Continental weathering features in the Jinsha River drainage basin in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

The Jinsha River drainage basin in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is interpreted as an ideal area for the study of the relationship between the Plateau uplift and continental weathering.The emphasis in the present paper is placed on the continental weathering features in the Jinsha River drainage basin based on the major ions in the dissolved loads and clay minerals as suspended loads.The results of research in this study show that the weathered rocks are significantly composed of carbonate rocks,evaporites and silicate rocks in the Jinsha River drainage basin.Five indexes such as Si,Si/TZ^+*,Si/(Na^*+K),Si/K and(Na^*+K)/TZ⁺ for the dissolved loads,in combination with rock distribution and soil features,have disclosed that the weathering of the silicate rocks is generally in the superficial weathering stage,with the secondary cations-rich clay minerals as the weathering products.