Evolving Yangtze River reconstructed by detrital zircon U-Pb dating and petrographic analysis of Miocene marginal Sea sedimentary rocks of the Western Foothills and Hengchun Peninsula, Taiwan

What is it about?

Evolution history of the Yangtze Rive has a close relationship with the change in topography, monsoon and tectonic events. Considering the high cost of drilling, this paper examines whether we can reconstruct the evolving Yangtze River by using detrital records of Taiwan, which partly consists of sediments from Eurasia passive continental margin.

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Why is it important?

Our findings show that rivers that cut through the Yangtze Block typically have a high frequency of Neoproterozoic zircons, such as the Yangtze River and the western tributaries of the Pearl River. The Jiulongjiang and Oujiang Rivers are within the eastern Cathaysia Block, while the upper reaches of the Minjiang River extend from eastern to the western Cathaysia Block. Consequently, Silurian zircon grains rarely occur in the Yangtze, Jiulongjiang, or Oujiang River sediments but act as a subordinate population in Minjiang River sands. This information can help us to trace sediments in Taiwan.

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