Abstract
The Cenozoic collision between India and Asia promoted the widespread uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, with significant deformation documented in the Pamir Plateau and West Kunlun Mountains. Low-temperature thermochronology and basin provenance analysis have revealed three episodes of rapid deformation and uplift in the Pamir–West Kunlun Mountains during the Cenozoic. However, there is very little low-temperature thermochronology age–elevation relationship (AER) data on fast exhumation events in this area—especially in the West Kunlun Mountains— leading to uncertainty surrounding how these events propagated within and around the mountain range. In this study, we produced an elevation profile across granite located south of Kudi, Xijiang Province, China, to reveal its exhumation history. Apatite fission track AER data show that a rapid exhumation event occurred at ∼26 Ma in the southern West Kunlun Mountains. When combined with published data, we interpret that the initial uplift events related to the India–Asia collision began in the central Pamir, southern West Kunlun, and northern West Kunlun regions during the Late Eocene, Oligocene, and Middle Miocene periods, respectively. Therefore, the Cenozoic northward growth process occurred from south to north around West Kunlun.
Highlights
The Cenozoic collision between India and Asia formed the Tibetan Plateau (TP, Figure 1A), a series of intracontinental orogenic belts (Tapponnier et al, 2001; Royden et al, 2008), and induced regional climatic change (Raymo and Ruddiman, 1992)
The break-in-slope point or zone in an age–elevation relationship (AER) should record a significant tectonic transformation (Braun, 2002; Valla et al, 2010), which is used to correlate with a rapid uplift event within the Tibetan Plateau (Zheng et al, 2006; Ouimet et al, 2010; Zheng et al, 2010; Lease et al, 2011; Wang et al, 2012; Tian et al, 2015)
As our samples were collected from the southern West Kunlun (SWK) (Figure 1B), the SWK is interpreted to have undergone rapid uplift at ∼26 Ma, followed by a period of slow uplift that continued to at least ∼15 Ma (Figure 5)
Summary
The Cenozoic collision between India and Asia formed the Tibetan Plateau (TP, Figure 1A), a series of intracontinental orogenic belts (Tapponnier et al, 2001; Royden et al, 2008), and induced regional climatic change (Raymo and Ruddiman, 1992). The West Kunlun Mountains (WK), situated in the southeastern Pamir, are divided into the southern West Kunlun (SWK) and Northward Growth of West Kunlun northern West Kunlun (NWK) regions These three parts of the Pamir extend to the southeast and correspond to the SWK, Songpan-Ganzi Terrane, and Qiangtang Terrane (Figure 1B; Robinson et al, 2004; Cowgill, 2010). Together, these domains are known as the Pamir–WK. The Cenozoic and pre-Cenozoic geological evolution of the Pamir–WK has been a topic of significant scientific focus over the past 20 years (Robinson et al, 2004; Cowgill, 2010; Li et al, 2020; Cai et al, 2021)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
