Age of the latest marine sedimentation in the western Kunlun area constrained by planktic foraminifera |
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Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;3. School of Earth Science and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China;4. School of Earth Sciences, East China University of Technology, Nanchang 330013, China |
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Abstract: | Surface uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in the Cenozoic has dramatically affected evolutions of climate, environment, and biota in East Asia. The onset time of plateau uplift can be roughly constrained by the termination of the latest marine sedimentation, which shows large spatial differences in the Tibetan Plateau. In the northwest Tibetan Plateau of the western Kunlun area, the Tielongtan Group represents the latest marine sedimentation. However, the age of its depositional cessation is still unknown. For the first time, we conduct taxonomic, paleoecologic and paleogeographic studies of planktic foraminifera in the limestones of the Tielongtan Group. Despite poor preservation and low abundance, ten planktic foraminiferal species are identified, including Globotruncana falsostuarti, G. cf. linneiana, G. cf. ventricosa, Planohedbergella prairiehillensis, P. cf. yaucoensis, Pseudotextularia nuttalli, Planoheterohelix globulosa, P. cf. praenuttalli, Muricohedbergella holmdelensis and Whiteinella brittnensis. The foraminiferal assemblages suggest an age of late Campanian to Maastrichtian, indicating a shallow, neritic marine environment. Combining available research data from other regions, we show that these planktic foraminifera were widely distributed in the Tarim basin, southern Tibet, and the Mediterranean area during the latest Cretaceous. Our result of planktic foraminifera in the Tielongtan Group implies that the surface uplift of the western Kunlun area did not begin until after ∼76–66 Ma. |
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Keywords: | Tibetan Plateau western Kunlun Tielongtan Group Cretaceous planktic foraminifera |
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