Late Miocene–Pliocene deceleration of dextral slip between Pamir and Tarim: Implications for Pamir orogenesis

No late Quaternary strike-slip motion along the northern Karakoram fault

“…This hypothesis predicts that the Longmu CoGuoza Co fault system should have a slip rate similar to the southern Karakoram fault (∼5-10 mm/yr), broadly consistent with regional InSAR results which indicate ∼4 mm/yr of left lateral motion on structures associated with the Longmu Co-Guoza Co fault system (Wang and Wright, 2012). One possible driver for this reorganization is the proposed Pliocene decrease or cessation of slip along the eastern margin of the Pamir (Sobel et al, 2011) which would have decreased the northward velocity of the Pamir relative to Tibet and terminated slip the northern Karakoram fault. Continued slip along the southern Karakoram fault would have been accommodated by initiation of the Longmu Co-Guoza Co fault system as part of the Late Miocene to present conjugate strike-slip faulting in the Tibetan plateau accommodating pure-shear stretching of the Tibetan crust (Taylor et al, 2003).…”

Sedimentology and magnetostratigraphy of the Tierekesazi Cenozoic section in the foreland region of south West Tian Shan in Western China

“…10). They may represent expressions of regional geodynamics (e.g., Sobel et al, 2013Sobel et al, , 2011. However, these episodes of event more directly express as basinward propagation of the foldand-thrust belt in the sTS region east to the TFF, i.e., the Kashi, Keping and Kuche fold-and-thrust belts, although the accelerated mountain building may also exist (Fig.…”

Impacts of uplift of northern Tibetan Plateau and formation of Asian inland deserts on regional climate and environment

“…In other words, the main body of the plateau might have been of certain scale much earlier. However, the northern TP and its surrounding areas, for instance, the Pamirs (Burtman, 2000;Sobel et al, 2011), the Tianshan Mountains (Sun et al, 2004;Charreau et al, 2005), the Kunlun Mountains (Zheng et al, 2000;Wang et al, 2003), the Altun mountains Song et al, 2014) and the Qilian Mountains (Zheng et al, 2003;Fang et al, 2005Fang et al, , 2007Zhang et al, 2014) experienced significant uplifts since the Miocene as well. Particularly the northeastern and eastern sides of the plateau constantly expanded outward, and the northeastern plateau experienced a certain level of uplift since the late Miocene or even during the Pliocene (Zheng et al, 2000;Li et al, 2014a,b).…”