Late Oligocene-early Miocene unroofing in the Chinese Tian Shan: An early effect of the India-Asia collision

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

“…Hendrix et al (1994) have documented a phase of rapid exhumation in the Tian Shan on the northern margin of the Tarim Basin during the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene that they attributed to the effects of continental collision. Modelling of the apatite fission track data from the Songpan-Ganz6 Fold Belt suggests accelerated exhumation beginning at ",~20 Ma and this observation is broadly consistent with the findings of Hen&ix et al (1994), as is the mid-Tertiary timing inferred for reactivation of the Wenchuan-Maowen Fault from the ZFF data. Accelerated cooling in the Gangdese Belt of southern Tibet also occurred during the Early Miocene (Copeland et al, 1987) and AFr age data from this region indicate that cooling continued into the Late Miocene (D. Arne, unpubl, data).…”

Late Oligocene–early Miocene birth of the Taklimakan Desert

“…These sediments would then have been sorted by fluvial and eolian processes into sand and silt fractions, with the former becoming the constituents of a dynamic desert system and the latter being deflated and transported as eolian dust (4). We suggest that this mechanism has been in operation since the late Oligocene-early Miocene time, and that the resultant formation of the Taklimakan Desert was a direct response to a combination of widespread regional aridification and increased unroofing and erosion in the surrounding mountains, both of which are closely linked to the uplift of the Tibetan-Pamir Plateau and the Tian Shan (36)(37)(38)(39).…”

“…Generation of such topography forced major climatic changes during the Cenozoic (32)(33)(34)(35). Numerous studies suggested that significant uplift of the Tibetan-Pamir Plateau and the Tian Shan occurred around the late Oligocene-early Miocene (36)(37)(38)(39). The uplifted plateau together with the possible retreat of the Paratethys (9, 11) forced by uplifting topography could have led to a transition from planetary climate system to monsoonal climate system (35,40,41).…”

Geological evolution of Central Asian Basins and the western Tien Shan Range

“…The far-field effects of continental collision (e.g. Molnar & Tapponnier 1975;Allen et al 1991;Hendrix et al 1994) and the role of older structures (e.g. Jolivet et al 2010;Selander et al 2012;Macaulay et al 2013) have been extensively studied in the Tien Shan region, particularly on the Eastern (Chinese) Tien Shan (e.g.…”

“…Deformation along the fault trace during the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene (e.g. Hendrix et al 1994;Sobel & Dumitru 1997;Sobel et al 2006a;Heermance et al 2008;Amidon & Hynek 2010;Wei et al 2013;Bande et al 2015a) and again in the Late Miocene (e.g. Bullen et al 2003;Heermance et al 2008;Macaulay et al 2014) can be linked to the evolution of the Pamir (Bande et al 2015b).…”