Quaternary fluvial archives from Asian rivers: Reflections of tectonic activity, crustal processes and climatic variation

Abstract

This paper reviews the fluvial archives from selected Asian rivers, exploring the extent to which they inform about the influences upon fluvial evolution of tectonic activity, crustal processes and patterns of climatic change. The drainage systems selected for review include examples of different size and in different parts of the continent, the criterion for selection being recent research undertaken on them that has provided updated data on their fluvial archives. Patterns revealed include a strong record of uplift from SW Asia: Anatolia, the Levant and Mesopotamia; in the last two of these regions the fluvial archives incorporate important evidence for early human occupation. Rivers flowing over cratonic crust across Siberia to the Arctic Ocean lack evidence for progressive uplift but can still reveal long-timescale fluvial archives; they can also represent important contexts for regional archaeological records, as well as for palaeontology. The largest Asian rivers include those draining from the Himalayan–Tibetan uplands, where the drainage has evolved alongside the World's most extreme recent orogenesis. They record complex reorganization of drainage, including the diversion of the Yarlung Tsangpo from the Irrawaddy to the Brahmaputra and of the Yangtze from the Red River. The Yellow River, meanwhile, has been formed from the progressive capture of formerly endorheic basins on the Tibetan Plateau, while drainage at the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau has evolved in response to recently uplifted mountain chains. The selected examples provide insight into the interaction of tectonic, epeirogenic and climatic influences on fluvial evolution and associated palaeoenvironments.