IAG 2000 Thematic Conference MONSOON CLIMATE, GEOMORPHOLOGIC PROCESSES AND HUMAN ACTIVITIES
International Conference Hotel of Nanjing, China, August 25-29, 2000
Abstracts - Ying WANG and Xiaodong ZHU (Eds.)

INTERPRETING THE UPLIFT PROCESSES OF THE QINGHA-TIBET PLATEAU FROM THE COMPARSION OF YECHENG SECTION AND SWALK GROUP

Xiaoze LI1,2, Guangrong DONG1,2, Huizhong CHRN1,2,3, Hongbo ZHENG3,4, Heling JIN1,2

1Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research nstitute, Lanzhou, 730000,China
2Institute of Desert Research, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou, 730000,China
3Xi'an Open Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710054, China
4Department of Geology and Geophysics, West Australian University


Comparative analysis of the Yecheng section at north piedmont of theKunlun Mountain, and the Surai Khola section at south piedmont of theHimalayan Mountain, suggests that the Qinghai-Tibet plateau is dominatedby continuous uplift over the past 10 million years, and the effectivetime scale for dividing the uplift stages is one million years. Theuplift processes of the plateau can be divided into three major stages,namely slow uplift of the entire plateau between 10.0-6.0 Ma.BP;transitional uplift stage between 6.0-2.5 Ma.BP(including medium-velocityuplift of the south part of the plateau and low-velocity uplift of thenorth part of the plateau during 6.0-4.6 Ma.BP; medium-velocity uplift ofthe entire plateau during 4.6-3.5 Ma.BP; and rapid uplift of the northpart of the plateau and medium-velocity uplift of the south part of theplateau during 3.5-2.5 Ma.BP). The entire plateau has been upliftingrapidly since 2.5 Ma.BP. The uplift elevation of the entire plateauexceeded 2000m above sea level by 4.6 Ma.BP and exceeded 3000m above sea level by 2.5 Ma.BP.


© 2000 International Association of Geomorphologists
All rights reserved