Table S1.csv

The Himalayan Mountains exhibit extreme topography, with the highest peaks and most incised rivers on earth. Rapid uplift, surface erosion and geomorphological changes have been taking place in the Himalaya throughout the late Cenozoic. Although the interactions among tectonics, climate, and surface erosion have been intensively studied over the past several decades, the landscape evolution and formation of extreme topography in the Himalaya are still unclear. Here, we present low-temperature thermochronology and thermal history modeling results that reveal the Makalu massif (~87˚E) in the central part of the Himalayan orogen may have experienced over 4 km of exhumation since 2 Ma. Combined with 1,442 previously published cooling ages, we derive temporal and spatial variation in exhumation rates since 10 Ma for the entire Himalaya and reveal rapid cooling and exhumation since the Pleistocene. The isostatic response to this erosional unloading exhumation is quantified using a two-dimensional flexural model. Calculated results show that vertical uplift reached nearly 3,200 m in the highest parts of the Himalaya orogen, suggesting that the isostatic response may play an important role in the building of relief and extreme topographic elevations since the Pleistocene.

喜马拉雅山脉拥有地球上最高的山峰与最深切的河谷，地貌极端崎岖。新生代晚期以来，该地区持续经历快速隆升、地表侵蚀与地貌演化过程。尽管过去数十年来学界已对构造作用、气候与地表侵蚀间的相互作用开展了大量深入研究，但喜马拉雅地区极端地貌的演化过程与形成机制仍不明确。本文报道了低温热年代学（low-temperature thermochronology）与热历史模拟（thermal history modeling）的研究结果，揭示出喜马拉雅造山带（Himalayan orogen）中部约87°E的马卡鲁地块（Makalu massif）自2 Ma以来可能经历了超过4千米的剥露（exhumation）。结合1442个已公开发表的冷却年龄（cooling ages），我们重建了整个喜马拉雅地区自10 Ma以来剥露速率的时空变化特征，并揭示出更新世（Pleistocene）以来的快速冷却与剥露过程。我们利用二维挠曲模型（two-dimensional flexural model）量化了侵蚀卸荷剥露所引发的均衡响应（isostatic response）。计算结果显示，喜马拉雅造山带最高区域的垂直隆升幅度近3200米，表明自更新世以来，均衡响应可能在塑造地形高差与极端海拔高程中发挥了重要作用。