摘要The formation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has long been debated,despite the various proxies used to estimate its paleoelevation.Here,we introduce a novel method to calibrate paleoelevation by comparing the fossil and extant plant communities in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Our estimation confirms that the uplift of the plateau was an episodic and heterochronous process.Specifically,the Lhasa Terrane was already elevated by 1 km before the initial India-Asia collision.During the first orogenic stage,the Qiangtang Terrane rose faster than the Lhasa Terrane,attaining 3 km in the late Eocene.In the second stage,the Lhasa Terrane underwent rapid uplift,reaching 3 km in the Oligocene.By the Middle Miocene,both the Qiangtang and Lhasa terranes had achieved an elevation of 4 km.The Himalaya rose by at least 2 km after the Pliocene.Our biological knowledge-based findings contradict the previous geological evidence-based reports,which posited that the plateau had reached an elevation of 4-5 km during the Eocene.We provide a new perspective on the plateau's uplift history based on biological evidence,which has the potential to reconcile the confusion arising from contradictory proxies.