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Rapid fluvial incision along the Yellow River during headward basin integration

Nature Geoscience volume 3, pages 209–213 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

The onset of rapid exhumation along the high relief margins of orogenic plateaux is often used as a proxy for the timing of surface uplift1,2,3. However, processes that inhibit incision by rivers, such as spatially variable rock uplift4, orographic changes in rainfall5 and channel damming by glaciers or landslides6,7 may lead to exhumation that significantly lags surface uplift8. Here we reconstruct the timing, rate and pattern of fluvial incision along the Yellow River in northeastern Tibet using stratigraphic, geochronologic and geomorphic data from sedimentary basins along the present-day river course. We find that the onset of fluvial incision occurred substantially later than the onset of mountain building, 14–8 million years (Myr) ago9. Fluvial incision initiated at the plateau margin 1.8 Myr ago10 and progressed upstream11 at a rate of approximately 350 km Myr−1. We conclude that the fluvial incision was a result of a climatically driven expansion of lake systems in the region12,13 that led to lake spillover and consequently the integration of the modern Yellow River.

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Figure 1: Cenozoic sedimentary basins of the northeastern Tibetan plateau.
Figure 2: Chronology of the upper basin fill in the Gonghe basin complex.
Figure 3: Distribution and age of Yellow River terraces in Tongde basin.
Figure 4: Constraints on timing of incision along the Yellow River.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Continental Dynamics programme at NSF (EAR-0506622). We thank L. Qiang, of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, and W. Xiaoming, of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, for assistance with fossil identification. T. Raub provided guidance in the Caltech Paleomagnetics Laboratory, R. Lease helped with palaeomagnetic data and M. Rogers assisted in the field. Thoughtful reviews by D. Montgomery and O. Korup improved the manuscript.

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  1. Nathan W. Harkins

    Present address: Present address: ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, PO Box 2189, URC-URC-N253 Houston, Texas 77252-2189, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA

    William H. Craddock, Eric Kirby, Nathan W. Harkins & Xuhua Shi

  2. State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China

    Huiping Zhang

  3. Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China

    Jianhui Liu

Authors
  1. William H. Craddock
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Contributions

All authors conducted field work; E.K., W.H.C. and N.W.H. contributed to the experimental design and writing of this manuscript; W.H.C. and N.W.H. carried out burial age calculations; W.H.C. analysed palaeomagnetic samples and conducted volumetric denudation analyses.

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Correspondence to William H. Craddock or Nathan W. Harkins.

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Craddock, W., Kirby, E., Harkins, N. et al. Rapid fluvial incision along the Yellow River during headward basin integration. Nature Geosci 3, 209–213 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo777

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