Late Carboniferous (Kasimovian) closure of the South Tianshan Ocean: No Triassic subduction

Terminal Suturing Between the Tarim Craton and the Yili‐Central Tianshan Arc: Insights From Mélange‐Ocean Plate Stratigraphy, Detrital Zircon Ages, and Provenance of the South Tianshan Accretionary Complex

“…G. Han et al, 2016a;Xiao et al, 2013), as is the connection of the westward extension of the Central Tianshan arc to the Middle Tianshan arc (Y. G. Han & Zhao, 2018;Xiao et al, 2013). Nevertheless, the southern Yili Block with the Central and Middle Tianshan arcs, regardless of when and how they were mutually welded, constitutes the main tectonic unit adjacent to the South Tianshan, and importantly, it records significant accretion-collision events related to the consumption of the South Tianshan oceanic plate (Alexeiev et al, 2015(Alexeiev et al, , 2019Charvet et al, 2011;Y. G. Han et al, 2016a;Sang et al, 2018;Xiao et al, 2013).…”

“…The South Tianshan, which extends for 2,500 km from Uzbekistan in the west to northwestern China in the east, is a continuous tectonic unit situated on the southwestern margin of the Altaids or Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) (Figure 1a) (Alexeiev et al., 2019; Charvet et al., 2011; C. M. Chen et al., 1999; B. F. Han et al., 2011; Wilhem et al., 2012; Windley et al., 2007; Xiao et al., 2013, 2014). The South Tianshan is a major segment of the Altaids that marks the final collision between the Tarim and Siberian Cratons in the Early Mesozoic (Klemd et al., 2015; Şengör et al., 1993; Xiao et al., 2014, 2015, 2018), when it played an important role in the tectonic amalgamation of the accretionary Altaid orogen and the Tarim Craton.…”

Calc-alkaline volcanic rocks and zircon ages of the late Tonian: early Cryogenian arc-related Big Naryn Complex in the Eastern Djetim-Too Range, Middle Tianshan block, Kyrgyzstan

“…The Kyrgyz Tianshan is subdivided into three tectonic zones. The Middle Tianshan block (MTS) occurs between the North Tianshan (mainly early Paleozoic accretionary complexes) and the South Tianshan block (a late Paleozoic fold and thrust belt) and comprises Precambrian metamorphic units, late Neoproterozoic magmatic and glaciogenic rocks as well as middle Devonian to late Carboniferous limestones and clastic sediments, deformed in the late Paleozoic (Alexeiev et al 2019, and references therein). The MTS has been labelled as a composite terrane, superterrane or allochthonous geological province (Mikolaichuk et al 2016).…”

“…In the Djamanechky cross-section (Online Resource 1), BNC rocks are tectonically juxtaposed against mid-Carboniferous siliciclastic sediments that are intruded by granite and syenite dykes that, in nearby areas, have yielded early Permian (ca. 295-265 Ma) crystallization ages (Alexeiev et al 2019). Therefore, northward thrusting, stacking and tectonic intercalation of BNC and basement units must be due to Late Carboniferous to Early Permian closure of an ocean basin and subsequent terrane docking in the South Tianshan (e.g., Biske and Seltmann 2010;Jourdon et al 2017).…”

“…1a-c). The discontinuous nature of the magmatic arc in the MTS is the result of a complex tectonic setting during the Paleozoic, which involved intracontinental extension and probably arc break-up and dispersion related to the opening of the Sak and Ishym-Karatau paleo-oceans in the Early Paleozoic (Bakirov et al 2014;Alexeiev et al 2019). Later, early Paleozoic oblique subduction of oceanic crust and accretion of the STS continent in the Carboniferous (Hegner et al 2010;Alexeiev et al 2011;Terbishalieva 2018 [327-343 Ma]) played an additional role; long distance strike-slip transfer of arc segments has been suggested for the volcanic units in the Djetim-Too Range (Şengör et al 1993;Mikolaichuk et al 2016).…”