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Arid Land Geography ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (8): 1675-1686.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2025.676

• Earth Surface Process • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Evolutionary process of mineral maturity and provenance tracing of sediments in the Yarlung Zangbo River

CHEN Feng1(), XIA Shiyao1, REN Jiao2   

  1. 1 School of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China
    2 Research Institute of Transition of Resource-Based Economics, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China
  • Received:2025-10-22 Revised:2025-12-05 Online:2026-08-25 Published:2026-08-21

Abstract:

Focusing on the surface sediments of the Yarlung Zangbo River in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, this study analyzes their provenance and evolutionary processes. River sediment samples were systematically collected and analyzed using high-precision geochemical analytical techniques. Chondrite normalization, along with elemental ratios such as δEu, La/Yb, and Rb/Sr, and multivariate diagrams, were employed to characterize geochemical features, reconstruct evolutionary processes, and determine sediment provenance. The results show that: (1) The total content of rare earth elements (∑REE) in this basin is generally high. The distribution of REEs is characterized by significant enrichment of light rare earth elements, a typical negative Eu anomaly, and no obvious Ce anomaly. (2) There are clear spatial variations in weathering processes across the basin: Physical weathering dominates in the upper reaches, whereas chemical weathering becomes dominant in the lower reaches. (3) From the upper to the lower reaches, the mineral sorting of sediments gradually increases, and mineral maturity shows a significant increasing trend. (4) The geochemical mixing model shows that the provenance of sediments in the study area is mainly derived from metamorphic argillaceous rocks of the Himalayan orogenic belt (89.7%), with additional contributions from Himalayan leucogranites (8.3%) and Gangdese batholith granites (2.3%). These results provide important geochemical evidence for understanding regional tectonic evolution processes and sediment transport mechanisms.

Key words: Yarlung Zangbo River, river surface sediments, trace elements, rare earth elements