Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the Paleocene
Abstract The growth of the Tibetan Plateau is traditionally attributed to the India-Asia collision and subsequent convergence. However, recent paleo-elevation reconstructions suggest that Gangdese arc in southern Tibetan Plateau reached >4.0 km before or alongside the collision. Here we reconstru...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02269-2 |
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| author | Peng Guo Ting Yang Wen-Liang Xu Wei-Qiang Ji |
| author_facet | Peng Guo Ting Yang Wen-Liang Xu Wei-Qiang Ji |
| author_sort | Peng Guo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The growth of the Tibetan Plateau is traditionally attributed to the India-Asia collision and subsequent convergence. However, recent paleo-elevation reconstructions suggest that Gangdese arc in southern Tibetan Plateau reached >4.0 km before or alongside the collision. Here we reconstruct the crustal thickness evolution of the Gangdese arc during the Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic using a machine learning model and investigate the thermal evolution by analyzing the metamorphic temperature-pressure-age properties of crustal rocks. Isostatic calculations are performed to constrain the crustal density evolution. Our results show that crustal thickness decreased from ~60 to ~40 km between 80 and 55 Ma, with an increase in lithosphere geotherm and a drop in average crustal density (from ~2.97 to ~2.70 g/cm3). These results suggest the removal of a 20 km thick dense lower crust during that period. Combined with numerical modeling and geological evidence, we propose that lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of the Gangdese arc during the Paleocene, independent of the India-Asia collision. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-89fe40eff99245bd950d22cde12e7ba6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2662-4435 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Earth & Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-89fe40eff99245bd950d22cde12e7ba62025-08-20T02:55:39ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Earth & Environment2662-44352025-05-01611910.1038/s43247-025-02269-2Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the PaleocenePeng Guo0Ting Yang1Wen-Liang Xu2Wei-Qiang Ji3Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Southern University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Earth and Space Sciences, Southern University of Science and TechnologyCollege of Earth Sciences, Jilin UniversityState Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of SciencesAbstract The growth of the Tibetan Plateau is traditionally attributed to the India-Asia collision and subsequent convergence. However, recent paleo-elevation reconstructions suggest that Gangdese arc in southern Tibetan Plateau reached >4.0 km before or alongside the collision. Here we reconstruct the crustal thickness evolution of the Gangdese arc during the Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic using a machine learning model and investigate the thermal evolution by analyzing the metamorphic temperature-pressure-age properties of crustal rocks. Isostatic calculations are performed to constrain the crustal density evolution. Our results show that crustal thickness decreased from ~60 to ~40 km between 80 and 55 Ma, with an increase in lithosphere geotherm and a drop in average crustal density (from ~2.97 to ~2.70 g/cm3). These results suggest the removal of a 20 km thick dense lower crust during that period. Combined with numerical modeling and geological evidence, we propose that lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of the Gangdese arc during the Paleocene, independent of the India-Asia collision.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02269-2 |
| spellingShingle | Peng Guo Ting Yang Wen-Liang Xu Wei-Qiang Ji Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the Paleocene Communications Earth & Environment |
| title | Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the Paleocene |
| title_full | Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the Paleocene |
| title_fullStr | Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the Paleocene |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the Paleocene |
| title_short | Lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern Tibet during the Paleocene |
| title_sort | lower crustal foundering drove the uplift of southern tibet during the paleocene |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02269-2 |
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