Abstract Knowledge of the establishment of the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River is essential for understanding the origin of the Yellow River and the interplay between tectonic deformation and climate change in the region. However, the timing of the integration of the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River is debated, ranging from the Late Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. Here we present detrital zircon U Pb age spectra and heavy mineral assemblages of sediments of Pliocene through Pleistocene age from the Weihe Basin and Sanmen Basin in the middle reach of the Yellow River. The post 1.8 Ma sediments of the Weihe Basin have similar detrital zircon U Pb age spectra and heavy mineral assemblages to those of the modern Weihe River, and the post ~5 Ma sediments of the Sanmen Basin have similar U Pb age spectra to those of the modern middle Yellow River. Our results reveal that a fluvial system similar to that of the modern upper-middle Yellow River was established by ~5 Ma. We propose that this was most likely the result of tectonic deformation in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River.

中文翻译：

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渭河盆地和三门盆地沉积物的重矿物组合和 U Pb 碎屑锆石年代学：黄河上新世-更新世演化的新见解

摘要 了解黄河上中游的形成对于了解黄河的起源以及该地区构造变形与气候变化之间的相互作用至关重要。然而，黄河上中游整合的时机存在争议，从晚中新世到晚更新世。在这里，我们展示了黄河中游渭河盆地和三门盆地上新世至更新世沉积物的碎屑锆石 U Pb 年龄谱和重矿物组合。渭河盆地1.8 Ma后沉积物具有与现代渭河相似的碎屑锆石U Pb年龄谱和重矿物组合，三门盆地后~5 Ma沉积物具有与现代黄河中游相似的U Pb年龄谱。我们的研究结果表明，大约 5 Ma 建立了一个类似于现代黄河中上游的河流系统。我们认为这很可能是黄河中上游构造变形的结果。