The Tablelands in the Puli Basin (Central Taiwan)—A
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The tablelands in the Puli Basin (central Taiwan)— a geochronological and geomorphological approach to Late Quaternary fluvial sedimentary and erosional processes Die Hauptterrassen im Puli-Becken (Zentral Taiwan)— Studien zur Geochronologie und Geomorphologie spätquartärer fluvialer Erosions- und Akkumulationsprozesse Dissertation Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktor der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) am Fachbereich Geowissenschaften der Freien Universität Berlin vorgelegt von Chia-Han Tseng Berlin, 2014 Erstgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Margot Böse Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Bernd Wünnemann Tag der Disputation: 04.Juni.2014 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Margot Böse for giving me the chance to do the doctorate in Germany, a country which I find interesting and want to understand more, and for her encouragement and supports for the entire work. Many thanks will also be given to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD, Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) for providing the scholarship to let me complete my work in the past four years without worrying about the living. I would also like to thank Dirk Wenske, Christopher Lüthgens, Robert Hebenstreit, Tony Reimann, Jacob Hardt, and Marc Bauersachs not only for their valuable opinions and discussions about my research, but also for their great help and suggestions on my stay in Berlin, which really made me have a feeling of “just like home” here in Germany. I also want to thank Mrs. Martine Friedmann for her kind help with some budget affairs and for her delicious home-made cakes. I also appreciate deeply Dr. Phillip Hoelzmann for his valuable comments and discussions on the results of grain size analyses. Special thanks are to Mrs. Anne Beck for her proofreading of my research papers. Furthermore, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Manfred Frechen at the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG) in Hannover to apply the OSL dating equipments to complete my work, and also a lot of thanks to Dr. Sumiko Tsukamoto for teaching me the professional techniques and allowing me to use her washing machine. I would like to say thank you to technicians there for helping me with all the sample preparations before the OSL measurements. I am also grateful to have help and supports from Prof. Jyr-Ching Hu (胡植慶教授), Dr. Chao-Lung Tang (唐昭榮博士), (Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University), Prof. Jiun-Chuan Lin (林俊全教授), Shih-Hung Liu (劉時宏), Yuan-Chang Cheng (鄭遠昌) (Department of Geography, National Taiwan University) during my field work in Taiwan, which let us work more efficiently. At last, I am very thankful to have full support from my family, especially my mother, so that I can concentrate on my study and life here in Germany. I am also glad and grateful to have full encouragement and being with me side from a person, who is my good colleague, friend and love, Szu-Yuan. 1 Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. 1 Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 2 List of figures ........................................................................................................................................... 5 List of tables ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Zusammenfassung ................................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 1 Introduction.............................................................................................................. 1—10 1.1 Background and motives ............................................................................................................................1—10 1.2 Selection of the study area and objectives of this study ............................................................................1—11 1.3 Structure of this dissertation ......................................................................................................................1—13 CHAPTER 2 Study area ................................................................................................................ 2—14 2.1 Tectonic and geological setting ...................................................................................................................2—14 2.1.1 Plate tectonics and geological terrains in Taiwan ..................................................................................2—14 2.1.2 Uplift and erosion in the Taiwanese orogenic belt.................................................................................2—16 2.1.2.1 Uplift rate .....................................................................................................................................2—16 2.1.2.2 Erosion rate ..................................................................................................................................2—17 2.2 Geological background in the Puli Basin and the adjacent region ..............................................................2—18 2.2.1 Bedrock ..................................................................................................................................................2—18 2.2.2 Faults ......................................................................................................................................................2—18 2.2.3 Folds .......................................................................................................................................................2—20 2.3 Geographical background and geomorphic features ..................................................................................2—21 2.3.1 The Taiwan Island ...................................................................................................................................2—21 2.3.2 The Puli Basin itself and adjacent region ...............................................................................................2—24 2.3.2.1 Alluvium ........................................................................................................................................2—25 2.3.2.2 Alluvial fans ..................................................................................................................................2—26 2.3.2.3 Alluvial plains ................................................................................................................................2—26 2.3.2.4 Terraces ........................................................................................................................................2—26 2.3.2.5 Tablelands .....................................................................................................................................2—26 2 CHAPTER 3 Methods ................................................................................................................... 3—28 3.1 Strategy for method utilization in this study ..............................................................................................3—28 3.2 Utilized techniques and field work .............................................................................................................3—28 3.2.1 Geological map and orthophoto base maps interpretation, digital terrain model ................................3—28 3.2.2 Sedimentological analyses .....................................................................................................................3—29 3.3 Burial ages of sediments determined by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating ........................3—30 3.3.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................3—30 3.3.2 Principles and sampling .........................................................................................................................3—30 3.3.3 Applied measurement protocol, and equivalent dose (De) and dose rate determination .....................3—32 3.3.4 Applications of OSL to fluvial sediments and its uncertainties ..............................................................3—32 3.4 Age of organic material estimated by radiocarbon dating ..........................................................................3—33 CHAPTER 4 Genesis, sedimentary sequence and landform development of the Puli Basin ............. 4—34 4.1 Genesis of the Puli Basin .............................................................................................................................4—34 4.1.1 Faulting and Downwarping ....................................................................................................................4—36 4.1.2 Strike-slip faulting ..................................................................................................................................4—38 4.1.3 Detachment movements .......................................................................................................................4—39 4.2 Sedimentary sequence and relative timing ................................................................................................4—40