The Qinling Mountains are a major climatic and geographical boundary, separating both the semi-humid and humid climate regions and two major river drainages in China. The Qinling Mountains have experienced significant uplift during the Cenozoic, which resulted in their development as a major environmental boundary. However, despite the availability of multiple types of evidence, ranging from low-temperature thermochronology to geomorphic features, the Cenozoic uplift history of the Qinling Mountains remains controversial. The North Qinling-Weihe Basin is an extensional mountain-graben system that developed since the Eocene. The sedimentary processes and provenance changes of the Cenozoic deposits in the Weihe Basin can provide valuable evidence of the uplift history of the North Qinling Mountains since ca. 46 Ma. In this study, we obtained new detrital zircon U-Pb ages from 37 horizons in the Cenozoic depositional sequence and five samples from modern rivers of the Weihe Basin. Our data reveal that the topography of the North Qinling Mountain-Weihe Basin was established by at least the middle Eocene. Stepwise accelerated growth and eastward migration of the North Qinling Mountains occurred at ca. 34 Ma, the middle Miocene, and in the Pliocene to Pleistocene. We propose that the modern-like landscape of China, with the Qinling Mountains as the major north-south boundary, was established from the latest Eocene to early Oligocene onward.
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Research Article|
March 18, 2025
Early Publication
Evolution of the North Qinling Mountains since the Eocene: Evidence from provenance analysis of Cenozoic sediments of the Weihe Basin, central China
Hanzhi Zhang;
Hanzhi Zhang
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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Zeyu Chen;
Zeyu Chen
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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Fan Lyu;
Fan Lyu
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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Dongxu Cai;
Dongxu Cai
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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Hengzhi Lyu;
Hengzhi Lyu
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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Xianyan Wang;
Xianyan Wang
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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Feng Cheng;
Feng Cheng
2
Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, Ministry of Education, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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Yali Zhou;
Yali Zhou
3
College of Tourism and Environment Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China
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Huayu Lu
Huayu Lu
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
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Hanzhi Zhang
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Zeyu Chen
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Fan Lyu
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Dongxu Cai
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Hengzhi Lyu
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Xianyan Wang
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Feng Cheng
2
Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, Ministry of Education, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Yali Zhou
3
College of Tourism and Environment Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China
Huayu Lu
1
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Received:
06 May 2024
Revision Received:
27 Jan 2025
Accepted:
26 Feb 2025
First Online:
18 Mar 2025
Online ISSN: 1943-2674
Print ISSN: 0016-7606
© 2025 Geological Society of America
GSA Bulletin (2025)
Article history
Received:
06 May 2024
Revision Received:
27 Jan 2025
Accepted:
26 Feb 2025
First Online:
18 Mar 2025
Citation
Hanzhi Zhang, Zeyu Chen, Fan Lyu, Dongxu Cai, Hengzhi Lyu, Xianyan Wang, Feng Cheng, Yali Zhou, Huayu Lu; Evolution of the North Qinling Mountains since the Eocene: Evidence from provenance analysis of Cenozoic sediments of the Weihe Basin, central China. GSA Bulletin 2025; doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B38094.1
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