Late Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the southern Chinese Tian Shan

Abstract

Abstract.Structural, sedimentological, magnetostratigraphic, and nøAr/39Ar thermochronological investigations were conducted in the southern Chinese Tian Shan. On the basis of our own mapping and earlier investigations in the area, the Late Cenozoic southern Tian Shan thrust belt may be divided into four segments based on their style of deformation. From west to east, they are (1) Kashi-Aksu imbricate thrust system, (2) the Baicheng-Kuche fold and thrust system, (3) the Korla right-slip transfer system, and (

Paleo-erosion rates in Central Asia since 9Ma: A transient increase at the onset of Quaternary glaciations?

“…The Tianshan is a 2500-km-long tectonically active mountain range that dominates Central Asia with an average altitude of 2500 m and summits reaching up to 7000 m. While its geology consists of mainly island arc rocks linked to a long-lived Paleozoic history of subduction/collision (Burtman, 1975;Charvet et al, 2007;Gao et al, 1998;Lin et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2008;Windley et al, 1990), the present high topography attests to a more recent and intense deformation. This later owes its origin to the Cenozoic reactivation of the range during the Oligocene to early Miocene (>16 Ma) (Avouac et al, 1993;Bullen et al, 2003;Bullen et al, 2001;Charreau et al, 2009a;Charreau et al, 2005;Charreau et al, 2006;Dumitru et al, 2001;Sobel et al, 2006;Sobel and Dumitru, 1997;Windley et al, 1990;Yin et al, 1998), under the influence of the ongoing India-Asia collision. The Tianshan range indeed plays a major role in the IndiaAsia collision since it presently accomodates up to 40% of the total convergence between those two continents (Abdrakhmatov et al, 1996;Reigber et al, 2001).…”

Irregular earthquake cycle along the southern Tianshan front, Aksu area, China

“…Along the central southern Tianshan, deformation has propagated into the Tarim basin except in the Aksu reentrant (Figure 1a), where a drastic change in stratigraphy occurs. East of Aksu, folding in the Kuche belt involves a 7 -8 km thick Mesozoic and Cenozoic section of continental sediments [Yin et al, 1998;Burchfiel et al, 1999] (Figure 1b). Mesozoic and most Cenozoic strata are absent west of Aksu where emergent imbricates of the Kalping belt involve a 3.5 km thick largely cratonic upper Cambrian-Devonian section overlain by a Carboniferous to Permian foredeep section [Allen et al, 1999].…”

Seismic Hazard in Tien Shan: Basement Structure Control Over the Deformation Induced by Indo-Eurasia Collision

“…However in most cases, it is safe to say that cooling initiated, seemingly in a somewhat poly-phased fashion, during the last 10 to 15 Ma. These cooling curves in the models might thus represent the timing of the denudation of the modern Tien Shan orogenic edifice and can be corroborated by several lines of independent geological evidence from such fields as sedimentology [Cobbold et al, 1994;Métivier & Gaudemer, 1997;Dill et al, 2007], magneto-stratigraphy [Sun et al, 2004;Charreau et al, 2005;Huang et al, 2006;Ji et al, 2008], geomorphology and structure [Tibaldi et al, 1997;Yin et al, 1998;Burbank et al, 1999;Abdrakhmatov et al, 2001;Thompson et al, 2002;Buslov et al, 2003;Fu et al, 2003;Hubert-Ferrari et al, 2007;Oskin & Burbank, 2007], geophysics [Trapeznikov et al, 1997;Bielinski et al, 2003;Rybin et al, 2004;, geodesy [Abdrakhmatov et al, 1996;Reigber et al, 2001;Vinnik et al, 2004;Tychkov et al, 2008], and other geochronological studies [Sobel & Dumitru, 1997;Bullen et al, 2001;Sobel et al, 2006;De Grave et al, 2007a;Heermance et al, 2007]. We should caution the reader that this Late Cenozoic feature is mainly obtained by modelling the AFT data [Laslett et al, 1987;Ketcham et al, 2000].…”