Millennial-scale erosion patterns of the northern Qinling Mountains, Central China: Implications for topographical evolution

The northern Qinling Mountains stretch from east to west in Central China. They have undergone distinct surface uplift during the Late Cenozoic and have become the geographical boundary between northern and southern China. To investigate the topographic evolution of the northern Qinling Mountains over millennial timescales and to explore the major controlling factors of relief development we have calculated Be-10-derived catchment averaged erosion rates. Results show that the catchment-averaged erosion rates ranged between similar to 67.4 and 327 m Ma(-1). These erosion rates are nonlinearly correlated with topographic parameters, indicating that topographic steepness controls the spatial variability of the erosion rates. Comparison of local erosion rates reveals that lithology and precipitation have limited influence. Instead, the spatial distribution of erosion in the northern Qinling Mountains is primarily controlled by active tectonics, which can be attributed to uplift along the Qinling Piedmont Fault and the Taibai Fault. Due to the intensive tectonic activity of the Qinling Piedmont Fault since the Late Miocene, the Heihe River Basin has developed as a transient landscape. Finally, comparison between the vertical fault slip rates of the Qinling Piedmont Fault and erosion rates indicates that the topography of the northern Qinling Mountains has undergone continuous uplift and growth since at least the Late Pleistocene. Our results suggest that the northeastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau has regulated the modern erosion of the northern Qinling Mountains and shaped their modern topography. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved