A study on the lateral growth of the Tibetan Plateau

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In order to understand the process of the Tibetan Plateau's lateral growth, we first analyzed satellite imagery over the northeastern margin of the plateau and found a large-scale active anticlinorium (~40 km wide) in the Kumkol Basin north of the eastern Kunlun Mountains. Several steps of fluvio-glacial terraces are developed over the anticlinorium, and are folded and faulted due to activity of the anticlinorium. Quartz-grain samples were collected from these terraces, and were dated by the surface exposure dating method using cosmogenic radionuclides (10Be and 26Al). The growth rate of the anticlinorium thus determined is as high as ~1 mm/yr, indicating that the Kumkol Basin is now being incorporated into the Tibetan plateau.