Tectonometamorphic evolution of the Atbashi high‐Punits (KyrgyzCAOB, Tien Shan): Implications for the closure of the Turkestan Ocean and continental subduction–exhumation of the South Kazakh continental margin

Abstract

AbstractThe South Tien Shan (STS) belt results from the last collision event in the western Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). Understanding its formation is of prime importance in the general framework of theCAOB. The Atbashi Range preserves high‐P(HP) rocks along the STS suture, but still, its global metamorphic evolution remains poorly constrained. SeveralHPunits have been identified: (a) a HP tectonic mélange including boudins of mafic eclogites in a sedimentary matrix, (b) a large (>100 km long) high‐Pmetasedimentary unit (HPMU) and (c) a lower blueschist facies accretionary prism. Raman Spectroscopy on carbonaceous material combined with phengite and chlorite multiequilibria and isochemical phase diagram modelling indicates that theHPMUrecorded homogeneousP–Tconditions of 23–25 kbar and 560–570°C along the whole unit.40Ar/39Ar dating on phengite from theHPMUranges between 328 and 319 Ma at regional scale. These ages are interpreted as (re‐) crystallization ages of phengite duringTmaxconditions at a pressure range of 20–25 kbar. Thermobarometry on samples from the HP tectonic mélange provides similar metamorphic peak conditions. Thermobarometry on the blueschist to lower greenschist facies accretionary prism indicates that it underwentP–Tconditions of 5–6 kbar and 290–340°C, highlighting a 17–20 kbar pressure gap between theHPMU‐tectonic mélange units and the accretionary prism. Comparison with available geochronological data suggests a very short time span between the prograde path (340 Ma),HPmetamorphic peak (330 Ma), theTmax(328–319 Ma) and the final exhumation of theHPMU(303–295 Ma). Extrusion of theHPMU, accommodated by a basal thrust and an upper detachment, was driven by buoyant forces from 70–75 km up to 60 km depth, which directly followed continental subduction and detachment of theHPMU. At crustal depths, extrusion was controlled by collisional tectonics up to shallow levels. Lithological homogeneity of theHPMUand its continental‐derived character from the North Tien Shan suggest this unit corresponds to the hyper‐extended continental margin of the Kazakh continent, subducted southward below the north continental active margin of the Tarim craton. Integration of the available geological data allows us to propose a general geodynamic scenario for Tien Shan during the Carboniferous with a combination of (a) N‐dipping subduction below the Kazakh margin of Middle Tien Shan until 390–340 Ma and (b) S‐dipping subduction of remaining Turkestan marginal basins between 340 and 320 Ma.