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Despite agreement on first-order features and mechanisms, critical aspects of the origin and evolution of the Tibetan Plateau, such as the exact timing and nature of collision, the initiation of plateau uplift, and the evolution of its height and width, are disputed, untested or unknown. This book gathers papers dealing with the growth and collapse of the Tibetan Plateau. The timing, the underlying mechanisms, their interactions and the induced surface shaping, contributing to the Tibetan Plateau evolution are tightly linked via coupled and feedback processes. We present interdisciplinary contributions allowing insight into the complex interactions between lithospheric dynamics, topography building, erosion, hydrological processes and atmospheric coupling. The book is structured in four parts: early processes in the plateau formation; recent growth of the Tibetan Plateau; mechanisms of plateau growth; and plateau uplift, surface processes and the monsoon.
Despite agreement on first-order features and mechanisms, critical aspects of the origin and evolution of the Tibetan Plateau, such as the exact timing and nature of collision, the initiation of plateau uplift, and the evolution of its height and width, are disputed, untested or unknown. This book gathers papers dealing with the growth and collapse of the Tibetan Plateau. The timing, the underlying mechanisms, their interactions and the induced surface shaping, contributing to the Tibetan Plateau evolution are tightly linked via coupled and feedback processes. We therefore present cross-disciplinary contributions which allow insight into the complex interactions between lithospheric dynamics, topography building, erosion, hydrological processes and atmospheric coupling. The book is structured in four parts: early processes in the plateau formation; recent growth of the Tibetan Plateau; mechanisms of plateau growth; and plateau uplift, surface processes and the monsoon.
Intense uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in Late Cenozoic Era is one of the most important events in geological history of the Earth. The plateau offers an ideal region for studying of lithospheric formation and evolution, probing into the mechanism of crustal movement, and understanding of changes in environments and geo-ecosystems in Asia. Intense uplift ofthe plateau resulted in drastic changes of natural environment and apparent regional differentiation on the plateau proper and neighboring regions. The plateau therefore becomes a sensitive area of climate change in Asian monsoon region, which is closely related to the global change. As a special physical unit, its ecosystems occupy a prominent position in the world. Due to its extremely high elevation and great extent, natural types and characteristics of physical landscapes on the plateau are quite different from those in lowlands at comparable latitudes, and environments are also different from those in high latitudinal zones. Consequently, the Tibetan Plateau has been classified as one of three giant physical regions in China and considered as a unique unit on Earth. Scientific surveys and expeditions to the Tibetan Plateau on large scale began from 1950's. Amongst them, a number of comprehensive scientific expeditions to the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, Hengduan Mts. areas, Karakorum and Kunlun Mts. regions, as well as the Hoh Xii Mts. areas, have been successively carried out by the Integrated Scientific Expedition to Tibetan Plateau, sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1973.
"The uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau serves as key evidence for understanding the dynamic models that build the Plateau and its influence on Cenozoic climate change of East Asia. This dissertation contributes to our knowledge for the growth history of the central and northern Tibetan Plateau through sedimentary analysis of basin sequences, and stable isotope analysis of carbonate rocks and modern surface waters. Field work in the Hoh Xil basin of central Tibet, including facies analysis, paleocurrent reconstruction, detrital zircon provenance analysis, and stable isotope analysis, suggests that a unified Hoh Xil basin, including both the east and west sub-basins, experienced a transition from pre-India-Asia collision foreland basin to post-collision hinterland basin setting at around 50 Ma. The Qiangtang terrane, serving as the main source for sediments deposited in the Hoh Xil basin, experienced significant topographic growth during the Cretaceous time. Far field deformation in the Hoh Xil basin was initiated shortly after India-Asia collision; contractional deformation and concomitant filling of the Hoh Xil hinterland basin provides clues for outward and upward growth of the Tibetan Plateau during Cenozoic time. Work in the western Qaidam basin provides new lithostratigraphy and carbonate stable isotope data that records early-middle Miocene topographic growth of the northern Tibetan Plateau. A hydrological change from restricted sub-basin to open marginal basin around 20 Ma was probably caused by late Oligocene-early Miocene tectonic activity around the Qaidam basinches A major topographic growth in the northern Tibetan Plateau is inferred around 15 Ma based on a negative shift in oxygen isotopic values, sedimentary facies changes from marginal lacustrine to fluvial, and an increase in sedimentation rate. A 13-12 Ma aridification event that was observed over a large area of the northern Plateau was likely caused by continued topographic growth to a critical point to block moisture from entering the northern Tibetan Plateau. To understand the caveats of stable isotope-based paleoaltimetry in the central and northern Tibetan Plateau, a comprehensive data set of 1,315 river water samples (450 newly collected) was compiled. With this large data set, a consistently assumed, but not well-documented prerequisite is demonstrated that river waters are a good substitute for isotopic studies of precipitation on the high Tibetan Plateau on the mean annual scale. The spatial variations of [delta]18O/[delta]D and d-excess values in the plateau margins can be modeled as a Rayleigh distillation process, on which stable isotope-based paleoaltimetry is based. On the contrary, the isotopic values of meteoric waters in the interior of the plateau are controlled by the combined effects of mixing of different moisture sources, contribution of recycled moisture from local surface water evaporation, and sub-cloud evaporation. A Rayleigh distillation model modified by sub-cloud evaporation is provided to simulate the isotopic variations in the western Plateau. This new understanding indicates that stable isotope-based paleoaltimetry is most reliable in the southern margins of the Plateau, and increasingly unreliable toward the northern Plateau. In addition, the contour maps of modern isotopic variations of meteoric waters across the whole Tibetan Plateau also provide validation criteria for isotopic simulations using general circulation models"--Pages v-vi.
The changing focus and approach of geomorphic research suggests that the time is opportune for a summary of the state of discipline. The number of peer-reviewed papers published in geomorphic journals has grown steadily for more than two decades and, more importantly, the diversity of authors with respect to geographic location and disciplinary background (geography, geology, ecology, civil engineering, computer science, geographic information science, and others) has expanded dramatically. As more good minds are drawn to geomorphology, and the breadth of the peer-reviewed literature grows, an effective summary of contemporary geomorphic knowledge becomes increasingly difficult. The fourteen volumes of this Treatise on Geomorphology will provide an important reference for users from undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic. Information on the historical development of diverse topics within geomorphology provides context for ongoing research; discussion of research strategies, equipment, and field methods, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations reflect the multiple approaches to understanding Earth’s surfaces; and summaries of outstanding research questions highlight future challenges and suggest productive new avenues for research. Our future ability to adapt to geomorphic changes in the critical zone very much hinges upon how well landform scientists comprehend the dynamics of Earth’s diverse surfaces. This Treatise on Geomorphology provides a useful synthesis of the state of the discipline, as well as highlighting productive research directions, that Educators and students/researchers will find useful. Geomorphology has advanced greatly in the last 10 years to become a very interdisciplinary field. Undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic will find the answers they need in this broad reference work which has been designed and written to accommodate their diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. J. F. Shroder of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is past president of the QG&G section of the Geological Society of America and present Trustee of the GSA Foundation, while being well respected in the geomorphology research community and having won numerous awards in the field. A host of noted international geomorphologists have contributed state-of-the-art chapters to the work. Readers can be guaranteed that every chapter in this extensive work has been critically reviewed for consistency and accuracy by the World expert Volume Editors and by the Editor-in-Chief himself No other reference work exists in the area of Geomorphology that offers the breadth and depth of information contained in this 14-volume masterpiece. From the foundations and history of geomorphology through to geomorphological innovations and computer modelling, and the past and future states of landform science, no "stone" has been left unturned!
The Asian monsoon is one of the most dramatic climatic phenomena on Earth, with far-reaching environmental and societal effects. Almost two thirds of humanity lives within regions influenced by the monsoon. With the emerging Asian economies, the importance of the region to the global economy has never been more marked. The Asian Monsoon describes the evolution of the monsoon, and proposes a connection between the tectonic evolution of the solid Earth and monsoon intensity. The authors explain how the monsoon has been linked to orbital processes and thus to other parts of the global climate system, especially glaciation. Finally, they summarize how monsoon evolution since the last Ice Age has impacted human societies, as well as commenting on the potential impact of future climate change. This book presents a multi-disciplinary overview of the monsoon for advanced students and researchers in atmospheric science, climatology, oceanography, geophysics, and geomorphology.
Sea-level constitutes a critical planetary boundary for geological processes and human life. Sea-level fluctuations during major greenhouse phases are still enigmatic and strongly discussed in terms of changing climate systems. The geological record of the Cretaceous greenhouse period provides a deep-time view on greenhouse-phase Earthsystem processes that facilitates a much better understanding of the causes and consequences of global, geologically short-term, sea-level changes. In particualr, Cretaceous hothouse periods can serve as a laboratory to better understand a near-future greenhouse Earth. This volume presents high-resolution sea-level records from globally distributed sedimentary archives of the Cretaceous involving a large group of scientists from the International Geoscience Programme IGCP 609. Marine to non-marine sedimentary successions were analysed for revised age constraints, the correlation of global palaeoclimate shifts and sea-level changes, tested for climate-driven cyclicities, and correlated within a high-resolution stratigraphic framework of the Geological Timescale. For hothouse periods, the hypothesis of significant global groundwater-related sea-level change, i.e. aquifer-eustasy as a major process, is reviewed and substantiated.