Late Cenozoic Activity of the Tashkurgan Normal Fault and Implications for the Origin of the Kongur Shan Extensional System, Eastern Pamir

Shenqiang Chen; Hanlin Chen

doi:10.1007/s12583-020-1282-1

Volume 31 Issue 4

Aug 2020

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Journal of Earth Science > 2020 > 31(4): 723-734.

Shenqiang Chen, Hanlin Chen. Late Cenozoic Activity of the Tashkurgan Normal Fault and Implications for the Origin of the Kongur Shan Extensional System, Eastern Pamir. Journal of Earth Science, 2020, 31(4): 723-734. doi: 10.1007/s12583-020-1282-1

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Shenqiang Chen, Hanlin Chen. Late Cenozoic Activity of the Tashkurgan Normal Fault and Implications for the Origin of the Kongur Shan Extensional System, Eastern Pamir. Journal of Earth Science, 2020, 31(4): 723-734. doi: 10.1007/s12583-020-1282-1

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Late Cenozoic Activity of the Tashkurgan Normal Fault and Implications for the Origin of the Kongur Shan Extensional System, Eastern Pamir

doi: 10.1007/s12583-020-1282-1

Shenqiang Chen^{1, 2
,
,
,},
Hanlin Chen¹

1.
School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
2.
Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8092, Switzerland

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Corresponding author: Shenqiang Chen, ORCID:0000-0002-2265-6313, shenqiang.chen@erdw.ethz.ch
Received Date: 26 Aug 2019
Accepted Date: 28 Nov 2019
Publish Date: 24 Aug 2020

Abstract

Abstract

In the northwest of the Himalayan-Tibetan Orogen, the ~250 km-long Kongur Shan extensional system in the eastern Pamir was formed during the convergence between the Indian and Asian plates. Tectonic activity of the Kongur Shan normal fault and the Tashkurgan normal fault can help to reveal the origin of east-west extension along the Kongur Shan extensional system. The Kongur Shan fault has been extensively studied, while the Tashkurgan fault calls for systemic research. In this study, low-temperature thermochronology including apatite fission track analysis and apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He analyses is applied to constrain the timing of activity of the Tashkurgan fault. Results indicate that the Tashkurgan fault initiated at 10-5 Ma, and most likely at 6-5 Ma. The footwall of the Tashkurgan fault has been exhumed at an average exhumation rate of 0.6-0.9 mm/a since the initiation of the Tashkurgan fault. Combined with previous research on the Kongur Shan fault, we believe that the origin of east-west extension along the Kongur Shan extensional system was driven by gravitational collapse of over-thickened Pamir crust.
- Pamir,
- Late Cenozoic,
- extension,
- normal fault,
- low-temperature thermochronology

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References(60)

References

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Late Cenozoic Activity of the Tashkurgan Normal Fault and Implications for the Origin of the Kongur Shan Extensional System, Eastern Pamir

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