Abstract:

Abstract:  Whether there was a glacier on the Huangshan Hill is a topic long in debate and the opponents take an advantageous position. One of the interpretations from the opponents is that the previous elevation of the Huangshan Hill can not satisfy the condition of the hill being covered with snow all the year round. Such view point is from the interpretation of geographers for the mountainbuilding process of the Huangshan Hill without considering the information from the Huangshan massif and regional geology. The Huangshan massif is a small Early Cretaceous composite batholith mainly consisting of four intrusive units as the following in order from central to rim and from early to late: Wenquan unit (fine granular Bimontzogranite), Yungusi unit (coarse and continuously heterogranular Bisyenogranite), Shiziling unit (porphyritic Bisyenogranite) and Gongyangshan unit (fine granular alkali feldspar granite with biotite). Such textural variation suggests that the Huangshan Hill has undergone synemplacement erosion, that the depth of magma emplacement decreased from early to late and that the emplacement process was driven by the tectonic pressing. Accordingly, the Kfeldspar phenocrysts of the Shizifeng unit are oriented in the same direction and the primary joints in the Yungusi unit are perpendicular to the contact interfaces with both neighbor units. Both above facts suggest forceful emplacement of the Huangshan granites. Therefore, the Huangshan massif was produced in compressing condition instead of stretching environment as interpreted by the previous authors. The new interpretation is in accordance with the analysis of sedimentary basins and regional structure deformations and indicates that the Huangshan was in orogenic condition and had thick crust. Comparing the magmaoriginated depth and the recent crust thickness, it is reasonable to interpret that the crust of the Huangshan district has been thinned about 1429 km since the late Cretaceous. Its geomorphic response is about 1.944.18 km. Accordingly, the elevation of the Huangshan at the late Cretaceous may have reached up to 26934776 m. Therefore, the Huangshan Hill is formed by differential erosion during the surface subsidence instead of by episodic rising.

Key words:

Key words: granite; the Huangshan Hill; landscape; landforms; glacier; lithospheric thinning