Abstract
IMPORTANT changes in South Asian climate occurred in the Late Miocene epoch (~8 Myr ago)1,2, and these have been attributed by some researchers to uplift of the Tibetan plateau at about the same time3–5. Unfortunately, this link has been difficult to test because the timing of plateau uplift remains poorly constrained by independent evidence. One way to determine the minimum age of uplift is to establish the initiation age of the north-striking normal fault systems in southern Tibet that are widely regarded6–10 as being related to gravitational collapse of the Tibetan plateau. Here we report an40Ar/39Ar age of ~14 Myr for hydrothermal mica from an extensional fracture belonging to such a fault system in north-central Nepal. This age implies that east–west extension began before ~ 14 Myr ago in at least some parts of the Tibetan plateau, suggesting that the plateau attained its high mean elevation well before Late Miocene time.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Quade, J., Cerling, T. E. & Bowman, J. R. Nature 342, 163–166 (1989).
Prell, W. L., Murray, D. W., Clemens, S. C. & Anderson, D. M. in Synthesis of Results from Scientific Drilling in the Indian Ocean (ed. Duncan, R. A.) 447–469 (Am. Geophys. Union, Washington DC, 1992).
Prell, W. L. & Kutzbach, J. E. Science 360, 647–652 (1992).
Raymo, M. E. & Ruddiman, W. F. Nature 359, 117–122 (1992).
Molnar, P., England, P. & Martinod, J. Rev. Geophys. 31, 357–396 (1993).
Molnar, P. & Tapponnier, P. J. geophys. Res. 83, 5361–5375 (1978).
Ni, J. & York, J. E. J. geophys. Res. 83, 5277–5384 (1978).
Armijo, R., Tapponier, P., Mercier, J. & Han, T. J. geophys. Res. 91, 13803–13872 (1986).
England, P. & Houseman, G. J. geophys. Res. 94, 17561–17579 (1989).
Harrison, T. M., Copeland, P., Kidd, W. S. F. & Yin, A. Science 255, 1663–1670 (1992).
Gansser, A. Geology of the Himalayas (Wiley Interscience, London, 1964).
LeFort, P. Am. J. Sci. 275A, 1–44 (1975).
Burchfiel, B. C. et al. The South Tibetan Detachment System, Himalayan Orogen: Extension Contemporaneous with and Parallel to Shortening in a Collisional Mountain Belt 1–41 (Geological Soc. Am. Boulder, 1992).
Burchfiel, B. C. & Royden, L. H. Geology 13, 679–682 (1985).
Hodges, K. V. et al. Science 258, 1466–1470 (1992).
Chen, W. Y. in Geological and Ecological Studies of the Quinghai-Xizang Plateau (ed. Liu, D. S.) 343–352 (Science Press, Beijing, 1981).
Fort, M., Freytet, P. & Colchen, M. Z. Geomorph. 42, 75–98 (1982).
Mercier, J.-L., Armijo, R., Tapponier, P., Carey-Gailhardis, E. & Han, T. L. Tectonics 6, 275–304 (1987).
Wang, F. B., Li, B. Y. & Zhang, Q. S. in Geological and Ecological Studies of the Quinghai-Xizang Plateau (ed. Liu, D. S.) 231–238 (Science Press, Beijing, 1981).
Yoshida, M., Igarashi, Y., Arita, K., Hayashi, D. & Sharman, T. J. Nepal geol. Soc. 4, 101–120 (1984).
Pan, Y. & Kidd, W. S. F. Geology 20, 775–778 (1992).
Copeland, P. & Harrison, T. M. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Progm. 25, A-175 (1993).
Bordet, P. et al. Rechereches Géologiques dans l'Himalaya du Népal, Région de la Thakkola (Centre Natl. Rech. Sci., Paris, 1971).
Colchen, M. C. r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris 290, 311–314 (1980).
Coleman, M. E. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Progm. 25, A174–A175 (1993).
Brown, R. L. & Nazarchuk, J. H. in Himalayan Tectonics (eds Treloar, P. J. & Searle, M. P.) 461–473 (Spec. Publ. 47, Geol. Soc., London, 1993).
Deniel, C., Vidal, P., Fernandez, A., LeFort, P. & Peucat, J.-J. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 96, 78–92 (1987).
Guillot, S., Hodges, K. V., LeFort, P. & Pêcher, A. Geology 22, 559–562 (1994).
Parrish, R. R. & Hodges, K. V. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Progm. 25, A174 (1993).
Harrison, T. M. & McKeegan, K. D. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Progm. 26, A-367 (1994).
Colchen, M., LeFort, P. & Pêcher, A. Annapurna-Manaslu-Ganesh Himal (Centre Natl Rech. Sci., Paris, 1986).
Roddick, J. C., Cliff, R. A. & Rex, D. C. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 48, 185–208 (1980).
McDougall, I. & Harrison, T. M. Geochronology and Thermochronology by the 40Ar/39Ar Method (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1988).
Turner, S. et al. Nature 364, 50–54 (1993).
Richter, F. M., Lovera, O. M., Harrison, T. M. & Copeland, P. C. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 105, 266–278 (1991).
England, P. & Searle, M. Tectonics 5, 1–14 (1986).
York, D. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 5, 320–324 (1969).
Hodges, K. V., Hames, W. E. & Bowring, S. A. Geology 22, 55–58 (1994).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Coleman, M., Hodges, K. Evidence for Tibetan plateau uplift before 14 Myr ago from a new minimum age for east–west extension. Nature 374, 49–52 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/374049a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/374049a0
This article is cited by
-
Partitioning Anatolian Kinematics into Tectonic Escape and Slab Rollback Dominated Domains
Journal of Earth Science (2024)
-
Molecular phylogeny of mega-diverse Carabus attests late Miocene evolution of alpine environments in the Himalayan–Tibetan Orogen
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Uplift history of the Northern Tianshan constrained from the inversion of river profiles
International Journal of Earth Sciences (2023)
-
Episodic sandstone-type uranium mineralization in Asia during the Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic
Science China Earth Sciences (2023)
-
Mechanism of an ancient river-damming landslide at batang hydropower station, Jinsha river basin, China
Landslides (2023)
