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How did the Alxa Block respond to the Indo-Eurasian collision?

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Abstract

The Cenozoic deformation of the Alxa Block resulted directly from the evolution of the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. However, many data show that the deformation occurred only in the Middle-Late Miocene. Our studies show that the Altyn Tagh fault did not pass through the Alxa Block; on the contrary it went along the southern boundary of the Jintai-Huahai Basin, linking with the Helishan—southern Longshoushan fault. Due to important tectonic events in the northern Qinghai-Tibetan plateau during the Middle-Late Miocene time, the northern plateau underwent rapid uplift and the plateau compressed the Hexi Corridor Region, resulting in a change from NS-trending to EW-trending structures in the Jinta-Huahai basin, and in the development of compressive structures in the Beishan. The southern Alxa fault underwent right lateral movement, and in the northern and central parts of the block, NS-trending Tertiary extensional structures formed. These basins controlled by Tertiary faults are similar to basins developed by lateral extrusion with a strong foreland and weak limited boundaries. The authors suggest that a regional “conjugate” fault system resulted from nearly NS-trending compression from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the Miocene and Pliocene in the Alxa Block and southern Mongolia. And due to the control of early structures in these regions, most brittle faults reactivated earlier ductile faults; NW–SE faults along the Altai Mountain and NE–SW faults to the southeast in Mongolia consist of a “conjugate” fault system to the north. The Altyn Tagh fault and southern Helishan-Longshoushan fault comprise a “conjugate” fault system to the south. The Beishan and Jinta-Huahai Basin occupied the convergent area between these two sets of faults; the compression controlled the Tertiary deposition and led to the development of the Cenozoic Jinta-Huahai Basin. The Alxa Block bounded by these two sets of faults moved eastwards, which resulted in the development of Cenozoic compressive structures to the west of Helan Shan, and superimposed early ductile shear zones along the northeastern and southwestern boundaries of the Alxa Block respectively. This model could explain the Cenozoic deformation occurring in and around the Alxa region.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (Nos. 2007CB411306, 2001CB409810), the China Geological Survey (No. 1212010611806) and the National Science Foundation of China (No. 40702032). Dr. Cheng Hongyi of Lanzhou University and his family gave us zealous help in the fieldwork. We thank Dr. Dickson Cunningham of Leicester University for helpful discussions during the preparation of this manuscript. And many thanks to Prof. Brian F. Windley of Leicester University for his patient modification of our early manuscrift. We used software written by Prof. Richard W. Allmendinger of Connell University to analyse paleo-currents and directions of paleo-stress for this paper.

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  1. Institute of Geology, China Seismological Administration, 100029, Beijing, China

    Jin Zhang & Zongjin Ma

  2. Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 100037, Beijing, China

    Jinyi Li

  3. China Center for Earthquake Disaster Emergency, 100049, Beijing, China

    Yanfeng Li

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Zhang, J., Li, J., Li, Y. et al. How did the Alxa Block respond to the Indo-Eurasian collision?. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 98, 1511–1527 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0404-2

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