The Travertines may be divided into two groups, the meteogene travertines and the thermogene travertines, with not only a landscape value, but also a scientific research value. We have a wide distribution of the travertines in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, mainly in springs and in the lacustrine environment. The formation of travertines is related with the hydrothermal activity in the interior of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, controlled by the crust extensional activity caused by the subduction of the Indian continent and the strike-slip pull-apart process of regional faults. The travertines provide records of the paleoclimatic information and the ore-forming processes of the saline lake deposits. However, a good interpretation of the information of travetines remains a research issue. Generally, the carrier CO₂ of the thermogene travertines originates from the thermal processes or even from the processes below the Earth' crust. The genetic mechanism of the thermogene travertines is related with the time and the location and is more complex than that of the meteogene travertines. Not all travertines keep records of the paleoclimatic information. So, it is on the basis of understanding the genetic mechanism of the travertines that one may rebuild the information of the paleoclimate and the lake deposits.

Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau  /  travertines  /  paleoclimate  /  lake deposits