Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:18:23.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Polyphase transpressional development of a NNE-striking basement-cored anticline in the Xining Basin, northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2013

J. ZHANG  and
D. CUNNINGHAM
J. ZHANG*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, China, 100037
D. CUNNINGHAM
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Earth Science, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT, USA
*
†Author for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Xiaoxia anticline is a basement-cored fold in the northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. It formed during the Middle–Late Cenozoic in a NNE-orientation oblique to prevailing WNW-striking thrusts in the surrounding region. The fold lies within the fault-bounded Xining Basin, which has behaved as a clockwise rotating and internally deforming block during the mid–late Tertiary. Proterozoic crystalline basement rocks and Jurassic–Cretaceous–Cenozoic terrestrial sediments exposed within the fold record three separate oblique-slip deformation events as determined by cross-cutting generations of faults and folds. The modern Xiaoxia anticline developed by: (1) outward-directed thrusting on the two fold limbs and, (2) oblique-slip thrusting on closely spaced minor NNE-striking faults that caused distributed uplift and passive shear folding of the sedimentary cover within the fold core. Tilted and thrusted river terraces on the flanks of the Xiaoxia anticline dated by optically stimulated luminescence and electron spin resonance indicate that folding has continued into the Late Quaternary (post-45.5 ± 5.5 ka) and therefore may still be active today. The development of the Xiaoxia anticline appears to be best explained in the context of the kinematic evolution of the Xining Basin's bounding strike-slip faults. Formation of the Xiaoxia anticline demonstrates that partitioned transpression in an evolving transpressional setting can invert intra-montane basins and produce basement-cored folds, thereby contributing to regional plateau uplift.

Keywords

basement-cored foldQinghai–Tibetan Plateauoblique-slip thrusttranspressionXining Basin
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 150 , Issue 4 , July 2013 , pp. 626 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allmendinger, R. W., Nelson, K. D., Potter, C. J., Barazangi, M., Brown, L. D. & Oliver, J. E. 1987. Deep seismic reflection characteristics of the continental crust. Geology 15, 304–10.Google Scholar
Brown, W. G. 1988. Deformational style of Laramide uplifts in the Wyoming foreland. In Interaction of the Rocky Mountain Foreland and the Cordilleran Thrust Belt (eds Schmidt, C. J. & Perry, W. J.), pp.1–25. Geological Society of America Memoir no. 171.Google Scholar
Bump, A. P. 2003. Reactivation, trishear modeling, and folded basement in Laramide uplifts: implications for the origins of intra-continental faults. Geological Society of America Today 13, 4–10.Google Scholar
Bureau of Geological and Mineral Resources of Qinghai Province (BGMRQP). 1985. Regional Geological Survey Reports of Duoba, Xining, Tianjiazhai and Gaodian, Qinghai Province, P.R. China. Geological Publishing House, 199 pp.Google Scholar
Dickinson, W. R. & Snyder, W. S. 1978. Plate tectonics of the Laramide orogeny. In Laramide Folding Associated with Block Faulting in the Western United States (ed. Matthews, V.), pp. 355–66. Geological Society of America Memoir no. 151.Google Scholar
Dupont-Nivet, G., Horton, B. K., Butler, R. F., Wang, J., Zhou, J. & Waanders, G. L. 2004. Paleogene clockwise tectonic rotation of the Xining-Lanzhou region, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Geophysical Research 109, B04401, doi:10.1029/2003JB002620, 13 pp.Google Scholar
England, P. C. & Molnar, P. 1990. Right-lateral shear and rotation as the explanation for strike-slip faulting in eastern Tibet. Nature 344, 140–2.Google Scholar
English, J. M. & Johnston, S. T. 2004. The Laramide Orogeny: what were the driving forces? International Geology Review 46, 833–8.Google Scholar
Fang, X., Yan, M., Rob, V., David, K. R., Song, C. H., Josep, M. P., Gao, J. P., Nie, J. S. & Dai, S. 2005. Late Cenozoic deformation and uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau: evidence from high-resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Guide Basin, Qinghai Province, China. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 1208–25.Google Scholar
Garcia, P. E. & Davis, G. H. 2004. Evidence and mechanisms for folding of granite, Sierra de Hualfın basement-cored uplift, northwest Argentina. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 88, 1255–76.Google Scholar
Harding, T. P. 1985. Seismic characteristics and identification of negative flower structures, positive flower structures and positive structural inversion. Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 69, 582–600.Google Scholar
Horton, B. K., Dupont-Nivet, G., Zhou, J., Waanders, G. L., Butler, R. F. & Wang, J. 2004. Mesozoic–Cenozoic evolution of the Xining-Minhe and Dangchang basins, northeastern Tibetan Plateau: magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic results. Journal of Geophysical Research 109, B04402, doi: 10.1029/2003JB002913, 15 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hough, B. G., Garzione, C. N., Wang, Z. C., Lease, R. O., Burbank, D. W. & Yuan, D. Y. 2011. Stable isotope evidence for topographic growth and basin segmentation: implications for the evolution of the NE Tibetan plateau. Geological Society of America Bulletin 123, 168–85.Google Scholar
Huntoon, P. W. 1993. Influence of inherited Precambrian basement structure on the localization and form of Laramide monoclines, Grand Canyon, Arizona. In Laramide Basement Deformation in the Rocky Mountain Foreland of the Western United States (eds Schmidt, C. J., Chase, R. B. & Erslev, E. A.), pp. 243–56. Geological Society of America Special Paper no. 280.Google Scholar
Jordan, T. E. & Allmendinger, R. W. 1986, The Sierras Pampeanas of Argentina; a modern analogue of Rocky Mountain foreland deformation, American Journal of Science 286, 737–64.Google Scholar
Lease, R. O., Burbank, D. W., Gehrels, G. E., Wang, Z. C. & Yuan, D. Y. 2007. Signatures of mountain building: detrital zircon U/Pb ages from northeastern Tibet. Geology 35, 239–42.Google Scholar
Lease, R. O., Burbank, D. W., Clark, M. K., Farley, K. A., Zheng, D. & Zhang, H. 2011. Middle Miocene reorganization of deformation along the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Geology 39, 359–62.Google Scholar
Leonard, L., Mazzotti, S. & Hyndman, R. 2008. Deformation rates estimated from earthquakes in the northern Cordillera of Canada and eastern Alaska. Journal of Geophysical Research 113, B08406, doi: 10.1029/2007JB005456, 18 pp.Google Scholar
Li, J. J., Fang, X. M., Ma, H. Z., Zhu, J. J., Pan, B. T. & Chen, H. L. 1996. Geomorphological and environmental evolution in the upper reaches of the Yellow River during the late Cenozoic. Science in China (Earth Science) 39, 380–90.Google Scholar
Lu, H. Y., An, Z. S., Wang, X. Y., Tan, H. B., Zhu, R. X., Ma, H. Z., Li, Z., Miao, X. D. & Wang, X. Y. 2004. Geomorphological evidences of staged uplift of northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during latest 14Ma. Science in China (Series D) 34, 855–64.Google Scholar
Marshak, S., Karlstrom, K. & Timmons, J. M. 2000. Inversion of Proterozoic extensional faults: an explanation for the pattern of Laramide and Ancestral Rockies intracratonic deformation, United States? Geology 28, 735–8.Google Scholar
Meyer, B., Tapponnier, P., Bourjot, L., Metivier, F., Gaudemer, Y., Peltzer, G., Guo, S. & Chen, Z. 1998. Crustal thickening in Gansu-Qinghai, lithospheric mantle subduction, and oblique, strike-slip controlled growth of the Tibet Plateau. Geophysical Journal International 135, 1–47.Google Scholar
Miller, J. F. & Mitra, S. 2011. Deformation and secondary faulting associated with basement-involved compressional and extensional structures. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 95, 675–89.Google Scholar
Mitra, S. & Mount, V. S. 1998. Foreland Basement-cored structures. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 82, 70–109.Google Scholar
Narr, W. & Suppe, J. 1994. Kinematics of basement-cored compressive structures. American Journal of Science 294, 802–60.Google Scholar
Newberry, R. J., Solie, D. N., Burns, L. E., Wiltse, M. A., Hammond, W. R. & Swainbank, R. 1995. Geophysical and geological evidence for pervasive, northeast-trending left-lateral faults in eastern interior Alaska. Abstracts with Programs Geological Society of America 27, 68.Google Scholar
Otteman, A. S. & Snoke, A. W. 2005. Structural analysis of a Laramide, basement-cored, foreland fault zone, Rawlins uplift, south-central Wyoming. Rocky Mountain Geology 40, 65–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paylor, E. D. II. & Yin, A. 1993. Left-slip evolution of the North Owl Creek fault system, Wyoming, during Laramide shortening. In Laramide Basement Deformation in the Rocky Mountain Foreland of the Western United States (eds Schmidt, C. J., Chase, R. B. & Erslev, E. A.), pp. 229–42. Geological Society of America Special Paper no. 280.Google Scholar
Royden, L. H., Burchfiel, C., King, R. W., Wang, E. C., Chen, Z. L., Shen, F. & Liu, Y. P. 1997. Surface deformation and lower crustal flow in Eastern Tibet. Science 276, 788–800.Google Scholar
Schmidt, C. J., Genovese, P. W. & Chase, R. B. 1993. Role of basement fabric and cover-rock lithology on the geometry and kinematics of twelve folds in the Rocky Mountain foreland. In Laramide Basement Deformation in the Rocky Mountain Foreland of the Western United States (eds Schmidt, C. J., Chase, R. B. & Erslev, E. A.), pp. 1–44. Geological Society of America Special Paper no. 280.Google Scholar
Schreurs, G. & Colletta, B. 1998. Analogue modeling of faulting in zones of continental transpression and transtension. In Continental Transpressional and Transtensional Tectonics (eds Holdsworth, R. E., Strachan, R. A. & Dewey, J. F.), pp. 59–79. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 135.Google Scholar
Spang, J. H. & Evans, J. P. 1988. Geometrical and mechanical constraints on basement-cored thrusts in the Rocky Mountain foreland province. In Interaction of the Rocky Mountain Foreland and the Cordilleran Thrust Belt (eds Schmidt, C. J. & Perry, W. J.), pp. 41–51. Geological Society of America Memoir no. 171.Google Scholar
Stearns, D. W. 1978. Faulting and forced folding in the Rocky Mountains foreland. In Laramide Folding Associated with Block Faulting in the Western United States (ed. Matthews, V.), pp. 1–37. Geological Society of America Memoir no. 151.Google Scholar
Stone, D. S. 1993. Basement-cored thrust-generated folds as seismically imaged in the subsurface of the central Rocky Mountain foreland. In Laramide Basement Deformation in the Rocky Mountain Foreland of the Western United States (eds Schmidt, C. J., Chase, R. B. & Erslev, E. A.), pp. 271–318. Geological Society of America Special Paper no. 280.Google Scholar
Stone, D. S. 2002. Morphology of the Casper Mountain uplift and related, subsidiary structures, central Wyoming: implications for Laramide kinematics, dynamics, and crustal inheritance. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 79, 1417–40.Google Scholar
Tapponnier, P., Xu, Z. Q., Roger, F., Meyer, B., Arnaud, N., Wittlinger, G. & Yang, J. S. 2001. Oblique stepwise rise and growth of the Tibet Plateau. Science 294, 1671–7.Google Scholar
Tindall, S. E. & Davis, G. H. 1999. Monocline development by oblique-slip fault-propagation folding: the East Kaibab monocline, Colorado Plateau, Utah. Journal of Structural Geology 21, 1303–20.Google Scholar
Tu, D. L., Wang, Z. J., Zeng, B. H. & Gao, Q. 1998. Study on distribution and activity characters of the Holocene faults in the Huangshui Basin, Qinghai Province. Northwestern Seismological Journal 20, 83–90 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Varga, R. J. 1993. Rocky Mountain foreland uplifts: products of a rotating stress field or strain partitioning? Geology 21, 1115–8.Google Scholar
Wang, X. L., Lu, Y. C. & Li, X. N. 2005. Luminescence dating of fine-grained quartz in Chinese loess: simplified multiple aliquot regenerative dose (MAR) protocol. Seismology and Geology 27, 615–22 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Wang, J. S., Zhang, K. C., Wang, Z. C. & Bai, Y. S. 2006. Analysis on relationship between the deep geological structure and earthquakes in Xining Basin. Earthquake Research in Plateau 18, 16–24 (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Wise, D. U. & Obi, C. M. 1992. Laramide basement deformation in an evolving stress field, Bighorn Mountain front, Five Springs area, Wyoming. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 76, 1586–600.Google Scholar
Yin, A., Dang, Y. Q., Zhang, M., Chen, X. H. & McRivette, M. W. 2008. Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Qaidam basin and its surrounding regions (Part 3): structural geology, sedimentation, and regional tectonic reconstruction. Geological Society of America Bulletin 120, 847–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, G. M., Zhao, H., Yin, J. H. & Lu, Y. C. 2002. Chronology of the stratum containing the skull of the Dali Man. Chinese Science Bulletin 47, 1302–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar