Intraplate thrust orogeny of the Altai Mountains revealed by deep seismic reflection

Abstract

The Altai orogen is a typical intracontinental orogen in Central Asia that experienced far-field deformation associated with Indian-Eurasian plate convergence. This region is characterized by uplift comparable to that of the Tianshan Mountains but has a distinct strain rate. Half of the Indo-Asia strain is accommodated by the Tianshan Mountains, whereas the Altai Mountains accommodates only 10%. To elucidate how the Altai Mountains produced such a large amount of uplift with only one-fifth of the strain rate of the Tianshan Mountains, we constructed a detailed crustal image of the Altai Mountains based on a new 166.8-km deep seismic reflection profile. The prestack migration images reveal an antiform within the Erqis crust, an ∼10 km Moho offset between the Altai arc and the East Junggar area, and a major south-dipping (30° dip) thrust in the lower crust beneath the Altai Mountains, which is connected to the Moho offset. The south-dipping thrust not only records the southward subduction of the Ob-Zaisan Ocean in the Paleozoic but also controlled the Altai deformation pattern in the Cenozoic with the Erqis antiform. The Erqis antiform prevented the extension of deformation to the Junggar crust. The south-dipping thrust in the lower crust of the Altai area caused extrusion of the lower crust, generating uplift at the surface, thickening of the crust, and steep (∼10 km) Moho deepening in the Altai Mountains. This process significantly widened the deformation zone of the Altai Mountains. These findings provide a new geodynamic model for describing how inherited crustal structure controls intraplate deformation without strong horizontal stress.