Dataset Information

Early Miocene elevation in northern Tibet estimated by palaeobotanical evidence.

ABSTRACT: The area and elevation of the Tibetan Plateau over time has directly affected Asia's topography, the characteristics of the Asian monsoon, and modified global climate, but in ways that are poorly understood. Charting the uplift history is crucial for understanding the mechanisms that link elevation and climate irrespective of time and place. While some palaeoelevation data are available for southern and central Tibet, clues to the uplift history of northern Tibet remain sparse and largely circumstantial. Leaf fossils are extremely rare in Tibet but here we report a newly discovered early Miocene barberry (Berberis) from Wudaoliang in the Hoh-Xil Basin in northern Tibet, at a present altitude of 4611?±?9?m. Considering the fossil and its nearest living species probably occupied a similar or identical environmental niche, the palaeoelevation of the fossil locality, corrected for Miocene global temperature difference, is estimated to have been between 1395 and 2931?m, which means this basin has been uplifted ~2-3?km in the last 17 million years. Our findings contradict hypotheses that suggest northern Tibet had reached or exceeded its present elevation prior to the Miocene.

SUBMITTER: Sun B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4432560 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Early Miocene elevation in northern Tibet estimated by palaeobotanical evidence.

Sun Bin B Wang Yu-Fei YF Li Cheng-Sen CS Yang Jian J Li Jin-Feng JF Li Ye-Liang YL Deng Tao T Wang Shi-Qi SQ Zhao Min M Spicer Robert A RA Ferguson David K DK Mehrotra Rakesh C RC

Scientific reports 20150515

The area and elevation of the Tibetan Plateau over time has directly affected Asia's topography, the characteristics of the Asian monsoon, and modified global climate, but in ways that are poorly understood. Charting the uplift history is crucial for understanding the mechanisms that link elevation and climate irrespective of time and place. While some palaeoelevation data are available for southern and central Tibet, clues to the uplift history of northern Tibet remain sparse and largely circum ...[more]

PMID: 25976244

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Project description:Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) as well as comammox catalyze ammonia oxidation. The distribution and biogeography of these ammonia oxidizers might be distinctive in high-elevation rivers, which are generally characterized by low temperature and low ammonium concentration but strong solar radiation; however, these characteristics have rarely been documented. This study explored the abundance, community, and activity of ammonia oxidizers in the overlying water of five rivers in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). Potential nitrification rates in these rivers ranged from 5.4 to 38.4 nmol N liter-1 h-1, and they were significantly correlated with ammonium concentration rather than temperature. Comammox were found in 25 of the total 28 samples, and they outnumbered AOA in three samples. Contrary to most studied low-elevation rivers, average AOB amoA gene abundance was significantly higher than that of AOA, and AOB/AOA ratios increased with decreasing water temperature. The Simpson index of the AOA community increased with elevation (P < 0.05), and AOA and AOB communities exhibited high dissimilarities with low-elevation rivers. Cold-adapted (Nitrosospira amoA cluster 1, 33.6%) and oligotrophic (Nitrosomonas amoA cluster 6a, 31.7%) groups accounted for large proportions in the AOB community. Suspended sediment concentration exerted significant effects on ammonia oxidizer abundance (r > 0.56), and owing to their elevational variations in source and concentration, suspended sediments facilitated distance-decay patterns for AOA and AOB community similarities. This study demonstrates distinctive biogeography and distribution patterns for ammonia oxidizers in high-elevation rivers of the QTP. Extensive research should be conducted to explore the role of these microbes in the nitrogen cycle of this zone.IMPORTANCE Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) as well as comammox contribute to ammonia oxidation, which plays significant roles in riverine nitrogen cycle and N2O production. Source regions of numerous rivers in the world lie in high-elevation zones, but the abundance, community, and activity of ammonia oxidizers in rivers in high-elevation regions have rarely been investigated. This study revealed distinctive distribution patterns and community structures for ammonia oxidizers in five high-elevation rivers of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the individual and combined effects of low temperature, low nutrients, and strong solar radiation on ammonia oxidizers were elucidated. The findings of this study are helpful to broaden our knowledge on the biogeography and distribution pattern of ammonia oxidizers in river systems. Moreover, this study provides some implications to predict the performance of ammonia oxidizers in high-elevation rivers and its variations under global climate warming.

Dataset Information

Early Miocene elevation in northern Tibet estimated by palaeobotanical evidence.

Publications

Early Miocene elevation in northern Tibet estimated by palaeobotanical evidence.

Similar Datasets

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