Download or read book The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of High Plateaux written by John Bershaw and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "High topography significantly affects climate and atmospheric circulation, often separating areas of intense precipitation from relatively arid rainshadows inland. Temporal variations in climate on high plateaux have been inferred from both rocks and ice and may be related to changes in global climate, local atmospheric circulation, and/or changes in surface elevation. Constraints on how and when surface topography was generated not only provide insight into the relationship between high plateaux and climate, but help us distinguish between different geodynamic mechanisms responsible for their formation. The following research employs multiple techniques across the Andean Plateau, the Pamir, and Tibetan Plateau, to better understand both the tectonic evolution of high plateaux and how they affect climate and atmospheric circulation, particularly in continental settings. The Andean Plateau in South America is the second highest and most extensive topographic feature on Earth. Paleoelevation constraints from fossil leaf physiognomy and stable isotopes of sedimentary carbonate suggest that significant surface uplift of the northern Andean plateau, on the order of 2.5 ± 1 km, occurred between ~10.3 and 6.4 million years ago (Ma). South American teeth from modern and extinct mammal taxa spanning from the Oligocene (~29 Ma) to present were collected as they preserve a record of surface water isotopes and the type of plants that animals ingested. Previous studies have shown that the isotopic composition of oxygen [... characters removed] in modern precipitation and surface waters decreases systematically with increasing elevations across the central Andes. Results from high elevation sites show substantially more positive [... characters removed] values for late Oligocene tooth samples compared to

Download or read book Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Central northern Tibetan Plateau written by Lin Li and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau serves as key evidence for understanding the dynamic models that build the Plateau and its influence on Cenozoic climate change of East Asia. This dissertation contributes to our knowledge for the growth history of the central and northern Tibetan Plateau through sedimentary analysis of basin sequences, and stable isotope analysis of carbonate rocks and modern surface waters. Field work in the Hoh Xil basin of central Tibet, including facies analysis, paleocurrent reconstruction, detrital zircon provenance analysis, and stable isotope analysis, suggests that a unified Hoh Xil basin, including both the east and west sub-basins, experienced a transition from pre-India-Asia collision foreland basin to post-collision hinterland basin setting at around 50 Ma. The Qiangtang terrane, serving as the main source for sediments deposited in the Hoh Xil basin, experienced significant topographic growth during the Cretaceous time. Far field deformation in the Hoh Xil basin was initiated shortly after India-Asia collision; contractional deformation and concomitant filling of the Hoh Xil hinterland basin provides clues for outward and upward growth of the Tibetan Plateau during Cenozoic time. Work in the western Qaidam basin provides new lithostratigraphy and carbonate stable isotope data that records early-middle Miocene topographic growth of the northern Tibetan Plateau. A hydrological change from restricted sub-basin to open marginal basin around 20 Ma was probably caused by late Oligocene-early Miocene tectonic activity around the Qaidam basinches A major topographic growth in the northern Tibetan Plateau is inferred around 15 Ma based on a negative shift in oxygen isotopic values, sedimentary facies changes from marginal lacustrine to fluvial, and an increase in sedimentation rate. A 13-12 Ma aridification event that was observed over a large area of the northern Plateau was likely caused by continued topographic growth to a critical point to block moisture from entering the northern Tibetan Plateau. To understand the caveats of stable isotope-based paleoaltimetry in the central and northern Tibetan Plateau, a comprehensive data set of 1,315 river water samples (450 newly collected) was compiled. With this large data set, a consistently assumed, but not well-documented prerequisite is demonstrated that river waters are a good substitute for isotopic studies of precipitation on the high Tibetan Plateau on the mean annual scale. The spatial variations of [delta]18O/[delta]D and d-excess values in the plateau margins can be modeled as a Rayleigh distillation process, on which stable isotope-based paleoaltimetry is based. On the contrary, the isotopic values of meteoric waters in the interior of the plateau are controlled by the combined effects of mixing of different moisture sources, contribution of recycled moisture from local surface water evaporation, and sub-cloud evaporation. A Rayleigh distillation model modified by sub-cloud evaporation is provided to simulate the isotopic variations in the western Plateau. This new understanding indicates that stable isotope-based paleoaltimetry is most reliable in the southern margins of the Plateau, and increasingly unreliable toward the northern Plateau. In addition, the contour maps of modern isotopic variations of meteoric waters across the whole Tibetan Plateau also provide validation criteria for isotopic simulations using general circulation models"--Pages v-vi.

Download or read book The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian Sea Region written by Peter D. Clift and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2002 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arabian Sea region has several features that make it the best area for studies of climate and palaeoceanographic responses to tectonic activity, most notably in the context of the South Asian monsoon and its relationship to the growth of high topography in the adjacent Himalayas and Tibet. The papers range from high resolution, holocene palaeoceanographic studies of the Pakistan margin to regional tectonic reconstructions of the ocean basin and surrounding margins throughout the Cenozoic.

Download or read book The Sedimentary and Tectonic Evolution of the Nam Co Basin Tibetan Plateau Since the Middle Pleistocene written by Nora Schulze and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advancing climate change threatens the supply of water and sediment resources provided by the Tibetan Plateau. This could expose one-fifth of the global population to significant societal, ecological, and economic adversity. Accurate climate models based on data of past climatic changes are, thus, essential to prepare best for the effects of climate change. A promising and yet undeveloped climate archive is Nam Co (Co= Tibetan for Lake). This doctoral thesis contributes substantially to the sedimentary, climatic, and tectonic understanding of Nam Co. It sets an essential basis for the evaluation of Nam Co's potential as a high-resolution and extensive climate archive and the selection of suitable drill sites for the ICDP drilling campaign 'NamCore'. In detail, this thesis investigates 1) spatial sedimentary structures, distributional and depositional processes, and lake-level variations of the last 20.5 kyrs, 2) long-term climate-driven lake-level variations throughout the last 700 kyrs, correlated to the shift of the Asian summer monsoon, and 3) the transtensional tectonic setting of Nam Co, resulting in a novel perception of the tectonic extension in southern Tibet since the Middle Pleistocene. High-resolution hydro-acoustic data, comprising sediment echo sounder (SES) and multichannel reflection seismic (MCS) data, build the basis of the presented studies.

Download or read book Tectonic Uplift and Climate Change written by William F. Ruddiman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A significant advance in climatological scholarship, Tectonic Uplift and Climate Change is a multidisciplinary effort to summarize the current status of a new theory steadily gaining acceptance in geoscience circles: that long-term cooling and glaciation are controlled by plateau and mountain uplift. Researchers in many diverse fields, from geology to paleobotany, present data that substantiate this hypothesis. The volume covers most of the key, dramatic transformations of the Earth's surface.

Download or read book Earth s Climate Evolution written by C. P. Summerhayes and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-07-13 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand climate change today, we first need to know how Earth’s climate changed over the past 450 million years. Finding answers depends upon contributions from a wide range of sciences, not just the rock record uncovered by geologists. In Earth’s Climate Evolution, Colin Summerhayes analyzes reports and records of past climate change dating back to the late 18th century to uncover key patterns in the climate system. The book will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about future climate change. The book takes a unique approach to the subject providing a description of the greenhouse and icehouse worlds of the past 450 million years since land plants emerged, ignoring major earlier glaciations like that of Snowball Earth, which occurred around 600 million years ago in a world free of land plants. It describes the evolution of thinking in palaeoclimatology and introduces the main players in the field and how their ideas were received and, in many cases, subsequently modified. It records the arguments and discussions about the merits of different ideas along the way. It also includes several notes made from the author’s own personal involvement in palaeoclimatological and palaeoceanographic studies, and from his experience of working alongside several of the major players in these fields in recent years. This book will be an invaluable reference for both undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in related fields and will also be of interest to historians of science and/or geology, climatology and oceanography. It should also be of interest to the wider scientific and engineering community, high school science students, policy makers, and environmental NGOs. Reviews: "Outstanding in its presentation of the facts and a good read in the way that it intersperses the climate story with the author's own experiences. [This book] puts the climate story into a compelling geological history." -Dr. James Baker "The book is written in very clear and concise prose, [and takes] original, enlightening, and engaging approach to talking about 'ideas' from the perspective of the scientists who promoted them." -Professor Christopher R. Scotese "A thrilling ride through continental drift and its consequences." - Professor Gerald R. North "Written in a style and language which can be easily understood by laymen as well as scientists." - Professor Dr Jörn Thiede "What makes this book particularly distinctive is how well it builds in the narrative of change in ideas over time." - Holocene book reviews, May 2016 "This is a fascinating book and the author’s biographical approach gives it great human appeal." - E Adlard

Download or read book Uplift Mechanisms and the History of the Tibetan Plateau written by Junsheng Nie and published by Geological Society of America. This book was released on 2014 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nothing provided

Download or read book The Tectonic Evolution of Asia written by An Yin and published by . This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The evolution of Asia has largely occurred over the last 400 million years, and continues today. Seeing a continent in the act of assembly provides a rare opportunity to study the processes by which continents are constructed and internally modified. This book is a collection of twenty-one contributions on the tectonic evolution of Asia. The book is divided into five parts: geodynamic models of the Cenozoic deformation in Asia, seismotectonics, geological evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram Ranges, tectonics of the Cenozoic Indo–Asia collision, and Mesozoic–Paleozoic assembly of Asia. Several important problems are addressed in detail, including the origin of the Tibetan Plateau, the nature of ultra-high pressure metamorphism in east-central Asia, the accretion of microcontinents to Asia, and the accommodation mechanisms of the Indo-Asian collision. The Tectonic Evolution of Asia provides an authoritative description of our current understanding of Asian tectonics and continental growth for graduate students and researchers.

Download or read book The Evolution of the Northeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau written by Brian G. Hough and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Tracking climate change through the use of paleoclimate proxies has the potential to reveal the spatial and temporal evolution of orogens and their associated plateaux. The development of topography associated with the Cenozoic evolution of the Tibetan plateau is coupled to climate, and feedbacks between climate and tectonics occur at all scales. Because climate changes resulting from topographic growth should scale with the amount, extent, and timing of surface uplift, this dissertation documents temporal and spatial changes in paleoclimate of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau since ~30 Ma, in order to delineate when the modern climate pattern was achieved and, by inference, when the Tibetan plateau reached its current dimensions. Sedimentation in basins adjacent to the plateau margin likely began in a foreland basin setting that was later segmented by the growth of basin-bounding structures presumably during upward and outward growth of the plateau. This study focuses on a number of sub-basins in northeast Tibet, including Guide, Jian Zha, Xunhua, Tong Ren, Hualong, and Linxia, that span up to 30 myr in age and range up to 3 km thick. New lithologic, magnetostratigraphic, and stable isotope records from these basins suggest that topography began to develop in the Eocene and continued through the late Miocene before jumping ~100 km outward at ~8 Ma to the Liupan Shan and Haiyuan faults. Perturbations to local climate patterns resulted from the evolution of local topography and basin segmentation. These patterns are tracked through comparison of stable isotope compositions of calcareous basin fill materials. Similarity of isotopic compositions is interpreted to reflect the presence of integrated basins whereas distinct isotopic compositions reflect unique basin hydrologies. Within the study area, changes in isotope trends are observed throughout each record indicating the influence of local climate conditions on isotopic values. Synchronous isotope changes in multiple records are observed at 18.5, 16.3, and 9.4 Ma possibly corresponding with changes in regional scale climate. A time-transgressive trend of Miocene aridification in the lee of growing topography along the plateau's northeast margin is roughly coeval with and spatially consistent with the blocking of vapor transport by west-to-east growth of eastern Tibet. Modern rainfall data collected from 2007-2009 across the Tibetan plateau's northeastern margin show seasonal trends related to changes in air temperature and elevation, but not precipitation amount or relative humidity. To assess the spatial variability and thus the degree to which any one monitoring station is representative of a large geographic region, climate variables and rainwater isotope data from seven collection stations located across the study area were compared to each other and to the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) station data from Lanzhou. Annual mean and long-term mean isotope compositions of rainfall match each other and those from the GNIP station in Lanzhou suggesting that the long-term values for any one station are representative over relatively large regions. Trends in [delta]8O and d-excess indicate that source regions for summertime precipitation in northeast Tibet are consistent with increased soil moistening and local recycling of water vapor. When carbonates derived from modern rainfall are compared to time integrated paleo-carbonate samples, no significant change in regional climate are evident since at least 3-4 Ma. The results of this thesis demonstrate that changes in local climate are related to the onset of local deformation and that deformation and associated basin segmentation in NE Tibet initiated prior to uplift of eastern Tibet. However, the timing of regional-scale climate change, highlighted by a west-to-east pattern of aridification in northern and northeastern Tibet, is consistent with the systematic displacement of vapor pathways around a progressively eastward uplifting eastern Tibetan plateau. Once established, the upwind climate regime, and by inference the topographic framework of northeast Tibet, has remained stable since ~8 Ma."--Leaves v-vii.

Download or read book Tectonic Evolution of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau written by Andrew Vincent Zuza and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the Tibetan Plateau was constructed and evolved in response to ongoing India-Asia convergence since 65-55 Ma is fundamental in understanding processes of continental tectonics. Furthermore, the kinematics and mechanisms of plateau formation and continental deformation have implications for the complex interactions between tectonics, erosion, and climate change in Earth's most recent history. To provide insights into these processes, my research is focused on the development of the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, which is defined by the 350-km-wide and 1300-km-long Cenozoic Qilian Shan-Nan Shan thrust belt. This active fold and thrust system overprinted a region that has a complex pre-Cenozoic tectonic history involving multiple phases of Proterozoic basement deformation and early Paleozoic orogeny. In this work, I integrate geologic mapping, balanced cross section construction and restoration, seismic reflection interpretation, geochronology, thermobarometry, geodetic data analysis, and analogue modeling to investigate the tectonic development of northern Tibet over a range of timescales, from the Proterozoic evolution of central Asian cratons to the active deformation that is shaping the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The magnitude, style, and distribution of Cenozoic shortening strain across northern Tibet can be used to test competing models of continental deformation. The shortening distribution across the Qilian Shan-Nan Shan thrust belt, derived from surface mapping and subsurface seismic reflection profiles, suggests that the modern thickness and elevation of the northern plateau has developed as a result of southward continental underthrusting of Asia beneath Tibet and distributed crustal thickening. The thrust systems in northern Tibet link to the east with > ~1000-km-long parallel left-slip strike-slip faults (i.e., the Haiyuan, Qinling, and Kunlun faults). The along-strike variation of fault offsets and pervasive off-fault deformation along these strike-slip faults create a strain pattern that departs from the expectations of the classic plate-like rigid-body motion and flow-like distributed deformation models of continental deformation. Instead, I propose that the major strike-slip faults formed as a non-rigid bookshelf-fault system where clockwise rotation of northern Tibet drives left-slip bookshelf faulting and related off-strike-slip fault deformation. In addition, I employ a stress-shadow model that uses the characteristic spacing of strike-slip faults and seismogenic-zone thickness estimates across northern Tibet and central Asia to estimate fault strength and the regional stress state. The strike-slip faults in Asia have a low coefficient of fault friction (~0.15), which may explain why deformation penetrates more than 3500 km into Asia from the Himalayan collisional front, and why the interior of Asia is prone to large (M > 7.0) devastating earthquakes along major strike-slip faults. A well-constrained understanding of Cenozoic deformation across northern Tibet allows for better reconstructions of the Proterozoic and Paleozoic tectonics. Field relationships and geochronologic studies reveal that the early Paleozoic Qilian suture, which bounds the southern margin of the North China craton, records the Ordovician-early Silurian closure of the Qilian Ocean via south-dipping subduction beneath the Qaidam continent. The evolution of this ocean and North China's southern margin has implications for reconstructions of Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic Earth, including the development of the Tethyan and Paleo-Asian Oceanic Domains. By restoring the Phanerozoic deformation along the northern and southern margins of the Tarim and North China cratons, I propose and test a hypothesis that these cratons once stretched westward across present-day Asia, possibly as far west as Baltica, as a continuous Neoproterozoic continent.

Download or read book Tectonics Climate and Landscape Evolution written by Sean D. Willett and published by Geological Society of America. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Liwu River runs a short course; its channel head at the water divide in Taiwan's Central Range is a mere 35 km from its outflow into the Pacific Ocean. But in those short 35 km, the Liwu has carved one of the world's geographic wonders: the spectacular Taroko Gorge with marble and granite walls soaring nearly 1000 m above the river channel. Taroko Gorge was a fitting venue for a 2003 Penrose Conference that addressed the coupled processes of tectonics, climate, and landscape evolution. The young mountains, extreme weather, and dramatic landforms provided an appropriate backdrop to wide-ranging discussions of geomorphic processes, climate and meteorology, sediment generation and transport, the effects of erosion on tectonics, and new analytical and modeling tools used to address these processes and problems. This volume's papers extend that discussion, reaching across fields that have experienced rapid advances in the past decade."--Publisher's website.

Download or read book Mountains Climate and Biodiversity written by Carina Hoorn and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 595 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mountains, Climate and Biodiversity: A comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis for students and researchers Mountains are topographically complex formations that play a fundamental role in regional and continental-scale climates. They are also cradles to all major river systems and home to unique, and often highly biodiverse and threatened, ecosystems. But how do all these processes tie together to form the patterns of diversity we see today? Written by leading researchers in the fields of geology, biology, climate, and geography, this book explores the relationship between mountain building and climate change, and how these processes shape biodiversity through time and space. In the first two sections, you will learn about the processes, theory, and methods connecting mountain building and biodiversity In the third section, you will read compelling examples from around the world exploring the links between mountains, climate and biodiversity Throughout the 31 peer-reviewed chapters, a non-technical style and synthetic illustrations make this book accessible to a wide audience A comprehensive glossary summarises the main concepts and terminology Readership: Mountains, Climate and Biodiversity is intended for students and researchers in geosciences, biology and geography. It is specifically compiled for those who are interested in historical biogeography, biodiversity and conservation.

Download or read book Interaction between human activities and geo environment for sustainable development written by Xuanmei Fan and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-03-02 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tectonics of the Potwar Plateau Region and the Development of Syntaxes Punjab Pakistan written by Harald Drewes and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change written by and published by Newnes. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ostracod crustaceans, common microfossils in marine and freshwater sedimentary records, supply evidence of past climatic conditions via indicator species, transfer function and mutual climatic range approaches as well as the trace element and stable isotope geochemistry of their shells. As methods of using ostracods as Quaternary palaeoclimate proxies have developed, so too has a critical awareness of their complexities, potential and limitations. This book combines up-to-date reviews (covering previous work and summarising the state of the art) with presentations of new, cutting-edge science (data and interpretations as well as methodological developments) to form a major reference work that will constitute a durable bench-mark in the science of Ostracoda and Quaternary climate change. In-depth and focused treatment of palaeoclimate applications Provides durable benchmark and guide for all future work on ostracods Presents new, cutting-edge science

Download or read book Treatise on Geomorphology written by and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2013-02-27 with total page 6392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The changing focus and approach of geomorphic research suggests that the time is opportune for a summary of the state of discipline. The number of peer-reviewed papers published in geomorphic journals has grown steadily for more than two decades and, more importantly, the diversity of authors with respect to geographic location and disciplinary background (geography, geology, ecology, civil engineering, computer science, geographic information science, and others) has expanded dramatically. As more good minds are drawn to geomorphology, and the breadth of the peer-reviewed literature grows, an effective summary of contemporary geomorphic knowledge becomes increasingly difficult. The fourteen volumes of this Treatise on Geomorphology will provide an important reference for users from undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic. Information on the historical development of diverse topics within geomorphology provides context for ongoing research; discussion of research strategies, equipment, and field methods, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations reflect the multiple approaches to understanding Earth’s surfaces; and summaries of outstanding research questions highlight future challenges and suggest productive new avenues for research. Our future ability to adapt to geomorphic changes in the critical zone very much hinges upon how well landform scientists comprehend the dynamics of Earth’s diverse surfaces. This Treatise on Geomorphology provides a useful synthesis of the state of the discipline, as well as highlighting productive research directions, that Educators and students/researchers will find useful. Geomorphology has advanced greatly in the last 10 years to become a very interdisciplinary field. Undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic will find the answers they need in this broad reference work which has been designed and written to accommodate their diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. J. F. Shroder of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is past president of the QG&G section of the Geological Society of America and present Trustee of the GSA Foundation, while being well respected in the geomorphology research community and having won numerous awards in the field. A host of noted international geomorphologists have contributed state-of-the-art chapters to the work. Readers can be guaranteed that every chapter in this extensive work has been critically reviewed for consistency and accuracy by the World expert Volume Editors and by the Editor-in-Chief himself No other reference work exists in the area of Geomorphology that offers the breadth and depth of information contained in this 14-volume masterpiece. From the foundations and history of geomorphology through to geomorphological innovations and computer modelling, and the past and future states of landform science, no "stone" has been left unturned!

Download or read book Monsoon Evolution and Tectonics written by Peter D. Clift and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2010 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Earth's climate varies through geological time as a result of external, orbital processes, as well as the positions of continents, growth of mountains and the opening and closure of oceanic gateways. Climate modelling suggests that the intensity of the Asian monsoon should correlate, at least in part, with the uplift history of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya, as well as the evolution of gateways and the retreat of shallow seas in Central Asia. Long-term reconstructions of both mountain building and monsoon activity are key to testing the proposed links. This collection of papers presents a series of new studies documenting the variations of the Asian monsoon on orbital and tectonic timescales, together with the impact this has had on environmental conditions. The issue of which proxies are best suited to measuring monsoons is addressed, as is the effect that the monsoon has had on erosion and the formation of the stratigraphic record both on and offshore.