Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 162-181 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Quaternary Research (United States) |
| Volume | 113 |
| Early online date | 29 May 2023 |
| Publication status | Published - May 2023 |
Abstract
In the Three Gorges and adjacent areas, there are three planation surfaces and five terraces along the Yangtze River that record the evolution history of the river system. Here, we used diagnostic heavy minerals, U-Pb geochronology, and trace elements of detrital zircons from one planation surface, two terraces, and a modern point bar to reconstruct the evolution history of the upper Yangtze River, specifically the Chuan River in the Sichuan Basin. The sediments in the lowest planation surface had different felsic source rocks derived from east of the Three Gorges, which indicated that before the disintegration of the lowest planation surface (0.75 Ma), there were two paleorivers: the westward-flowing paleo-Chuan River and eastward-flowing paleo-Yangtze River separated by the Huangling Dome. At 0.75-0.73 Ma, the dominant detrital zircons from the Sichuan Basin in the sediments of terrace T5 (the highest terrace) confirmed that the paleo-Yangtze River cut through the Three Gorges and captured the paleo-Chuan River, and the Daliang Mountains became the new drainage divide. Finally, the appearance of materials from the upper Jinsha River in terrace T2 indicated that the paleo-Yangtze River progressively captured the paleo-Jinsha River, and the modern upper Yangtze River formed before 0.05 Ma. These river capture events of the upper Yangtze River confirmed the Quaternary uplift of the SE Tibetan Plateau.
Keywords
- Heavy minerals, Neotectonics, Paleo-Chuan River, Provenance analyses, Quaternary drainage evolution, SE Tibetan Plateau, Three Gorges formation, Upper Yangtze River, Zircon trace element, Zircon U-Pb chronology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities(all)
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
- Earth-Surface Processes
- Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
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In: Quaternary Research (United States), Vol. 113, 05.2023, p. 162-181.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - New evidence from heavy minerals and detrital zircons in Quaternary fluvial sediments for the evolution of the upper Yangtze River, South China
AU - Huang, Hengxu
AU - Xiang, Fang
AU - Zhang, Deyan
AU - Guo, Yuming
AU - Yang, Qi
AU - Ding, Li
N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by the Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41972101, 41572093, 41072083).
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - In the Three Gorges and adjacent areas, there are three planation surfaces and five terraces along the Yangtze River that record the evolution history of the river system. Here, we used diagnostic heavy minerals, U-Pb geochronology, and trace elements of detrital zircons from one planation surface, two terraces, and a modern point bar to reconstruct the evolution history of the upper Yangtze River, specifically the Chuan River in the Sichuan Basin. The sediments in the lowest planation surface had different felsic source rocks derived from east of the Three Gorges, which indicated that before the disintegration of the lowest planation surface (0.75 Ma), there were two paleorivers: the westward-flowing paleo-Chuan River and eastward-flowing paleo-Yangtze River separated by the Huangling Dome. At 0.75-0.73 Ma, the dominant detrital zircons from the Sichuan Basin in the sediments of terrace T5 (the highest terrace) confirmed that the paleo-Yangtze River cut through the Three Gorges and captured the paleo-Chuan River, and the Daliang Mountains became the new drainage divide. Finally, the appearance of materials from the upper Jinsha River in terrace T2 indicated that the paleo-Yangtze River progressively captured the paleo-Jinsha River, and the modern upper Yangtze River formed before 0.05 Ma. These river capture events of the upper Yangtze River confirmed the Quaternary uplift of the SE Tibetan Plateau.
AB - In the Three Gorges and adjacent areas, there are three planation surfaces and five terraces along the Yangtze River that record the evolution history of the river system. Here, we used diagnostic heavy minerals, U-Pb geochronology, and trace elements of detrital zircons from one planation surface, two terraces, and a modern point bar to reconstruct the evolution history of the upper Yangtze River, specifically the Chuan River in the Sichuan Basin. The sediments in the lowest planation surface had different felsic source rocks derived from east of the Three Gorges, which indicated that before the disintegration of the lowest planation surface (0.75 Ma), there were two paleorivers: the westward-flowing paleo-Chuan River and eastward-flowing paleo-Yangtze River separated by the Huangling Dome. At 0.75-0.73 Ma, the dominant detrital zircons from the Sichuan Basin in the sediments of terrace T5 (the highest terrace) confirmed that the paleo-Yangtze River cut through the Three Gorges and captured the paleo-Chuan River, and the Daliang Mountains became the new drainage divide. Finally, the appearance of materials from the upper Jinsha River in terrace T2 indicated that the paleo-Yangtze River progressively captured the paleo-Jinsha River, and the modern upper Yangtze River formed before 0.05 Ma. These river capture events of the upper Yangtze River confirmed the Quaternary uplift of the SE Tibetan Plateau.
KW - Heavy minerals
KW - Neotectonics
KW - Paleo-Chuan River
KW - Provenance analyses
KW - Quaternary drainage evolution
KW - SE Tibetan Plateau
KW - Three Gorges formation
KW - Upper Yangtze River
KW - Zircon trace element
KW - Zircon U-Pb chronology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85160950481&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/qua.2022.58
DO - 10.1017/qua.2022.58
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85160950481
VL - 113
SP - 162
EP - 181
JO - Quaternary Research (United States)
JF - Quaternary Research (United States)
SN - 0033-5894
ER -