Late Cenozoic uplift of the Liupan Mountains: Evidence from the Neogene loess deposits

The Liupan Mountains, one of the important mountain ranges in western China, are located on the boundary between the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and the Ordos Block. The uplift history of the Liupan Mountains remains controversial. Loess deposits are good tracers of regional tectonic and geomorphic changes, because loess is sensitive to erosion and the formation and preservation of loess requires relatively flat highlands and relatively stable tectonic environments. We investigated the distribution of Neogene loess deposits on the western piedmont of the Liupan Mountains and examined a near-continuous loess section (Nanping section) on the piedmont alluvial highlands. Correlation of magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy with the QA-I Miocene loess sequence dates this 56-m section covering the interval from 8.1 to 6.2 Ma. The lower boundary age of this section, together with previously reported Zhuanglang red clay (sand-gravel layers with intercalated loess during 9–8 Ma and near-continuous loess during 8–4.8 Ma) and Chaona red clay ( 8.1–2.58 Ma), indicates that the Liupan Mountains were uplifted in the late Miocene ( 9–8 Ma) and basically formed by 8 Ma, attesting to no intense mountain building since that time. In addition, based on the information from the Zhuanglang core and the QA-I section, we infer that sizable parts of the Liupan Mountains were uplifted during the late Oligocene–early Miocene and did not experience intense uplift during 22–9 Ma.