Lin Ding

• PhD
• Principal Investigator at Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The growth and evolution of the Eurasian continent involved the progressive closure of major ocean basins during the Phanerozoic, including the Tethyan and Paleo-Asian oceanic realms. Unraveling this complicated history requires interpreting multiple overprinted episodes of subduction-related magmatism and collisional orogeny, the products of which...

The Zongwulong Shan-Qinghai Nanshan tectonic belt of the northern Tibet Plateau experienced a protracted tectonic history, including the openings and closures of the Proto- and Paleo-Tethyan Oceans. Although the tectonic belt has been extensively studied, details regarding the tectonic processes involved in its development remain controversial. To...

Understanding the Cenozoic growth history of the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau (HTP) is essential for elucidating the underlying geodynamic mechanism and interactions among topography, biosphere and atmosphere. However, the spatial-temporal evolution of the HTP, especially that of the Paleogene Central Tibetan Valley (CTV), remains hotly debated. In thi...

The relative positioning of the different fragments of Gondwana prior to its amalgamation remains controversial, and geological research from the Ediacaran Salt Range Formation (SRF) in the Pakistan Himalayas, which may help to solve this issue has been limited. An integrated approach including petrography, U-Pb zircon geochronology, and Hf isotopi...

Middle Triassic paleogeography is essential for the paleoclimate change and ecosystem recovery after the end-Permian mass extinction, but is highly debated in the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and North China Craton, eastern Pangaea. Here we report a detailed provenance fingerprinting dataset from Middle Triassic sediments across the North China Craton, Qinli...

Larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) are one of the most important microfossil groups for Palaeogene biostratigraphy, particularly for shallow-marine carbonate deposits. During the Palaeocene, LBF thrived throughout the Neo-Tethyan Ocean, especially in the eastern Neo-Tethys. However, previous studies on Palaeocene LBF biostratigraphy in this area are...

Timing of seawater retreat from the Tethyan Himalaya is of great importance, as it provides a minimum age control on the initial India-Asia collision. In south Tibet, however, it is still in dispute, with suggested ages ranging from >50 Ma to ca. 34 Ma. Here we present data of (1) larger benthic foraminifera from the topmost Zongpu Formation; (2) p...

Late Jurassic paleogeographic patterns were influenced by the growth of the Pacific plate and the breakup of Pangea, impacting the global paleoclimate during this warm and equable greenhouse period. However, the use of different proxies may introduce bias in seawater temperature reconstructions. In this study, we reconstructed midlatitude Tethyan s...

The nature of Precambrian metamorphic basement rocks and overall tectonic evolution of the Qaidam block in northern Tibet remains debated despite being important to understanding the assembly of Asia. Paleogeographic reconstructions of Precambrian supercontinents rarely consider Phanerozoic tectonic modification of its constituent Precambrian block...

Constraining the collision timing of India and Asia requires reliable information from the coeval geological record along the ~2400 km long collisional margin. This study provides insights into the India–Asia collision at the westernmost margin of the Indian Plate using combined U-Pb geochronological data and sandstone petrography. The study area i...

Widely distributed Oligocene−Miocene ultrapotassic volcanic rocks in the Lhasa terrane of southern Tibet have been associated with the melting of the lithospheric mantle, plateau uplift, and porphyry Cu-Au mineralization. This study presents the mineral chemistry of olivine and clinopyroxene phenocrysts, whole-rock major and trace element data, and...

The weakening and poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation (HC) are considered robust responses of atmospheric meridional circulation to anthropogenic warming. Climate impacts arising from these changes enhance drought conditions and reduce food production in the affected regions. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of HC changes is critica...

Despite a half‐century of intense research, the timing and diachroneity of initial collision between India and Asia remain highly debated, largely due to different definitions of “initial collision” and correspondingly different methods adopted. This study focuses on high‐pressure pelitic granulites of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS) to elucid...

The Lhasa‐Qiangtang collision closed the Meso‐Tethys Ocean, but the exact timing of this event remains hotly debated. Here, we present geochronological and paleomagnetic analyses conducted on Cretaceous volcanics from western Qiangtang to constrain the Lhasa‐Qiangtang collision in western Tibet. Our investigations yield a paleolatitude of ∼30.5 ± 5...

We investigate rifting during continental collision in southern Tibet by testing kinematic models for two classes of rifts: Tibetan rifts are defined as >150 km in length and crosscut the Lhasa Terrane, and Gangdese rifts are <150 km long and isolated within the high topography of the Gangdese Range. Discerning rift kinematics is a crucial step tow...

The mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP, ~ 3.264–3.025 Ma) is the most recent example of a persistently warmer climate in equilibrium with atmospheric CO2 concentrations similar to today. Towards studying patterns and dynamics of a warming climate the MPWP is often compared to today. Following the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 2 (PlioM...

Eclogite and blueschist are important monitors of subduction zone processes and can record complex polymetamorphic histories during the protracted evolution of subduction systems. However, the rarity of such high-pressure, low-temperature metamorphic rocks in the Indus-Yarlung suture zone of the Himalaya hinders our understanding of the convergence...

Suture zones located across the Tibetan region clearly demarcate the rift-and-drift and continental accretion history of the region. However, the intraplate responses to these marginal plate-tectonic events are rarely quantified. Our understanding of the Paleo-Tethyan orogenic system, which involved ocean opening and closing events to grow the cent...

The East Kunlun–Qaidam Block, situated in the northeastern margin of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, preserves numerous geological records associated with the evolution of the Rodinia supercontinent. However, the Precambrian tectonic evolutionary history and continental affinity of the East Kunlun–Qaidam Block have long been controversial. In the presen...

Within the ongoing controversy regarding the orogeny of the Tibetan Plateau region, two directly-conflicting endmember frameworks have emerged, where either: 1) a high central ‘proto-plateau’ existed prior to the onset of India-Asia continental collision, or 2) the early Paleogene central Tibet comprised a wide E-W oriented lowland ∼1-2 km above se...

The N‐S oriented Zindapir anticline is an eastward verging mega‐structure (~130 km along and ~40 km across the strike) in the eastern Sulaiman fold‐and‐thrust belt on the western margin of the Indian Plate in Pakistan. In this study, we carried out a lineament analysis of the anticline based on shuttle radar topographic mission (SRTM) images and di...

The northwest-trending Altai Mountains of central Asia expose a complex network of thrust and strike-slip faults that are key features accommodating intracontinental crustal shortening related to the Cenozoic India-Asia collision. In this study, we investigated the Quaternary slip history of the Fuyun fault, a right-lateral strike-slip fault boundi...

We report an integrated comprehensive dataset composed of petrography, pressure-temperature (P-T) calculations, monazite U-Th-Pb ages, and trace-element data from pelitic schists in the eastern Indus-Yarlung suture zone in the Milin area of the eastern Himalaya. These rocks represent the exposure of subduction-related rocks within the eastern Indus...

Knowledge of the evolution of the Bangong-Nujiang Tethyan Ocean is crucial for reconstructing the paleography of the Tethyan Realm, given its significance as a key component of the eastern Tethys. Nonetheless, there has been uncertainty regarding both the timing and the processes involved in the closure of this ocean. This study focused on a 110−10...

The Paleogene is a crucial period when terrestrial and marine ecosystems recovered from major disruptions and gradually approached their modern states. In the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding regions, the Paleogene also represents a significant phase of tectonic evolution in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya orogeny, reorganization of...

Changing thermal regime is one of the key mechanisms driving seismogenic behaviors at cold megathrusts, but it is difficult to interpret warm subduction zones such as Vanuatu for the temperatures are higher than that accommodates shallow brittle failures. We construct a 3-D thermomechanical model to clarify the thermal structure that controls tecto...

Southeastern (SE) Tibet forms the transition zone between the high interior Tibetan Plateau and the lowlands of southwest China. So understanding the elevation history of SE Tibet, a biodiversity hotspot, enlightens our understanding of the interactions between tectonics, monsoon dynamics and biodiversity. Here we reconstruct the uplift history of...

Recent advancements in quantitatively estimating the thickness of Earth's crust in the geologic past provide an opportunity to test hypotheses explaining the tectonic evolution of southern Tibet. Outstanding debate on southern Tibet's Cenozoic geological evolution is complicated by poorly understood Mesozoic tectonics. We present new U‐Pb geochrono...

The Indian passive margin has preserved several pulses of magmatism during and after the disassembly of Gondwana since the late Paleozoic, providing valuable insights into the long-term magmatic evolution of various passive margins, including the Indian passive margin. In the Yumai Complex, eastern Tethyan Himalaya, a pulse of Late Triassic alkalin...

Eclogite bodies exposed across Tibet record a history of subduction-collision events that preceded growth of the Tibetan Plateau. Deciphering the time-space patterns of eclogite generation improves our knowledge of the preconditions for Cenozoic orogeny in Tibet and broader eclogite formation and/or exhumation processes. Here we report the discover...

Slow earthquakes predominant in Costa Rica indicate unstable faulting of segmented Central American megathrusts, but the recurrence of episodic tremors and slips reported to precede a giant earthquake remains still enigmatic. The underlying mechanism is related to the variation in the coupling along the heterogeneous subduction interface which is p...

This study estimates the timing of unconformity between marine–continental transitional sequence of the Kuldana Formation and continental sequence of the Murree Formation for the first time across the Hazara-Kashmir syntaxis, western Himalaya, Pakistan. The ages of the studied units are constrained using detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology. The maxi...

Lithium (Li) has grown to be a strategic key metal due to the enormous demand for the development of new energy industries over the world. As one of the most significant sources of Li resources, pegmatite-type Li deposits hold a large share of the mining market. In recent years, several large and super-large spodumene (Spd)-rich pegmatite deposits...

Previous subduction thermal models are inconsistent with the values of forearc heat flow (50-140 mW/m2) and global P‒T conditions of exhumed rocks, both suggesting a shallow environment 200-300°C warmer than model predictions. Here, we revaluate these problems in Kuril-Kamchatka using 3D thermomechanical modeling that satisfies the observed subduct...

Plain Language Summary The demise of the Neo‐Tethyan ocean and accompanied continent‐continent collisions created the thick crust and the low relief surfaces of the Iran Plateau and Tibetan Plateau. The onset timing and configuration in the Zagros collisional belt are critical for understanding the uplift of the Iran Plateau, tectonic evolution of...

Uranium isotope compositions (δ 238 U) and Th/U in carbonates are being explored as paleoredox proxies to study global oceanic anoxia. However, the impact of changes to local depositional environments that might cause a decline in δ 238 U and an increase in Th/U has not been thoroughly investigated. Here we report a decline in δ 238 U (from +0.1 to...

The relative roles of tectonics and climate change in global and regional desertification are not well constrained. Previous studies have emphasized the role played by climate change as a dominant cause of southeastern (SE) Asia desertification during the mid-Late Cretaceous. The effect of early uplift of the Tibetan Plateau prior to the collision...

祁连造山带位于东特提斯北缘，蛇绿混杂岩带、（超）高压变质岩和弧岩浆岩等广泛发育，是前新生代华北克拉通与柴达木古地块之间多期次俯冲、碰撞和造山形成的复合造山带。现今的祁连山是青藏高原北缘高原隆升与扩展的关键构造带，具有复杂的陆内变形构造和深部结构，记录了新生代高原生长过程中不同阶段的构造变形和盆-山演化历史。本文在区域地质研究资料的综合分析基础上，讨论祁连造山带元古宙变质基底属性、新元古代-古生代古海洋演化和中-新生代构造变形特征，探讨祁连（山）造山带的构造演化过程和陆内变形历史。祁连造山带发育新元古代早期和早古生代两期岩浆弧，分别代表了古祁连洋和（南、北）祁连洋的俯冲-碰撞事件；亲华北的基底属性指示了祁连洋实属陆缘海。新生代青藏高原东北缘发育两阶段构造变形和盆-山演化，在中新世完成了由新生代...

This study reports on the detrital zircon provenance of the sandstones of Early Paleocene Ranikot Formation exposed in the Fort Munro section, Sulaiman fold-thrust belt, Pakistan. This marks the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary sequence. The detrital zircon U-Pb ages reported are mainly clustered around ~460–1100 Ma, ~1600–1900 Ma and ~2300–2600 Ma. Th...

The Paleocene lavas from Dianzhong Formation (E1d) in Linzhou basin of southern Lhasa terrane are a key target for paleomagnetic investigations into the timing and paleolatitude of the initial India‐Asia collision. Controversy exists, however, on whether these rocks preserve a primary remanent magnetization. Here we reanalyze previously published t...

This study reports the detrital zircon U–Pb ages of the post collisional Chitarwatta Formation, exposed along the western margin of the Indian plate at the Sulaiman fold–thrust belt (SFB), Pakistan. The Chitarwatta Formation overlies the shallow marine carbonate sequence of the Kirthar Formation and represents an Oligocene–Miocene transitional mari...

On 8 January 2022, a Moment Magnitude (Mw) 6.7 earthquake occurred in Menyuan, China. The epicenter was located in the western segment of the Lenglongling fault of the Qilian-Haiyuan fault zone. In this area, the Mw 5.9 Menyuan earthquake on 26 August 1986 and the Mw 5.9 Menyuan earthquake on 21 January 2016 successively occurred. The seismogenic s...

The Cenozoic tectonic evolution of central Tibet plays an important role in the growth of the Tibetan plateau. Paleoelevation studies show that the central Tibetan plateau hosted an east-west trending belt of basins in the Paleogene, but how they relate to the regions uplift history remains unclear. This study addresses the uplift history of the ce...

The Mogok continental foreland region and Katha-Gangaw range (KGR) are located in the north-central section of the Myanmar plate, which is a component of the Eurasian plate. The origin of KGR, exposed along northern Myanmar (SE Asia), is still up for argument, despite numerous prior studies. Based on the petrography, geochemistry, and detrital zirc...

How the crust in the core of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS) deforms responding to the India‐Asia collision remains ambiguous. Here we present the first high‐resolution receiver functions image of crustal structure along a new NW‐SE trending dense nodal array crossing the core of the EHS. Two sets of low velocity zones (LVZs) are clearly obser...

The Mogok continental foreland region and Katha-Gangaw range (KGR) are located in the north-central section of the Myanmar plate, which is a component of the Eurasian plate. The origin of KGR, exposed along northern Myanmar (SE Asia), is still up for argument, despite numerous prior studies. Based on the petrography, geochemistry, and detrital zirc...

The Mogok continental foreland region and Katha-Gangaw range (KGR) are located in the north-central section of the Myanmar plate, which is a component of the Eurasian plate. The origin of KGR, exposed along northern Myanmar (SE Asia), is still up for argument, despite numerous prior studies. Based on the petrography, geochemistry, and detrital zirc...

Recognition of the existence of an Andean-type continental margin in southern Tibet prior to its collision with India has provided crucial constraints on the formation of the Tibetan Plateau and South Asian climate evolution. Here, we focused on well-dated Late Cretaceous successions in the Linzhou Basin and determined the elevation changes from se...

The uplift of eastern Tibet, Asian monsoon development and the evolution of globally significant Asian biodiversity are all linked, but in obscure ways. Sedimentology, geochronology, clumped isotope thermometry, and fossil leaf-derived numerical climate data from the Relu Basin, eastern Tibet, show at ∼50–45 Ma the basin was a hot (mean annual air...

Paleomagnetic data constrain paleogeographic motion of rocks relative to the Earth's spin axis, which is a sum of plate motion relative to the mantle and true polar wander. Discerning between these effects is challenging for studies aiming to reconstruct paleo-plate motions from deformed orogenic terranes. Here, we study the paleolatitudinal drift...

One of the central tenets of the snowball Earth hypothesis is the global recognition of the glacial diamictite-cap carbonate couplets in the Cryogenian sedimentary record. However, the scarcity of such peculiar stratigraphic elements in the Neoproterozoic successions of the Himalaya brings into question the severity and global extent of the snowbal...

To understand the early topographic growth of the Tibetan Plateau and the causes and effects of climate change in this region, it is important to reconstruct the drainage evolution across Southeast Tibet. Based on age constraints provided by detrital zircons in the fluvial sandstones in the Khorat Plateau Basin, we identified a major Early Cretaceo...

Featured Application Resource and environmental effects of the Tibetan Plateau. Abstract Himalayan orogenesis remains enigmatic in terms of Tibetan Plateau geodynamics originating from the Cenozoic India–Eurasian continental collision. India underthrusts below Tibet to the Yarlung–Tsangpo suture, which has been identified as the northernmost bound...

This study provides an insight to the provenance of the Late Cretaceous Pab Formation exposed in the Sulaiman fold‐thrust belt, Pakistan. The methodology adopted consisted of sandstone petrography and U–Pb detrital zircon geochronology. The sandstone petrography indicates craton interior and recycled orogenic provenances that points to an Indian pr...

The timing of the initial India–Asia collision and the mechanisms that led to the eventual formation of the high (>5 km) Tibetan Plateau remain enigmatic. In this Review, we describe the spatio-temporal distribution and geodynamic mechanisms of surface uplift in the Tibetan Plateau, based on geologic and palaeo-altimetric constraints. Localized mou...

One of the central tenets of the snowball Earth hypothesis is the global recognition of the glacial diamictite-cap carbonate couplets in the Cryogenian sedimentary record. However, the scarcity of such peculiar stratigraphic elements in the Neoproterozoic successions of the Himalaya brings into question the severity and global extent of the snowbal...

Globally elevated temperatures during the Cretaceous extreme greenhouse climate interval were punctuated by the Valanginian Weissert event, which was characterised by a positive carbon isotope excursion, global cooling, and a glacial event approximately at 135 Ma. The inability to disentangle ocean temperature and continental ice volume trends hind...

New zircon U-Pb dating results from the Zonggei Formation volcanics indicate that the volcanic rocks formed at ∼114–110 Ma. Paleomagnetic data, petrography, and rock magnetism confirm the primary nature of isolated characteristic remanent magnetizations carried by titanomagnetite and hematite. A statistical analysis of the combined results from the...

Detrital zircon geochronology has rapidly evolved into a powerful tool for reconstructing the assembly and dispersal processes of supercontinents. Currently, the dispersal history of Gondwanaland remains highly controversial. Here we focus on detrital zir-con geochronology of the Gondwana (Car-boniferous-Permian Kokaha Diamictite and Jurassic-Creta...

The Longshou Shan of western China is the northern backstop of the Cenozoic Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and occupies a key linkage between the Tarim continent and North China craton which separate the pre-Cenozoic Tethyan orogenic system and Central Asian orogenic system. Therefore, the Paleoproterozoic–Paleozoic evolution of this region is critical t...

The along‐strike heterogeneity in the tectonics of Himalaya is well recognized; however, the eastern segment of Himalaya is less studied compared to the other segments. This study combines the comprehensive field data, as well as the U–Pb geochronology of sandstone samples from the Indo‐Burma Range (east India). The study shows that the Lower Disan...

Significance Our regional-scale geochemical dataset ( ³ He/ ⁴ He) resolves the geometry of the continental collision between India and Asia. Geophysical images have led to contradictory interpretations that India directly underthrusts Tibet as a horizontal plate or India subducts steeply into the mantle. Helium transits from mantle depths to the su...

This study reports the first-ever detrital zircon provenance investigation of sandstones of the Kamlial Formation, exposed in Kashmir Basin along the Kohala–Bagh road section (Muzaffarabad, Pakistan). Analysis of probability density plots of detrital U-Pb zircon ages displayed a major age population clustered around ≈400–1200 Ma and a minor age pop...

The Triassic tectonic setting of Tethyan Himalaya in southern Tibet remains controversial and is key to revealing the mechanism of Neo-Tethys Ocean opening and the breakup history of Gondwana. This paper reports 227–225 Ma mafic volcanic rocks interbedded within the Tethyan Himalaya sequence in southern Tibet, which were formed in a typical passive...

Reconstructing the Paleogene topography and climate of central Tibet informs understanding of collisional tectonic mechanisms and their links to climate and biodiversity. Radiometric dates of volcanic/sedimentary rocks and paleotemperatures based on clumped isotopes within ancient soil carbonate nodules from the Lunpola Basin, part of an east-west...

Deep subduction of plate generally could induce a partial molten low-velocity layer (LVL) atop the mantle transition zone (MTZ) around the subduction zone. But the effects of the LVL to its upper lithosphere are less known, especially at the oceanward direction of subducted slab. Here, we image the seismic velocity structure atop the MTZ by matchin...

In Western Himalayan Syntaxis, the India‐Asia continental collision occurred at ca. 50 Ma, while its uplift history and exhumation mechanism are still in dispute despite decades of studies. A new type of eclogite was found in Naran, located ca. 30 km southwest of the Upper Kaghan Valley. Phase equilibrium calculations and thermobarometer performed...

The early uplift of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) had a profound influence on the paleoenvironment and paleoclimate. However, we still have little information about the link between the paleoclimatic changes and flora ecosystem caused by the uplift. The Eocene fluvial-lacustrine sequences in the Gonjo Basin, eastern TP, provide excellent archives of the...

Accretionary complexes are an indispensable source of information for studying the subduction history and source-to-sink system of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean and neighboring terranes. In this study, we conducted field mapping, detrital zircon U–Pb age and trace element analyses, and electronic microprobe composition analysis of detrital Cr-spinel in san...

The Proterozoic–Phanerozoic tectonic evolution of the Qilian Shan, Qaidam Basin, and Eastern Kunlun Range was key to the construction of the Asian continent, and understanding the paleogeography of these regions is critical to reconstructing the ancient oceanic domains of central Asia. This issue is particularly important regarding the paleogeograp...

This study reported the detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of the Cenozoic sequence exposed in Kotli, northwestern Himalaya, Pakistan, which forms part of the Kashmir foreland basin. The U-Pb detrital age patterns of the Paleocene Patala Formation show a major age cluster between ~130–290 Ma, ~500–1000 Ma and ~1000–1500 Ma, which mainly resembles t...

The Indian Plate began drifting northward after the Gondwana breakup and collided with the Eurasian Plate during the Early Cenozoic, resulting in the consequential development of the Himalayan–Tibetan Orogeny. Several microcontinents were rifted from Gondwana and amalgamated with the Indian Plate, resulting in magmatism along the continental margin...

The configuration and timing of the Arabia‐Eurasia continental collision, part of the broader Alpine‐Himalayan collisional system, remains controversial. We conducted sandstone petrology, detrital zircon U‐Pb‐Hf isotopic and trace element analysis, and Cr‐spinel electron microprobe geochemical analysis of samples from Paleocene to Miocene periphera...

The tectonic evolution of the Sibumasu Block during the Permian remains controversial, and Permian faunas and their paleobiogeographic affinities provide some insight into its paleogeographic and tectonic evolutionary histories. In this paper, a new brachiopod fauna dominated by Spinomartinia prolifica Waterhouse, 1981 is described from the uppermo...

The Gangdese orogenic belt in southern Tibet records a succession of arc-trench-basin assemblages formed by the Neo-Tethyan subduction and the subsequent India-Asian collision. However, the geochronology and geodynamics of S-type granites in the northern part of the Gangdese belt are disputed. This paper describes ∼190 Ma S-type granitoids outcropp...

The India-Asia collision is an outstanding smoking gun in the study of continental collision dynamics. How and when the continental collision occurred remains a long-standing controversy. Here we present two new paleomagnetic data sets from rocks deposited on the distal part of the Indian passive margin, which indicate that the Tethyan Himalaya ter...

Despite decades of research, the mechanisms and processes of subduction initiation remain obscure, including the tectonic settings where subduction initiation begins and how magmatism responds. The Cretaceous Mawgyi Volcanics represent the earliest volcanic succession in the Wuntho-Popa arc of western Myanmar. This volcanic unit consists of an exce...