Lyell Collection
Journal of the Geological Society
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cunningham, D.
Right arrow Articles by Jiliang, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 2003; v. 160; issue.4; p. 575-590;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-764902-122
© 2003 Geological Society of London

Original Article

Structural framework of a major intracontinental orogenic termination zone: the easternmost Tien Shan, China

Dickson Cunningham1, LewisA. Owen2, LarryW. Snee3 & Li Jiliang4

1 1Orogenic Processes Group, Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK (e-mail: wdc2@le.ac.uk)
2 2University of California, Riverside, Department of Earth Sciences, Riverside, CA, USA
3 3Denver Argon Geochronology Laboratory, US Geological Survey, Denver, CO, USA
4 4Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China

The Barkol Tagh and Karlik Tagh ranges of the easternmost Tien Shan are a natural laboratory for studying the fault architecture of an active termination zone of a major intracontinental mountain range. Barkol and Karlik Tagh and lesser ranges to the north are bounded by active thrust faults that locally deform Quaternary sediments. Major thrusts in Karlik Tagh connect along strike to the east with the left-lateral Gobi–Tien Shan Fault System in SW Mongolia. From a Mongolian perspective, Karlik Tagh represents a large restraining bend for this regional strike-slip fault system, and the entire system of thrusts and strike-slip faults in the Karlik Tagh region defines a horsetail splay fault geometry. Regionally, there appears to be a kinematic transition from thrust-dominated deformation in the central Tien Shan to left-lateral transpressional deformation in the easternmost Tien Shan. This transition correlates with a general eastward decrease in mountain belt width and average elevation and a change in the angular relationship between the NNE-directed maximum horizontal stress in the region and the pre-existing basement structural grain, which is northwesterly in the central Tien Shan (orthogonal to SHmax) but more east–west in the eastern Tien Shan (acute angular relationship with SHmax). Ar–Ar ages indicate that major range-bounding thrusts in Barkol and Karlik Tagh are latest Permian–Triassic ductile thrust zones that underwent brittle reactivation in the Late Cenozoic. It is estimated that the modern mountain ranges of the extreme easternmost Tien Shan could have been constructed by only 10–15 km of Late Cenozoic horizontal shortening.

Key Words: Tien Shan • Cenozoic • tectonics • intracontinental belts




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
D. Cunningham
Structural and topographic characteristics of restraining bend mountain ranges of the Altai, Gobi Altai and easternmost Tien Shan
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2007; 290: 219 - 237.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
P. Mann
Global catalogue, classification and tectonic origins of restraining- and releasing bends on active and ancient strike-slip fault systems
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2007; 290: 13 - 142.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
W. D. Cunningham and P. Mann
Tectonics of strike-slip restraining and releasing bends
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2007; 290: 1 - 12.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ajsHome page
W.-J. Xiao, L.-C. Zhang, K.-Z. Qin, S. Sun, and J.-L. Li
Paleozoic accretionary and collisional tectonics of the eastern Tianshan (China): Implications for the continental growth of central Asia
Am J Sci, 2004; 304: 370 - 395.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]