Postpalaeozoic Stratigraphy, Palaeogeography and Tectonic Evolution of the Tarim Basin, Xinjinag, NW China

Chen Peiji and Erik Norling

pp. 1-48, in English

Abstract:

The present paper starts with a brief outline of the geology of the Tarim Basin. After chapters describing the Mesozoic and Cenozoic litho- and biostratigraphy, the palaeogeography, we discuss the tectonic processes initiated during the Late Palaeozoic that had the most dramatic impact on the geology from the Tarim area to the South China Block in the southeast during Triassic and Jurassic times. Fossil records indicated that Tarim and South China belonged to the same tectonic block during the Early Triassic. Later on in the Triassic and the Jurassic Times, northward movements of the Indo-Australian Tectonic Plate had a major ploughshare effect subdividing Tarim from the South China Block. In between there are several terranes originating from the Gondwana continent and seaways which already had quite different geology during Late Jurassic time. In the following chapters, the post-Jurassic geological development, from the Early Cretaceous to Pliocene, is described on the basis of previous published work and additional data from the field observations during our expedition in 1991 along the southern slopes of Tian Shan, and the northeastern part of Pamirs. The most important publications referred to, have been Biostratigraphy and Geological Evolution of Tarim, edited by Zhou and Chen (1992); Phanerozoic Geology of Northwest China, edited by Zhou and Dean (1996); and Stratigraphy of the Tarim Basin, edited by Zhou (2001).

Keywords: palaeogeography and tectonic evolution, postpalaeozoic stratigraphy, Tarim Basin, Xinjing