Eastward migration of the Qaidam basin and its implications for Cenozoic evolution of the Altyn Tagh fault and associated river systems

Bulletin of the Geological Society of America

Volumn 118, Issue 3-4, 2006, Pages 349-365

  Wang, Erchie ^a   Xu, Feng Yin ^b   Zhou, Jian Xun ^c   Wan, Jinglin ^d   Burchfiel, B Clark ^e  

^a INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS   (China)

^b PETROCHINA COMPANY LIMITED   (China)

^c CHINA UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM   (China)

^d INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY   (China)

^e MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

Author keywords

Depocenter eastward migration; Longitudinal river; Qaidam basin; Tibetan plateau

Indexed keywords

BASIN SEDIMENTS; DEPOCENTER EASTWARD MIGRATION; LONGITUDINAL RIVER; NONMARINE SEDIMENTARY ROCKS;

DEFORMATION; LANDFORMS; RIVERS; SEDIMENT TRANSPORT; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS; SEDIMENTS; SEISMOLOGY;

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY;

BASIN EVOLUTION; CENOZOIC; FAULT; MIGRATION; TECTONIC EVOLUTION;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST; QAIDAM BASIN; QINGHAI;

EID: 33645277095     PISSN: 00167606     EISSN: 00167606     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1130/B25778.1     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. Armijo, R., Tapponnier, P., Mercier, J.L., and Han, T., 1986, Quaternary extension in southern Tibet: Field observations and tectonic implications: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 91, p. 13,803-13,872.
2. Avouac, J.P., and Tapponnier, P., 1993, Kinematic model of active deformation in central Asia: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 20, p. 895-898.
3. Bally, A.W., Chou, I.M., Clayton, R., Eugster, H.P., Kidwell, S., Meckel, L.D., Ryder, R.T., Watts, A.B., and Wilson, A.A., 1986, Notes on sedimentary basins in China, report of the American Delegation to the People's Republic of China: U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report, v. 86-327, p. 108.
4. Beck, R.A., Afzal, J., Barndt, J.K., Berry, J.R., Burbank, D.W., Cheema, A., Jurgen, H., Khan, A.M., Lawrence, R.D., Metie, J., Riley, G.W., Sercombe, W.J., and Shafique, N.A., 1995, Stratigraphic evidence for an early collision between northwest India and Asia: Nature, v. 373, p. 55-58.
5. Bedrosian, P.A., Unsworth, M.J., and Wang, F., 2001, Structure of the Altyn Tagh fault and Daxue Shan from magnetotelluric surveys: Implications for faulting associated with the rise of the Tibetan plateau: Tectonics, v. 20, p. 474-486, doi: 10.1029/2000TC001215.
6. Brookfield, M.E., 1998, The evolution of the great river systems of southern Asia during the Cenozoic India-Asia collision: Rivers draining southwards: Geomorphology, v. 22, p. 285-312, doi: 10.1016/ S0169-555X(97)00082-2.
7. Burbank, D.W., 1992, Causes of recent Himalayan uplift deduced from deposited patterns in the Ganges basin: Nature, v. 357, p. 680-683, doi: 10.1038/357680a0.
8. Burchfiel, B.C., and Royden, L.H., 1991, Tectonics of Asia 50 yr after the death of Emile Argand: Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, v. 84, p. 599-629.
9. Burchfiel, B.C., Deng, Q., Molnar, P., Royden, L.H., Wang, Y., Zhang, P., and Zhang, W., 1989, Intracrustal detachment within zones of continental deformation: Geology, v. 17, p. 748-752, doi: 10.1130/ 0091-7613(1989)017<0448:IDWZOC>2.3.CO;2.
10. Burtman, V.S., and Molnar, P., 1993, Geological and geophysical evidence for deep subduction of continental crust beneath the Pamir: Geological Society of America Special Paper 281, p. 1-76.
11. Chen, W., Chen, C., and Nabelek, J.L., 1999, Present-day deformation of the Qaidam basin with implications for intra-continental tectonics: Tectonophysics, v. 305, p. 165-181, doi: 10.1016/S0040-1951(99)00006-2.
12. Clark, M.K., Schoenbohm, L.M., Royden, L.H., Whipple, K.X, Burchfiel, B.C., Zhang, X., Tang, W., Wang, E., and Chen, L., 2004, Surface uplift, tectonics and erosion of eastern Tibet from large-scale drainage patterns: Tectonics, v. 23, p. TC1006, doi: 10.1029/2002TC001402, doi:10.1029/2002TC001402.
13. Cowgill, E., Yin, A., Harrison, T.M., and Wang, X., 2003, Reconstruction of the Altyn Tagh fault based on U-Pb geochronology: Role of back thrust, mantle sutures, and heterogeneous crustal strength in forming the Tibetan Plateau: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 108, no. B7, p. 2346, doi: 10.1029/2002JB002080, doi: 10.1029/2002JB002080.
14. Cowgill, E., Yin, A., Arrowsmith, J.R., Wang, X., and Zhang, S., 2004, The Akato Tagh bend along the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest Tibet 1: Smoothing by vertical-axis rotation and the effect of topographic stresses on bend-flanking faults: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 116, p. 1423-1442, doi: 10.1130/B25359.1, doi: 10.1130/ B25359.1.
15. Dewey, J.F., Cande, S., and Pitman, W.C., III, 1989, Tectonic evolution of the India/Eurasia collision zone: Eclogae Geologica Helvetica, v. 82, p. 717-734.
16. Dupont-Nivet, G., Robinson, D., Butler, R., Yin, A., and Melosh, H.J., 2004, Concentration of crustal displacement along a weak Altyn Tagh fault: Evidence form paleomagnetism of the northern Tibetan Plateau: Tectonics, v. 23, p. TC1020, doi: 10.1029/2002TC001397.
17. Editorial Board of A Series of Books of Petroleum Geology of China, 1990, Petroleum Geology of China: Beijing, Petroleum Industry Publishing House, v. 14, 483 p.
18. Galbraith, R.F., 1981, On statistical models for fission track counts: Mathematic Geology, v. 13, p. 471-478.
19. Gansser, A., 1964, The Geology of the Himalayas: New York, Interscience, 289 p.
20. Gleadow, A.J.W., and Duddy, I.R., 1981, A natural long-term annealing experiment for apatite: Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements, v. 5, p. 169-174.
21. Gu, S., Xu, W., Xue, C., Di, S., Yang, F., Di, H., and Zhao, D., 1990, Regional Petroleum Geology of Qinghai-Xizang Oil-Gas Field (Chinese with English title): Beijing, Petroleum Publishing House, v. 14, p. 88.
22. Harrison, T.M., Chen, W., Leloup, P.H., Ryerson, F.J., and Tapponnier, P., 1992, An early Miocene transition in deformation regime within the Red River fault zone, Yunnan, and its significance for Indo-Asia tectonics: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 97, p. 7159-7182.
23. Hendrix, M.S., Dumiyru, T.A., and Graham, S.A., 1994, Late Oligocene-early Miocene unroofing in the Chinese Tian Shan: An early effect of the India-Asia collision: Geology, v. 22, p. 487-490.
24. Huang, H., Huang, Q., and Ma, Y., 1996, Geology of the Qaidam Basin and its Petroleum Prediction: Beijing, Geological Publishing House, 257 p. (Chinese with English abstract).
25. Hurford, A.J., and Green, P.F., 1983, The zeta age calibration of fission-track dating: Chemical Geology, v. 1, p. 285-317.
26. Jaeger, J.J., Courtillot, V., and Tapponnier, P., 1989, Paleontological view of the ages of the Deccan traps, the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary and the India-Asia collision: Geology, v. 17, p. 316-319, doi: 10.1130/ 0091-7613(1989)017<0316:PVOTAO>2.3.CO;2.
27. Jolivet, M., Brunel, M., Seward, D., Xu, Z., Yang, J., Roger, J., Tapponnier, P., Malavieille, J., Arnaud, N., and Wu, C., 2001, Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics of the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau: Fission-track constraints: Tectonophysics, v. 343, p. 111-134, doi: 10.1016/S0040-1951(01)00196-2.
28. Lacassin, R., Valli, F., Arnaud, N., Leloup, P.H., Paquette, J.L., Li, H., Tapponnier, P., Chevalier, M., Guillot, S., Maheo, G., and Xu, Z., 2004, Large-scale geometry, offset and kinematic evolution of the Karakorum fault, Tibet: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 219, p. 255-269.
29. Leloup, P.H., Lacassin, R., Tapponnier, P., Schärer, U., Zhong, D., Lui, S., Zhang, L., Ji, S., and Pan, T., 1995, The Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone (Yunnan, China), Tertiary transform boundary of Indochina: Tectonophysics, v. 251, p. 3-84.
30. Li, J., Fang, X., Van der Voo, R., Zhu, J., MacNiocaill, C., Ono, Y., Pan, B., Zhong, W., Wang, J., Sasaki, T., Zhang, Y., Cao, J., Kang, S., and Wang, J., 1997, Magnetostratigraphic dating of river terraces: Rapid and intermittent incision by Yellow River of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau during the Quaternary: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 102, p. 10,121-10,132.
31. Matte, P., Tapponnier, P., Arnaud, N., Bourjot, L., Avouac, J.P., Vidal, Ph., Liu, Q., Pan, Y., and Wang, Y., 1996, Tectonics of Western Tibet, between the Tarim and the Indus: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 142, p. 311-330.
32. Meng, Q., Hu, J., and Yang, F., 2001, Timing and magnitude of displacement on the Altyn Tagh fault: Constraints from stratigraphic correlation of adjacent Tarim and Qaidam basin: NW China: Terra Nova, v. 13, p. 86-91, doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3121.2001.00320.x.
33. Métivier, F., Gaudemer, Y., Tapponnier, P., and Meyer, B., 1998, Northeastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau deduced from balanced reconstruction of two depositional areas: The Qaidam and Hexi Corridor basins, China: Tectonics, v. 17, p. 832-842.
34. Meyer, B., Tapponnier, P., Bourjot, L, Métivier, F., Gaudemer, Y., Peltzer, G., Guo, S., and Chen, Z., 1998, Crustal thickening in Gansu-Qinghai, lithospheric mantle subduction, and oblique, strike-slip controlled growth of the Tibetan plateau: Geophysical Journal of the Interior, v. 135, p. 1-47.
35. Miall, A.D., 1996, The Geology of Fluvial Deposits: Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 582 p.
36. Molnar, P., and England, P., 1990, Late Cenozoic uplift of mountain ranges and global climate change: Chicken or egg?: Nature, v. 346, p. 29-34, doi: 10.1038/346029a0.
37. Molnar, P., and Tapponnier, P., 1975, Cenozoic tectonics of Asia - Effects of a continental collision: Science, v. 189, p. 419-426.
38. Murphy, M.A., Yin, A., Kapp, P., Harrison, T.M., Ding, L., and Guo, J., 2000, Southward propagation of the Karakoram fault system, southwest Tibet: Timing and magnitude of slip: Geology, v. 28, p. 451-454.
39. Pan, G., 1984, Cenozoic structures and the nature of mountain building in the Altyn Tagh region, in Geology of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau, Beijing: Beijing, Chinese Science Press, v. 15, p. 113-120.
40. Pan, Y., 1996, Regional geologic evolution and conclusion, in Pan, Y., ed., Geologic Evolution of the Karakorum and Kunlun Mountains: Beijing, Seismological Press, p. 263-268.
41. Peltzer, G., and Tapponnier, P., 1988, Formation and evolution of strike-slip faults, rifts, and basins during the India-Asia collision: An experimental approach: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 93, p. 15,085-15,117.
42. Peltzer, G., Tapponnier, P., and Amijo, R., 1989, Magnitude of late Quaternary left-lateral displacement along the north edge of Tibet: Science, v. 246, p. 1285-1289.
43. Qinghai Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, 1991, Regional Geology of Qinghai Province: Beijing, Geological Publishing House, 662 p.
44. Qiu, N., Kang, Y., and Jin, Z., 2003, Temperature and pressure field in the Tertiary succession of the western Qaidam basin, northeast Qinghai-Tibet plateau, China: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 20, p. 493-507, doi:10.1016/S0264-8172(03)00080-1.
45. Ritts, B.D., and Biffi, U., 2000, Magnitude of post-Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) displacement on the Altyn Tagh fault, NW China: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 112, p. 61-74, doi: 10.1130/ 0016-7606(2000)112<0061:MOPMJB>2.3.CO;2.
46. Robinson, A.C., Yin, A., Manning, C.E., Harrison, T.M., Zhang, S., and Wang, X., 2004, Tectonic evolution of the northeastern Pamir: Constraints from the northern portion of the Cenozoic Kongur Shan extensional system, western China: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 116, p. 953-973, doi: 10.1130/B25375.1.
47. Searle, M.P., Weinberg, R.F., and Dunlap, W.J., 1998, Transpressional tectonics along the Karakoram fault zone, northern Ladakh: Constraints on Tibetan extrusion, in Holdsworth, R.E., Strachan, R.A., and Dewey, J.F., eds., Continental Transpressional and Transtensional Tectonics: Geological Society [London] Special Publication 135, p. 307-326.
48. Sobel, E.R., and Dumitru, T.A., 1997, Thrusting and exhumation around the margins of the western Tarim basin during the India-Asia collision: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 102, no. B3, p. 5043-5063, doi:10.1029/96JB03267.
49. Tapponnier, P., and Molnar, P., 1977, Active faulting and tectonics in China: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 82, p. 2905-2930.
50. Tapponnier, P., Mattauer, M., Proust, F., and Cassaigneau, C., 1981, Mesozoic ophiolites, sutures and large-scale tectonic movements in Afghanistan: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 52, p. 355-371, doi: 10.1016/0012-821X(81)90189-8.
51. Tapponnier, P., Peltzer, G., and Armijo, R., 1986, On the mechanics of the collision between India and Asia: Geological Society [London] Special Publication 19, p. 115-157.
52. Tapponnier, P., Meyer, B., Avouac, J.P., Peltzer, G., Gaudemer, Y., Shunmin, G., Hongfa, X., Kelun, Y., Zhitai, C., Shuahua, C., and Huagang, D., 1990, Active thrusting and folding in the Qilian Shan, and decoupling between upper crust and mantle in northeastern Tibet: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 97, p. 382-403, doi: 10.1016/ 0012-821X(90)90053-Z.
53. Tapponnier, P., Xu, Z.Q., Roger, F., Meyer, B., Arnaud, N., Wittlinger, G., and Yang, J.S., 2001, Oblique stepwise rise and growth of the Tibetan Plateau: Science, v. 294, p. 1671-1677, doi: 10.1126/ science.105978.
54. Wang, E., 1997, Displacement and timing along the northern strand of the Altyn Tagh fault zone, northern Tibet: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 150, p. 55-64, doi: 10.1016/S0012-821X(97)00085-X.
55. Wang, E., and Burchfiel, B.C., 2004, Late Cenozoic right-lateral movement along the Wenquan fault and its implications for the kinematics of the Qaidam basin, the northeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau: International Geology Review, v. 46, p. 861-879.
56. Wang, E., Wan, J., and Liu, J., 2003, Late Cenozoic geological evolution of the foreland basin bordering the West Kunlun range in Pulu area: Constraints on timing of uplift of the northern margin of the Tibetan plateau: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 108, no. B6, p. 1-15.
57. Wittlinger, G., Tapponnier, P., Ooupinet, G., Jiang, M., Shi, D., Herquel, G., and Masson, F., 1998, Tomographic evidence for localized lithospheric shear along the Altyn Tagh fault: Science, v. 282, p. 74-76, doi:10.1126/science.282.5386.74.
58. Yin, A., and Harrison, T.M., 2000, Geologic evolution of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 28, p. 211-280, doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.28.1.211.
59. Yin, A., Rumelhard, P.E., Butler, R., Cowgill, E., Harrison, T.M., Foster, D.A., Ingersoll, R.V., Zhang, Q., Zhou, X., Wang, X., Hanson, A., and Raza, A., 2002, Tectonic history of the Altyn Tagh fault system in northern Tibet inferred from Cenozoic sedimentation: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 114, p. 1257-1295, doi: 10.1130/ 0016-7606(2002)114<1257:THOTAT>2.0.CO;2.
60. Yue, Y., Ritts, B.D., and Graham, S.A., 2001, Initiation and long-term slip history of the Altyn Tagh fault: International Geology Review, v. 43, p. 1087-1093.
61. Zhang, P., Molnar, P., and Downs, W.R., 2001, Increased sedimentation rates and grain sizes 2-4 Myr ago due to the influence of climate change on erosion rates: Nature, v. 410, p. 891-897, doi: 10.1038/35069099.
62. Zhou, D., and Graham, S.A., 1996, Extrusion of the Altyn Tagh wedge: A kinematic model for the Altyn Tagh fault and palinspastic reconstruction of northern China: Geology, v. 24, p. 427-430, doi: 10.1130/ 0091-7613(1996)024<0427:EOTATW>2.3.CO;2.
63. Zhu, Y., Zhong, J., and Li, W., 1994, The Neotectonic Movement and the Evolution of Saline Lakes of Qaidam Basin in Northwestern China: Beijing, Geological Publishing House, 132 p. (with English abstract).