Late Miocene to Quaternary slip history across the Qiulitag anticline in the southern Tianshan piedmont

Abstract

In this study, we reconstruct the Miocene to Quaternary shortening history across the Qiultag anticline, a complex fault-bend fold located in southern Tianshan. We studied the Yaha and Kuche Accepted Article This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved sections, where we combined surface structural measurements and seismic imaging to model the stratigraphic horizons. The history of folding was reconstructed based on magnetostratigraphic analyses and eight cosmogenic burial ages in Kuche. Pleistocene deformation rates were also quantified in Yaha based on a deformed fluvial terrace that we dated to ~67 ka using a cosmogenic depth profile. Our results suggest that the fold grew at a mean slip rate of 0.9-1.3 mm/a in both sections but accelerated to ~2.5 mm/a during the Pleistocene in Kuche. These results support a migration of the deformation toward the basin during the Pleistocene and suggest that most of the present deformation of the Tianshan is accommodated across the external structures of the range.

Retracted: Control of Multiple Detachments on Structural Development in the Southern Junggar Fold‐and‐Thrust Belt, Northern Tian Shan: Implications for Seismic Hazard Assessment

“…The Tian Shan is an active intracontinental mountain belt, accommodating ∼20 mm/yr of present‐day convergence between the Indian and Eurasian plates in its western part and ∼8 mm/yr in its eastern part (Abdrakhmatov et al., 1996; Reigber et al., 2001; Yang et al., 2008). The Kuqa and southern Junggar FTBs are developed at its southern and northern flanks, respectively, where active thrusting and folding are pronounced (Charreau et al., 2020; Deng et al., 1996; Hubert‐Ferrari et al., 2007; Li, Rao, et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2019; Saint‐Carlier et al., 2016; Tang et al., 2017; Tapponnier & Molnar, 1979). In the northern piedmont, the 1906 M 8 Manas earthquake occurred along the HMT structural belt, where co‐seismic surface ruptures were found in the field (Figure 1b; Avouac et al., 1993; Deng et al., 1996; Stockmeyer et al., 2014), and the occurrence of the 2016 M 6.2 Hutubi earthquake reflects its associated recent seismicity (Li et al., 2018, 2021; Lu et al., 2018).…”

Cenozoic Shortening and Propagation in the Eastern Kuqa Fold‐And‐Thrust Belt, South Tian Shan, NW China

“…Recent works also focused on a fold‐scale deformation history and landscape evolution. Examples include the evolution of detachment folds within the Frontal fold belt of the Kuqa FTB (Gao et al., 2020; Hubert‐ferrari et al., 2007; L. Lu, Sun, et al., 2019; Tian et al., 2016), geomorphological analysis and fold modeling of the Misikantage, Yaken, and Qiulitage anticlines (Adeoti & Webb, 2022; Charreau et al., 2020; Daëron et al., 2007; Delcaillau et al., 2021; Saint‐carlier et al., 2016; Tang et al., 2017; L. Zhang et al., 2021) and magnetostratigraphic studies of strata within active anticlines (Charreau et al., 2006, 2009; Sun et al., 2009; T. Zhang et al., 2014; Z. Zhang et al., 2016, 2018). Despite these efforts, the distribution and propagation of the shortening into the foreland basin and what mechanisms drive this process within the Kuqa FTB remain poorly understood.…”

Kinematics of Cenozoic Shortening of the Hotan Anticline Along the Northwestern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau (Western Kunlun, China)

“…However, the study of growth strata remains often challenging, as it largely depends on the degree of preservation and exposure of these layers (e.g., Vergés et al., 2002), and on the possibility of dating them. Numerous studies, for example, within the foothills of the Pamir or of the southern Tian Shan ranges (e.g., Charreau et al., 2006, 2009, 2020; Chen et al., 2002; Heermance et al., 2007, 2008; Huang et al., 2006, 2010; Hubert‐Ferrari et al., 2007; Li et al., 2019a; Sun et al., 2009; Thompson et al., 2015; Thompson Jobe et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2014), have successfully exploited such syntectonic record to quantify the kinematics of folding and thrusting. This is not much the case for the foothills of the WKR as structures remain most often buried beneath the sedimentation level of the Tarim foreland, so that growth layers are in most cases not exposed.…”