Did the modern Yellow River form at the Mid-Pleistocene transition?

The incision of the Sanmen Gorge marks the birth of the modern Yellow River, but its timing varies from the late Miocene-early Pliocene to the late Pleistocene (-0.15 Ma), and the suggested forcing mecha-nisms vary from the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau to global climate change. Here, we report sedimento-logic, geochronologic, and provenance data from a drill core near the Sanmen Gorge, the last gorge along the main course of the Yellow River. Our results indicate that typical river channel deposits, with detritus from the Ordos Block in the upstream regions, started to accumulate in the Sanmen Gorge at-1.25 Ma. When integrated with river terrace evidence from the upstream and downstream regions, the results provide robust evidence that the final integration of the modern Yellow River occurred at-1.25 Ma, consistent with the beginning of the Mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT). We propose that the accelerated lowering of eustatic sea level during the MPT may play as important a role as tectonism in driving the birth and evolution of the modern Yellow River.(c) 2022 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study reveals that the modern Yellow River was formed approximately 1.25 million years ago, which is consistent with the beginning of the Mid-Pleistocene transition. The accelerated lowering of sea level may have played an important role in the birth and evolution of the Yellow River, similar to tectonism.