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Tian, Yimin; Spicer, Robert A.; Huang, Jian; Zhou, Zhekun; Su, Tao; Widdowson, Mike; Jia, Linbo; Li, Shihu; Wu, Wenjian; Xue, Li; Luo, Penghui and Zhang, Shitao
(2021).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116929
Abstract
The sedimentary basins of Yunnan, Southwest China, record detailed histories of Cenozoic paleoenvironmental change. They track regional tectonic and palaeobiological evolution, both of which are critically important for the development of modern floral diversity in southwestern China and throughout Asia more generally. However, to be useful, the sedimentary archives within the basins have to be placed within a well-constrained timeframe independent of biostratigraphy. Using high resolution U-Pb dating, we redefine the age of fossil-bearing strata in the Wenshan Basin. Regarded as Miocene for the last half century, these basin sediments encompass 30± 2 and 32 ± 1 Ma early Oligocene tuffaceous horizons, thus indicating a significantly greater antiquity than previously recognized. Together with other regional age revisions our result points to widespread Yunnan basin and orographic development as largely having taken place by the end Paleogene. This age revision provides an important new perspective on the preserved biotas and their evolution in Yunnan, and especially our understanding of the origin of Asian biodiversity which, regionally, had a near-modern composition by the early Oligocene. Crucially, this revised age evidences late Eocene-early Oligocene regional tectonism, pointing to the rise of eastern Tibet and the Hengduan Mountains before the growth of the Himalaya, and that Asia's high plant diversity has a Paleogene origin.
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- Item ORO ID
- 76112
- Item Type
- Journal Item
- ISSN
- 0012-821X
- Project Funding Details
-
Funded Project Name Project ID Funding Body Not Set 41661134049 National Natural Science Foundation of China Not Set NE/P013805/1 Natural Environment Research Council of the United Kingdom Not Set 2019QZKK0705 Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Joint research program of Yunnan U1502231 National Natural Science Foundation of China International Fellowship for Visiting Scientists Not Set XTBG Not Set 31800183 National Natural Science Foundation of China 135 Program 2017XTBG-T03 Chinese Academy of Sciences ‘Light of West China’ Program Not Set Chinese Academy of Sciences - Keywords
- biodiversity hot spot; paleoenvironment; sedimentary basin; SW China; U-Pb dating
- Academic Unit or School
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Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) - Copyright Holders
- © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
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- ORO Import