Late Triassic tectonic evolution and regional climate response in the northern Tibetan Plateau: insights into the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction
The Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction might be attributed to tectonic events that co-occurred with paleoclimate change. The East Kunlun Orogenic Belt, as the key tectonic linkage bridging the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, contains widely distributed Triassic volcanic rocks and provides an ideal...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1 August 2026
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| In: |
Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology
Year: 2026, Volume: 695, Pages: 1-16 |
| ISSN: | 1872-616X |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.palaeo.2026.113834 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2026.113834 Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003101822600297X 
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| Author Notes: | Ruiyang Chai, Yanan Zhou, Teng Wang, Qiang Fu, Xiaohua Teng, XiaoJing Yang, Nan Jiang, Qinglong Chen, Zhenwei Chen, Ziwei Bian, Xin Cheng, Jingong Zhang, Hanning Wu |
| Summary: | The Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction might be attributed to tectonic events that co-occurred with paleoclimate change. The East Kunlun Orogenic Belt, as the key tectonic linkage bridging the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, contains widely distributed Triassic volcanic rocks and provides an ideal window to understand the link between tectonic processes and the climatic history of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. However, the tectonic processes of the East Kunlun Orogenic Belt and its contribution to climate change are still unclear. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of rock magnetism, magnetic fabrics, zircon U-Pb dating, trace elements, and whole-rock major-element data was conducted on the Triassic Elashan Formation in the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Magnetite, the dominant magnetic carrier in the samples, is capable of preserving stable remanent magnetization. Zircon U-Pb ages indicate that the Xiangride (213.4 ± 2.2 Ma) and Reshuinan (233.8 ± 1.8 Ma) volcanic sections erupted in the Late Triassic, and the magnetic fabrics demonstrates that they experienced opposite tectonic stress regimes. The Zircon trace elements correspond to anorogenic and orogenic conditions, respectively. Four viscosity peaks were obtained by estimating magma viscosity based on the 170 geochemical datasets. Moreover, an extremely high viscosity peak of ∼220 Ma was identified, possibly associated with coeval multiple superimposed tectonic events. Integrated multi-proxy climate records and volcanic lithofacies distributions proximal to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau demonstrate that Late Triassic (∼220 Ma) oceanic-atmospheric hypoxia and extreme thermo-hygric regimes triggered a regional climatic catastrophe in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. This regional climatic catastrophe and the multi-stage biotic extinction occurred on comparable temporal scales, whereas causal linkages between these regional perturbations and global-scale extinction events remain inadequately constrained due to insufficient evidence. |
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| Item Description: | Online verfügbar: 25 April 2026 Gesehen am 18.09.2026 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1872-616X |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.palaeo.2026.113834 |