PhD student ZHANG Zhenqing and his teacher SUN Jimin research on palynological evidence for Neogene environmental change in the foreland basin of the southern Tianshan range, northwestern China.

They discuss the paleoenvironmental changes as well as the interplay between regional uplift and climatic change in the region studied.

The results indicate that the vegetation and climatic changes from 13.3 to 7 Ma were response to global climatic changes. After 7 Ma, the uplift of the southern Tianshan range partially affects vegetation and climatic changes. Both global cooling and the rainshadow effect of uplifted high mountains affect the enhanced arid climate initiated ca. 5.23 Ma ago. Such climatic changes are important archives in reconstructing paleoclimate of the Asian interior.

Cenozoic lithospherictectonicenvironmenteffect isone of the hotinternational geoscienceresearch, and the Tibetan Plateauand its surroundingbeltis undoubtedly theideal areato carry outthe study.

For details of this study please see the paper: Zhang Zhenqing, Sun Jimin. Palynological evidence for Neogene environmental change in the foreland basin of the southern Tianshan range, northwestern China. Global and Planetary Change, 2011, 75: 56–66（Download Here）

图1  库车前陆盆地的地理位置与区域构造背景

图2  库车前陆盆地中中新世以来孢粉记录的古植被演替历史