AbstractThe IndiaâEurasia collision has produced a number of Cenozoic deep intracontinental basins, which bear important information for revealing the farâafield responses to the remote collision. Despite their significance, their subsiding mechanism remains the subject of debate, with endâmember models attributing it to either orogenic or sedimentary load. In this study, we conduct flexural subsidence modeling with a twoâdimensional finite elastic plate model on the HotanâMazatagh section along the southern Tarim Basin, which defines a key region in the foreland of the West Kunlun Orogen, along the NW margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The modeling results indicate that the orogenic load of West Kunlun triggers the southern Tarim Basin to subside by up to less than âŒ6 km, with its impact weakening towards the basin interiors until âŒ230 km north from the Karakax fault. The sedimentary load, consisting of Cenozoic strata, forces the basin to subside by âŒ2 to âŒ7 km. In combination with the retreat of the protoâParatethys Sea and the paleogeographic reorganization of the Tarim Basin, we propose that surface processes, in particular a shift from an exorheic to an endorheic drainage system associated with the consequent thick sedimentary load, played a decisive role in forming deep intracontinental basins in the context of the IndiaâEurasia collision.