Late Cenozoic topographic growth of the South Tianshan Mountain Range: Insights from detrital apatite fission-track ages, northern Tarim Basin margin, NW China. (15th August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guo, Chao; Zhang, Zhiyong; Malusà, Marco G.; Chew, David; Xiang, Dunfeng; Wu, Lin; Wang, Nan; Xiao, Wenjiao
• Is Part Of: Journal of Asian earth sciences. Volume 234(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-08-15
• Subjects: South Tianshan -- Detrital apatite fission track ages -- Miocene topographic uplift -- Tarim aridification; Earth sciences -- Asia -- Periodicals; Sciences de la terre -- Asie -- Périodiques; Earth sciences; Asia; Periodicals; 555.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2022.105277
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-9120

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Rocks with Mesozoic fission track ages were resided in the paleo-partial annealing zone for a long time. The deformation commenced in the late Oligocene-early Miocene in South Tianshan. The provenance of the Tarim Basin changed at 10 Ma due to rapid uplift of the South Tianshan Mountain Range. Abstract: The Cenozoic deformation of the Tianshan Mountain Range within the framework of the India-Eurasia collision has been extensively studied. Previous thermochronologic studies of bedrocks in this range suggest a complex Triassic-Early Cretaceous tectonic evolution and subsequent tectonic quiescence in the Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene. Thus, constraining the exhumation and topographic growth of the Tianshan Mountain Range during the Cenozoic remains a challenge. In this study we report new detrital apatite fission-track ages for a Cenozoic sedimentary succession on the northern margin of the Tarim Basin (Kuqa River section). Thermochronologic age trends along the analyzed succession reveal two major age-shifts in sediments deposited at ∼ 23 Ma and ∼ 10 Ma, which we ascribe to major drainage reorganizations in response to uplift of the South Tianshan Mountain Range, an interpretation corroborated by published detrital zircon U-Pb and heavy mineral data. By comparing detrital apatite fission-track data with existing bedrock data, we infer that both North Tianshan, Yili-Central Tianshan and South Tianshan provided detritus to the Tarim Basin during the early and middle Miocene. At ∼ 10 Ma, the South Tianshan Mountain Range experienced rapid uplift and started forming a topographic barrier that blocked sediments flowing from North Tianshan and Yili-Central Tianshan into the Tarim Basin. We suggest that progressive topographic growth of the South Tianshan Mountain Range favored the aridification of the Tarim region by acting as a barrier to westerly winds.