| Abstract: | A series of independent faulted basins developed in the present middle reaches of the Yellow River during late Cenozoic, among which the Sanmen Lake Basin is located in the east edge of the Loess Plateau, a transitional zone between the second and third macromorphological step of China. The thick strata of the Sanmen Group deposited in the large basin. The Sanmen Group is a perfect place for the study on paleoenvironmental change, tectono-climatic cycles as well as the formation and evolution of the Yellow River. In this paper, the paleoenvironmental changes, regional tectonic movement and the evolutionary process of the Sanmen Lake Basin during the past 5 Ma were reconstructed based on the analysis of paleomagnetic stratigraphy, pollen, TOC and carbonate content from the Huangdigou outcrop near the Sanmenxia Reservoir, Pinglu County, Shanxi Province. The sedimentary records from the outcrop indicate that the basin was first formated by fault activity at about 5.4 MaBP, and after the strong tectonic movement at 3.6 MaBP the lake enlarged and the rainfall of summer monsoon increased. There was no great climatic transition near 2.6 MaBP, corresponding to the bottom age of loess in the Loess Plateau. After Olduvai event (about 1.77 MaBP) the Picea and Abies were presented in the sediments, which indicates a colder climate. The tectonic movement at 1.2 MaBP caused the light angular discordance between the upper and lower Sanmen Group. The sedimentary records show a cold and wet climate during the prosperous periods of loess accumulation such as L15, L9, L6. The tectonic intensification periods of the Sanmen Basin correspond with the tectonic movements in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau chronologically. The earliest age of the outflow from the Paleo-Sanmen Lake or the partly cutting off of the Sanmenxia Gorge was about 0.41- 0.35 MaBP. The age of cutting thoroughly the Sanmenxia Gorge by the Yellow River and the disappearance of the Paleo-Sanmen Lake was about 0.15 MaBP, which symbolized the formation of the present Yellow River and had an important influence on the environmental and morphological evolution in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. |
