Erosion, fault initiation and topographic growth of the North Qilian Shan (northern Tibetan Plateau)

New apatite (U-Th)/He from the northeastern of the Tibetan Plateau (north Shan) indicate rapid cooling began at ~10 Ma, which is attributed to the onset of and topographic growth. Preservation the paleo-PRZ in the hanging wall and strata in the footwall allow us to calculate and horizontal fault slip rates over the last 10 Myr of ~0.5 mm/yr ~1 mm/yr respectively, which are within factor of two consistent with Holocene slip and geodetic data. Low fault slip rates the initiation of the northern Qilian fault suggest that total horizontal offset not exceed 10 km. Further, emergence the northern Qilian Shan occurs during period of increased aridity in northern but is associated with only a minor of the northern plateau perimeter, is well established near collision . Outgrowth of the northern Qilian Shan ~10 Ma could be simple propagation of larger Qilian Shan system, occurring in to decreased slip rates on the Altyn fault or as a result of the change in GPE the central plateau.