Mesozoic Tectonically Driven Climatic Partitioning of the South Junggar and North Tarim Basins, Northwest China

Abstract

Detailed basin analysis of Mesozoic strata exposed in the south Junggar and north Tarim foreland basin Mesozoic depocenters, northwest China, has documented periodic structural reactivation of the intervening Tian Shan during that era. Coarse alluvial pulses, contained in an otherwise relatively fine-grained section of fluvial lacustrine sediments, were shed off both the north and south flanks of the Tian Shan during the Late Triassic, Latest Jurassic, and late Cretaceous. The lofty modern Tian Shan and associated rain shadow cast over the Tarim basin to the south reflect deformation associated with the early Cenozoic Himalayan collision; so too were the two basins climatically partitioned during the Mesozoic in response to relief produced by orogenesis. During prolonged episodes of relative tectonic quiescence, it appears that Tian Shan relief was too low to confine moisture to the windward side of the range. Most notable is the Middle Jurassic section that is dominated in both basins by a relatively fine-grained series of organic-rich, meandering fluvial, and lacustrine sediments. Pyrolytic analyses of organic-rich mudstones associated with these sediments document high H.I. kerogens, suggesting algal-dominated organic matter typical of anoxic lacustrine settings. However, detailed GC-MS biomarker analysis of the alipaphatic fraction also suggests substantial input frommore » higher land plants in addition to algal sources. Not only are n-alkane distributions typically dominated by high molecular weight compounds with an odd-over-even preference typical of higher land plants, but the abundance of specific diterpenoid biomarker compounds strongly suggests the development of widespread coniferous forests on either side of the range during the Middle Jurassic.« less