Cenozoic sedimentary rocks in the Tajik Basin record the history of retreat of the Paratethys from central Asia, tectonic activity within the surrounding Pamir and Tian Shan mountains, and Asian aridification. However, there remains a paucity of precise chronological constraints on the sequences from this region. Here we present integrated magnetostratigraphic, detrital zircon and monazite U‐Pb geochronologic, and detrital apatite fission track thermochronologic data from the lower Cenozoic sedimentary sequences in the Tajik Basin. Our results indicate that the investigated sedimentary rocks were deposited between ~41 and 23.3 Ma, with a depositional hiatus between ~36 and 31 Ma. The last two marine regressions were dated at ~41 and ~37.4 Ma, respectively. Eolian sandy loess dominates the sequences from ~31 to ~25 Ma and gradually transitions to fluvial facies after ~25 Ma, consistent with late Oligocene to early Miocene acceleration of active deformation, uplift, and exhumation of the Pamirs.

The Andes are the culmination of shortening and crustal thickening that commenced during Late Cretaceous time. First-order questions regarding the tectonic evolution of the central Andes include the magnitude and timing of shortening, and controls on the along-strike variability in observed styles of shortening and deformation. Along-strike differences in the time of surface uplift have spawned two contrasting hypotheses: (1) uplift is related to dynamic and isostatic processes accompanying lithospheric removal and is decoupled in space and time from crustal thickening and shortening, and (2) uplift is directly coupled with shortening and crustal thickening. Although considerable work has been done in Bolivia to address these hypotheses, work in northern Argentina has not yet produced a trans-orogenic balanced structural cross section from which the total amount and kinematic history of shortening can be evaluated. To help understand the evolution of the thrust belt in northernmost Argentina, we present a regional, retrodeformable cross section at 23°−24°S across the Puna and Eastern Cordillera. New apatite fission-track thermochronological data integrated with other geochronological, sedimentological, and structural data constrain incremental retrodeformation of the cross section between ca. 45 and 6.5 Ma. Regional shortening was facilitated by at least 12 major thrust systems, linked to a regional mid-crustal décollement. Deformation generally propagated eastward through time and involved two major episodes of eastward advance of the orogenic front, separated by periods of internal out-of-sequence shortening and kinematic stagnation of the orogenic front. A new minimum estimate of ∼271 km of total shortening from the Cordillera de Domeyko to the eastern orogenic front explains crustal thickening at northern Puna latitudes. Together with previously published paleoaltimetry data, our new structural and thermochronologic data indicate that regional uplift in the northern Argentine Puna and Eastern Cordillera was synchronous with, and thus directly linked to, crustal shortening and thickening.

No abstract

Spatiotemporal patterns of deformation and exhumation in the central Andes are key parameters for reconstructing the kinematic history of the orogenic belt. Previous studies of the retroarc thrust belt document overall eastward propagation of deformation since the late Eocene, but the amount and timing of exhumation during the early phase of Andean orogeny remains largely unconstrained, particularly in the modern forearc region. In order to determine the timing and amount of exhumation prior to the late Eocene, we employed a multidating approach combining zircon U-Pb geochronology with apatite fission track and apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology. We focus on the low-temperature cooling history of the Cordillera de Domeyko thrust belt and synorogenic deposits in the Salar de Atacama basin. Our results show Late Cretaceous to Oligocene cooling and exhumation in the Cordillera de Domeyko. The distribution of cooling ages in the forearc indicates three periods of exhumation:~86-65,~65-50, and 50-28 Ma. The amount of cooling was variable in space and time but requires total exhumation of~2.5-3.3 km of rocks above major structures in the thrust belt. Regional unconformities in the Salar de Atacama basin correlate with periods of eastward migration of the orogenic front at~65 Ma and~50-40 Ma. Pulses of deformation at the front of the thrust belt alternated with periods of out-of-sequence hinterland deformation and exhumation. Overall, our data show that shortening in the central Andes commenced during the Late Cretaceous (as early as~86 Ma) and that deformation (shortening) and exhumation were coupled in space and time.

Figure S1: Radial plots for AFT samples in the Sierra Alta (Coraya and Yacoraite Valleys). Figure S2: Radial plots for AFT samples from the Tilcara Range, Cianzo area and east side of the Eastern Cordillera.