Tectonic Control of a Change in Sedimentary Environment at ~10 Ma in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

作者：Tao Zhang, Wenxia Han, Xiaomin Fang, Yunfa Miao, Weilin Zhang, Chunhui Song, Yadong Wang, Dhan Bahadur Khatri, Zhigao Zhang · 发表于：Geophysical Research Letters · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1029/2018gl078460 · 被引用次数：33 · 研究领域：Geology and Paleoclimatology Research、Geological and Geochemical Analysis、Geological formations and processes

Abstract Tectonic uplift and climate change play a key role in the evolution of sedimentary systems in terrestrial basins. The Qaidam Basin in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau is well suited for studying these processes because of its location and its thick, continuous sequence of Cenozoic sediments. Unfortunately, however, there is a lack of continuous, well‐dated sedimentary records from the region. In the present study, we combined grain‐size analyses of sediment cores and outcrop samples with structural analysis of seismostratigraphic data from the western Qaidam Basin. The results reveal dramatic shifts in the depositional environment at ~11.5–10 Ma, coeval with the topographic development of the area. Together with paleoclimatic analysis and a conceptual model, we conclude that tectonic movements, rather than climatic changes, were the dominant forcing factor.