Dynamic drainage reorganization in the eastern Tibetan Plateau: A perspective from the First Bend of the Yangtze River

The establishment of modern drainage patterns of large rivers in eastern Tibet is thought to have resulted from drainage reorganization by serial river capture and reversal events, but the timing and driving mechanisms are still under debate. The capture that created the First Bend of the Yangtze River (YFB) is the most well-known event but also the most controversial. Here, sedimentary provenance of Late Miocene–Quaternary Dali basin strata south of the YFB demonstrates that a south-flowing Jinsha River briefly drained the Dali basin at ~7.4–6.4 Ma. This would require the occurrence of two fluvial diversions at the YFB, before 7.4 Ma and after 6.4 Ma, respectively. Together with landscape evolution modeling results, we infer that a river-blocking landslide downstream of the YFB and resulting lake overspill may have been responsible for this drainage reorganization process. Our results highlight for the first time that river-damming landslides may be a key mechanism for driving dynamic drainage reorganization in eastern Tibet.