Rapid Holocene bedrock canyon incision of Beida River, North Qilian Shan, China

Located at the transition between monsoon- and westerly-dominated climate systems, major rivers draining the western North Qilian Shan incise deep, narrow canyons into latest Quaternary foreland basin sediments of the Hexi Corridor. Field surveys and previously published geochronology show that the Beida River incised 130 m at the mountain front over the Late Pleistocene and Holocene at an average rate of 6 m kyr(-1). We hypothesize that a steep knickzone, with 3 % slope, initiated at the mountain front and has since retreated to its present position, 10 km upstream. Additional terrace dating suggests that this knickzone formed around the mid-Holocene, over a duration of less than 1.5 kyr, during which incision accelerated from 6 m kyr(-1) to at least 25 m kyr(-1). These incision rates are much faster than the uplift rate across the North Qilian fault, which suggests a climate-related increase in discharge drove rapid incision over the Holocene and formation of the knickzone. Using the relationship between incision rates and the amount of base level drop, we show the maximum duration of knickzone formation to be similar to 700 years and the minimum incision rate to be 50 m kyr(-1). We interpret that this period of increased river incision corresponds to a pluvial lake-filling event at the terminus of the Beida River and correlates with a wet period driven by strengthening of the Southeast Asian Monsoon.

Automated summary

Based on surveys and geochronology, this study reveals a rapid increase in erosion rates and the formation of a steep knickzone in the western North Qilian Shan. This increase is likely driven by climate-related changes in river discharge.