Testing age models for sedimentary sequences based on growth strata and the exhumation history of adjacent mountain ranges

Determination of the depositional age of sediments provides the basis for much of the current understanding of tectonic processes, paleoclimate, and other aspects that relate to time. Integrated the high-resolution magnetostratigraphy with independent means of age control (e.g., biostratigraphy, tephrostratigraphy), the age model of the sedimentary sequences can generally be constrained. However, as the paleomagnetic correlation to the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS) is usually non-unique, magnetostratigraphy alone usually leads to dramatically different age models for the siliclastic sequences in the absence of fossils or volcanic ash layers, likely resulting in diverse tectonic and paleoclimate reconstructions. This challenge presented by different age models is well-exemplified in the debated Cenozoic terrestrial strata in Central Asia, resulting in competing models that account for the growth of the Tibetan plateau and its association with aridification history of Central Asia. Here we develop a new approach to evaluate the age model of the tephras- and fossils-free strata by checking the potential link between syntectonic sedimentation in the basin and the rapid exhumation of basement rocks. By comparing the initiation of growth strata with the onset timing of the rapid exhumation revealed by the low-temperature thermochronology, we validate this method in the regions (e.g., Zagros fold-and-thrust belt and Ruby Mountains metamorphic core complex) where the age models for the strata have been well-constrained. Applying this approach to the debated age models of the strata in the Tarim and Qaidam basins, we constrain the depositional age of Paleogene syntectonic strata, indicating a Paleocene-Eocene initial and an Oligocene-Miocene intensified mountain building process along the northern margin of the Tibetan plateau. Integrating the timing of Paleogene tectonism along the northern Tibetan plateau with Proto-Paratethys Sea fluctuations history, we highlight the significant role of tectonism in the retreat of proto-Paratethys Sea as well as its influence on the aridification in Central Asia.