Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




TECTONICS
Snails Tell of the Rise and Fall of the Tibetan Plateau
by Staff Writers
Boulder CO (SPX) Sep 01, 2014


The Tibetan Plateau. Image courtesy NASA.

The rise of the Tibetan plateau - the largest topographic anomaly above sea level on Earth - is important for both its profound effect on climate and its reflection of continental dynamics.

In this study published in GSA Bulletin, Katharine Huntington and colleagues employ a cutting-edge geochemical tool - "clumped" isotope thermometry - using modern and fossil snail shells to investigate the uplift history of the Zhada basin in southwestern Tibet.

Views range widely on the timing of surface uplift of the Tibetan Plateau to its current high (~4.5 km) over more than 2.5 square kilometers.

Specifically, interpretations differ on whether the modern high elevations were recently developed or are largely a continuation of high elevations developed prior to Indo-Asian collision in the Eocene.

Clumped isotope temperatures of modern and fossil snail shells record changing lake water temperatures over the last nine million years. This is a reflection of changes in surface temperature as a function of climate and elevation change.

A key to their Zhada Basin paleo-elevation reconstructions is that Huntington and colleagues were able to contextualize them with sampling of modern and Holocene-age tufa and shells from a range of aquatic environments.

Huntington and colleagues find that the Zhada basin was significantly colder from three to nine million years ago, implying a loss of elevation of more than one kilometer since the Pliocene.

While surprising given the extreme (~4 km) elevation of the basin today, the higher paleo-elevation helps explain paleontological evidence of cold-adapted mammals living in a high-elevation climate, and is probably the local expression of east-west extension across much of the southern Tibetan Plateau at this time.

Huntington and colleagues note that future studies could improve on their own initial "calibration" work with year-round monitoring of water temperature and a focus on specific taxa and their micro-habitat preferences.

.


Related Links
The Geological Society of America
Tectonic Science and News






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








TECTONICS
Pacific plate shrinking as it cools
Houston TX (SPX) Aug 29, 2014
The tectonic plate that dominates the Pacific "Ring of Fire" is not as rigid as many scientists assume, according to researchers at Rice University and the University of Nevada. Rice geophysicist Richard Gordon and his colleague, Corne Kreemer, an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, have determined that cooling of the lithosphere - the outermost layer of Earth - makes so ... read more


TECTONICS
China Aims for the Moon, Plans to Bring Back Lunar Soil

Electric Sparks May Alter Evolution of Lunar Soil

China to test recoverable moon orbiter

China to send orbiter to moon and back

TECTONICS
Scientist uncovers red planet's climate history in unique meteorite

A Salty, Martian Meteorite Offers Clues to Habitability

Opportunity Mars Rover Suffers a Series of Resets

Mars Rover Team Chooses Not to Drill 'Bonanza King'

TECTONICS
US to Stop Using Soyuz Spacecraft, Invest in Domestic Private Space Industry

25 Years After Neptune: Reflections on Voyager

Long-term spaceflights challenged as harm to astronauts' health revealed

Voyager Map Details Neptune's Strange Moon Triton

TECTONICS
Same-beam VLBI Tech monitors Chang'E-3 movement on moon

China Sends Remote-Sensing Satellite into Orbit

More Tasks for China's Moon Mission

China's Circumlunar Spacecraft Unmasked

TECTONICS
NASA Awaits Boeing's Completion of Soyuz Replacement

Belka and Strelka, the canine cosmonauts

Russian Cosmonauts Conclude EVA Ahead of Schedule

Orbital cargo ship makes planned re-entry to Earth

TECTONICS
Sea Launch Takes Proactive Steps to Address Manifest Gap

SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight

Russian Cosmonauts Carry Out Science-Oriented Spacewalk Outside ISS

Optus 10 delivered to French Guiana for Ariane 5 Sept launch

TECTONICS
Orion Rocks! Pebble-Size Particles May Jump-Start Planet Formation

Rotation of Planets Influences Habitability

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star

Young binary star system may form planets with weird and wild orbits

TECTONICS
Argonne scientists pioneer strategy for creating new materials

The power of salt

Researchers map quantum vortices inside superfluid helium nanodroplets

Laser pulse turns glass into a metal




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.