Professor Hongbo Zheng

Professorial Research Fellow

BRC

z.hongbo@uq.edu.au

Cenozoic geology with focus on tectonic-geomorphology, paleoclimatology and Earth surface processes

Hongbo Zheng's research focuses on the evolutionary history of Earth's environment, particularly the evolution of Earth systems during the Cenozoic era. His research areas and topics include: 1) Evolution of Cenozoic environments and paleo-drainage systems in southwestern Australia, with a focus on the aridification history of Australia; 2) Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau: the timing of uplift and its impacts on landforms, drainages, climate (Asian monsoon and aridification of Asian interior), and biodiversity; 3) Evolution of major rivers in Asia, especially the Yangtze River, and processes of sediment source-to-sink dynamics of large river systems; 4) Evolutionary history and variability of the Asian monsoon and its impacts on biodiversity, human evolution and sustainability; 5) Continental/chemical weathering, Earth surface processes, and formation of associated ore deposits.

Hongbo earned a Bachelor's degree in Economic Geology (with Honors) from Nanjing University in China, followed by Master's and PhD degrees in Geology from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Western Australia, respectively. Additionally, he received a Diploma from the University of Liverpool through the British Council Scholarship Program, specialising in paleomagnetism.His academic career began with a research position at the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Western Australia. Hongbo has since gained extensive international experience, working in China, Japan, and the UK. His achievements include receiving the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award of China and gaining recognition in both professional and mainstream media. His research contributions have been featured in the "China Science Development Report." Hongbo has been selected for China's prestigious national-level talent programs, including the Chinese Ministry of Education's "Cheung Kong Professors Program," and has been honored as a National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Distinguished Young Scholar. He has held leadership roles such as Head of the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Tongji University (Shanghai) and Founding Director of the Ministry of Education’s Key Laboratory of Supergene Geochemistry at Nanjing University.

Industry

Hongbo maintains regular engagement with mineral companies, state governments, and geoenvironmental consultancies. He has served as an Associate Editor for journals such as Progress in Earth and Planetary Sciences and Island Arc, and as Editor of Earth History and Biodiversity.

Collaborations

Hongbo holds positions as Adjunct Professor at Griffith University and Chengdu University of Technology in China. Previously, he served as Adjunct Professor at the University of Tokyo. His international collaborative projects include partnerships with the Chinese Academy of Sciences through the Queensland - CAS Collaborative Science Fund. He has also led two UNESCO IGCP projects focusing on the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the evolutionary history of geomorphology, paleoclimatology, and biodiversity. Hongbo has made significant contributions to initiatives within the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).

Funding

Hongbo has secured research funding equivalent to AUD10 million in his academic career.

Publications

Journal Articles (32)

Journal Articles

Zhang, Bihui, Xu, Huan, Liu, Gaozheng, Ding, Jiaxiang, Du, Yan, Yuan, Tingyuan, Li, Xiangzhong and Zheng, Hongbo (2024). Early Miocene sand wedge deposits in Southwestern Tarim Basin and Implications for the Uplift of the Northern Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 267 106126. doi: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2024.106126

Saravanan, Ponnusamy, Gupta, Anil K., Li, Xiangzhong, Zheng, Hongbo and Panigrahi, Mruganka K. (2024). Reconstructing hypoxia on the eastern Arabian sea continental shelf during the past ∼7400 years: A multi-proxy approach. Quaternary International. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.05.007

An, Xianyin, Xu, Huan, He, Keheng, Xia, Lei, Du, Yan, Ding, Jiaxiang, Yuan, Tingyuan, Liu, Gaozheng and Zheng, Hongbo (2023). Onset of the late Paleozoic glaciation in the Lhasa terrane, Southern Tibet. Global and Planetary Change, 225 104139, 1-15. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104139

Zheng, Hongbo, Zhang, Bihui, Xu, Huan, Wei, Xiaochun, Tada, Ryuji, Yang, Qing and Yang, Wanshu (2023). Birth of the Taklamakan Desert: When and How?. STEM Education, 3 (1), 57-69. doi: 10.3934/steme.2023005

Kajita, Hiroto, Isaji, Yuta, Kato, Rintaro, Nishikura, Yoko, Murayama, Masafumi, Ohkouchi, Naohiko, Yang, Shouye, Zheng, Hongbo, Wang, Ke, Nakanishi, Toshimichi, Sasaki, Takenori, Maeda, Ayumi, Suzuki, Atsushi, Yamanaka, Toshiro and Kawahata, Hodaka (2023). Climatic change around the 4.2 ka event in coastal areas of the East China Sea and its potential influence on prehistoric Japanese people. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 609 111310, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111310

Yu, Tong, Yang, Qing, Deng, Min, Cheng, Nan, Yao, Kaiping, Yang, Wanshu, Ji, Xueping and Zheng, Hongbo (2022). Morphological characteristics of seed starch granules of Fagaceae in South China and their implication in paleodiet. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13 977152, 1-16. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.977152

Wang, Min, Yang, Qing, Yang, Wanshu, Shi, Lin, Zhang, Yu, Zhou, Zining, Zhang, Wuqi and Zheng, Hongbo (2022). Surface phytolith and pollen assemblages of a low-latitude subtropical region in Southwest China and their implications for vegetation and climate. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13 1007612, 1-23. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1007612

Wang, Zhonglei, Zheng, Hongbo, Meng, Xiangjun, Zhu, Xiaoqing, Hou, Fanghui, Li, Jie, Mei, Xi, Wang, Zhongbo, Cao, Binhua and Jun Sun, (2022). Late Quaternary sedimentation and neotectonics in Liaodong Bay, northern Bohai Sea. Regional Studies in Marine Science, 55 102581, 1-15. doi: 10.1016/j.rsma.2022.102581

Dai, Mingzhe, Zhou, Bin, Hu, Yuanfeng and Zheng, Hongbo (2022). Climate and landscape change favouring early rice agriculture and appreciable human impact: evidence from sediment δ13C in eastern China. Quaternary International, 619, 30-38. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2021.11.003

Wang, Min, Shen, Caiming, Wu, Xudong, Liu, Guangxin, Zhao, Jiaju, Sun, Qifa, Zheng, Hongbo and Li, Xiangzhong (2022). A 1,400-year eolian dust activity record from Lake Erhai in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Catena, 212 106050, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.catena.2022.106050

Zheng, Hongbo, Yang, Qing, Cao, Shuo, Clift, Peter D., He, Mengying, Kano, Akihiro, Sakuma, Aki, Xu, Huan, Tada, Ryuji and Jourdan, Fred (2022). From desert to monsoon: irreversible climatic transition at ~ 36 Ma in southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 9 (1) 12. doi: 10.1186/s40645-022-00470-x

Wang, Ping, Zheng, Hongbo, Wang, Yongdong, Wei, Xiaochun, Tang, Lingyu, Jourdan, Fred, Chen, Jun and Huang, Xiangtong (2022). Sedimentology, geochronology, and provenance of the late Cenozoic "Yangtze Gravel": implications for Lower Yangtze River reorganization and tectonic evolution in southeast China. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 134 (1-2), 463-486. doi: 10.1130/b35851.1

Liu, Guangxin, He, Shaoneng, Wong, Minn Lin, Zou, Yafei, He, Haibo, Chongyi, E., Chawchai, Sakonvan, Zheng, Hongbo and Li, Xiangzhong (2021). Tropical Pacific forcing of hydroclimate in the source area of the Yellow River. Geophysical Research Letters, 48 (23) e2021GL095876, 1-12. doi: 10.1029/2021GL095876

Wang, Longsheng, Zhou, Bin, Zheng, Bang, Wang, Ke, Mei, Xi, Wang, Qing, Wang, Xiaohui and Zheng, Hongbo (2021). High-resolution geochemical records in the inner shelf mud wedge of the East China Sea and their indication to the Holocene monsoon climatic changes and events. Journal of Ocean University of China, 20 (6), 1409-1418. doi: 10.1007/s11802-021-4651-1

Sakuma, Aki, Tada, Ryuji, Yoshida, Tomohiro, Hasegawa, Hitoshi, Sugiura, Naomi, Karasuda, Akinori, Wang, Ke and Zheng, Hongbo (2021). Relationship between tectonism and desertification inferred from provenance and lithofacies changes in the Cenozoic terrestrial sequence of the southwestern Tarim Basin. Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 8 (1) 44. doi: 10.1186/s40645-021-00427-6

Wang, Zhonglei, Zheng, Hongbo, Mei, Xi, Meng, Xiangjun, Xu, Tingting, Wang, Zhongbo, Mi, Beibei, Lan, Xianhong, Wang, Feifei, Wang, Shuang, Sun, Jun and Shang, Luning (2021). Sedimentary environment evolution and provenance analysis of northwestern Liaodong Bay from the Middle Pleistocene. Quaternary International, 589, 55-67. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2020.11.041

Zou, Yafei, Wang, Luo, He, Haibo, Liu, Guangxin, Zhang, Jiaoyang, Yan, Yao, Gu, Zhaoyan and Zheng, Hongbo (2021). Application of a diatom transfer function to quantitative paleoclimatic reconstruction — a case study of Yunlong Lake, southwest China. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 700194. doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.700194

He, Mengying, Zheng, Hongbo, Clift, Peter D., Bian, Zixuan, Yang, Qing, Zhang, Bihui and Xia, Lei (2021). Paleogene Sedimentary Records of the Paleo-Jinshajiang (Upper Yangtze) in the Jianchuan Basin, Yunnan, SW China. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 22 (6) e2020GC009500. doi: 10.1029/2020GC009500

Zheng, Yan, Zheng, Hongbo, Guo, Qianying, Yang, Qing, Hu, Zhujun, Yao, Xinya, Zhou, Xinying, Zhao, Keliang, Li, Xiaoqiang and Deng, Chenglong (2021). Dating the Hemudu Neolithic rice cultivation site, East China, by paleomagnetic chronostratigraphy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 569 110297, 110297. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110297

Xiao, R., Zheng, Y., Liu, X., Yang, Q., Liu, G., Xia, L., Bian, Z., Guan, J., Feng, P., Xu, H., Clift, P. D., Qiang, X., Zhang, Y. and Zheng, H. (2021). Synchronous Sedimentation in Gonjo Basin, Southeast Tibet in Response to India-Asia Collision Constrained by Magnetostratigraphy. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 22 (3) e2020GC009411. doi: 10.1029/2020GC009411

He, Haibo, Liu, Zaihua, Li, Dongli, Zheng, Hongbo, Zhao, Jianxin, Chen, Chongying, Bao, Qian, Wei, Yu, Sun, Hailong and Yan, Hao (2021). Recent environmental changes in the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau inferred from organic geochemical records from the sediments of Fuxian Lake. Elementa, 9 (1) 068. doi: 10.1525/elementa.2021.068

Ling, Guangjiu, Ma, Chunmei, Yang, Qing, Hu, Zhujun, Zheng, Hongbo, Liu, Bin, Wang, Ningyuan, Chen, Minghui and Zhao, Ye (2021). Landscape evolution in the Liangzhu area since the early Holocene: a comprehensive sedimentological approach. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 562 110141, 110141. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110141

Sakuma, Aki, Kano, Akihiro, Kakizaki, Yoshihiro, Tada, Ryuji and Zheng, Honbo (2021). Upper Eocene travertine-lacustrine carbonate in the Jianchuan basin, southeastern Tibetan Plateau: Reappraisal of its origin and implication for the monsoon climate. Island Arc, 30 (1) e12416. doi: 10.1111/iar.12416

Zheng, Hongbo, Clift, Peter D., He, Mengying, Bian, Zixuan, Liu, Gaozheng, Liu, Xiaochun, Xia, Lei, Yang, Qing and Jourdan, Fred (2021). Formation of the First Bend in the late Eocene gave birth to the modern Yangtze River, China. Geology, 49 (1), 35-39. doi: 10.1130/G48149.1

Wei, Xiaochun, Chen, Hanlin, Zheng, Hongbo, Wang, Ping, Hanson, Richard E., Shi, Xuhua, Lin, Xiubin and Cheng, Xiaogan (2020). Miocene long-runout debris-avalanche deposits in the Eastern Pamir foreland basin record cataclasis and fragmentation mechanisms. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 407 107105, 107105. doi: 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2020.107105

Saravanan, Ponnusamy, Gupta, Anil K., Zheng, Hongbo, Majumder, Jeet, Panigrahi, Mruganka K. and Kharya, Aditya (2020). A 23000 year old record of paleoclimatic and environmental changes from the eastern Arabian Sea. Marine Micropaleontology, 160 101905. doi: 10.1016/j.marmicro.2020.101905

Clift, Peter D., Carter, Andrew, Wysocka, Anna, Long Van Hoang, , Zheng, Hongbo and Neubeck, Nikki (2020). A late Eocene-Oligocene through-flowing river between the Upper Yangtze and South China Sea. G3: Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 21 (7). doi: 10.1029/2020gc009046

Saravanan, Ponnusamy, Gupta, Anil K., Zheng, Hongbo, Rai, Santosh K. and Panigrahi, Mruganka K. (2020). Changes in Deep-Sea Oxygenation in the Northeast Pacific Ocean During 32–10 ka. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (11) e2019GL086613. doi: 10.1029/2019GL086613

Isozaki, Yuko, Tada, Ryuji, Sun, Youbin, Zheng, Hongbo, Toyoda, Shin, Sugiura, Naomi, Karasuda, Akinori and Hasegawa, Hitoshi (2020). Origin of aeolian dust emitted from the Tarim Basin based on the ESR signal intensity and crystallinity index of quartz: the recycling system of fine detrital material within the basin. Geological Magazine, 157 (5), 707-718. doi: 10.1017/s0016756820000242

Kajita, Hiroto, Ota, Yuki, Yoshimura, Toshihiro, Araoka, Daisuke, Manaka, Takuya, Ziyu, Ouyang, Iwasaki, Shinya, Yanase, Takuya, Inamura, Akihiko, Uchida, Etsuo, Zheng, Hongbo, Yang, Qing, Wang, Ke, Suzuki, Atsushi and Kawahata, Hodaka (2020). Seasonal and spatial variations of chemical weathering in the Mekong Basin: from the headwaters to the lower reaches. Aquatic Geochemistry, 26 (2), 137-159. doi: 10.1007/s10498-020-09374-y

Wang, Ke, Tada, Ryuji, Zheng, Hongbo, Irino, Tomohisa, Zhou, Bin and Saito, Keita (2020). Provenance changes in fine detrital quartz in the inner shelf sediments of the East China Sea associated with shifts in the East Asian summer monsoon front during the last 6 kyrs. Progress in Earth and Planetary Science, 7 (1). doi: 10.1186/s40645-019-0319-5

Clift, Peter D., Zheng, Hongbo, Carter, Andrew, Boening, Philipp, Jonell, Tara N., Schorr, Hannah, Shan, Xin, Pahnke, Katharina, Wei, Xiaochun and Rittenour, Tammy (2017). Controls on erosion in the western Tarim Basin: implications for the uplift of northwest Tibet and the Pamir. Geosphere, 13 (5) 1378.1, 1747-1765. doi: 10.1130/GES01378.1