Current research
The evolution of the upper Yellow River
The geomorphic evolution of the Yellow River, especially its upper reach, contains critical information on the tectonic activity and climatic change within and around the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. However, the integration history of the upper Yellow River and its related connections with drainage reaches inside and outside the Tibetan Plateau remain indistinct. The main controversy lies in the excavation times of some upper-reach basin systems.
We report two cosmogenic burial ages regarding the abandonment of the geomorphic surfaces within the Gonghe Basin. The two selected geomorphic surfaces are the abandoned connecting pass between Gonghe and Guide Basins, and the topmost Yellow River terrace in the Gonghe Basin. Our results show that the time of excavation of the Gonghe Basin caused by the incision of the Yellow River is between 1.17 ± 0.10 Ma and 0.76 ± 0.12 Ma. Based on this, the integration history of the upper Yellow River has been further explored, which corrects the evolution model proposed by (Craddock et al., 2010).
• Funding: BNU Undergraduate Research Program (Team Leader)
• Publications: Qi Su*, Xianyan Wang, Daoyang Yuan, Hong Xie, Hongxuan Li*, Xilei Huang. 2023. Fluvial entrenchment of the Gonghe Basin and integration of the upper Yellow River - Evidence from the cosmogenically dated geomorphic surfaces. Geomorphology, 429: 108654. [link]
*: Contributed equally to this work.
The diachronism of the broad geomorphic surface’s formation
The formation time of the same geomorphic surface in the Gonghe Basin varies significantly in different studies. The presence of diachronism may be one of the most important reasons, which means sampling at different locations on the geomorphic surface will have different chronology results.
In this research, we sampled at the front and back edges of a broad terrace respectively to investigate whether there is a span time. If the diachronism exists, scientists must sample at the front edge when defining the formation time of terraces in the future. If it does not exist, then the sampling location is not important.
• Funding: BNU Undergraduate Research Program (Participant)
• Publications: Preparing for the manuscript.