印度板块和亚洲大陆在何时何地碰撞

印度板块和亚洲大陆的初始碰撞时间是所有相关的喜马拉雅-西藏造山体系演化模式的主控条件,并严重影响到对众多与青藏高原隆升和东亚大陆挤出相关的地质过程速率的解释,以及对新生代全球气候变化的理解。尽管印度板块和亚洲大陆汇聚的速率在55Ma突然减缓被广泛地认为是初始碰撞的标志,但这次碰撞所造成的主要构造效应直到20多个百万年以后才显现出来。对印度板块和亚洲大陆相对位置的重新估算,表明它们在55Ma时并没有达到可以彼此发生碰撞的距离。基于来自西藏新的野外证据和对已有数据的重新评估,认为初始碰撞发生在始新世—渐新世之交(约34Ma),并对55Ma时发生的地质事件提出了另一种解释。

Brown carbon in the cryosphere： Current knowledge and perspective

Recently, the light-absorbing organic carbon, i.e., brown carbon(Br C), has received an increasing attention, because they could significantly absorb the solar radiation in the range of short wavelengths rather than the purely scattering effect. Br C is ubiquitous in the troposphere. It could undergo long range transport within the atmospheric circulation. After the deposition on the surface of snow or ice in the cryospheric region, as the major light absorbing impurities with black carbon and dust, Br C could reduce the snow albedo and accelerate the glacier melting. In this context, this paper summarized the current knowledge of Br C(in aerosols and snow) in the cryospheric regions including the Arctic, Antarctic,and Alpines. Although some works have been conducted in those region, the current dataset on the optical properties of Br C like Absorption?ngstr€om Exponent(AAE) and Mass Absorption Efficiency(MAE) is still limited, which hampers stimulating an accurate evaluation of its climate effects. Especially in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, where very limited information concerning Br C is available. Considering biomass burning as a dominant source of Br C, a large amount of emissions from biomass burning in South Asia could reach the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, where the climate effect of Br C merits more investigation in the future.

Sequestration of carbon as carbonate in the critical zone：insights from the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau

The carbon pool stored in soil carbonate is comparable to the soil organic carbon.Therefore,secondary calcite precipitation in supersaturated catchment could be an important,yet poorly constrained,carbon sink within the modern global carbon cycle.The chemical analysis of some dissolved species transported by rivers,such as elevated Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios but also heavy stable Ca isotopic compositions,witness the formation of secondary calcite in rivers draining arid regions.However,in areas affected by active tectonics and rapid physical erosion,co-variations in the fluvial Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios could also be related to incongruent carbonate weathering processes.Here,we present a model to assess the roles played by incongruent carbonate dissolution and secondary calcite precipitation in modern weathering processes.We tested and applied the model to rivers draining the Himalayan–Tibetan region.The results suggest that regional aridity in the drainage basin promotes carbon sequestration as secondary carbonate but that for a given runoff,incongruent dissolution of carbonate possibly related to rapid physical erosion amplifies such sequestration.The isotopic compositions(^(13)C/^(12)C and^(18)O/^(16)O)of detrital carbonate transported by the main rivers in South and South-East Tibet imply that around 1%of the suspended material transported by those rivers corresponds to secondary carbonate and can represent between 5%and 15%of the alkalinity flux.Most of these alkalinity transported as particulate material is,nevertheless related to the weathering of carbonate lithologies and is also subjected to dissolution prior its final storage in sedimentary basins.However,on glacial-interglacial timescale this will amplify the significant role of mountain weathering on climatic variations.

A preliminary study of rare-metal mineralization in the Himalayan leucogranite belts, South Tibet

The Himalayan leucogranite occurs as two extensive(>1000 km) E-W trending belts on the Tibetan Plateau with the unique features. The leucogranite comprised biotite granite, two-mica/muscovite granite, tourmaline granite and garnet granite, which have been identified in previous studies, as well as albite granite and granitic pegmatite that were identified in this investigation. Fifteen leucogranite plutons were studied and 12 were found to contain rare-metal bearing minerals such as beryl(the representative of Be mineralization), columbite-group minerals, tapiolite, pyrochlore-microlite, fergusonite, Nb-Ta rutile(the representative of Nb-Ta mineralization), and cassiterite(the representative of Sn mineralization) mainly based on the field trip,microscope observation and microprobe analysis. The preliminary result shows that the Himalayan leucogranite is commonly related to the rare-metal mineralization and warrants future investigation. Further exploration and intensive research work is important in determining the rare-metal resource potential of this area.

Constraining the timing of the India-Asia continental collision by the sedimentary record

Placing precise constraints on the timing of the India-Asia continental collision is essential to understand the successive geological and geomorphological evolution of the orogenic belt as well as the uplift mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau and their effects on climate,environment and life.Based on the extensive study of the sedimentary record on both sides of the Yarlung-Zangbo suture zone in Tibet,we review here the present state of knowledge on the timing of collision onset,discuss its possible diachroneity along strike,and reconstruct the early structural and topographic evolution of the Himalayan collided range.We define continent-continent collision as the moment when the oceanic crust is completely consumed at one point where the two continental margins come into contact.We use two methods to constrain the timing of collision onset:(1) dating the provenance change from Indian to Asian recorded by deep-water turbidites near the suture zone,and(2) dating the age of unconformities on both sides of the suture zone.The first method allowed us to constrain precisely collision onset as middle Palaeocene(59±l Ma).Marine sedimentation persisted in the collisional zone for another 20-25 Ma locally in southern Tibet,and molassic-type deposition in the Indian foreland basin did not begin until another 10-15 Ma later.Available sedimentary evidence failed to firmly document any significant diachroneity of collision onset from the central Himalaya to the western Himalaya and Pakistan so far.Based on the Cenozoic stratigraphic record of the Tibetan Himalaya,four distinct stages can be identified in the early evolution of the Himalayan orogen:(1) middle Palaeocene-early Eocene earliest Eohimalayan stage(from 59 to 52 Ma):collision onset and filling of the deep-water trough along the suture zone while carbonate platform sedimentation persisted on the inner Indian margin;(2) early-middle Eocene early Eohimalayan stage(from 52 to 41 or 35 Ma):filling of intervening seaways and cessation of marine sedimentation;(3) late Eocene-Oligocene late Eohimalayan stage(from 41 to 25 Ma):huge gap in the sedimentary record both in the collision zone and in the Indian foreland;and(4) late Oligocene-early Miocene early Neohimalayan stage(from 26 to 17 Ma):rapid Himalayan growth and onset of molasse-type sedimentation in the Indian foreland basin.

Diversification of Sisorid catfishes(Teleostei: Siluriformes)in relation to the orogeny of the Himalayan Plateau

Abstract Sisorid catfishes are primarily limited in distribution to rivers of the Himalayan region and Tibetan Plateau. These species have external morphologies that are adapted for extremely fast-flowing riverine systems. Given the diversity of the group and the above qualities of these catfishes, this lineage serves as an ideal group for inferring the geological history of this region based on their phylogenetic relationships reflecting evolu- tionary history. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome and four nuclear genes of representative sisorids distributed across river systems in China. Phylogenetic analyses strongly support the monophyly of the Sisoridae and the glyptosternoids. An analysis of the reconstructed ancestral states derived from inferred genealogical relationships suggests that the evolution of this lineage was accompanied by convergent evolution in morphological traits that were presumably in response to environmental pressure involving the rapid flowing river system that were generated during the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau （UTP）. Molecular dating indicates that the Chinese sisorids and the glyptosternoids originated at the later Miocene （~ 10.9-9.8 Mya）, and with further biogeographic analyses indicates that the species of Sisoridae likely originated from a widely distributed ancestor. Moreover, the divergence of the Sisoridae in China can be divided into two phases consis- tent with the UTP. All of these results indicate that the diversification and dispersal events in this lineage occurred as a result of drainage systems formed during and after the UTP in the late Miocene and Quaternary periods.