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Influences of Tibetan Plateau uplift on provenance evolution of the paleo-Pearl River

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Abstract

A comparative analysis of the geochemical characteristics of sediments from the Oligocene Zhuhai Formation (32–23.8 Ma), the Miocene Zhujiang Formation (23.8–16.5 Ma), and the Hanjiang Formation (16.5–10.5 Ma) and a comprehensive analysis of the geochemical characteristics of rocks surrounding the paleo-Pearl River drainage contribute to understanding the influences of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on provenance evolution of the paleo-Pearl River. The results show that the geochemical characteristics of sediments from the Oligocene Zhuhai Formation are very different from the geochemical characteristics of sediments from the Miocene Zhujiang and Hanjiang Formations. The ∑ rare earth elements (REE) of mudstone is relatively high in the Zhuhai Formation, 204.07–293.88 ppm (average 240.46 ppm), and low in the Zhujiang and Hanjiang Formations, 181.32–236.73 ppm (average 203.83 ppm) and 166.84–236.65 ppm (average 199.04 ppm), respectively. The chemical index of alteration (CIA) for these samples has a similar trend to the ∑ REE: the CIA of the Zhuhai Formation is relatively high and the CIA of the Zhujiang and Hanjiang Formations is relatively low. The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is crucial to the westward expansion of the paleo-Pearl River drainage.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Major Scientific and Technological Special Project during the Twelfth Five-year Plan Period (Grant No. 2011ZX05023-002). The authors appreciate the help of Professor Shao Lei and State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology (Tongji University) with the geochemical analysis, and Du Jiayuan, Liu Daoli with project support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Shale Gas Resource Utilization, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Ye Yu

  2. MOE Key Laboratory of Exploration Technologies for Oil and Gas Resource, Yangtze University, Wuhan, 430100, China

    Changmin Zhang, Shaohua Li, Rui Zhu & Jiangyan Liu

  3. Shenzhen Branch of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Guangzhou, 510240, China

    Chenggang Qin & Zhongtao Zhang

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  1. Ye Yu
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  2. Changmin Zhang
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  3. Shaohua Li
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  4. Rui Zhu
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  5. Jiangyan Liu
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  6. Chenggang Qin
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  7. Zhongtao Zhang
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Correspondence to Ye Yu or Changmin Zhang.

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Yu, Y., Zhang, C., Li, S. et al. Influences of Tibetan Plateau uplift on provenance evolution of the paleo-Pearl River. Chin. J. Geochem. 34, 208–218 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-015-0032-z

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