Brief Introduction

Zengjie Zhang is an Associate Professor in the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University. His research focuses on sedimentary provenance and drainage evolution of large rivers originating from the eastern Tibetan Plateau. He received his PhD in Geology from China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, in 2016.

Education Background

2011.9-2016.6, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Doctor of Science, Geology

2014.11-2015.11, University College Dublin, Visiting Researcher

2007.9-2011.6, China University of Geosciences, Bachelor of Science

Career Experience

2023.2 till now, Associate Professor，School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, SYSU

2019.4-2023.1 Research Fellow, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, SYSU 

2016.7-2019.3 Post Doc, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences 

Research

(1) Drainage evolution of major rivers in eastern Asia and their implications for Tibet uplift and opening of marginal seas

(2) Source to Sink processes of major rivers in eastern Asia

(3) Rapid incision of rivers in SE Tibet constrained by low thermos-temperature chronology

(4) Novel provenance tool application, including Pb-in-K-feldspar, apatite/zircon U-Pb-He double dating

Projects

(1) 2023.01-2026.12, National Natural Science Foundation of China: Breakup of the paleo-Red River constrained by sedimentary archive from the Yinggehai Basin and Cenozoic basins in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (42271008);

(2) 2021.01-2023.12, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province: Birth of the Pearl River: sedimentary provenance from North margin of the South China Sea (2021A1515012231);

(3) 2020.01-2022.12, National Natural Science Foundation of China: Topography and drainage reorganization in southern China constrained by Cenozoic sedimentary archive in Taiwan (41902111);

(4) 2019.01-2021.12, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (19lgpy73)： Drainage evolution of the Pearl River: sedimentary record from the Pearl River Mouth Basin

(5) 2017.01-2020.12, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province: Sedimentary provenance of Cenozoic deposits in Yichang and its implications for formation of the Three Gorges (2017A030310D04)

(6) 2016.12-2018.12, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation: Sediment provenance of the Xigeda Formation,SE Tibet: implications for drainage evolution of the Jinsha River (2016M600686)

Publications

（1）Zhang, Z., Daly, J.S., Tian, Y., Tyrrell, S., Sun, X., Badenszki, E., Qin, Y., Cheng, Z. and Guo, R., 2022. Sedimentary provenance perspectives on the evolution of the major rivers draining the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Earth-Science Reviews, 232: 104151.

（2）Zhang, Z., Daly, J.S., Yan, Y., Badenszki, E., Sun, X., Tian, Y., 2022. Cenozoic reorganization of fluvial systems in eastern China: Sedimentary provenance of detrital K-feldspar in Taiwan. Chemical Geology 592, 120740.

（3）Zhang, Z., Daly, J.S., Li, C.a., Tyrrell, S., Badenszki, E., Sun, X., Li, Y., Zhang, D., Tian, Y., Yan, Y., 2021. Formation of the Three Gorges (Yangtze River) no earlier than 10 Ma. Earth-Science Reviews 216, 103601.

（4）Zhang, Z., Daly, J.S., Yan, Y., Lei, C., Badenszki, E., Sun, X., Tian, Y., 2021. No connection between the Yangtze and Red rivers since the late Eocene. Marine and Petroleum Geology 129, 105115.

（5）Zhang, Z., Daly, J.S., Li, C.a., Tyrrell, S., Badenszki, E., Sun, X., Tian, Y., Yan, Y., 2021. Southeastern Tibetan Plateau serves as the dominant sand contributor to the Yangtze River: evidence from Pb isotopic compositions of detrital K-feldspar. Terra Nova 33, 195-207.

（6）Zhang, Z., Daly, J.S., Li, C.a., Tyrrell, S., Sun, X., Yan, Y., 2017. Sedimentary provenance constraints on drainage evolution models for SE Tibet: Evidence from detrital K-feldspar. Geophysical Research Letters 44, 4064-4073.

（7）Zhang, Z., Tyrrell, S., Li, C.a., Daly, J.S., Sun, X., Blowick, A., Lin, X., 2016. Provenance of detrital K-feldspar in Jianghan Basin sheds new light on the Pliocene-Pleistocene evolution of the Yangtze River. Geological Society of America Bulletin 128, 1339-1351.

（8）Zhang, Z., Tyrrell, S., Li, C.a., Daly, J.S., Sun, X., Li, Q., 2014. Pb isotope compositions of detrital K-feldspar grains in the upper-middle Yangtze River system: Implications for sediment provenance and drainage evolution. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 15, 2765-2779.

Awards

2015.12, National scholarship for doctoral students