Patterns of landscape evolution on the central and northern Tibetan Plateau investigated using in-situ produced 10Be concentrations from river sediments

Quantifying long-term erosion rates across the Tibetan Plateau and its bordering mountains is of critical importance to an understanding of the interaction between climate, tectonic movement, and landscape evolution. We present a new dataset of basin-wide erosion rates from the central and northern Tibetan Plateau derived using in-situ produced 10Be concentrations of river sediments. Basin-wide erosion rates from the central plateau range from 10.1±0.9 to 36.8±3.2 mm/kyr, slightly higher than published local erosion rates measured from bedrock surfaces. These values indicate that long-term downwearing of plateau surfaces proceeds at low rates and that the landscape is demonstrably stable in the central plateau. In contrast, basin-wide erosion rates from the Kunlun Shan on the northern Tibetan Plateau range from 19.9±1.7 to 163.2±15.9 mm/kyr. Although the erosion rates of many of these basins are much higher than the rates from the central plateau, they are lower than published basin-wide erosion rates from other mountains fringing the Tibetan Plateau, probably because the basins in the Kunlun Shan include both areas of low-relief plateau surface and high-relief mountain catchments and may also result from retarded fluvial sediment transport in an arid climate. Significantly higher basin-wide erosion rates derived from the Tibetan Plateau margin, compared to the central plateau, reflect a relatively stable plateau surface that is being dissected at its margins by active fluvial erosion. •10Be-derived basin-wide erosion rates from the central and northern Tibetan Plateau.•Much higher erosion rates derived from the plateau margin than the central plateau.•Landscape is remarkably stable on the central plateau.•Retarded sediment transport may cause intermediate erosion rates in the Kunlun Shan.