Petrology and Bulk Chemistry of Modern Bed Load Sediments From Rivers Draining the Eastern Tibetan Plateau

We studied river bed load petrology and bulk sediment chemistry of the headwaters of the Changjiang, Huang He and Red rivers in China and Vietnam. These rivers drain the eastern and southeastern parts of the Tibetan Plateau which includes part of the Indian-Eurasian suture zone. The eastern Tibetan Plateau is dominated by marine sedimentary rocks with a few scattered intrusive igneous outcrops, while the suture zone is characterized by a mixture of high-grade metamorphic, ultramafic, granitic, volcanic arc and marine sedimentary rocks. The arithmetic average for Q_t: F_t: Rf_t along the suture zone varies from 56:2:42 along the Red River Fault (RRF) zone to 38:6:56 in the interior of the continent, while sands from rivers draining the plateau average 32:8:60. The sands analyzed in this study are relatively immature compared to most data available from most rivers in the tropics. The average Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) for samples from the RRF suture zone (0.62) is similar to that of rivers draining other tropical regions like the Niger, Chao Phraya, Mekong, Ganges, Amazon and Brahmaputra. The CIA values from the RRF zone are also significantly different from the rest of the suture zone (0.36) and the plateau area (0.38). The difference can be attributed to the combined effect of relief and precipitation. The RRF lies in the Red River drainage and receives ∼1820 mm of precipitation annually, while the plateau area averages ∼620 mm annually. In the case of the Red River drainage, the relief combined with higher humidity can increase physical weathering and reduce the residence time of sediment in the river drainage, therefore, continuously replacing the sediment transported out of the drainage by freshly weathered immature materials. In the plateau area, lower precipitation and runoff may limit sediment transport and chemical weathering leading to sediment immaturity.