1
|
Nie J, Stevens T, Rittner M, Stockli D, Garzanti E, Limonta M, Bird A, Andò S, Vermeesch P, Saylor J, Lu H, Breecker D, Hu X, Liu S, Resentini A, Vezzoli G, Peng W, Carter A, Ji S, Pan B. Loess Plateau storage of Northeastern Tibetan Plateau-derived Yellow River sediment. Nat Commun 2015; 6:8511. [PMID: 26449321 PMCID: PMC4633828 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 226] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.1] [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: 03/31/2015] [Accepted: 08/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Marine accumulations of terrigenous sediment are widely assumed to accurately record climatic- and tectonic-controlled mountain denudation and play an important role in understanding late Cenozoic mountain uplift and global cooling. Underpinning this is the assumption that the majority of sediment eroded from hinterland orogenic belts is transported to and ultimately stored in marine basins with little lag between erosion and deposition. Here we use a detailed and multi-technique sedimentary provenance dataset from the Yellow River to show that substantial amounts of sediment eroded from Northeast Tibet and carried by the river's upper reach are stored in the Chinese Loess Plateau and the western Mu Us desert. This finding revises our understanding of the origin of the Chinese Loess Plateau and provides a potential solution for mismatches between late Cenozoic terrestrial sedimentation and marine geochemistry records, as well as between global CO2 and erosion records.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Junsheng Nie
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
| | - Thomas Stevens
- Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Martin Rittner
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Daniel Stockli
- Department of Geological sciences, University of Texas, Austin 78712, USA
| | - Eduardo Garzanti
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milano, Italy
| | - Mara Limonta
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milano, Italy
| | - Anna Bird
- Department of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
| | - Sergio Andò
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milano, Italy
| | - Pieter Vermeesch
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Joel Saylor
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric sciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA
| | - Huayu Lu
- School of Oceanographic and Geographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Daniel Breecker
- Department of Geological sciences, University of Texas, Austin 78712, USA
| | - Xiaofei Hu
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
| | - Shanpin Liu
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
| | - Alberto Resentini
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milano, Italy
| | - Giovanni Vezzoli
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126 Milano, Italy
| | - Wenbin Peng
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
| | - Andrew Carter
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Shunchuan Ji
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
| | - Baotian Pan
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
| |
Collapse
|