U-Pb ages of detrital zircon grains from the Cretaceous-Pliocene sedimentary rock of the Tierekesazi section located in the Pamir-Tian Shan convergence zone

Abstract

In this study, detrital zircon samples were collected from the Cretaceous-Pliocene sedimentary rock of Tierekesazi section in the Pamir-Tianshan convergence zone (Fig. 1). The sample locations are shown in Fig. 2. Combined with previous published data (Fig. 3), we reconstructed the Cenozoic tectonic-geomorphologic evolution history of the Pamir based on the detrital zircon provenance data (Fig. 4). Our new provenance data suggest that the Northern Pamir was uplifted before 41 Ma (Fig. 5) . Combined with detrital zircon U-Pb data from Cenozoic sediments in a series of section surrounded the Pamir, we infer that the Pamir was characterised by asymmetric drainage patterns with larger catchment basins in the west and smaller catchment basins in the east since the late Eocene. The asymmetric drainage system is resulted from either the establishment of the Pamir orocline or a westward decrease in the topography along the Northern Pamir. In the late Miocene-Pliocene, the SW Tian Shan was uplifted and became the primary provenance of the Tierekesazi section. In the same period, the eastward flowing drainage system have been established in the eastern Pamir-Tian Shan convergence zone (Fig. 5). This dataset includes figures and table, which supported the paper we've submitted to the journal ‘Tectonics’. The title of this paper is 'Cenozoic tectono-geomorphologic evolution of the Pamir-Tian Shan convergence zone: evidence from detrital zircon U-Pb provenance analyses'. (The detrital zircon U-Pb analyses include the zircon grain separation, detrital zircon mounting and element ratio and concentration measurement using LA-ICP-MS method. All the above analysis were carried out in the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Table 1 shows the U-Pb age and error of every single grains of the detrital zircon samples.The unit of the age is Ma.)