Abrupt uplift of Tibetan Plateau at the end of early Pleistocene and Australasian impact event

摘要

The latest sharp uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent mountains occurred at the end of the early Pleistocene. The uplift of the Plateau resulted from Late Mesozoic--Cenozoic compressional structure due to the subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the Asian continent. This event definitively effected the formation of basin-mountain relief, Cenozoic basin deformation, large scale aridity and desertification of western China. The Australasian meteorites impact event happened ca. 0.8 Ma ago, located in the triangle area of the Indian Ocean ridge (20°S/67°E). The impact may have resulted in an acceleration of speeding of the Indian Ocean ridge pushing the Indian Plate to subduct rapidly northward. Thus, the impact event can give reasonable explanation for the dynamic background of the latest rapid uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the continental deformation of western China and even of the Middle Asia.