@article{ZhangNajmanMeietal.2019, author = {Zhang, Peng and Najman, Yani and Mei, Lianfu and Millar, Ian and Sobel, Edward and Carter, Andrew and Barfod, Dan and Dhuime, Bruno and Garzanti, Eduardo and Govin, Gwladys and Vezzoli, Giovanni and Hu, Xiaolin}, title = {Palaeodrainage evolution of the large rivers of East Asia, and Himalayan-Tibet tectonics}, series = {Earth science reviews}, volume = {192}, journal = {Earth science reviews}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0012-8252}, doi = {10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.02.003}, pages = {601 -- 630}, year = {2019}, abstract = {A number of sedimentary provenance studies have been undertaken in order to determine whether the palaeo-Red River was once a river of continental proportions into which the upper reaches of the Yangtze, Salween, Mekong, Irrawaddy, and Yarlung drained. We have assessed the evidence that the Yarlung originally flowed into the palaeo-Red river, and then sequentially into the Irrawaddy and Brahmaputra, connecting to the latter first via the Lohit and then the Siang. For this river system, we have integrated our new data from the Paleogene-Recent Irrawaddy drainage basin (detrital zircon U-Pb with Hf and fission track, rutile U-Pb, mica Ar-Ar, bulk rock Sr-Nd, and petrography) with previously published data, to produce a palaeodrainage model that is consistent with all datasets. In our model, the Yarlung never flowed into the Irrawaddy drainage: during the Paleogene, the Yarlung suture zone was an internally drained basin, and from Neogene times onwards the Yarlung drained into the Brahmaputra in the Bengal Basin. The Central Myanmar Basin, through which the Irrawaddy River flows today, received predominantly locally-derived detritus until the Middle Eocene, the Irrawaddy initiated as a through-going river draining the Mogok Metamorphic Belt and Bomi-Chayu granites to the north sometime in the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, and the river was dominated by a stable MMB-dominated drainage throughout the Neogene to present day. Existing evidence does not support any connection between the Yarlung and the Red River in the past, but there is a paucity of suitable palaeo-Red River deposits with which to make a robust comparison. We argue that this limitation also precludes a robust assessment of a palaeo-connection between the Yangtze/ Salween/Mekong and the Red River; it is difficult to unequivocally interpret the recorded provenance changes as the result of specific drainage reorganisations. We highlight the palaeo-Red River deposits of the Hanoi Basin as a potential location for future research focus in view of the near-complete Cenozoic record of palaeo-Red River deposits at this location. A majority of previous studies consider that if a major continental-scale drainage ever existed at all, it fragmented early in the Cenozoic. Such a viewpoint would agree with the growing body of evidence from palaeoaltitude studies that large parts of SE Tibet were uplifted by this period. This then leads towards the intriguing question as to the mechanisms which caused the major period of river incision in the Miocene in this region.}, language = {en} } @article{NajmanSobelMillaretal.2022, author = {Najman, Yani and Sobel, Edward and Millar, Ian and Luan, Xiwu and Zapata, Sebastian and Garzanti, Eduardo and Parra, Mauricio and Vezzoli, Giovanni and Zhang, Peng and Wa Aung, Day and Paw, Saw Mu Tha Lay and Lwin, Thae Naung}, title = {The timing of collision between Asia and the West Burma Terrane, and the development of the Indo-Burman Ranges}, series = {Tectonics}, volume = {41}, journal = {Tectonics}, number = {7}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0278-7407}, doi = {10.1029/2021TC007057}, pages = {22}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The West Burma Terrane (WBT) is a small terrane bounded to the east by the Asian Sibumasu Block and to the west by the Indo-Burman Ranges (IBR), the latter being an exhumed accretionary prism that formed during subduction of Indian oceanic lithosphere beneath Asia. Understanding the geological history of the WBT is important for reconstruction of the closure history of the Tethys Ocean and India-Asia collision. Currently there are major discrepancies in the proposed timings of collision between the WBT with both India and Asia; whether the WBT collided with India or Asia first is debated, and proposed timings of collisions stretch from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic. We undertook a multi-technique provenance study involving petrography, detrital zircon U-Pb and Hf analyses, rutile U-Pb analyses and Sr-Nd bulk rock analyses on sediments of the Central Myanmar Basins of the WBT. We determined that the first arrival of Asian material into the basin occurred after the earliest late Eocene and by the early Oligocene, thus placing a minimum constraint on the timing of WBT-Asia collision. Our low temperature thermochronological study of the IBR records two periods of exhumation, in the early-middle Eocene, and at the Oligo-Miocene boundary. The Eocene event may be associated with the collision of the WBT with India. The later event at the Oligo-Miocene boundary may be associated with changes in wedge dynamics resulting from increased sediment supply to the system; however a number of other possible causes provide equally plausible explanations for both events.}, language = {en} } @article{BlayneyNajmanDupontNivetetal.2016, author = {Blayney, Tamsin and Najman, Yani and Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume and Carter, Andrew and Millar, Ian and Garzanti, Eduardo and Sobel, Edward and Rittner, Martin and Ando, Sergio and Guo, Zhaojie and Vezzoli, Giovanni}, title = {Indentation of the Pamirs with respect to the northern margin of Tibet: Constraints from the Tarim basin sedimentary record}, series = {Tectonics}, volume = {35}, journal = {Tectonics}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0278-7407}, doi = {10.1002/2016TC004222}, pages = {2345 -- 2369}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The Pamirs represent the indented westward continuation of the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, dividing the Tarim and Tajik basins. Their evolution may be a key factor influencing aridification of the Asian interior, yet the tectonics of the Pamir Salient are poorly understood. We present a provenance study of the Aertashi section, a Paleogene to late Neogene clastic succession deposited in the Tarim basin to the north of the NW margin of Tibet (the West Kunlun) and to the east of the Pamirs. Our detrital zircon U-Pb ages coupled with zircon fission track, bulk rock Sm-Nd, and petrography data document changes in contributing source terranes during the Oligocene to Miocene, which can be correlated to regional tectonics. We propose a model for the evolution of the Pamir and West Kunlun (WKL), in which the WKL formed topography since at least similar to 200 Ma. By similar to 25 Ma, movement along the Pamir-bounding faults such as the Kashgar-Yecheng Transfer System had commenced, marking the onset of Pamir indentation into the Tarim-Tajik basin. This is coincident with basinward expansion of the northern WKL margin, which changed the palaeodrainage pattern within the Kunlun, progressively cutting off the more southerly WKL sources from the Tarim basin. An abrupt change in the provenance and facies of sediments at Aertashi has a maximum age of 14 Ma; this change records when the Pamir indenter had propagated sufficiently far north that the North Pamir was now located proximal to the Aertashi region.}, language = {en} }