New U-Pb dates show a Paleogene origin for the modern Asian biodiversity hot spots

• Published in: Geology (Boulder) 2018-01, Vol.46 (1), p.3-6
• Main Authors: Linnemann, Ulf, Su, T, Kunzmann, L, Spicer, R. A, Ding, W. N, Spicer, T. E. V, Zieger, J, Hofmann, M, Moraweck, K, Gärtner, A, Gerdes, A, Marko, L, Zhang, S. T, Li, S. F, Tang, H, Huang, J, Mulch, A, Mosbrugger, V, Zhou, Z. K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: absolute age; Animal fossils; Ash layers; Asia; Basins; Biodiversity; Biodiversity hot spots; biostratigraphy; Biota; Cenozoic; China; chronostratigraphy; clastic rocks; Coal mines; Coal mining; correlation; Correlation analysis; Cross correlation; Dating techniques; depositional environment; Ecological succession; Far East; Fossil animals; Fossils; Geochronology; Geochronometry; Hot spots; Hot spots (geology); igneous rocks; lacustrine environment; Lead; lithostratigraphy; lower Oligocene; Luhe Basin; Magnetostratigraphy; Mean sea level; Miocene; Modernization; Monsoons; mudstone; nesosilicates; Ocean basins; Oligocene; orthosilicates; Paleogene; Palynology; pyroclastics; Radiometric dating; Regional development; Sea level; Sedimentary basins; sedimentary rocks; silicates; south-central Yunnan China; Stratigraphy; Tertiary; tuff; U/Pb; Uplift; vegetation; Volcanic ash; volcanic rocks; Yunnan China; Zircon; zircon group
• ISSN: 0091-7613; 1943-2682
• DOI: 10.1130/G39693.1

Yunnan, in southwestern China, straddles two of the world's most important biodiversity hot spots (i.e., a biogeographic region that is both a reservoir of biodiversity and threatened with destruction) and hosts more than 200 fossiliferous sedimentary basins documenting the evolutionary history of that biodiversity, monsoon development, and regional elevation changes. The fossil biotas appear modern and have been assumed to be mostly Miocene in age. Dating has been by cross-correlation using palynology, magnetostratigraphy, and lithostratigraphy because numerical radiometric ages are lacking. Here we report the first unequivocal early Oligocene age (33-32 Ma) of a section in the Luhe Basin (25.141627°N, 101.373840°E, 1890 m above mean sea level), central Yunnan, based on U-Pb zircon dates of unreworked volcanic ash layers in a predominantly lacustrine succession hosting abundant plant and animal fossils. This section, located in Luhe town, is correlated with an adjacent section in the Luhe coal mine previously assigned to the upper Miocene based on regional lithostratigraphic comparison. Our substantially older age for the Luhe town section calls into question previous estimates for the surface uplift and climate history of the area, and the age of all other correlative basins. The modernization of the biota ∼20 m.y. earlier than previously thought overturns existing concepts of vegetation history in southwestern China, and points to Paleogene modernization of the biota in Yunnan and associated Asian biodiversity hot spots.