Plume‐Modified Lithosphere Mantle Controlled the Cenozoic Sediment Thickness in the Tarim Basin

Abstract

AbstractThe Cenozoic sediments are very thick in the southwest Tarim Basin and very thin in the northwest, but what controls these variations is unclear. Here, we use two‐dimensional thermo‐mechanical models to investigate how the lateral variations in rheological strength and depletion density of cratonic lithosphere mantle affect the cratonic basin deformation. Model results show that the basin basement uplift occurs above either the region with crustal thickening or high depletion in the mantle. A model with a stronger and density‐depleted northern half of cratonic lithosphere mantle in the context of compression matches the differential Cenozoic subsidence and deformation observed in the Tarim Basin well. We propose that a Permian plume led to the lateral heterogeneity of the lithosphere mantle under the Tarim craton, and the modified lithosphere mantle characteristics caused the differential Cenozoic sediment thickness in the Tarim Basin.