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Science 16 January 1987:
Vol. 235. no. 4786, pp. 299 - 305
DOI: 10.1126/science.235.4786.299
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Articles

Geologic Evolution of Northern Tibet: Results of an Expedition to Ulugh Muztagh

PETER MOLNAR 1, B. CLARK BURCHFIEL 1, ZHAO ZIYUN 2, LIANG K'UANGYI, 3, WANG SHUJI 3, and HUANG MINMIN 3

1 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, MA 02139.
2 Regional Geologic Surveying Team, Xinjiang Provincial Bureau of Geology, Qitai Xinjiang, People's Republic of China.
3 Institute of Geography of Academia Sinica, Urumqi, Xinjiang, People's Republic of China.

A reconnaissance expedition across the northern margin of the Tibetan plateau revealed evidence of a late Cenozoic northward progression of the locus of crustal shortening and, therefore, of a northward growth of the area encompassed by the plateau. Active reverse faults crop out at the foot of the Altyn Tagh, on the northern edge of the plateau, and at the bases of several ranges within the Altyn Tagh and Kunlun, where the elevations of the neighboring basins are less than 4000 meters. Farther south, where elevations are higher, there was no evidence of recent faulting, but late Cenozoic rock in the Ayak Kum Köl basin has been strongly folded. South of this basin, Ulugh Muztagh, apparently the highest mountain in the eastern Kunlun, is underlain by late Miocene, tourmaline-bearing and two-mica granite. These rocks suggest that thickening of continental crust had begun in this area by late Miocene time. Overlying quartz-sanidine welded tuffs of Pliocene age imply that uplift and erosion occurred between Miocene and Pliocene time, but with little subsequent erosion. In addition, we found an east-west trending belt of mafic and ultramafic rock that probably marks a suture of a crustal fragment with southern Asia in Triassic or more recent time.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Qaidam basin and its surrounding regions (part 2): Wedge tectonics in southern Qaidam basin and the Eastern Kunlun Range.
A. Yin, Y. Dang, M. Zhang, M. W. McRivette, W. P. Burgess, and X. Chen (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 433, 369-390
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Mesozoic sedimentary evolution of the northwest Sichuan basin: Implication for continued clockwise rotation of the South China block.
Q.-R. Meng, E. Wang, and J.-M. Hu (2005)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 396-410
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The Akato Tagh bend along the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest Tibet 1: Smoothing by vertical-axis rotation and the effect of topographic stresses on bend-flanking faults.
E. Cowgill, A. Yin, J R. Arrowsmith, W. X. Feng, and Z. Shuanhong (2004)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 116, 1423-1442
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Akato Tagh bend along the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest Tibet 2: Active deformation and the importance of transpression and strain hardening within the Altyn Tagh system.
E. Cowgill, J R. Arrowsmith, A. Yin, W. Xiaofeng, and C. Zhengle (2004)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 116, 1443-1464
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Nb-depleted, continental rift-related Akaz metavolcanic rocks (West Kunlun): implication for the rifting of the Tarim Craton from Gondwana.
C. Yuan, M. Sun, J. Yang, H. Zhou, and M.-F. Zhou (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 226, 131-143
   Abstract »    PDF »
Pliocene uplift of the northern Tibetan Plateau.
H. Zheng, C. M. Powell, Z. An, J. Zhou, and G. Dong (2000)
Geology 28, 715-718
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Is the North Altyn fault part of a strike-slip duplex along the Altyn Tagh fault system?.
E. Cowgill, A. Yin, W. X. Feng, and Z. Qing (2000)
Geology 28, 255-258
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Tomographic Evidence for Localized Lithospheric Shear Along the Altyn Tagh Fault.
G. Wittlinger, P. Tapponnier, G. Poupinet, J. Mei, S. Danian, G. Herquel, and F. Masson (1998)
Science 282, 74-76
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Basin evolution within and adjacent to the Tien Shan Range, NW China.
M. B. ALLEN, B. F. WINDLEY, Z. CHI, Z. ZHONG-YAN, and W. GUANG-REI (1991)
Journal of the Geological Society 148, 369-378
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Magnitude of Late Quaternary Left-Lateral Displacements Along the North Edge of Tibet.
G. Peltzer, G. PELTZER, P. TAPPONNIER, and R. ARMIJO (1989)
Science 246, 1285-1289
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