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Published August 1996 | public
Journal Article

Tectonics of Western Tibet, between the Tarim and the Indus

Abstract

A Tarim to Indus traverse provides insight into the tectonics of western Tibet. The Kunlun was the site of a Mid-Paleozoic collision. At least three phases of post-Paleozoic accretion have thickened the blanket of sediments that covers western Tibet. Sizeable parts of western Qiangtang have remained stable, however, since the Mid-Mesozoic. Since the Neogene, deformation and volcanism have been localized near the edges of the Plateau. Strike-slip motion along the Karakorum and Altyn Tagh faults has been coeval with overthrusting in the Himalayas and Kunlun. Such slip partitioning, and the volcanism, appear to result simply from northward subduction of India and southward subduction of the Tarim as Tibet is extruded eastwards by India's penetration into Asia.

Additional Information

© 1996 Elsevier Science B.V. Received 28 September 1995; accepted 19 April 1996. This work was part of the multidisciplinary Western Kunlun-Karakorum project, jointly supported by the CNRS (France), the National Science Foundation of China and Academia Sinica. We thank Professors Sun Shu, Zheng Du and G. Aubert for launching and coordinating the project and M. Moullade and J. Philip for fossil determinations. The field expedition logistics were set up by the Institute of Geography of Academia Sinica. Financial support for the French team by programs 'Dynamique et Bilan de Ia Terre', 'lmagerie et Structure de Ia Terre' of INSU-CNRS, and by the Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, is gratefully acknowledged. Two anonymous referees helped clarify and shorten the initial manuscript. Fruitful discussions with G. Peltzer, M. Brunei, M. Fort, O. Dollfus, F. Gasse, M. Mattauer, V. Courtillot and F. Proust are also acknowledged. We thank Guy Aveline and Georges Garcia for the quality of drawings. This is IPGP contribution number 1436.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023