Premium
Internal Drainage Has Sustained Low‐Relief Tibetan Landscapes Since the Early Miocene
Author(s) -
Han Zhongpeng,
Sinclair Hugh D.,
Li Yalin,
Wang Chengshan,
Tao Zui,
Qian Xinyu,
Ning Zijie,
Zhang Jiawei,
Wen Yixiong,
Lin Jie,
Zhang Baosen,
Xu Ming,
Dai Jingen,
Zhou Aorigele,
Liang Huimin,
Cao Shuo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl083019
Subject(s) - geology , aggradation , sedimentary rock , plateau (mathematics) , paleontology , geomorphology , late miocene , cenozoic , sedimentary basin , drainage , drainage basin , structural basin , fluvial , mathematical analysis , ecology , mathematics , biology , cartography , geography
The timing of formation of the low‐gradient, internally drained landscape of the Tibetan Plateau is fundamental to understanding the evolution of the plateau as a whole. Well‐dated sedimentary records of internal drainage of rivers into lakes are used to reveal the timing of this evolution. Here we redate the youngest continental sedimentary successions of central Tibet in the Lunpola Basin and propose a new age range of ca. 35 to 9 Ma, significantly younger than previously thought. We demonstrate long‐standing internal drainage in central Tibet since the late Eocene and stable sedimentary environments, source regions, and low topographic relief since at least the early Miocene. We suggest that sediment aggradation of internal drainage and reduction of hillslope gradients by erosion dominate the formation of low‐relief landscapes and that the late Cenozoic drainage basins in central Tibet developed in response to flow in the lower crust and/or mantle lithosphere.