Skip to main content
Log in

Deep seismic reflection profile across the juncture zone between the Tarim Basin and the West Kunlun Mountains

  • Notes
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Fine structures of the crust and upper mantle of the basin-and-range juncture on the northwestern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are first delineated by the deep seismic reflection profile across the juncture zone between the Tarim Basin and the West Kunlun Mountains. Evidence is found for the northward subduction of the northwest marginal lithosphere of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its collision with Tarim lithosphere beneath the West Kunlun Mountains. The lithosphere image of the face-to-face subduction and collision determines the coupling relationship between the Tarim Basin and the West Kunlun Mountains at the lithosphere scale and reflects the process of continent-continent collision.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Argand, E., La tectonique de I’Asic, Int. Geol. Congr. Rep. Sess., 1924, 13: 170.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Dewey, J. F., Burke, K., Tibetan, Variscan and Precambrian basement reactivation: Products of continental collision. J. Geol., 1973, 81:683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ni, J., Barazangi, M., Seismotectonics of the Himalayan collision zone: Geometry of the underthrusting Indian plate beneath Himalaya, J. Geophys. Res., 1984, 89: 1147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Molnar, P., The geological evolution of the Tibetan Plateau, American Scientist, 1989, 77: 350.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Li Tingdong, The process and mechanism of the rise of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Tectonophysics, 1996, 260:45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Arnaud, N., Vidal Ph. O., Tapponnier, P. et al. The high K2O volcanism of the western Tibet: Geochemistry and tectonic implications, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 1992, 111: 351.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang Shuyun, Shi Zhenliang, Huan Weilin, A destructive earthquake with middle focal in Yecheng of Xingjiang on 14, Feb. 1980, Acta Seismology, 1992, 14(2): 137.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gao Rui, Cheng Xiangzhou, Ding Qian, Preliminary geodynamic model of Golmud-Ejin geoscience transect, Acta Geophysica Sinica (in Chinese), 1995, 38(Supp. II): 3.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Wittlinger, G., P. Tapponnier, G., Jiang Mei et al., Topographic evidence for localized lithospheric shew along the Altyn Tagh Fault, Science, 1998, 28: 74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Willett, S. D., Beaumont, C., Subduction of Asian lithospheric mantle beneath Tibet inferred from models of continental collision, Nature, 1993, 369: 642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zeng Rongsheng, Ding Zhifeng, Wu Qingju, The crustal structures from Himalaya to Qilian and its implication for continent-continent collision process, Acta Geophysica Sinica (in Chinese), 1998, 41(1): 49.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gao Rui, Li Tingdong, Wu Gongjian, Lithospheric evolution and geodynamic process of the Qinghai-Tibet an Plateau: An inspiration from the Yadong-Golmud geoscience transect, Geological Review (in Chinese), 1998, 44(4): 389.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gao Rui, Cheng Xiangzhou, Wu Gongjian, Lithospheric structure and geodynamic model of the Golmud-Ejin transect in northern Tibet, Geological Society of America, 1999, Special Paper 328: 9.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jin Xiaochi, Wang Jun, Ren Liudong et al., Problems concerning the tectonics of the West Kunlun orogen, Advances in Structural Geology and Geodynamics in China (eds. Ma Zongjin, Yang Zhu’en, Wu Zhengwen) (in Chinese), Beijing: Seismological Press, 1999, 105–113.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gao Guoying, Wang Shengze, Catalogue of earthquakes in Tianshan area, Inland Earthquake (in Chinese), 1997, 11(Supp.): 148.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Jiang Chunfa, Yang Jingsui, Feng Binggui et al., Opening Closing Tectonics of Kunlun Mountains (in Chinese), Beijing: GeologicalPublishingHouse, 1992, 1–224.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Pan Yusheng, Discovery and evidence of the fifth suture zone of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Acta Geophysica Sinica (in Chinese), 1994, 37(2): 184.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Brown, L., Wille, D., Zheng, L. et al., COCORP: new perspectives on the deep crust, Geophys. J. R. Astr. Soc., 1987, 89:47.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Gao Rui, Li Dexing, Lu Deyuan et al., Deep seismic reflection profile across contact zone of West Kunlun and Tarim along the Xinjiang geotransect in NW China, Terra Nostra, Schriften der Alfred-Wegener-Stiftung, 1999, 2: 49.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Li, D., Hydrocarbon occurrences in the petroliferous basins of western China, Mar. Pet. Geol., 1995, 12:26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhao, W., Nelson, K. D., INDEPTH Team, Deep seismic reflection evidence for continental underthrusting beneath Tibet, Nature, 1993, 366: 557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Mayakovsky, Y., Klemperer, S. L., Ratschbacher, L., et al., Midcrustal reflector on INDEFTH wide-angle profiling: An ophiolitic slab beneath the India-Asia suture in southern Tibet? Tectonics, 1999, 18(5): 793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rui Gao.

About this article

Cite this article

Gao, R., Huang, D., Lu, D. et al. Deep seismic reflection profile across the juncture zone between the Tarim Basin and the West Kunlun Mountains. Chin. Sci. Bull. 45, 2281–2286 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02886369

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02886369

Keywords

Navigation