the Qilian Mountains were part of an uplift realm. During the Oligocene, Guide-Xining-Lanzhou-Linxia sag basin at the northern margin of the West Qinling Mountains came into being and was subjected to sedimentation. The Suli Basin located between the North and South Qilian paleo-uplifts began to form and undergo sedimentation. Intracontinental orogenic extrusion and basin detachment occurred at the Qilian Mountains during the Miocene, which caused successive uplifts of various mountains, including the Laji, South Qinghai,Jishi, Liupan, and South Shule Mountains. Until Pliocene, Qilian Mountains uplifted continuously and resulted in the shrink,extinction and being eroded of the basins, and aeolian red clay started to accumulate.     

龙门山南段前陆区晚第四纪构造变形样式

龙门山中南段前陆区是青藏高原东缘唯一发育新生代薄皮构造与沉积盆地的地段,研究其最新构造变形样式有助于深入理解青藏高原向东扩展的构造机理.论文通过青衣江河流阶地测量与古青衣江洪积扇形态重建,研究了龙门山南段前陆区晚第四纪活动构造格局及其活动性,取得了如下认识：（1）青衣江河流阶地纵剖面显示,龙门山南段前陆地区晚第四纪变形主要为褶皱作用,总体地壳缩短速率为2.5~3.9 mm·a^-1,远大于山区冲断带0.48~0.77 mm·a^-1的地壳缩短速率,地壳缩短主要由前陆地区吸收;（2）青衣江古洪积扇错断变形显示,龙门山南段前陆区活动构造表现为北西—南东向地壳缩短与近东西向的地壳缩短的叠加作用,两者分别受控于巴颜喀拉块体南东向推挤作用与川滇块体向东推挤作用;（3）自中新世初川滇块体向南东挤出,四川盆地西南角起到分流青藏高原物质的作用,其西南侧物质通过鲜水河—小江断裂带的左旋错动向南东方向分流,其西北侧物质通过龙门山断裂带的右旋错动向北东方向分流,迎面受到了最大的推挤作用,进而向前陆扩展形成了薄皮褶皱构造带.     

THE MECHANISMS OF ARCUATE STRUCTURES ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE ALTYN TAGH FAULT AND THEIR TECTONIC IMPLICATIONS

The giant sinistral Altyn Tagh Fault(ATF)is the northern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau. It has been playing important role in adjusting the India-Eurasia collision and the tectonic evolution of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Knowledge of the evolution of the ATF can provide comprehensive understanding of the processes and mechanisms of the deformation of the Tibetan Plateau. However, its timing of commencement, amount of displacement and strike-slip rate, as well as the tectonic evolution of the region are still under debate. South of the ATF, there exist a series of oroclinal-like arcuate structures. Knowledge of whether these curved geometries represent original curvatures or the bending of originally straight/aligned geological units has significant tectonic implications for the evolution of the ATF. The Yingxiongling arcuate belt in the western Qaidam Basin and the northern Qaidam marginal thrust belt(NQMTB)north of the Qaidam Basin are the two typical arcuate thrust belts, where the former has a "7-types" structure, and the latter has a reverse "S-type" structure. Successive Cenozoic sediments are well exposed and magnetostratigraphically dated in both belts. Paleomagnetic declination has great advantage to reveal vertical-axis rotations of geological bodies since they become magnetized. Recently conducted paleomagnetic rotation studies in different parts of these two thrust belts revealed detailed Cenozoic rotation patterns and magnitudes of the region. By integrating these paleomagnetic rotation results with regional geometric features and lines of geological evidence, we propose that these two arcuate thrust belts were most likely caused by different rotations in different parts of these curvatures, due to the sinistral strike-slip faulting along the ATF, rather than originally curved ones. The Yingxiongling arcuate belt was shaped by the significant counterclockwise(CCW)rotations of its northwestern half(the Akatengnengshan anticline)near the ATF during~16~11Ma BP, while its southeastern half(the Youshashan anticline)had no significant rotations since at least~20Ma BP. The geometry of the NQMTB was developed firstly by remarkable clockwise rotations of its middle part during~33~14Ma BP, and later possibly CCW rotations of its northwestern part during the Middle to Late Miocene, similar to that of the northwestern part of the Yingxiongling arcuate belt. The characteristics of two-stage strike-slip evolution of the ATF since the Early Oligocene were enriched:1)During the Early Oligocene to mid-Miocene, fast strike-slip faulting along the ATF was proposed to accommodate the eastward extrusion of the northern Tibetan Plateau with its sinistral shear confined to the fault itself. While in the NQMTB and farther east area in the Qilian Shan, its sinistral shear was transferred to the interior of the plateau and was accommodated by deformation of differential crustal shortenings and block rotations in these regions. Thus, the displacement along the ATF west of the NQMTB is larger than that east of the NQMTB. 2)Since the mid-late Miocene, sinistral shear of the ATF was widespread distributed within the northern Tibetan Plateau, instead of concentrated to the fault itself. Its sinistral offsets were partially absorbed by the shortening deformation within the Qaidam Basin and the Qilian Shan, leading the offsets along the ATF decreasing to the east. With the sinistral frictional drag of blocks(the Tarim Basin and the Altyn Tagh Range)on the other side during the second stage evolution of the ATF, a transitional zone south of the ATF was likely developed by remarkable CCW rotations during the Middle to Late Miocene, which is probably confined to east of the Tula syncline. Combining the sinistral offsets along the ATF derived from the paleomagnetic rotations during the Early Oligocene to mid-late Miocene and that by piercing points since the Late Miocene, the post Oligocene strike-slip offsets were constrained as at least~350~430km for the reference in the western Qaidam Basin and~380~460km for the reference in the NQMTB, with an average slip rate of at least~10.6~13.9mm/a. The post Early Oligocene offsets are consistent with the widely accepted offsets of~300~500km obtained by piercing point analyses.     

ESR dating of late Cenozoic molassic deposits in the Jiuxi Basin

In the Hexi Corridor, foreland depression at the north periphery of the Tibetan Plateau, late Cenozoic sediments can be divided into the lacustrine to deltaic Red Bed. The unconformably overlying coarse fan-conglomerate was shed from the northern plateau. This remarkable alternation of sedimentary environment and discontinuity reflect intensive rise of the plateau. Moreover, this suite of coarse molasses is divided into two formations as the Yumen conglomerate and the Jiuquan Gravel by another angular discontinuity. Tentatively, we applied ESR dating on this suite of molassic deposits at the Laojunmiao Section in the Jiuxi Basin, west of the Hexi Corridor, which shows that the bottom of the Yumen conglomerate and the Jiuquan Gravel are about 3.4 and 0.9 Ma respectively, indicating that the northern plateau at least experienced two intensive tectonic movements at about 3.5 and 0.9 Ma.

     

Tectonic uplift and sedimentary evolution of the Jiuxi Basin in the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau since 13 Ma BP

Sediments shed from the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the Qilian Mountains, are widely deposited in the foreland basin, the Jiuxi Basin, archiving plenty of information about the mountain surface uplift and erosion history. The Laojunmiao section, 1960 m thick, representing the upper sequence of the Cenozoic basin sediments, is paleomagnetically dated to about 13-0 Ma BP. Detailed sedimentary study of this sequence has revealed five sedimentary facies associations which determine four stages of sedimentary environment evolution. They are: (I) the half-deep lake system before 12.18 Ma BP, (II) the shallow lake system between 12.18 and 8.26 Ma BP, (III) the fan delta dominated sedimentary system in dry climate between 8.26 and 6.57 Ma BP, and (IV) alluvial fan system since 6.57 Ma BP. The associated mountain erosion and uplift are suggested to have experienced three phases, that is, tectonic stable (13-8.26 Ma BP), gradual uplift (8.26-<4.96 Ma BP), and rapid intermittent uplift (>3.66-0 Ma BP). The uplift at ∼3.66 Ma BP is of great importance in tectonics and geomorphology. Since then, tectonic uplift and mountain building have been accelerated and become strong intermittent. At least three significant tectonic events took place with ages at <1.80-1.23, 0.93-0.84 and 0.14 Ma BP, respectively. Thus, the uplift of the northern Tibetan Plateau is a complex process of multiple phases, unequal speed and irregular movements.

     

Paleomagnetic evidence for a mid-Miocene clockwise rotation of about 25° of the Guide Basin area in NE Tibet

Ten sections of Neogene molasse-type sediments were sampled in the Guide Basin of northeastern Tibet for magnetostratigraphy [X.M. Fang, M.D. Yan, R. Van der Voo, D.R., Rea, C. Song, J.M. Parés, J. Gao, J. Nie, S. Dai, Late Cenozoic deformation and uplift of the NE Tibetan plateau: evidence from high resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Guide Basin, Qinghai Province, China, Geol. Soc. America Bull. 107 (2005) 1208–1225 [1]], but they also yield seven well-dated formation-mean directions that reveal changing declinations as rotations occurred in response to crustal deformation north of the India–Asia collision zone. Three formations are of early Miocene and Oligocene age, as indicated by fossils and magnetic reversal records, whereas four younger formations yield late Miocene and Pliocene ages. The dual-polarity magnetizations are typically antipodal, but reveal inclinations that are too shallow, most likely because of post-depositional inclination flattening. The late Miocene and younger directions show formation-mean declinations between 354° and 7°, whereas three early Miocene and late Oligocene mean declinations range from 31° to 44°. This indicates that a clockwise rotation of 25.1 ± 4.6° took place during the middle part of the Miocene (best estimate 11–17 Ma). No rotations appear to have occurred, during that time, in the Xining, Lanzhou, Linxia and Jingning basins (Longzhong Basin) to the northeast and east of the Guide Basin; however, a rotation of similar magnitude has been documented by Dupont-Nivet and colleagues for pre-Miocene (> 29 Ma) time in these areas. Collectively, these results show that the basins in NE Tibet have had independently evolving structural histories.     

青藏高原北缘三危山断裂东北段的古地震事件

三危山断裂位于青藏高原北缘,为阿尔金断裂带的一条重要分支,研究其晚更新世以来的活动特征,可为全面地把握青藏高原北缘的地震活动规律提供基础资料。在对三危山断裂东北段(十工口子西-双塔)进行遥感资料解译、野外地质地貌调查和探槽开挖,并分析探槽内揭露的断层、地层和楔状堆积三者之间关系的基础上,结合相关堆积物的光释光断代研究,最终利用逐次限定法分析了古地震事件发生的年代。研究发现该断裂段上晚更新世以来发生了3次古地震事件:距今最远的一次事件E1发生在约5.3万年前,接近5.3万年;第二次事件E2发生于距今约4万年之前,5.3万年之后,更接近4万年;最近的一次事件E3发生于距今7.42—2.47ka。由于晚更新世以来探槽开挖地点地层沉积的不连续,或地层沉积之后发生的侵蚀作用,导致探槽内揭露出的古地震事件存在严重缺失。但可以确定的是,在晚更新世中晚期和全新世,三危山断裂东北段上确有破裂地表的古地震事件发生。     

Cenozoic tectonic and geomorphic evolution of the Longxi region in northeastern Tibetan Plateau interpreted from detrital zircon

The Longxi region contains different kinds of Cenozoic sediments, including eolian deposits, reworked loess, fluvial and lacustrine deposits. The provenance evolution of these sediments is of great significance in exploring the uplift, tectonic deformation and associated with geomorphic evolution of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau. In this paper, we used the single-grain zircon provenance analysis to constrain the provenances for the Paleogene alluvial conglomerates and for the Neogene fluvial-lacustrine sediments, and compared them with results from the loess deposits since the Miocene. The results show that: (1) the Paleogene alluvial conglomerates contain a large number of detrital zircons ranging from 560 to 1100 Ma that were derived from the Yangzi Block. However, the sediments of early Miocene have much fewer zircons of this age span, which are characterized by an abundance of zircon ages in the ranges of 200–360 Ma. This indicates that the Paleogene alluvial conglomerates mainly come from the middle and/or southern West Qinling, and the early Miocene sediments are primarily from the northern West Qinling; (2) Late Neogene fluvial sediments (11.5 Ma onward) in Tianshui-Qinan region are dominated by zircon ages of 380–450 Ma. This zircon population is similar to that of the exposed intrusive rocks of southern part of the Liupan Mountains, implying that the southern part of Liupan Mountains probably had already uplifted by 11.5 Ma; (3) Late Miocene lacustrine sediments in Tianshui region have a zircon age spectra that is remarkably different from coeval fluvial deposits, but is similar to the zircon age distributions of the Miocene loess in Qinan region, late Miocene-Pliocene Hipparion red clay and Quaternary loess. This indicates that fine particles within these Miocene lacustrine sediments in Tianshui region may be dominated by aeolian materials. This study reveals that provenance changes of Cenozoic sediments in Tianshui-Qinan region and its geomorphic evolution are closely related to the multi-stage uplift of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau. In particular, the major uplift of the Northern Tibetan Plateau during late Oligocene-early Miocene may have not only provided the source areas and wind dynamic conditions for the deposits of the Miocene loess, but also provided the geomorphic conditions for its accumulation.     

秦岭太白山新生代隆升冷却历史的磷灰石裂变径迹分析

伸展正断层下盘的冷却历史记录了主要伸展变形的时间及幅度.太白山位于秦岭北缘,作为伸展正断层的下盘,其新生代伸展隆升冷却历史有助于我们更好地理解渭河盆地的伸展变形时间及其幅度.本文利用磷灰石裂变径迹分析方法对太白山的冷却历史进行了研究.来自太白山总计17个样品的磷灰石裂变径迹数据及热历史模拟揭示出山体经历了始于约48 Ma的小幅度快速抬升冷却阶段,和始于约9.6 Ma的大幅度快速抬升冷却阶段;分别对应平行于秦岭北缘山脉的两阶段伸展变形.始于约48 Ma的伸展变形可能是印度板块与欧亚板块碰撞作用在大陆内部的远场响应,而始于约9.6 Ma的快速伸展变形可能与青藏高原在该时期快速隆升和对外扩展有关.     

Tremendous change of the earth surface system and tectonic setting of salt-lake formation in Yuncheng Basin since 7.1 Ma

The Yuncheng salt lake has formed under the setting of stepped subsidence of fault-blocks from the north to the south in Yuncheng Basin. In the phase of red clay accumulation during 7.1-3.6 Ma, the size of palaeo-lake was larger than the present salt lake, and palaeo-monsoon had formed. At 3.6 Ma, the northern basement in the basin raised abruptly due to the radiative effect of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau uplifting, and palaeo-lake was contracting southwards. At ca. 2.6 Ma ancient river flowed into the northern part of the basin. During ca. 2.0-1.9 Ma aerolian effect strengthened and loess started to accumulate on the most part of the basin. Since ca. 1.8-1.0 Ma the subsidence of the lake fault-block has been speeding up abruptly. As under the natural hydrogradient the salt lake received enough groundwater supply, and the rate of loess accumulation in the lake area was lower than that of subsidence of the lake fault-block, the lake could be preserved and becomes the only modern lake on Chinese Loess Plateau. Four large strengthening change records of the monsoon were found in the lake sequence of 5.8-1.9 Ma B.P.