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River Terrace Age Database in Yangtze River Basin, China Since Late Pleistocene and Its Implications for Genetic Analysis(PDF)

《地球科学与环境学报》[ISSN:1672-6561/CN:61-1423/P]

Issue:
2025年第01期
Page:
34-46
Research Field:
基础地质与矿床地质
Publishing date:

Info

Title:
River Terrace Age Database in Yangtze River Basin, China Since Late Pleistocene and Its Implications for Genetic Analysis
Author(s):
LI Long-kang1; 2;  XU Bing1; 2*;  CUI Hui-qi1; 2
(1. Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; 2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)
Keywords:
age database;  probability density function;  river terrace;  climate factor;  climate instability;  tectonic uplift;  fluvial instability;  Yangtze River Basin
PACS:
P532; P931.1
DOI:
10.19814/j.jese.2024.02021
Abstract:
The Yangtze River as the largest river in Asia, plays a crucial role in understanding the primary driving factors behind river terrace formation, predicting the evolutionary trends of Yangtze River Basin, and ensuring the survival and development of the surrounding populations. 660 chronological data of river terraces in Yangtze River Basin were systematically collected and organized, a river terrace age database was established, and an age probability density function was constructed, and the formation mechanisms of river terraces in the region were explored. The results show that over the past 200 ka, the probability density curve of river terrace ages in the upper and middle Yangtze River Basin exhibits clear peaks at ～11 ka, ～23 ka, ～40 ka, ～44.8 ka, and ～56.25 ka, which correlate strongly with periods of global warming, significant shifts in paleoprecipitation of Loess Plateau, and changes in cave oxygen isotope values, the frequency of river terrace development is higher in the mountainous areas of the upper Yangtze River Basin; the age peaks of the river terrace probability density curve in the middle and upper Yangtze River Basin primarily coincide with global climate abrupt events, the formation of river terraces is more widespread in regions and periods of intense tectonic uplift; river terraces in Yangtze River Basin are formed under the combined influence of tectonic activity and climate change; climate's abrupt changes act as short-term trigger mechanisms, destabilizing river channels and driving incision that leads to terrace formation, while regional tectonic uplift provides the necessary space for river incision, thereby enhancing the sensitivity of river terraces to climate fluctuations; this, in turn, facilitates the formation of river terraces, with a notably higher frequency of terrace formation during relatively warmer climatic periods.

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