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Numerical simulation of landscape evolution and mountain uplift history constrain—A case study from the youthful stage mountains around the central Hexi Corridor, NE Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Landscape evolution models (LEMs) are essential tools for analyzing tectonic-climate interactions and reproducing landform-shaping processes. In this study we used a LEM to simulate the evolution of the mountains from the central Hexi Corridor in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, where the climate is arid and the surface processes are relatively uniform. However, there are pronounced differences in the topography between the mountains around the central Hexi Corridor. The East Jintanan Shan, West Jintanan Shan and Heli Shan are located in the northern part of the corridor; and the Yumu Shan in the southern part. Firstly, several representative areas were selected from these mountains to analyze the topographic characteristics, including the uniform valley spacing, local relief, and the outlet number. Secondly, a LEM for these areas was constructed using the Landlab platform, and the landscape evolution was simulated. With uniform valley spacing and other topographic characteristics as the criteria, we compared the realistic and simulated terrain for different model ages. Finally, based on the similarity of the simulated and realistic terrain, we estimated the timing of the initial uplift and the uplift rate of the four mountain ranges. The results are consistent with previous geological and geomorphological records from these youthful stage mountains that have not yet reached a steady state. Our findings demonstrate that LEMs combined with topographic characteristics are a reliable means of constraining the timing of the initial uplift and the uplift rate of the youthful stage mountain. Our approach can potentially be applied to other youthful stage mountains and it may become a valuable tool in tectonic geomorphology research.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the developers of the Landlab Platform and the module developers of the Earth Surface Processes Modeling Community. The Tan DEM-X DEM data was provided by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD) was provided by the Cold and Arid Region Scientific Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions which have significantly improved the quality of the paper, and Dr. Jan Bloemendal for revising the language. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41730637 & 41571003).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Baotian Pan, Shun Cai & Haopeng Geng

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Pan, B., Cai, S. & Geng, H. Numerical simulation of landscape evolution and mountain uplift history constrain—A case study from the youthful stage mountains around the central Hexi Corridor, NE Tibetan Plateau. Sci. China Earth Sci. 64, 412–424 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-020-9716-6

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