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Quantifying the rise of the Himalaya orogen and implications for the South Asian monsoon

TLDR
The authors reconstructs the rise of a segment of the southern flank of the Himalaya-Tibet orogen, to the south of the Lhasa terrane, using a paleoaltimeter based on paleoenthalpy encoded in fossil leaves from two new assemblages in southern Tibet (Liuqu and Qiabulin) and four previously known floras from the foreland basin.
Abstract
We reconstruct the rise of a segment of the southern flank of the Himalaya-Tibet orogen, to the south of the Lhasa terrane, using a paleoaltimeter based on paleoenthalpy encoded in fossil leaves from two new assemblages in southern Tibet (Liuqu and Qiabulin) and four previously known floras from the Himalaya foreland basin. U-Pb dating of zircons constrains the Liuqu flora to the latest Paleocene (ca. 56 Ma) and the Qiabulin flora to the earliest Miocene (21- 19 Ma). The proto-Himalaya grew slowly against a high (similar to 4 km) proto-Tibetan Plateau from similar to 1 km in the late Paleocene to similar to 2.3 km at the beginning of the Miocene, and achieved at least similar to 5.5 km by ca. 15 Ma. Contrasting precipitation patterns between the Himalaya-Tibet edifice and the Himalaya foreland basin for the past similar to 56 m.y. show progressive drying across southern Tibet, seemingly linked to the uplift of the Himalaya orogen.

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Citations
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Dominant control of the South Asian monsoon by orographic insulation versus plateau heating

TL;DR: It is shown that, although Tibetan plateau heating locally enhances rainfall along its southern edge in an atmospheric model, the large-scale South Asian summer monsoon circulation is otherwise unaffected by removal of the plateau, provided that the narrow orography of the Himalayas and adjacent mountain ranges is preserved.
Journal ArticleDOI

Mesozoic─Cenozoic geological evolution of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and working tectonic hypotheses

TL;DR: In this article, the authors synthesize the Triassic through Cenozoic geology of the central Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and presents their tectonic interpretations in a time series of schematic lithosphere-scale cross-sections and paleogeographic maps.
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Ancient orogenic and monsoon-driven assembly of the world’s richest temperate alpine flora

TL;DR: In the world’s richest temperate alpine flora, that of the Tibet-Himalaya-Hengduan region, phylogenetic reconstructions of biome and geographic range evolution show that extant lineages emerged by the early Oligocene and diversified first in the Heng DUan Mountains.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Mantle dynamics, uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, and the Indian Monsoon

TL;DR: For example, Hou et al. as mentioned in this paper show that a small increase in the mean elevation of the Tibetan Plateau of 1000 m or more in a few million years is required by abrupt tectonic and environmental changes in Asia and the Indian Ocean.
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Quaternary extension in southern Tibet: Field observations and tectonic implications

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize evidence for Quaternary and active faulting collected in the field during three Sino-French expeditions to southeastern Tibet (1980-1982) using structural and topographic reliefs, as well as synglacial and postglacial vertical offsets.
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Palaeo-altimetry of the late Eocene to Miocene Lunpola basin, central Tibet

TL;DR: Estimates of the palaeo-altimetry of late Eocene and younger deposits of the Lunpola basin in the centre of the plateau indicate that the surface of Tibet has been at an elevation of more than 4 kilometres for at least the past 35 million years.
Journal ArticleDOI

Dominant control of the South Asian monsoon by orographic insulation versus plateau heating

TL;DR: In this paper, an atmospheric model is used to show that flattening of the Tibetan plateau has little effect on the monsoon, provided that the narrow orography of the Himalayas and adjacent mountain ranges is preserved.
Journal ArticleDOI

Paleocene–Eocene record of ophiolite obduction and initial India‐Asia collision, south central Tibet

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that detrital chromium-rich spinels of ophiolite affinity (TiO2 generally < 0.1 wt%) were obtained from the Yarlung Zangbo suture in south central Tibet.
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