Climatically controlled formation of river terraces in a tectonically active region along the southern piedmont of the Tian Shan, NW China

• We study the interaction of climate change and tectonic uplift on growing anticline.
• Uplift accounts for bulk river incision but not control the terraces development.
• Cutting of the terraces linked to times of climatic transition.

Combined tectonic uplift and Quaternary climate variability control the deposition and abandonment of terraces along the southern Tian Shan in northwest China. Several preserved terraces have been deformed by an actively growing anticline within the uplifted frontal thrust system of the southern Tian Shan. We combine geomorphic mapping, topographic surveys of the deformed terrace surfaces, 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) depth profile dating, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to develop a new chronology for the terraces along the Huangshui He since 550 ka. Our in situ 10Be dating of fluvial gravels capping strath terraces suggests a relationship between the formation and abandonment of the terraces and glacial climate cycles since the middle-late Pleistocene. These data indicate that the formation of the four terraces occurred at ~ 550, ~ 430, ~ 350, and ~ 60 ka. We suggest that episodes of aggradation were facilitated by high sediment supply during glacial periods, followed by subsequent incision that led to abandonment of these terraces during deglaciation. We also estimate that tectonically induced river incision may account for about 60–70% of the total incision. However, during the intervening time between 350 ka and present, only one terrace was formed and preserved. We suggest that this record might be caused by a gradually decreasing uplift rate of the anticline through time and thus has influenced the preservation of terraces. Therefore, our results demonstrate the utility of chronologic records from southern Tian Shan for deconvolving the effects of tectonics and climate on fluvial incision.