Browsing by Author "Ding, Lin"

Highly elevated and well-preserved peneplains are characteristic geomorphic features of the Tibetan plateau in the northern Lhasa Terrane, north-northwest of Nam Co. The peneplains were carved in granitoids and in their metasedimentary host formations. We use multi-method geochronology (zircon U-Pb and [U-Th]/He dating and apatite fission track and [U-Th]/He dating) to constrain the post-emplacement thermal history of the granitoids and the timing and rate of final exhumation of the peneplain areas. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb geochronology of zircons yields two narrow age groups for the intrusions at around 118 Ma and 85 Ma, and a third group records Paleocene volcanic activity (63-58 Ma) in the Nam Co area. The low-temperature thermochronometers indicate common age groups for the entire Nam Co area: zircon (U-Th)/He ages cluster around 75 Ma, apatite fission track ages around 60 Ma and apatite (U-Th)/He ages around 50 Ma. Modelling of the thermochronological data indicates that exhumation of the basement blocks took place in latest Cretaceous to earliest Paleogene time. By Middle Eocene time the relief was already flat, documented by a thin alluvial sediment sequence covering a part of the planated area. The present-day horst and graben structure of the peneplains is a Late Cenozoic feature triggered by E-W extension of the Tibetan Plateau. The new thermochronological data precisely bracket the age of the planation to Early Eocene, i.e. between ca. 55 and 45 Ma. The erosional base level can be deduced from the presence of Early Cretaceous zircon grains in Eocene strata of Bengal Basin. The sediment generated during exhumation of the Nam Co area was transported by an Early Cenozoic river system into the ocean, suggesting that planation occurred at low elevation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crustal movement around and away from the Namche Barwa syntaxis is indicated in the Asian velocity field inferred from GPS data and Quaternary fault slip rates. Nevertheless, there is a limited field-based control on the rotational history of the north-eastern Himalayan arc. Exploring the poly-phase nature of deformation, within the Cretaceous diorite dykes and their host-rock (Triassic flysch), in the eastern Tethyan Himalaya (90 degrees-92 degrees E), combined with new remote sensing data and existing thermo-geochronological data, allow us to unravel the kinematic relationship between paleomagnetic remanence vectors and the deformation phases. Decay at 325 degrees C in high temperature susceptibility curves and in the thermal demagnetization of the SIRM indicate that the characteristic remanent magnetization in the Cretaceous diorite dykes is carried by pyrrhotite. The pyrrhotite component unblocks at 280-350 degrees C, revealing normal and reverse polarities. It is of post-folding origin with a mean remanence direction of 019 degrees/28 degrees and 001 degrees/20 degrees in the eastern (Qonggyai valley) and western (Nagarze) part of the sampling area, respectively. The similar to 22 Ma K-Ar age of the last metamorphic event support that the remanence is post-Eohimalayan folding and likely of thermoremanent or thermo-chemical origin. Comparison of the declination with respect to the Early-Miocene reference direction, yields a trend from no apparent rotation in the west to 20 degrees clockwise rotation in the east with respect to the stable Indian plate. This result can be kinematically related to the Middle to Late-Miocene strain partitioning between far-field southeast extrusion of SE Tibet and near-field strike-slip faulting and E-W extension. Furthermore the observed pattern of tilting around horizontal axis may reflect concealed North Himalayan doming. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The uplift history of Tibet is crucial for understanding the geodynamic and paleoclimatologic evolution of Asia; however, it remains controversial whether Tibet attained its high elevation before or after India collided with Asia similar to 50 m.y. ago. Here we use thermochronologic and cosmogenic nuclide data from a large bedrock peneplain in southern Tibet to shed light on the timing of the uplift. The studied peneplain, which was carved into Cretaceous granitoids and Jurassic metasediments, is located in the northern Lhasa block at an altitude of similar to 5300 m. Thermal modeling based on (U-Th)/He ages of apatite and zircon, and apatite fission track data, indicate cooling and exhumation of the granitoids between ca. 70 and ca. 55 Ma, followed by a rapid decline in exhumation rate from similar to 300 m/m.y. to similar to 10 m/m.y. between ca. 55 and ca. 48 Ma. Since then, the peneplain has been a rather stable geomorphic feature, as indicated by low local and catchment-wide erosion rates of 6-11 m/m.y. and 11-16 m/m.y., respectively, which were derived from cosmogenic Be-10 concentrations in bedrock, grus, and stream sediment. The prolonged phase of erosion and planation that ended ca. 50 Ma removed 3-6 km of rock from the peneplain region, likely accomplished by laterally migrating rivers. The lack of equivalent sediments in the northern Lhasa block and the presence of a regional unconformity in the southern Lhasa block indicate that the rivers delivered this material to the ocean. This implies that erosion and peneplanation proceeded at low elevation until India's collision with Asia induced crustal thickening, surface uplift, and long-term preservation of the peneplain.