Since the start of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, a team composed of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of China Academy of Sciences and Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of China Academy of Sciences has discovered a large number of paleontological fossils in Bangor Basin, which is nearly 5000 meters above sea level on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Su Tao, the first author of the paper and a researcher at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of China Academy of Sciences, reconstructed the paleoclimate and paleoelevation 47 million years ago by combining fossils and models. The results show that the altitude of the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was only 65,438 0.500 meters, and the east-west central valley had a warm and humid monsoon climate, with an annual average temperature of 65,438 0.9 degrees Celsius. There are dense forests and abundant aquatic plants here, which was called "Shangri-La" in ancient times.
In addition, researchers have discovered more than 70 kinds of plant fossils in Bangor Basin, most of which are close relatives in subtropical and even tropical areas. "This is enough to show that the central part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is extremely cold now, had a prosperous subtropical forest vegetation 47 million years ago."
This achievement provides brand-new evidence for understanding the evolution history of biodiversity and the co-evolution process of topography and geomorphology in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
(Original title "Confirmation! 47 million years ago, the subtropical forest on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was established by Zheng Chen. Editor Li Xinyang)