Uplift and denudation in the continental area of China linked to climatic effects: evidence from apatite and zircon fission track data

Approximately 2284 fission track data were collected to draw a fission track thermotectonic image of the continental area of China. The result exhibits features such that apatite fission track ages increase from the southwestern to eastern and northern continental areas of China. Thermal paths also reveal the different uplift/denudation processes and times between different tectonic units. At the same time, tectonic uplift of the continent has been among the causes of climate change in the continent since the Cenozoic. The uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau since the Oligocene is the main cause of the formation of the Asian monsoon and inland droughts, and rapid uplift of the Tibet Plateau after the Pliocene has changed the atmospheric circulation. The main period of climate aridity in Central Asia was caused by the rapid uplift of the Tianshan Mountains since the Miocene, and rapid uplift during the Late Miocene to Pliocene intensified the process of aridity. This study provides the first thermotectonic image of uplift and denudation in the continental area of China and provides a new dating of the formation of the Asian monsoon and climate aridity in Central Asia.