Fold-and-thrust deformation of the hinterland of Qilian Shan, northeastern Tibetan Plateau since Mesozoic with implications for the plateau growth

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.104131Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Detailed structural analysis in the hinterland of Qilian Shan reveals four deformation phases since the Late Triassic.

  • The significant crustal shortening and topographical growth of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (NETP) was established during the Early-Middle Miocene.

  • The multiple-phase deformation in the NETP since the Late Triassic should have been a first-order control on plateau uplift and growth.

Abstract

The northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (NETP) represents an ideal site to probe the far-field effects and plateau growth in response to the collisions of Eurasia Continent with India Plate and intervening terranes. Here, we investigate the fold-and-thrust deformation of the Shule River region in the hinterland of Qilian Shan, NETP since Mesozoic, based on geological mapping and structural analysis to evaluate the role of multiple-phase deformation in plateau rise and growth. The structural style of the Shule River region is dominated by the foreland-verging Liuhuang Shan fold-and-thrust belt (LHTB) to the southwest and the hinterland-verging Tuolai Nan Shan fold-and-thrust belt (TLTB) to the northeast, separated by the Cenozoic Shule River intermontane basin. Integrated with published thermochronological, sedimentological and structural data, our study reveals four significant deformation phases in the NETP since the Mesozoic. During the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic time, the regional deformation spread in the NETP and produced the Jura-type folds and related thrusts of the LHTB in the study area under the NE-SW-directed compression, and was likely driven by the collision between the Qiangtang and Kunlun terranes. During the late Early Cretaceous, the continuous Lhasa-Qiangtang collision induced reactivation of the LHTB and an extensive exhumation event in the NETP. Since the Early Eocene, the upper crustal shortening and initial uplift of the NETP have accommodated the far-field stress of India-Eurasian collision. Given the widespread Miocene uplift event in the NETP, revealed by previous studies, we attribute the southwestward thrusting of the TLTB and tight-isoclinal syncline of the Oligocene-Miocene Baiyanghe Formation to the significant crustal shortening and topographical growth of NETP during the Early-Middle Miocene. The reactivation of TLTB and newly generated low-angle reverse faults represent gently tilted deformation and plateau growth in response to surface uplift of NETP as a whole since the Late Miocene. Our results imply that the multiple-phase deformation in the NETP since the Late Triassic should have been a first-order control on plateau growth.

Introduction

Intense fold-and-thrust deformation and tectonic uplift associated with the India-Eurasian collision since 55–50 Ma (Li et al., 2012a, Li et al., 2015 and references therein) have resulted in the world’s largest and highest plateau with a flat interior and steep margins known as Tibetan Plateau (Liu-Zeng et al., 2008, Li et al., 2012b). The northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (NETP) is located between the northern Qilian Shan thrust fault and the Altyn Tagh and East Kunlun lithospheric left-lateral strike-slip faults (Fig. 1b). The NETP comprises a serial of thrust-bounded tectono-geomorphic units with an average elevation of ~4.5 km (Fig. 1b; Jolivet et al., 2001, Tapponnier et al., 2001), and is an ideal site to probe the far-field effects and plateau growth in response to the collisions of Eurasia Continent with India Plate and intervening terranes.

Previous investigations on structural geology (Yang et al., 2007, Wu et al., 2013, Zuza et al., 2018b), sedimentology and provenance (Yin et al., 2002, Dai et al., 2005; Song, 2006, Bovet et al., 2009, Zhuang et al., 2011, Fang et al., 2012, Fang et al., 2019, Li et al., 2014), and low-temperature thermochronology (Fig. 1b; George et al., 2001, Jolivet et al., 2001, Clark et al., 2010, Lease et al., 2011, Duvall et al., 2013, Pan et al., 2013, Cheng et al., 2016, Qi et al., 2016, Wang et al., 2016a, Wang et al., 2016b, Liu et al., 2017, Zhang et al., 2017a, Jian et al., 2018, Zhuang et al., 2018, Lin et al., 2019) in the East Kunlun Shan, Qaidam basin and Qilian Shan regions, confirmed that the NETP had experienced multiple tectonic events since the Mesozoic. However, the tectonic mechanisms underlying the plateau rise and growth across the NETP remain controversial (Clark et al., 2010, Yuan et al., 2013, Qi et al., 2016, Zheng et al., 2017, Jian et al., 2018, Zhuang et al., 2018, Lin et al., 2019). The prevailing northward growth model attributed the growth of NETP to systematically northeastward migration of several tectonic uplift events (Wang et al., 2008, Wang et al., 2014, Li et al., 2015, Qi et al., 2016), which in turn initiated at ~49 Ma (Eocene) in the north Qaidam thrust belt (Yin et al., 2002), at ~33 Ma in the southern Qilian Shan-Nan Shan (Nan Shan in Chinese means mountains to the south) thrust belt (Yin et al., 2002), at ~20 Ma in central Qilian Shan (Qi et al., 2016, Zheng et al., 2017), and at ~10 Ma in the northern Qilian Shan faults (Yang et al., 2007, Zheng et al., 2010, Zheng et al., 2017). However, the competitive model argued that the whole NETP had underwent synchronous crustal shortening in response to the initial collision and subsequent continuous convergence of India and Eurasia (Dai et al., 2005, Clark et al., 2010, Yuan et al., 2013, Wang et al., 2016b, Liu et al., 2017, He et al., 2017, He et al., 2018, Cheng et al., 2019b, Fang et al., 2019). Furthermore, some studies considered the faulting-related cooling event in the Miocene as a proxy for the initial formation of the high topography in NETP (Jolivet et al., 2001, George et al., 2001, Pan et al., 2013); whereas others proposed that it started later than the early Pliocene (Meyer et al., 1998). More recently it has been suggested that major Cretaceous and minor late Triassic cooling events have taken place across the NETP (George et al., 2001, Jolivet et al., 2001, Pan et al., 2013, Cheng et al., 2016, Qi et al., 2016, Wang et al., 2016b, Zhang et al., 2017a, Jian et al., 2018, Zhuang et al., 2018, Lin et al., 2019), implying that the important effect of pre-Cenozoic tectonics on the rise of NETP have previously been overlooked (Jian et al., 2018, Zhuang et al., 2018, Lin et al., 2019).

Regionally, the lack of studies on pre-Cenozoic deformation and the scattering of numerous reports could partially contribute to these controversies. The Qilian Shan marks the northernmost edge of the NETP, where the temporal and spatial variations in deformation pattern can provide crucial information for improving the understanding of plateau growth (Jolivet et al., 2001, Zuza et al., 2016, Zuza et al., 2018b). Previous studies related to thrust-related uplift mainly focused on the Qilian Shan front (Geroge et al., 2001; Jolivet et al., 2001, Yang et al., 2007, Pan et al., 2013, Zheng et al., 2010, Zheng et al., 2017, Cheng et al., 2016, Zhang et al., 2017a, Zhuang et al., 2018), and fold-and-thrust deformation analyses in the Qilian Shan hinterland are unfortunately rare (Zuza et al., 2018a, Zuza et al., 2018b). In this paper, we present new field observations from the fold-and-thrust deformation of the Shule River region in the hinterland of Qilian Shan, and integrated with these published thermochronological, sedimentological and structural data, to provide constrains on multiple tectonic events and the uplift of NETP since Mesozoic.

Section snippets

Geological background

The Qilian Shan is the northernmost margin of the NETP and tectonically located between the Qaidam basin and the Gobi-Alashan rigid block (Fig. 1b). It is characterized by a serial of northwest-trending thrust-bounded ranges separated by intermontane basins spaced at 30–40 km, and known as the Qilian Shan-Nan Shan Thrust Belt (QNTB) with a length of 1300 km, width of 350 km and average elevation of ~4.5 km (Fig. 1b; Jolivet et al., 2001, Tapponnier et al., 2001, Zuza et al., 2016). Present

Methods

Crustal horizontal shortening and vertical thickening resulting from large-scale fold-and-thrust deformation are generally considered to be responsible for the significant surface uplift of the Tibetan Plateau (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975, Dewey et al., 1988, England and Molnar, 1990, DeCelles et al., 2002, Wang et al., 2008, Li et al., 2015, Zuza et al., 2016). Therefore, structural analysis on fold-and-thrust deformation is very important to understand the evolution and rise of the Tibetan

Structural geometrical analysis

The structural trend in the Shule River region is dominantly NW-SE-directed and locally N-S-oriented. Based on detailed geological mapping at a scale of 1:50,000, two NW-striking fold-and-thrust belts were recognized: the hinterland-verging Tuolai Nan Shan fold-thrust belt (TLTB) to the northeast and the foreland-verging Liuhuang Shan fold-thrust belt (LHTB) to the southwest (Fig. 2c). These two belts are of opposite sense and separated by the Cenozoic Shule River intermontane basin.

Mesozoic deformation and uplift of the NETP

Due to intense Cenozoic deformation and modification and very limited Jurassic-Cretaceous deformation records in the NETP, the Mesozoic tectonics has been usually ignored, which otherwise might provide some important information for the understanding of plateau rise and growth. This can be documented by the Mesozoic fold-and-thrust deformation integrated with regional tectonics.

Conclusions

  • (1)

    The deformation of the Shule River region in the hinterland of Qilian Shan since Mesozoic is characterized by the foreland-verging Liuhuang Shan fold-thrust belt (LHTB) to the southwest and the hinterland-verging Tuolai Nan Shan fold-thrust belt (TLTB) to the northeast, separated by the Cenozoic Shule River intermontane basin.

  • (2)

    Four phases of deformation were recognized since Mesozoic. D1 deformation is represented by the Jura-type folding and related thrusting of the LHTB resulting from the

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the China Geological Survey (No. 12120113033004). We appreciate two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments which profoundly improved this manuscript. We would like to express our gratitude to I. Tonguç Uysal, Huntly Cutten and Michael Verrall for their improvements of this manuscript.

References (114)

  • Z.W. Li et al.

    Spatial variation in Meso-Cenozoic exhumation history of the Longmen Shan thrust belt (eastern Tibetan Plateau) and the adjacent western Sichuan basin: constraints from fission track thermochronology

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2012)
  • B. Li et al.

    Cenozoic cooling history of the North Qilian Shan, northern Tibetan Plateau, and the initiation of the Haiyuan fault: constraints from apatite- and zircon-fission track thermochronology

    Tectonophysics

    (2019)
  • J.J. Li et al.

    Late Miocene-Quaternary rapid stepwise uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau and its effects on climatic and environmental changes

    Quaternary Res.

    (2014)
  • Y.L. Li et al.

    Propagation of the deformation and growth of the Tibetan-Himalayan orogen: a review

    Earth-Sci. Rev.

    (2015)
  • X. Lin et al.

    Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics of the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau: evidence from modern river detrital apatite fission-track age constraints

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2019)
  • X. Lin et al.

    Detrital apatite fission track evidence for provenance change in the Subei Basin and implications for the tectonic uplift of the Danghe Nan Shan (NW China) since the mid-Miocene

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2015)
  • D.L. Liu et al.

    AFT dating constrains the Cenozoic uplift of the Qimen Tagh mountains, Northeast Tibetan Plateau, comparison with LA-ICPMS Zircon U-Pb ages

    Gondwana Res.

    (2017)
  • J. Liu-Zeng et al.

    Multiple episodes of fast exhumation since Cretaceous in southeast Tibet, revealed by low-temperature thermochronology

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (2018)
  • H.J. Lu et al.

    Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Ela Shan range and its surroundings, northern Tibetan plateau as constrained by paleomagnetism and apatite fission track analyses

    Tectonophysics

    (2012)
  • H.J. Lu et al.

    Late-Miocene thrust fault-related folding in the northern Tibetan plateau: insight from paleomagnetic and structural analyses of the Kumkol basin

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2018)
  • B.S. Qi et al.

    Apatite fission track evidence for the Cretaceous-Cenozoic cooling history of the Qilian Shan (NW China) and for stepwise northeastward growth of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau since early Eocene

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2016)
  • W. Shi et al.

    Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the south Ningxia region, northeastern Tibetan plateau inferred from new structural investigations and fault kinematic analyses

    Tectonophysics

    (2015)
  • S.G. Song et al.

    Tectonics of the north Qilian orogeny, NW China

    Gondwana Res.

    (2013)
  • J.M. Sun et al.

    Tectonic uplift in the northern Tibetan Plateau since 13.7 Ma ago inferred from molasse deposits along the Altyn Tagh Fault

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (2005)
  • C.S. Wang et al.

    Outward-growth of the Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic: a review

    Tectonophysics

    (2014)
  • F. Wang et al.

    Relief history and denudation evolution of the northern Tibet margin: constraints from 40Ar/39Ar and (U–Th)/He dating and implications for far-field effect of rising plateau

    Tectonophysics

    (2016)
  • X.M. Wang et al.

    Danghe area (western Gansu, China) biostratigraphy and implications for depositional history and tectonics of northern Tibetan Plateau

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (2003)
  • X.X. Wang et al.

    Cenozoic pulsed deformation history of northeastern Tibetan Plateau reconstructed from fission-track thermochronology

    Tectonophysics

    (2016)
  • X.X. Wang et al.

    Eocene to Pliocene exhumation history of the Tianshui-Huicheng region determined by apatite fission-track thermochronology: implications for evolution of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau margin

    J. Asian Earth Sci.

    (2011)
  • Y.D. Wang et al.

    Mesozoic-Cenozoic exhumation history of the Qimen Tagh Range, northeastern margins of the Tibetan Plateau: evidence from apatite fission track analysis

    Gondwana Res.

    (2018)
  • Z. Ye et al.

    Seismic evidence for the north China plate underthrusting beneath northeastern Tibet and its implications for plateau growth

    Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

    (2015)
  • M.B. Allen et al.

    Partitioning of oblique convergence coupled to the fault locking behavior of fold-and-thrust belts: evidence from the Qilian Shan, northeastern Tibetan plateau

    Tectonics

    (2017)
  • Y. Bai et al.

    Apatite fission track evidence for the Miocene rapid uplift of the Qimantag Mountains on the northwestern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

    Geol. Bull. China

    (2008)
  • P.M. Bovet et al.

    Evidence of Miocene crustal shortening in the north Qilian Shan from Cenozoic stratigraphy of the western Hexi Corridor, Gansu Province, China

    Am. J. Sci.

    (2009)
  • X.H. Chen et al.

    Thermochronological evidence for multi-phase uplifting of the East Kunlun Mountains, northern Tibetan Plateau

    Geol. Bull. China

    (2011)
  • F. Cheng et al.

    Initial deformation of the northern Tibetan plateau: insights from deposition of the Lulehe Formation in the Qaidam Basin

    Tectonics

    (2019)
  • X.G. Cheng et al.

    The exhumation history of north Qaidam thrust belt constrained by Apatite Fission track thermochronology: implication for the evolution of the Tibetan plateau

    Acta Geol. Sin. (English Edition)

    (2016)
  • W. Craddock et al.

    Late Miocene-Pliocene range growth in the interior of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

    Lithosphere

    (2011)
  • W.H. Craddock et al.

    Rates and style of Cenozoic deformation around the Gonghe Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau

    Geosphere

    (2014)
  • S. Dai et al.

    Early tectonic uplift of the northern Tibetan Plateau

    Chinese Sci. Bull. (English edition)

    (2005)
  • K.E. Dayem et al.

    Far-field lithospheric deformation in Tibet during continental collision

    Tectonics

    (2009)
  • P.G. DeCelles et al.

    Implications of shortening in the Himalayan fold-thrust belt for uplift of the Tibetan Plateau

    Tectonics

    (2002)
  • J.F. Dewey et al.

    The tectonic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau

    Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser.

    (1988)
  • A.R. Duvall et al.

    Low-temperature thermochronometry along the Kunlun and Haiyuan Faults, NE Tibetan Plateau: evidence for kinematic change during late-stage orogenesis

    Tectonics

    (2013)
  • P. England et al.

    Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks

    Geology

    (1990)
  • X. Fang et al.

    Late Cenozoic deformation and uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau: evidence from high resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Guide Basin, Qinghai Province, China

    Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

    (2005)
  • X. Fang et al.

    Oligocene slow and Miocene-Quaternary rapid deformation and uplift of the Yumu Shan and North Qilian Shan: evidence from high-resolution magnetostratigraphy and tectonosedimentology

  • X.Y. Fang et al.

    Cenozoic magnetostratigraphy of the Xining Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau, and its constraints on paleontological, sedimentological and tectonomorphological evolution

    Earth-Sci. Rev.

    (2019)
  • M. Feng et al.

    Structure of the crust and mantle down to 700 km depth beneath the East Qaidam basin and Qilian Shan from P and S receiver functions

    Geophys. J. Int.

    (2014)
  • H. Fossen

    Structural Geology

    (2010)
  • Cited by (14)

    • Intracontinental evolution of the southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt: Evidence from Late Triassic nappe structure in the northern Alxa region, NW China

      2023, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
      Citation Excerpt :

      Furthermore, the balanced cross-section also provides a reliable method for understanding subsurface structure without seismic reflection and well-hole data (McQuarrie 2004; Brandes and Tanner 2014). Despite the lack of available substance for the study of tectonic chronology, however, the relative dating of the nappe structure was determined based on following rules (Tong et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2022a): (1) the youngest rocks with known age exposed the footwall limit the earliest timing of thrusting. ( 2) Earlier structures could be truncated, modified or superimposed by later ones, so their cross-cutting relationship limit the latest timing of earlier tectonic events.

    • Cenozoic multi-stage deformation of the Qilian Shan orogenic belt, northern Tibetan Plateau: Insights from a detrital zircon provenance study of an Oligocene-Miocene intermontane basin sedimentary succession

      2022, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
      Citation Excerpt :

      Evaluations of the spatiotemporal evolution of the Qilian Shan orogenic belt (QSOB) along the northern frontier of the Tibetan Plateau can help ascertain the geodynamics involved in the outward growth of the plateau. However, despite decades of studies on the Cenozoic evolution of the QSOB (Song et al., 2001; Yin et al., 2002, 2008a; Wang et al., 2003; Dai et al., 2005; Fang et al., 2007, 2012; Zheng et al., 2010; Zhuang et al., 2011; Lin et al., 2015; Bush et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2017; He et al., 2018; Cheng et al., 2019a; Nie et al., 2019; Li et al., 2020; Meng et al., 2020; Tong et al., 2020), two fundamental aspects of its evolution remain disputed: the initial timing of deformation and the deformation process. Opinions on the initial timing of deformation in the QSOB are controversial and range from the early Cenozoic shortly after the India-Eurasia collision, which is supported by the model of synchronous north–south deformation of the plateau (Yin et al., 2002; Dayem et al., 2009; Clark et al., 2010), to the middle-late Miocene (ca. 14–11 Ma), which marks the onset of deformation in the southern QSOB and is favoured by northward plateau growth model (Meyer et al., 1998; Wang et al., 2017).

    • Sentinel-1 InSAR observations of co- and post-seismic deformation mechanisms of the 2016 Mw 5.9 Menyuan Earthquake, Northwestern China

      2021, Advances in Space Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      As the boundary of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the central eastern segment of the Qilian Mountains is affected by the northward convergence of the Tibetan Plateau. While the Qilian Mountains are subducted to the northeast, they are blocked by the Alashan Block to the north (Su et al., 2019; Tong et al., 2019; Yu et al., 2019). Simultaneously, the Longshoushan uplift in front of the Alashan Block also pushes southwestward, thus forming the depression and hedging form of the Hexi Corridor Basin, both of which strike in the WNW direction.

    • Mesozoic-Cenozoic cooling history of the Eastern Qinghai Nan Shan (NW China): Apatite low-temperature thermochronology constraints

      2021, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
      Citation Excerpt :

      However, how and when the Tibetan Plateau reached its modern extent is still debated. The Qilian Shan (“shan” = mountains) is a NW-SE trending orogenic belt on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (Fig. 1b), which is an ideal area to study the exhumation and expansion mode of the Tibetan Plateau (Yin and Harrison, 2000; George et al., 2001; Song et al., 2001; Jolivet et al., 2001; Zheng et al., 2010; Lin et al., 2011; Xiao et al., 2012; Pan et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2017a; An et al., 2018; Shi et al., 2018; Yu et al., 2019a, 2019b; Tong et al., 2020). The range has a long and complex tectonic history, including late Proterozoic-early Paleozoic oceanic sutures and associated continental collision events as well as several late Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic intracontinental deformation events (Yin and Harrison, 2000; Yang et al., 2001; Xu et al., 2006; Xiao et al., 2009; Song et al., 2013; Zuza et al., 2018; Cheng et al., 2019a; Lin et al., 2019; Li et al., 2020a).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text