Search

Abstract: Recent studies of the eolian deposits in northern China have extended the East Asian monsoon history back to the early Miocene. However, the relative intensities of monsoonal winds and precipitation and the extent of their coupling prior to the Pleistocene epoch remain poorly constrained, mainly due to uncertainties in the interpretation of proxy indices generated from the Mio–Pliocene Red Clay sequences. Here we reconstruct East Asian monsoon oscillations over the past 7Ma using magnetic susceptibility and carbonate content as summer monsoon (precipitation) proxies, and quartz grain size as a winter monsoon (wind intensity) index. Our results suggest that precipitation and wind intensity exhibited significant orbital-scale variations prior to 4.2Ma, followed by slightly damped variability between 4.2 and 2.75Ma. Subsequently, East Asian monsoon circulation experienced two large shifts at about 2.75 and 1.25Ma, characterized by stepwise strengthening of glacial wind and interglacial precipitation. A remarkable change in East Asian monsoon seasonality occurred around 3.15–2.75Ma. Prior to 3.15Ma, strong winds were positively correlated with high effective precipitation, whereas after 2.75Ma strong winds were negatively correlated with heavy precipitation. This shift was probably induced by a change from an insolation-forced system to one strongly influenced by the combined effects of the phased uplift of the Himalaya–Tibetan Plateau and the simultaneous development of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The relationships between climate, topography, and erosion are significant in understanding landscape evolution. In order to study this relationship in a tectonically active landscape, the details of 11 drainage basins were collected from Qilian Shan Mountains. Decadal-scale erosion rates, including the mechanical load and solute load contributions, are estimated in natural conditions. The calculated erosion rates show that the average erosion rate of Qilian Shan Mountains is about 0.08mm/yr, while the variation of annual erosion rates within each basin is significant. The changes of topography and climate, which potentially control erosion rates, are also employed in this paper for correlating analyses. Correlation analyses indicate that erosion rates are more closely correlated with topographic variables, such as mean local relief and mean slope, than all of the climatic variables; and mean local relief and decadal-scale erosion rates show a linear relationship in these tectonically active mountains. However, some topographic variables like basin area and elongation ratio exert limited influence on erosion rates; while others, such as basin elevation, basin relief and basin roughness, show poor correlation. The results indicate that topographic control, like aspects of the local terrain steepness, plays the most important role in spatial distribution of decadal-scale erosion rates throughout Qilian Shan Mountains. Under topographic control, some climatic variables, like discharge and runoff, however, could account for the significant variation of annual erosion rates in individual basin. When comparing erosion rates on different timescales, we found that the decadal-scale erosion rates are lower than the long-term river incision rates, as well as the exhumation rates during early and middle Miocene. The change to more arid climatic condition since the middle Miocene combining with tectonic uplift should attribute to the inconsistent erosion rates over different timescales in Qilian Shan Mountains. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Modern erosion of the Himalaya, the world''s largest mountain range, transfers huge dissolved and particulate loads to the ocean. It plays an important role in the long-term global carbon cycle, mostly through enhanced organic carbon burial in the Bengal Fan. To understand the role of past Himalayan erosion, the influence of changing climate and tectonic on erosion must be determined. Here we use a 12Myr sedimentary record from the distal Bengal Fan (Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 218) to reconstruct the Mio-Pliocene history of Himalayan erosion. We use carbon stable isotopes (δ 13C) of bulk organic matter as paleo-environmental proxy and stratigraphic tool. Multi-isotopic — Sr, Nd and Os — data are used as proxies for the source of the sediments deposited in the Bengal Fan over time. δ 13C values of bulk organic matter shift dramatically towards less depleted values, revealing the widespread Late Miocene (ca. 7.4Ma) expansion of C4 plants in the basin. Sr, Nd and Os isotopic compositions indicate a rather stable erosion pattern in the Himalaya range during the past 12Myr. This supports the existence of a strong connection between the southern Tibetan plateau and the Bengal Fan. The tectonic evolution of the Himalaya range and Southern Tibet seems to have been unable to produce large re-organisation of the drainage system. Moreover, our data do not suggest a rapid change of the altitude of the southern Tibetan plateau during the past 12Myr. Variations in Sr and Nd isotopic compositions around the late Miocene expansion of C4 plants are suggestive of a relative increase in the erosion of High Himalaya Crystalline rock (i.e. a simultaneous reduction of both Transhimalayan batholiths and Lesser Himalaya relative contributions). This could be related to an increase in aridity as suggested by the ecological and sedimentological changes at that time. A reversed trend in Sr and Nd isotopic compositions is observed at the Plio-Pleistocene transition that is likely related to higher precipitation and the development of glaciers in the Himalaya. These almost synchronous moderate changes in erosion pattern and climate changes during the late Miocene and at the Plio-Pleistocene transition support the notion of a dominant control of climate on Himalayan erosion during this time period. However, stable erosion regime during the Pleistocene is suggestive of a limited influence of the glacier development on Himalayan erosion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The emergence of C4 photosynthesis in plants as a significant component of terrestrial ecosystems is thought to be an adaptive response to changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration and/or climate during Neogene times and has had a profound effect on the global terrestrial biosphere. Although expansion of C4 grasses in the latest Miocene and Pliocene has been widely documented around the world, the spatial and temporal variations in the C4 expansion are still not well understood and its driving mechanisms remain a contentious issue. Here we present the results of carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of fossil and modern mammalian tooth enamel samples from the central Inner Mongolia. Our samples represent a diverse group of herbivorous mammals including deer, elephants, rhinos, horses and giraffes, ranging in age from the late Oligocene to modern. The δ 13C values of 91 tooth enamel samples of early late-Miocene age or older, with the exception of two 13 Ma rhino samples (−7.8 and −7.6‰) and one 8.5 Ma suspected rhino sample (−7.6‰), were all less than −8.0‰ (VPDB), indicating that there were no C4 grasses present in their diets and thus probably few or no C4 grasses in the ecosystems of the central Inner Mongolia prior to ~8 Ma. However, 12 out of 26 tooth enamel samples of younger ages (~7.5 Ma to ~3.9 Ma) have δ 13C values higher than −8.0‰ (up to −2.4‰), indicating that herbivores in the area had variable diets ranging from pure C3 to mixed C3–C4 vegetation during that time interval. The presence of C4 grasses in herbivores'' diets (up to ~76% C4) suggests that C4 grasses were a significant component of the local ecosystems in the latest Miocene and early Pliocene, consistent with the hypothesis of a global factor as the driving mechanism of the late Miocene C4 expansion. Today, C3 grasses dominate grasslands in the central Inner Mongolia area. The retreat of C4 grasses from this area after the early Pliocene may have been driven by regional climate change associated with tectonic processes in central Asia as well as global climate change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Deep subduction of lower continental crust to mantle depths has been recognized in outcrops and drill cores of eclogites and other ultra-high pressure (UHP) rocks of the Sulu intra-continental orogenic belt. In a search of evidence for such subducted crustal sources of melts, we study the elemental and isotope geochemistry of basalts from Anfengshan, a Miocene volcano located in the Sulu UHP belt, as well as Nd–Hf isotopes of eclogites from the Sulu belt itself. The Anfengshan basalts are basanites and nephelinites with low SiO2, high incompatible element contents, positive Nb, Ta, Sr, and negative K, Pb, Zr, Hf, and Ti anomalies. Radiogenic isotopes (87Sr/86Sr=0.70337–0.70359, εNd =+5.1–+6.7, εHf =+10.6–+12.3, 206Pb/204Pb=17.5–18.0) show some highly unusual correlations: εNd correlates positively with 87Sr/86Sr, but negatively with εHf. 87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd, and 206Pb/204Pb ratios all correlate negatively with ΔεHf (= deviation from the global εHf–εNd correlation). The correlations form two distinct mixing arrays with one common, high-εNd end-member. Superchondritic Zr/Hf ratios (~55), and negative Zr, Hf, Ti anomalies indicate that the common mantle source component has been metasomatized by carbonatitic liquids. We suggest that the other two source components are eclogites derived from subducted lower crust: both of these differ from ordinary mantle components by their low 87Sr/86Sr and low εNd and 206Pb/204Pb, but high ΔεHf. The εNd–εHf values of the eclogites form two groups, both of which lie close to the Hf–Nd mantle array, and are therefore not direct analogues of possible source eclogites for the basalts. We explain the shift toward high ΔεHf-basalt sources as follows: an early Cretaceous igneous event extracted partial melts from the eclogites residing in the mantle, thereby increasing their (residual) Lu/Hf ratios, while changing Sm/Nd only slightly. During the Anfengshan melting event, these garnet-rich sources produced melts with low Zr/Hf and increased Nb/Nb*, Hf/Hf*, Sm/Yb ratios relative to the peridotitic source end-member. We therefore suggest that the eclogites represent the residues of mafic lower continental crust subducted during the Triassic continent–continent collision. This interpretation is supported by recent seismic tomography, which revealed a high-velocity anomaly in the uppermost mantle beneath the Sulu belt. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Investigations of the deformation history of the Himalayan orogen support interpretations of rapid and striking changes in the landscape of the Tibetan Himalaya and High Himalaya. We examine this issue by integrating oxygen isotope-based paleoelevation reconstructions of the Zada basin in southwestern Tibet with information on the structural evolution of the High and Tibetan Himalaya between 79°E and 84°30′E. δ18Opsw values were calculated from δ18Occ values from pristine fluvial Miocene gastropod shells. Analyses comparing the most negative δ18Osw and reconstructed δ18Opsw values to Δδ18Osw versus elevation relationships based on both thermodynamic models and an empirical data set suggest a decrease in the mean watershed elevation of 1 to 1.5 km since the Late Miocene. Geologic mapping and structural data from crustal scale fault systems in the Zada region and regions to its east indicate a phase of arc-normal shortening and vertical thickening since the Middle Miocene, followed by ongoing arc-parallel extension and vertical thinning. These results suggest that regions in this part of the orogen transitioned from undergoing arc-normal shortening to arc-parallel extension in the Late Miocene, and that arc-parallel extensional structures root deeply within the Himalayan thrust wedge. When combined with data on the distribution, age, and provenance of sedimentary basins, our geologic mapping, structural data, and paleoelevation results suggest that this transition from shortening to extension was accompanied by a topographic inversion from mountains to basins in <4 m.y. These observations can be explained by a foreland propagating fault system that accommodates outward radial expansion of the Himalayan orogen. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The East Asian monsoons have fluctuated in concert with high-latitude warmth during the past several hundred thousand years, with humid summer monsoon-dominant climates characterizing warm intervals, including interglacials and interstadials, and arid winter monsoon-dominant climates characterizing cool intervals, including glacials and stadials. Of the states comprising the mid-Pleistocene to recent climatic regime, interglacials are most similar in terms of high latitude ice volumes and temperatures to those extant during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. Thus, an important question is whether Mio-Pliocene climates in northern China were analogous to a hypothetical ‘prolonged interglacial state,’ with increased summer monsoon precipitation and expansion of forest and steppe environments at the expense of desert environments. We utilize new and previously published carbon isotopic data from fossil teeth and soil carbonates to place constraints on paleovegetation distributions and to help infer the behavior of the monsoon system between ∼7 and 4 Ma. We find that plants using the C4 photosynthetic pathway—which today are largely grasses found in regions with warm season precipitation—were present in northern China by late Miocene time, demonstrating that the C4 expansion in China was not significantly delayed compared to the global C4 event. During the late Miocene–early Pliocene interval, soil carbonate and tooth enamel δ13C data indicate: 1) that nearly pure C3-plant ecosystems existed in the southern Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), and therefore ecosystems there were dominated by woody dicot, herbaceous dicot, or cool-season grass vegetation (or a combination of these), and 2) that the CLP was characterized by a pattern of northward-increasing C4 vegetation and aridity. Utilizing a broadened conceptual model for interpreting δ13C data, and citing independent faunal, floral, and lithostratgraphic data, we suggest that these patterns reflect northward expansion of forest and steppe ecosystems and relatively humid monsoon climates during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. An important implication of this interpretation is that the forcing mechanism illuminated by the temporal correlation during the Pleistocene between warm high latitudes and strong East Asian summer monsoons is a robust feature of the Eurasian tectonic–climatic system that predates the Plio-Pleistocene climatic reorganization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Variations in the volume and age of Miocene granites and in mid-crustal conductance from the northwest Himalaya to southeastern Tibet imply lateral differences in late orogenic processes. The change from west to east occurs near the Gurla Mandhata dome, where the Karakoram fault terminates and merges with the Indus–Yarlung suture zone. The ‘channel flow’ model, developed in southeastern Tibet, predicts that anatectic partial melts beneath the Tibetan plateau are gravitationally-driven south to a topographic erosional front and are exposed as leucogranites in the Greater Himalaya Sequence; upwellings of these channel granites occur as gneiss domes in the Tethyan Himalaya Sequence. Published magnetotelluric profiles show high conductivity 30–40 km deep beneath Tibet from c. 400 km north of the Main Frontal thrust south across the suture zone, beneath the Himalayan gneiss domes, and to the topographic front; this conductive middle crust corresponds to 2–4% partial melt in the northwest Himalaya and 5–12% melt in southeastern Tibet, sufficient in the latter case to weaken rock for flow. East of the Karakoram termination leucogranites are abundant and are as young as 7 Ma; west of the termination, channel granites are less abundant and no younger than 18 Ma. Middle Miocene (16–14 Ma) leucogranites are found in the Karakoram fault zone located north of the suture zone and south of the proposed anatectic melt source. The initiation of motion on the crustal-penetrating Karakoram fault at 25–21 Ma may have created a barrier to the southward flow of mid-crustal melts and acted as a vertical conduit for these same melts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Deep weathering profiles and associated supergene Mn-oxides deposits are widely distributed in South China. However, data on their ages are not available until most recently. 40Ar/39Ar laser incremental heating analysis of potassium-bearing supergene Mn-oxides collected from four weathering profiles in the Qinzhou–Fangcheng Mn belt, Guangxi Province, South China, provides, for the first time, numerical constraints on timing of weathering and supergene Mn enrichment. Thirty-eight of 42 cryptomelane grains yield well-defined plateau (36 grains) or pseudo plateau (2 grains) ages ranging from 17.6±0.5 Ma to 4.71±0.08 Ma (2σ). The results, when combined with data from Mn-oxides deposits from the adjacent Guangdong and Hunan Provinces, document a protracted history of weathering and supergene Mn enrichment, spanning from the earliest Miocene to the latest Pliocene in South China. This indicates that warm and humid climatic conditions conducive to intense weathering and secondary mineralization prevailed across South China during the whole Neogene. The climatic conditions inferred from weathering geochronology are consistent with sedimentary records and fossil floral and fauna associations from Cenozoic inland and marginal sea basins of South China. The weathering geochronology data also provide temporal constraints on the initiation and intensification of the East Asian monsoon that has been the cause for the South China''s humid climate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Miocene ultrapotassic (UP), shoshonitic (P) and calc-alkaline (CA) volcanism is recognized widely over the Tibetan plateau. This volcanism occurred after the end of India’s oceanic lithosphere subduction beneath the plateau. Ambiguities about the distribution and significance of this volcanism arise in part from a paucity of geochronologic and geochemical data. We have sampled two volcanic fields in the Lhasa block: (1) the eastern edge of the Zabuye Salt Lake (central part of the block), (2) the southwestern edge of the Yangbajin Graben. Major and trace elements display high K2O (6.06–6.54%) over a wide range of SiO2 (75.03–55.30%), Na2O (1.32–3.30%) and LREE/HREE enrichment with a significant rare earth element fractionation (26<(La/Yb)n<42) as well as negative Nb, Ta, and Ti anomalies. These features indicate that our samples are chemically identical to the post-collision Miocene UP to P volcanic rocks already identified all over the Tibetan plateau and the southern plateau specifically but distinct from the CA rocks found in the Lhasa block. The Miocene volcanics found in the Lhasa block present greater chemical variation than the rest of the Tibetan plateau. 40Ar/39Ar ages on both sanidine and biotite gave ages ranging from 16.16±0.12 Ma to 16.01±0.12 Ma and 10.60±0.14 Ma to 10.88±0.17 Ma (2σ, excluding systematic errors, relative to Fish Canyon sanidine at 28.02 Ma) for Zabuye Salt Lake and Yangying geothermal field volcanics respectively. These results are consistent with the range of previously published ages from this part of the Tibetan plateau. The presence of N–S-trending dikes and the location of the volcanic fields suggest that local E–W extension in the Lhasa block was coeval. We propose that the synchronous UP, P and CA volcanism in the Lhasa block between 23 and 8 Ma is the result of progressively deepening northward subduction of Indian continental lithosphere producing asthenospheric upwelling. Convective thinning (delamination) of lithospheric mantle fueled by the hot asthenosphere induced partial melting of an enriched sub-continental mantle lithosphere as well as eclogitic lower crust. This mechanism could also explain the local E–W extension observed in the same period (18–10 Ma). We also propose that lateral migration of the deepening Indian continental lithosphere mantle slab could explain the observed younger volcanism in the eastern part of the Lhasa terrane. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Leech [Leech, M.L., 2008, Does the Karakoram fault interrupt mid-crustal channel flow in the western Himalaya? Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 276, 314–322.] proposed that (1) Himalayan granites are significantly more abundant east of the Karakoram fault termination (around Mount Kailas, in SW Tibet) than west of it in the Zanskar–Kumaon region, that (2) the fault may have created a barrier to southward flow of mid-crustal channel flow, and that (3) the fault acted as a vertical conduit for these melts. These inferences are based upon new U–Pb SHRIMP data from the Leo Pargil dome, NW India, and the analysis of published U–Pb ages from additional Himalayan domes. Here we point out the flaws in all these hypotheses and suggest a much closer comparison of granites along the Karakoram shear zone to the widespread Miocene crustal melt granites of the Baltoro Karakoram range in North Pakistan. Field relationships combined with U–(Th)–Pb dating of granites and metamorphic rocks clearly shows that the leucogranites exhumed along the Karakoram fault are related to regional metamorphic and melting events along the Baltoro Karakoram range of the Asian plate and not to Indian plate Himalayan leucogranites at all. We discuss individually the points raised. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]