TS7.7

A lateral continuity between belts of mafic and ultramafic Paleozoic rocks found in the West Kunlun of Northern Tibet and comparable rocks, known from an outcrop in the Chinese North Pamir, has long been proposed. This led to the concept of an originally generally straight, E–W trending Oytag–Kudi suture zone. In turn, this paleogeographic model formed a key constraint for the hypothesis, that the Pamir has indented 300 km northward with respect to Tibet during the Cenozoic. We show, that the arc volcanic rocks found in the North Pamir are distinguishable from the units known from the West Kunlun.
The North Pamir is dominated by Paleozoic arc volcanic rocks. We present new geochemical and geochronological data to give a holistic view of an early to mid-Carboniferous arc complex. This belt was previously identified as an intraoceanic arc in the northeastern North Pamir. Our data yields evidence for a gradual lateral change towards the west into a Cordilleran-style arc in the Tajik North Pamir. Large leucocratic granitoid intrusions are hosted in part by Devonian to Carboniferous oceanic crust and the metamorphic Kurguvad basement block of Ediacaran age (maximum deposition age) in Tajikistan. LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of zircons, together with whole rock geochemistry derived from tonalitic to granodioritic intrusions, reveal a major Visean to Bashkirian intrusive phase between 340 and 320 Ma ago.
The West Kunlun experienced two major intrusive phases, connected with arc-volcanic activity — a first phase during Proto-Tethys closure in Ordovician and Silurian times and a second phase connected to the Triassic Paleo-Tethys closure. The Carboniferous arc-volcanic phase in the North Pamir clearly postdates Paleozoic arc-magmatic activity in the West Kunlun by ~100 Ma. This observation, along with geochemical evidence for a more pronounced mantle component in the Carboniferous arc-magmatic rocks of the North Pamir, disagrees with the common model of a continuous Kunlun belt from the West Kunlun into the North Pamir. Moreover, Paleozoic oceanic units younger than and west of Tarim cratonic crust challenge the idea of a continuous cratonic Tarim-Tajik continent beneath the Pamir.

How to cite: Rembe, J., Sobel, E. R., Kley, J., Zhou, R., Thiede, R., and Chen, J.: No continuous suture between Kudi and Oytag: new evidence from geochronology and geochemistry data, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-9516, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9516, 2021.

The ca. 35 km long, N-S-trending Altyn Darya valley in Kyrgyzstan exposes a nearly complete cross-section of the External Pamir thrust belt (EP), extending from the active Pamir Frontal Thrust in the north to the Main Pamir Thrust (MPT) and some distance into its hanging-wall. The EP comprises a northward imbricated stack of Carboniferous to Late Neogene rocks. From north to south, young clastics of the Alai Valley foreland basin are overthrust by an intensely folded and thrust-repeated frontal stack of Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene limestone, shale and evaporite. Lower Cretaceous red sandstones first emerge above north- and south-verging thrusts forming a triangle zone whose core comprises spectacular isoclinal folds in Upper Cretaceous strata. Towards the south, another thrust imbricate of Lower Cretaceous is overthrust by Late Triassic-Jurassic sandstones and mafic volcanics which are themselves overthrust by an internally deformed, Carboniferous to Triassic succession of, from bottom to top, greywacke and shale, limestone, volcanoclastic conglomerates, variegated sandstone-shale and pink conglomerates. The Carboniferous units in the south are truncated by the MPT which emplaces a succession of greenschist, marble and chert overlain by a km-thick sequence of metamorphosed and deformed, pillow-bearing lavas of Carboniferous age. Structural geometries and fault preference indicate that the basal detachment of the EP deepens southward very gently, stepping down from a detachment in Upper Cretaceous shale to another one near the base of the Lower Cretaceous and eventually a third one in Triassic shale. Cross-section balancing suggests minimum shortening of 75 km for units in the MPT´s footwall. The displacement on the MPT is poorly constrained due to eroded hanging-wall cutoffs, but must exceed 15 km. The basal detachment cuts into basement no earlier than 100 km from the present thrust front, too far south to link up with the top of the Pamir slab.

The stratigraphic succession exposed in Altyn Darya can be readily correlated with less deformed and less metamorphosed transects in westernmost China (Qimgan and Kawuke), some 250 km to the east. A marble-greenschist sequence similar to that carried on the MPT in Altyn Darya has been identified there as a tectonic nappe of the Karakul-Mazar unit, emplaced from the south already in an Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic (Late Cimmerian) event. If the correlation is correct, then the MPT had a Mesozoic precursor structure extending over much of the E-W striking segment of the Northern Pamir.

How to cite: Kley, J., Voigt, T., Sobel, E. R., Rembe, J., and Jie, C.: Transect across the External Pamir thrust belt and Main Pamir Thrust along the Altyn Darya valley, Kyrgyzstan, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-12484, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-12484, 2021.

The Pamir forms the northwestern tail of the Tibetan plateau and is a first-order tectonic feature of the Cenozoic Indo-Eurasian collision. The nature of the topographic uplift and orogenic growth of the entire northwestern margin of the Pamir is poorly constrained; however, this history can provide important constraints that are required to test geodynamic models of the tectonic evolution of the Pamir. Here we focus on the uplift history of the western and northwestern unglaciated margin of the Northern Pamir, the Darvaz and the Peter-the-First Ranges. These three ranges were formed by three major fault systems: the Main Pamir Thrust (MPT), the Darvaz and the Vakhsh fault zones (DFZ, VFZ). To assess the impact of tectonic uplift on the geomorphic evolution, we analyzed geomorphic characteristics of the topography, the longitudinal river profiles and the relief. To better constrain the regional crustal cooling history and uplift, we obtained thermochronologic cooling ages from the three regions.

We present 19 new zircon (U-Th-Sm)/He (ZHe) ages, 7 apatite fission track (AFT) ages, and 4 apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) ages, ranging between >200 and 4 Ma, 14 and 4 Ma, and 15 and 3 Ma, respectively. The three units are characterized by unique Neogene cooling pathways, suggesting that they exhumed independently.

We discovered extensive low-relief landscapes with Neogene sedimentary cover uplifted ~2 km in elevation above the present-day regional base level. Our analysis indicates that the Panj and Vakhsh rivers form the regional base levels for the river network draining the entire northern and western margin of the Pamir. In the hanging wall of DFZ, the Paleozoic bedrock is characterized by significant relief (>1 km), the Neogene cover onlaps directly onto this Paleozoic bedrock. The tributary rivers crossing these landscapes are characterized by gentle, concave upstream longitudinal profiles at high elevation. These are interrupted by major knickpoint zones and steep downstream segments draining towards the deeply incised Panj and Vakhsh rivers. This indicates that the Darvaz Fault hanging wall had been uplifted and eroded prior to deposition of upper Neogene sediments, suggesting that the DFZ has a prolonged Neogene slip history. In contrast to the northeastern Pamir, here, the MPT-hanging-wall is characterized by reset late Oligocene-Early Miocene ZHe cooling ages ranging between 26 and 17 Ma. AFT and AHe-ages between 15 and 13 Ma suggest that exhumation suddenly terminated during the middle Miocene. In contrast, Jurassic sandstones exposed near the DFZ yield mostly un-reset Triassic-Jurassic ZHe ages (~250-170 Ma), a reset AFT age of ~5 Ma and a 2.5 Ma AHe age. Within the Peter-the-1st-Range, we obtained fully reset ~ 5 Ma ZHe ages, and ~4 Ma AFT ages. The rapid cooling trends since at least ~5 Ma suggest that deformation and a significant portion of crustal shortening propagated into the Tadjik foreland basin, causing enhanced uplift and erosion of the hanging wall of the VFZ and related faults. This deformation triggered ~2 km uplift of the entire northwest Pamir, recorded in uplifted paleo-landscapes and dissected tributaries of the Panj and Vakhsh rivers.

How to cite: Sobel, E. R., Thiede, R., Ballato, P., Stübner, K., Kley, J., Rembe, J., Gadoev, M., Oimahmadov, I., and Strecker, M.: Uplift and growth of the northwest Pamir, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-10405, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-10405, 2021.

Contrasting models have been proposed to explain the formation of the Pamir salient: either largely inherited from a Mesozoic arcuate structure or recently formed by Indian northward indentation and possibly related to syn-orogenic lateral extrusion. The vertical-axis counterclockwise rotations observed in the Tajik Basin are key constraints on testing these models, but the timing of these rotations remains hindered by poor age control on the basin sediments. We report a combined analysis of vertical-axis rotation and magnetostratigraphic dating of a long sedimentary section in the eastern Tajik Basin, which yields strong counterclockwise rotations (~56°) in early Late Cretaceous to late Miocene strata. This result suggests that rotation in the Tajik Basin occurred after ~8 Ma, much later than previously suggested. Combining with a regional compilation of previous paleomagnetic studies as well as structural and GPS constraints including Pamir and Tarim, we explore potential implications on models of the Pamir salient. We infer that after 8 Ma (probably even later), the Pamir (North, Central, and South) began to overthrust west- and northwest-ward, causing counterclockwise rotations in the Tajik Basin. This reconstruction allows for ~150 km of post-8 Ma northwestward indentation into the Tajik Basin, in agreement with coeval underthrusting of the Indian mantle lithosphere into Asia.

How to cite: Li, L., Dupont-Nivet, G., Roperch, P., Najman, Y., Kaya, M., Meijer, N., and Aminov, J.: Large recent counterclockwise rotations in the Tajik Basin and implications on the Pamir salient formation, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-9901, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9901, 2021.

Embedded between the South Tian Shan in the north, the Pamir in the east, and the Hindu Kush in the south, the Tajik basin is a remnant of the Mesozoic-Miocene Tajik-Tarim basin. Since ~12 Ma, ~E-W shortening has been dominating due to the westward collapse of the north-advancing Pamir-plateau, inverting the basin into a thin-skinned, W-convex fold-and-thrust belt detached on Upper Jurassic evaporites. The detachment depth is ~6-8 km b.s.l. under most of the basin, shallowing north towards the Tian Shan. Geologic cross sections yield a maximum of 150 km of E-W shortening, distributed between foreland- and hinterland-vergent fold and thrusts. From the eastern to the western rim of the basin, sparse global positioning (GNSS) rates decay from ~15 mm/yr WNW to 2 mm/yr NNW. Seismicity highlights dextral shear along the ~E-striking Ilyak fault – bounding the basin in the north –, and distributed E-W shortening in the central and eastern Tajik basin and in the foothills of the Hindu Kush. The majority of seismic events occurs below the evaporitic detachment. In 1907, the region was struck by a M_s7.6±0.3 earthquake with a poorly-constrained epicenter, either at the northwestern rim of the basin or more than 200 km farther east at the Pamir’s rim.

We present rate maps of the region obtained from Sentinel-1 radar interferometric (InSAR) time-series. The underlying data-base comprises 900+ radar scenes, acquired over 2-4.5 years in two view angles (LOS) on 13 frames. The initial LiCSAR interferograms¹⁾ and tropospheric delay maps²⁾ were created automatically. The LOS rate maps resulting from a small-baseline inversion (LiCSBAS) were Gaussian-filtered both in space and time. Before decomposition to east and vertical rates, the rate maps were tied to a Eurasian-stable GNSS reference frame. The final products span from the western basin to the eastern Pamir, and from the southern edge of the Tian Shan to the northern Hindu Kush, covering an area of 270 000 km² with a spatial sampling of ~400 m.

The most reliable results were obtained in the Tajik basin, where the rate maps unveil a combination of basin-scale tectonics, localized halokinesis, effects of extensive irrigation, and seasonal precipitation. Our key findings are: (1) The Tajik basin infill is largely being displaced west as a result of the western collapse of the Pamir. The westward rates decrease away from the Pamir, reflecting dissipated shortening on thin-skinned structures. (2) A bulk of E-W shortening of ~6 mm/yr is absorbed by the most external Babatag (back)thrust with >20 km of past displacement evidenced by borehole data. (3) The Ilyak fault accommodates ~5-8 mm/yr of dextral slip with eastward increasing values; sharply decaying rates suggest a locking depth of ≤1 km. (4) A strong (>10 mm/yr) uplift and westward motion is associated with the sinistral-transpressive Darvaz fault, bounding the basin against the western Pamir. (5) The highest displacement rates >300 mm/yr are demonstrated over the Hoja Mumin salt fountain.

1) See LiCSAR data portal: https://comet.nerc.ac.uk/comet-lics-portal/
2) See Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR: http://www.gacos.net/

How to cite: Metzger, S., Gągała, Ł., Ratschbacher, L., Schurr, B., Lazecky, M., and Maghsoudi Mehrani, Y.: High-resolution InSAR rate maps showcase tectonic and anthropogenic processes in the Tajik Basin, Central Asia, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-2552, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2552, 2021.

Slip partitioning along the northern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau is essential for understanding regional deformation and the seismic potential of the different faults that accommodate it. Within this framework the Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) is commonly viewed as the primary structure that separates the Tibetan Plateau from the stable Gobi-Alashan block to the north. Late Quaternary sinistral slip rates of 8-12 mm/yr across the central ATF between 86° and 93°E decrease eastwards to zero as the fault approaches its mid-continental termination at ~97°E. To better understand how late Quaternary slip is partitioned along the ATF’s eastern termination we obtained new slip-rate measurements  for the ~200-km-long left-lateral ENE striking Sanweishan Fault (SSF) located ~60 km north of the ATF between 94°-96°E near the town of Dunhuang.

Multiple sinistral offsets ranging up to 600 m were identified by linking the clast assemblage of offset alluvial fan remnants with their provenance upstream of the fault.  Luminescence dating revealed depositional ages ranging from 100 - 200 ka for the offset features and time-invariant minimum sinistral slip of 2.5±1 mm/yr during the last ~200 ka, which is approximately an order of magnitude higher than previously reported slip-rates for the SSF. Our results indicate that the SSF and the eastern segment of the ATF accommodate comparable magnitudes of late Quaternary slip. Considering this substantial transfer of lateral slip as far as 60 km north of the eastern ATF we propose that the SSF may represent juvenile northeastward expansion of the Tibetan Plateau into previously stable parts of the Gobi-Alashan block.

How to cite: Wieler, N., Mushkin, A., Shelef, E., Zhang, H., Sagy, A., Porat, N., Ren, Z., Huang, F., and Liu, J.: New constraints on Quaternary slip partitioning near the eastern termination of the Altyn Tagh Fault, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-12517, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-12517, 2021.

Flexural basins are the common geological feature in convergent settings, and usually regarded as the result of flexural subsidence of the margins of under-thrusting cratons in response to the gravitational load of over-riding orogens. This process usually causes the fastest tectonic subsidence and thickest orogenic-related deposits in the basin margins adjacent to the orogens, such as India Foreland Basin in front of the Himalaya. The Qaidam Basin, which is the largest sedimentary basin within the Tibetan Plateau interior, was once interpreted to belong to this type and form by flexural subsidence on its south and north margins in response to loading of the Qiman Tagh and the South Qilian Shan orogenic belts, respectively. However, the latest studies present sedimentary and structural features that contrast to a typical foreland basin. These features include (1) depocenters being located along the central axis, rather than the margins, with thickest sediments up to 15 km, and (2) development of many high-angle reverse faults, rather than thin-skinned thrusts, to generate upper-crustal shortening as low as 10-15% (20 – 30 km), indicating that the widths of the orogenic belts juxtaposed atop the basin margins are limited. These features cannot be explained by the flexural subsidence of basin margins and/or sediment load. Herein, we investigate the impact of lithospheric buckling, which has been ignored in most studies of basin formation in compressional settings, on the tectonic subsidence of the Qaidam Basin through numerical simulation based on finite elastic plate model. We first use the flexural backstripping method to calculate the tectonic subsidence of the Cenozoic basement across the Qaidam Basin. And then, we simulate the tectonic subsidence caused by (1) gravitational load of orogenic belts alone, and (2) combined gravitational load and lithosphere buckling. The result shows that the simulated tectonic subsidence curve fits well with the real one only when considering the effect of lithospheric buckling that accounts for >90% tectonic subsidence. Our finding indicates for the first time that lithospheric buckling is also an important mechanism for the subsidence of intramountain basins like the Qaidam Basin, and should not be ignored when studying lithospheric-scale deformation across large orogenic belts.

How to cite: Xiaoyi, H. and Lei, W.: Lithospheric buckling dominates the Cenozoic subsidence of the Qaidam Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-3633, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3633, 2021.

Central Asia is one of the most tectonically active and orographically diverse regions in the world and is the location of the highest topography on Earth resulting from major plate tectonic collisional events. Yet the role of tectonics versus climate on erosion remains one of the greatest debates of our time. We present the first regional scale analysis of 2526 published low-temperature thermochronometric dates from Central Asia spanning the Altai-Sayan, Tian Shan, Tibet, Pamir, and Himalaya. We compare these dates to tectonic processes (proximity to tectonic boundaries, crustal thickness, seismicity) and state-of-the-art paleoclimate simulations in order to constrain the relative influences of climate and tectonics on the topographic architecture and erosion of Central Asia. Predominance of pre-Cenozoic ages in much of the interior of central Asia suggests that significant topography was created prior to the India-Eurasia collision and implies limited subsequent erosion. Increasingly young cooling ages are associated with increasing proximity to active tectonic boundaries, suggesting a first-order control of tectonics on erosion. However, areas that have been sheltered from significant precipitation for extensive periods of time retain old cooling ages. This suggests that ultimately climate is the great equalizer of erosion. Climate plays a key role by enhancing erosion in areas with developed topography and high precipitation such as the Tian Shan and Altai-Sayan during the Mesozoic and the Himalaya during the Cenozoic. Older thermochronometric dates are associated with sustained aridity following more humid periods.

How to cite: Jepson, G., Carrapa, B., Gillespie, J., Feng, R., DeCelles, P., Tabor, C., and Zhu, J.: Climate as the great equalizer of continental-scale erosion, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-13718, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13718, 2021.

In this study, we investigate the ongoing crustal deformation in the Haridwar-Kotdwar piedmont zone of the Northwestern Himalaya, India. The Himalayan mountain front has been actively deforming along the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) which marks the conjunction between the Siwalik hills and the Indo-Gangetic Plains. We report NNE-SSW trending left lateral strike-slip fault towards the west of the study area namely Haridwar Fault (HF) and it offsets the HFT sinistrally by ~ 9 Km. Using the satellite imagery (Cartosat-1 stereo pairs) flat-lying uplifted river terrace have been identified, which is at an elevation of ~80 m from the flood plain of Mitthawali River. Along with uplifted terraces, the HF offsets various structural features, the rivers flowing across it and manifests itself as a series of scarps and slope breaks visible in the satellite imagery. The Khoh River Fault (KRF) trends N-S and offsets HFT dextrally by ~12 Km, this controls the course of the Khoh River and forms a lateral ramp perpendicular to HFT. The KRF manifests itself geomorphically as uplifted terraces at an elevation of ~50 m from the flood plain of the Khoh River which is conspicuous in the DEM and the Cartosat-1 imagery of the area. The Haridwar-Kotdwar piedmont zone has been surrounded in the north by HFT, in the south by Najibabad Fault (NF), towards east by KRF and the western margin has been dissected by HF. The KRF and HF show signatures of neotectonic activity and offsets HFT at two locations forming two ramps in the region. The piedmont zone has been showing signatures of upwarping which causes sudden migration of the rivers flowing into the piedmont zone on a decadal scale, mainly caused by an E-W trending NF. NF is a blind fault and manifests itself geomorphically by series of knee turn bending of the rivers in the study area. The deformation caused by NF has been comprehended using the satellite imageries and Gradient Length Anomalies (GLA). The GLA results show signatures of upliftment in the piedmont zone along the NF. The Haridwar-Kotdwar piedmont zone is surrounded by neotectonically active faults from four sides, making this block a potential seismic hazard in near future.

How to cite: Kralia, A. and Thakur, M.: Geomorphic signatures of the neotectonic activity in Haridwar-Kotdwar region, Northwestern Himalaya, India, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-14055, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14055, 2021.

The Southeast Tibet is characterized by extensive low-relief high-elevation surfaces that have been interpreted as “relict surfaces”, where thermochronological data generally show old ages and very little exhumation during the India-Asia collision. Those relict surfaces are proposed either to be formed at low elevation and then uplifted and dissected by large rivers since middle Miocene, or to inherit a pre-existing low-relief landscape by or prior to the collision, as revealed by stable-isotope paleoaltimetry. Among these relict surfaces, the BaimaXueshan low-relief (<600 m), moderate-elevation (~4500 m) massif is the closest to the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS) in the Three Rivers Region, where Salween, Mekong and Yangtze rivers flow southward parallelly and closely, showing large-scale shortening during the collision.This region represents a transition between the strongly deformed zone around EHS and the less deformed southeast Tibetan plateau margin in Yunnan and Sichuan, and is an appropriate zone to examine the relief development and the interaction between pre-existing structures, Cenozoic tectonics and river incision during the Tibetan plateau growth.

We compile and model published thermochronometric ages for BaimaXueshan massif, east of the Mekong River, to constrain its exhumation and relief history using the thermo-kinematic code Pecube. Modelling results show regional rock uplift at a rate of 0.25 km/Myr since ~10 Ma, following slow exhumation at a rate of 0.01 km/Myr since at least 22 Ma. Estimated Mekong River incision accounts for a maximum of 30% of the total exhumation since 10 Ma. We interpret moderate exhumation of the BaimaXueshan massif since 10 Ma as a response to a regional uplift due to the continuous northward indentation of NE India in a zone around the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS) and delimited by Longmucuo-Shuanghu suture in the north. Thus BaimaXueshan massif with significant exhumation could not be classified as “relict surface”, as proposed by previous studies and its low relief results from in part glacial “buzzsaw-like” processes at high elevation, enhancing since ~2 Ma. In contrast, modelling results for the high-relief, high-elevation Kawagebo massif to the west of the Mekong River, facing the BaimaXueshan massif, imply a similar contribution of Mekong River incision (25%) to exhumation, but much stronger local rock uplift at a rate of 0.45 km/Myr since at least 10 Ma, accelerating to 1.86 km/Myr since 1.6 Ma. We show that the thermochronometric ages are best reproduced by local rock uplift related to late Miocene reactivation of a kinked westward-dipping thrust, striking roughly parallel to the Mekong River, with a steep shallow segment flattening out at depth. Thus, the strong differences in elevation and relief that characterize both massifs are linked to variable exhumation histories due to a strongly differing tectonic imprint. 

How to cite: Ou, X., Replumaz, A., and van der Beek, P.: Contrasting exhumation histories and relief development within the Three Rivers Region (Southeast Tibet), EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-15346, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-15346, 2021.