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Meng J, Gilder SA, Tan X, Li X, Li Y, Luo H, Suzuki N, Wang Z, Chi Y, Zhang C, Wang C. Strengthening the argument for a large Greater India. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2305928120. [PMID: 37552758 PMCID: PMC10433724 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2305928120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The Sangdanlin section in southern Tibet represents a geologic Rosetta stone to constrain the initiation of the India-Asia collision from its sedimentary and paleomagnetic records. However, geoscientists have arrived at fundamentally divergent interpretations surrounding the age of the strata and its paleomagnetic record. Here, we report paleontologic, petrographic, and paleomagnetic data from the Sangdanlin section that recognize the sequence as a thrust complex containing interlaced Barremian-Albian (Early Cretaceous) and Paleocene strata, each separated by thrust faults. Recognizing two complexly interwoven formations of distinctly different ages contradicts a continuous stratigraphic superposition. Assigning an Early Cretaceous, instead of Paleocene, age to the units collected for paleomagnetic data revises paleogeographic models thereby supporting a large (2,000 to 3,000 km) extent of Greater India, with collision initiating at 55 ± 5 Ma in the western Himalayas. A contiguous plate in the Neotethys Ocean precludes that Asia's southern margin was built through a succession of accreted terrains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Meng
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences Beijing, Beijing100083, China
| | - Stuart A. Gilder
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilians University, 80333Munich, Germany
| | - Xiaodong Tan
- Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou510301, China
| | - Xin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing210008, China
| | - Yalin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences Beijing, Beijing100083, China
| | - Hui Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing210008, China
| | - Noritoshi Suzuki
- Department of Earth Science, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai City980-8578, Japan
| | - Zihao Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences Beijing, Beijing100083, China
| | - Yuchen Chi
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilians University, 80333Munich, Germany
| | - Chunyang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences Beijing, Beijing100083, China
| | - Chengshan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences Beijing, Beijing100083, China
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Yang S, Liang X, Jiang M, Chen L, He Y, Thet Mon C, Hou G, Thant M, Sein K, Wan B. Slab remnants beneath the Myanmar terrane evidencing double subduction of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean. Sci Adv 2022; 8:eabo1027. [PMID: 36026452 PMCID: PMC9417170 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo1027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Closure of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean is one of the most significant tectonic events of the Cenozoic, forming the longest continental collision belt on Earth and influencing global climate and biodiversity. However, whether late Mesozoic subduction of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean occurred along one single or a double subduction system remains controversial. Here, upper mantle imaging from seismic tomography and waveform modeling in the Myanmar region reveals two prominent, parallel, slab-like structures with high seismic velocities that trend to the north-south and dip to the east. The western high-velocity zone has been observed previously and represents the modern subducting slab. The eastern zone has not been previously reported and exhibits high-velocity anomalies of 1.0 to 2.5% to a depth of ~300 km. This zone likely represents a remnant of another Neo-Tethyan oceanic slab that subducted ~40 million years ago. Double subduction of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean during the late Mesozoic to early Cenozoic requires reevaluation of previous tectonic models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shun Yang
- Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100029, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xiaofeng Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Mingming Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100029, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Lin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Yumei He
- Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100029, China
| | - Chit Thet Mon
- Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100029, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Department of Geology, Dagon University, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Guangbing Hou
- Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100029, China
| | - Myo Thant
- Department of Geology, Yangon University, Yangon, Myanmar
- Myanmar Earthquake Committee, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Kyaing Sein
- Myanmar Geosciences Society, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Bo Wan
- State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS, Beijing 100029, China
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Li XQ, Xiang XG, Jabbour F, Hagen O, Ortiz RDC, Soltis PS, Soltis DE, Wang W. Biotic colonization of subtropical East Asian caves through time. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2207199119. [PMID: 35969742 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2207199119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Caves are home to unique and fragile biotas with high levels of endemism. However, little is known about how the biotic colonization of caves has developed over time, especially in caves from middle and low latitudes. Subtropical East Asia holds the world's largest karst landform with numerous ancient caves, which harbor a high diversity of cave-dwelling organisms and are regarded as a biodiversity hotspot. Here, we assess the temporal dynamics of biotic colonization of subtropical East Asian caves through a multi-taxon analysis with representatives of green plants, animals, and fungi. We then investigate the consequences of paleonviromental changes on the colonization dynamics of these caves in combination with reconstructions of vegetation, temperature, and precipitation. We discover that 88% of cave colonization events occurred after the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, and organisms from the surrounding forest were a major source for subtropical East Asian cave biodiversity. Biotic colonization of subtropical East Asian caves during the Neogene was subject to periods of acceleration and decrease, in conjunction with large-scale, seasonal climatic changes and evolution of local forests. This study highlights the long-term evolutionary interaction between surface and cave biotas; our climate-vegetation-relict model proposed for the subtropical East Asian cave biota may help explain the evolutionary origins of other mid-latitude subterranean biotas.
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Sehsah H, Furnes H, Pham LT, Eldosouky AM. Plume-MOR decoupling and the timing of India-Eurasia collision. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13349. [PMID: 35922451 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16981-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The debatable timing of India–Eurasia collision is based on geologic, stratigraphic, kinematic, and tectonic evidence. However, the collision event disturbed persistent processes, and the timing of disturbance in such processes could determine the onset of India–Eurasia collision precisely. We use the longevity of Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR)—Kerguelen mantle plume (KMP) interaction cycles along the Ninetyeast ridge (NER) as a proxy to determine the commencement of India–Eurasia collision. The geochemical signature of the KMP tail along the NER is predominantly that of long-term coupling cycles, that was perturbed once by a short-term decoupling cycle. The long-term coupling cycles are mainly of enriched mid-ocean ridge basalts (E-MORBs). The short-term decoupling cycle is mostly derived from two distinct sources, MOR and plume separately, whereas the KMP is still being on-axis. The onset of India–Eurasia collision led to continental materials recycling into the mantle; hence the abrupt enrichment in incompatible elements at ca. 55 Ma, the MOR–plume on-axis decoupling, and the abrupt slowdown in the northward drift of the Indian plate was induced by the onset of India–Eurasia collision, thereafter MOR–plume recoupled.
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Zhang X, Gélin U, Spicer RA, Wu F, Farnsworth A, Chen P, Del Rio C, Li S, Liu J, Huang J, Spicer TEV, Tomlinson KW, Valdes PJ, Xu X, Zhang S, Deng T, Zhou Z, Su T. Rapid Eocene diversification of spiny plants in subtropical woodlands of central Tibet. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3787. [PMID: 35778378 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31512-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Spinescence is an important functional trait possessed by many plant species for physical defence against mammalian herbivores. The development of spinescence must have been closely associated with both biotic and abiotic factors in the geological past, but knowledge of spinescence evolution suffers from a dearth of fossil records, with most studies focusing on spatial patterns and spinescence-herbivore interactions in modern ecosystems. Numerous well-preserved Eocene (~39 Ma) plant fossils exhibiting seven different spine morphologies discovered recently in the central Tibetan Plateau, combined with molecular phylogenetic character reconstruction, point not only to the presence of a diversity of spiny plants in Eocene central Tibet but a rapid diversification of spiny plants in Eurasia around that time. These spiny plants occupied an open woodland landscape, indicated by numerous megafossils and grass phytoliths found in the same deposits, as well as numerical climate and vegetation modelling. Our study shows that regional aridification and expansion of herbivorous mammals may have driven the diversification of functional spinescence in central Tibetan woodlands, ~24 million years earlier than similar transformations in Africa. Spines are an important physical defense for many plant species. Here, the authors describe seven different spine morphologies from the Eocene of central Tibet associated with regional aridification and expansion of herbivorous mammals.
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van Hinsbergen DJJ. Indian plate paleogeography, subduction and horizontal underthrusting below Tibet: paradoxes, controversies and opportunities. Natl Sci Rev 2022; 9:nwac074. [PMID: 35992242 PMCID: PMC9385461 DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwac074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Revised: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The India–Asia collision zone is the archetype to calibrate geological responses to continent–continent collision, but hosts a paradox: there is no orogen-wide geological record of oceanic subduction after initial collision around 60–55 Ma, yet thousands of kilometers of post-collisional subduction occurred before the arrival of unsubductable continental lithosphere that currently horizontally underlies Tibet. Kinematically restoring incipient horizontal underthrusting accurately predicts geologically estimated diachronous slab break-off, unlocking the Miocene of Himalaya–Tibet as a natural laboratory for unsubductable lithosphere convergence. Additionally, three endmember paleogeographic scenarios exist with different predictions for the nature of post-collisional subducted lithosphere but each is defended and challenged based on similar data types. This paper attempts at breaking through this impasse by identifying how the three paleogeographic scenarios each challenge paradigms in geodynamics, orogenesis, magmatism or paleogeographic reconstruction and identify opportunities for methodological advances in paleomagnetism, sediment provenance analysis, and seismology to conclusively constrain Greater Indian paleogeography.
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Wang W, Zhang P, Duan L, Zhang B, Liu K, Huang R, Liu C, Zhang Z, Zheng D, Zheng W, Zhang H. 柴达木盆地新生代地层年代框架与沉积-构造演化. Chin Sci Bull 2022. [DOI: 10.1360/tb-2022-0108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Wang FG, Yang SX, Ge JY, Ollé A, Zhao KL, Yue JP, Rosso DE, Douka K, Guan Y, Li WY, Yang HY, Liu LQ, Xie F, Guo ZT, Zhu RX, Deng CL, d'Errico F, Petraglia M. Innovative ochre processing and tool use in China 40,000 years ago. Nature 2022. [PMID: 35236981 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04445-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Homo sapiens was present in northern Asia by around 40,000 years ago, having replaced archaic populations across Eurasia after episodes of earlier population expansions and interbreeding1-4. Cultural adaptations of the last Neanderthals, the Denisovans and the incoming populations of H. sapiens into Asia remain unknown1,5-7. Here we describe Xiamabei, a well-preserved, approximately 40,000-year-old archaeological site in northern China, which includes the earliest known ochre-processing feature in east Asia, a distinctive miniaturized lithic assemblage with bladelet-like tools bearing traces of hafting, and a bone tool. The cultural assembly of traits at Xiamabei is unique for Eastern Asia and does not correspond with those found at other archaeological site assemblages inhabited by archaic populations or those generally associated with the expansion of H. sapiens, such as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic8-10. The record of northern Asia supports a process of technological innovations and cultural diversification emerging in a period of hominin hybridization and admixture2,3,6,11.
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Xiang KL, Erst AS, Yang J, Peng HW, Ortiz RDC, Jabbour F, Erst TV, Wang W. Biogeographic diversification of Eranthis (Ranunculaceae) reflects the geological history of the three great Asian plateaus. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210281. [PMID: 33823668 PMCID: PMC8059577 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolutionary history of organisms with poor dispersal abilities usually parallels geological events. Collisions of the Indian and Arabian plates with Eurasia greatly changed Asian topography and affected regional and global climates as well as biotic evolution. However, the geological evolution of Asia related to these two collisions remains debated. Here, we used Eranthis, an angiosperm genus with poor seed dispersal ability and a discontinuous distribution across Eurasia, to shed light on the orogenesis of the Qinghai-Tibetan, Iranian and Mongolian Plateaus. Our phylogenetic analyses show that Eranthis comprises four major geographical clades: east Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau clade (I-1), North Asian clade (I-2), west Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau clade (II-1) and Mediterranean clade (II-2). Our molecular dating and biogeographic analyses indicate that within Eranthis, four vicariance events correlate well with the two early uplifts of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the Late Eocene and the Oligocene-Miocene boundary and the two uplifts of the Iranian Plateau during the Middle and Late Miocene. The origin and divergence of the Mongolian Plateau taxa are related to the two uplifts of the Mongolian Plateau during the Middle and Late Miocene. Additionally, our results are in agreement with the hypothesis that the central part of Tibet only reached an altitude of less than 2.3 km at approximately 40 Ma. This study highlights that organismal evolution could be related to the formation of the three great Asian plateaus, hence contributing to the knowledge on the timing of the key tectonic events in Asia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun-Li Xiang
- State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, People's Republic of China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
| | - Andrey S. Erst
- Laboratory of Herbarium, Central Siberian Botanical Garden, Russian Academy of Sciences, Zolotodolinskaya Street 101, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
- Laboratory of Herbarium, Tomsk State University, Tomsk 634050, Russia
| | - Jian Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, People's Republic of China
| | - Huan-Wen Peng
- State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, People's Republic of China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
| | - Rosa del C. Ortiz
- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd, St Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA
| | - Florian Jabbour
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris 75005, France
| | - Tatyana V. Erst
- Laboratory of Herbarium, Tomsk State University, Tomsk 634050, Russia
- Laboratory of Molecular Plant Pathology, Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Prospekt Lavrentyeva 10, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
| | - Wei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, People's Republic of China
- College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
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