From ka to Ma: A multi-timescale record of accelerating Cenozoic tectonic uplift between the Qilian Shan and Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau

Leaf wax stable isotopes from Northern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for uplift and climate since 15 Ma

Diets and environments of late Cenozoic mammals in the Qaidam Basin, Tibetan Plateau Evidence from stable isotopes

The timing history and driving mechanisms of C4 expansion and Tibetan uplift are hotly debated issues. Paleoenvironmental evidence from within the Tibetan Plateau is essential to help resolve these issues. Here we report results of stable C and O isotope analyses of tooth enamel samples from a variety of late Cenozoic mammals, including deer, giraffe, horse, rhino, and elephant, from the Qaidam...

Constraints on mountain building in the northeastern Tibet: Detrital zircon records from synorogenic deposits in the Yumen Basin

The Cenozoic basins and ranges form the high topography of the northeastern Tibet that resulted from the India-Eurasia collision. Sedimentary rocks in the basins provide direct insight into the exhumation history of the ranges and the tectonic processes that led to the northeastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau. In this study, we analyzed and compared detrital zircon U-Pb ages from sands of mo...

Uplift-driven climate change at 12 Ma: a long N18O record from the NE margin of the Tibetan plateau

Carbonates from fluvial and lacustrine sediments were sampled from multiple measured sections in the Linxia basin of western China. Based on textural and mineralogical evidence, lacustrine carbonates are primary precipitates from lake water. A 29 million year record of the oxygen isotope composition of meteoric water is inferred from the N18O values of these carbonates. This inference is based ...

Expansion of the Tibetan Plateau during the Neogene

The appearance of detritus shed from mountain ranges along the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau heralds the Cenozoic development of high topography. Current estimates of the age of the basal conglomerate in the Qaidam basin place this event in Paleocene-Eocene. Here we present new magnetostratigraphy and mammalian biostratigraphy that refine the onset of basin fill to ∼25.5 Myr and reveal...