The occurrence of endorheic basins on the Tibetan Plateau, both in its Pleistocene history and (fewer in number) at the present day, has been attributed to the ‘basin-and-range’ character of the orogen; the understanding of their conversion to exorheic drainage is key to interpreting the evolution of the Yellow River and other river systems of the plateau. However, such basins also occur in areas of lower altitude and relief and can be observed to have been considerably more common in pre-Quaternary times. In many areas, for example the Mediterranean region, such basins, previously having accumulated stacked sedimentary sequences, typically ‘inverted’ in the late Pliocene or at around the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary, possibly as part of a response to the cooling of global climate and its effect on surface processes. Some basins have inverted later, at around the time of the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution, coinciding with the increased severity of climate resulting from the 100 ka Milankovich cycles that followed that change. The progressive incision into the fills of these inverted sedimentary basins has also been linked to this climatic influence, perhaps taking effect as a result of erosional isostatic uplift, which would have replaced the accumulation-induced subsidence (also isostatic) of the basins. NW Europe, including Britain, had sediment-accumulating basins in the Early Cenozoic; the timing of their inversion is poorly known as a result of the paucity of preserved evidence from the Late Cenozoic in such areas. Endorheic basins that survive at the present day are mainly in regions of relative aridity and are often controlled by active tectonic structures, such as the pull-apart basins of the Dead Sea Fault Zone and similar examples. This review discusses the evidence from different climatic regions, tectonic settings and areas of different crustal type, with a view to elucidating meaningful patterns that might throw light on this phenomenon.

中文翻译：

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盆地反转：一种全球性的晚新生代现象

青藏高原内陆盆地的出现，无论是在其更新世历史上还是在现今（数量较少），都归因于造山带的“盆地和山脉”特征；了解它们向外流排水的转变是解释黄河和高原其他河流系统演变的关键。然而，此类盆地也出现在海拔较低和地势较低的地区，可以观察到在第四纪之前更为常见。在许多地区，例如地中海地区，这些盆地以前积累了堆积的沉积层序，通常在上新世晚期或在上新世-更新世边界附近“倒转”，可能是对全球气候变冷和它对表面过程的影响。一些盆地后来发生了倒转，大约在中更新世革命时期，恰逢该变化之后的 100 ka Milankovich 循环导致气候严重性增加。逐渐切入这些倒置沉积盆地的填充物也与这种气候影响有关，这可能是侵蚀等静压抬升的结果，这将取代盆地的堆积引起的下沉（也是等静压的）。包括英国在内的欧洲西北部在早新生代有沉积沉积盆地；由于缺乏这些地区晚新生代保存下来的证据，因此对它们反转的时间知之甚少。现存的内陆盆地主要位于相对干旱的地区，通常受活动构造结构的控制，例如死海断裂带的拉开盆地和类似的例子。本综述讨论了来自不同气候区域、构造环境和不同地壳类型区域的证据，以期阐明可能揭示这一现象的有意义的模式。