Rock uplift increased sensitivity of fluvial response to suborbital climatic fluctuations

Zhenbo Hu; Menghao Li; Qinhong Mo; Baotian Pan; David Bridgland; Zijuan Dong; Xiaohua Li; Yixuan Wang; Jef Vandenberghe; Junsheng Nie; Eduardo Garzanti; Meiling Zhong; Renzhe Pan

doi:10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2026.100205

The Innovation Geoscience > 2026 Vol. 4 > No. 2 > 100205

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Rock uplift increased sensitivity of fluvial response to suborbital climatic fluctuations

1.
Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
2.
Shiyang River Basin Scientific Observing Station of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730000, China
3.
Institute of Green Development for the Yellow River Drainage Basin, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
4.
College of Geology and Environment, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710000, China
5.
Department of Geography, Durham University, Lower Mountjoy, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
6.
Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Insitute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
7.
Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
8.
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano 20126, Italy

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Corresponding authors: limh19@lzu.edu.cn (M.L.); 120220910041@lzu.edu.cn (Q.M.); panbt@lzu.edu.cn (B.P.)
Received Date: August 22, 2025

Accepted Date: February 27, 2026

Published Online: March 02, 2026

The Innovation Geoscience 4(2), https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2026.100205 | Cite this article

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. The Yellow River excavated through the Gonghe Basin located in the NE Tibetan Plateau at 238–200 ka.
  
  The rock uplift over the Gonghe Basin has been rapid, but not uniform since the late Mid-Pleistocene.
  
  Rapid rock uplift can induce a more sensitive fluvial response to suborbital climatic fluctuations.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Terrace formation ages in a river system reveal that incision of large rivers is unevenly distributed, but the underlying forcing mechanisms are not entirely clear. One key challenge is to understanding the coupling mechanism of how uplift and climate interact in controlling terrace generation. Lack of well-dated fluvial terrace sequences allowing direct comparison with available uplift and climate data prevents resolving this issue. Here we reported a most densely distributed fluvial terrace sequence from the NE Tibetan Plateau. The results reveal two periods of frequent incisions at 90–80 and 55–45 ka, synchronous with indications from other rivers originating from the inner plateau. These two intervals do not align with climatic anomalies, thus indicating accelerated rock uplift. This work demonstrates that the coupling between rapid uplift and erodible substrate increases the sensitivity of fluvial response to suborbital climatic fluctuations to create more terraces in the Yellow River and likely other large rivers.
- Yellow River /
- fluvial terrace /
- northeastern Tibetan Plateau /
- Gonghe Basin /
- suborbital climatic fluctuations

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Hu Z., Li M., Mo Q., et al. (2026). Rock uplift increased sensitivity of fluvial response to suborbital climatic fluctuations. The Innovation Geoscience 4:100205. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2026.100205

Hu Z., Li M., Mo Q., et al. (2026). Rock uplift increased sensitivity of fluvial response to suborbital climatic fluctuations. The Innovation Geoscience 4:100205. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2026.100205

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Rock uplift increased sensitivity of fluvial response to suborbital climatic fluctuations

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