Lithospheric structure and dynamic processes of the Tianshan orogenic belt and the Junggar basin

Abstract

Located at the center of the Eurasian continent and accommodating as much as 44% of the present crustal shortening between India and Siberia, the Tianshan orogenic belt (TOB) is one of the youngest (<20 Ma) and highest (elevation>7000 m) orogenic belts in the world. It provides a natural laboratory for examining the processes of intracontinental deformation. In recent years, wide angle seismic reflection/refraction profiling and magnetotelluric sounding surveys have been carried out along a geoscience transect which extends northeastward from Xayar at the northern margin of the Tarim basin (TB), through the Tianshan orogenic belt and the Junggar basin (JB), to Burjing at the southern piedmont of the Altay Mountain. We have also obtained the 2D density structure of the crust and upper mantle of this area by using the Bouguer anomaly data of Northwestern Xinjiang. With these surveys, we attempt to image the 2D velocity and the 2D electric structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath the Tianshan orogenic belt and the Junggar basin. In order to obtain the small-scale structure of the crust–mantle transitional zone of the study area, the wavelet transform method is applied to the seismic wide angle reflection/refraction data. Combining our survey results with heat flow and other geological data, we propose a model that interprets the deep processes beneath the Tianshan orogenic belt and the Junggar basin. Located between the Tarim basin and the Junggar basin, the Tianshan orogenic belt is a block with relatively low velocity, low density, and partially high resistivity. It is tectonically a shortening zone under lateral compression. A detachment exists in the upper crust at the northern margin of the Tarim basin. Its lower part of the upper crust intruded into the lower part of the upper and the middle crust of the Tianshan, near the Korla fault; its middle crust intruded into the lower crust of the Tianshan; and its lower crust and lithospheric mantle subducted into the upper mantle of the Tianshan. In these processes, the mass of the lower crust of the Tarim basin was carried down to the upper mantle beneath the Tianshan, forming a ∼20-km-thick complex crust–mantle transitional zone composed of seven thin layers with a lower than average velocity. The thrusting and folding of the sedimentary cover, the intrusive layer in the upper and middle crust, and the mass added by the subduction of the Tarim basin into the upper mantle of the Tianshan are probably responsible for the crustal thickening of the Tianshan. Due to the important mass deficiency in the crust and the upper mantle of the Tianshan, buoyancy must occur and lead to rapid ascent of the Tianshan. The episodic tectonic uplift of the Tianshan and tectonic subsidence of the Junggar basin are closely related to the evolution of the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Tethys.