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Active alluvial systems in the Korla Basin, Tien Shan, northwest China: sedimentation in a complex foreland basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

M. B. Allen
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Leicester University, Leicester LEI 7RH, UK
B. F. Windley
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 634, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Zhang Chi
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 634, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Abstract

The Tien Shan is a Cenozoic orogenic belt in central Asia caused by the post-collisional convergence of India with Asia that reactivated Palaeozoic faults. The Korla Basin is a complex foreland basin within the Chinese Tien Shan; elongate sub-basins within it have received sediment from both the hangingwall and footwall blocks above and below reverse faults on their northern margins. The footwall blocks are themselves uplifted by the next fault to the south: the greater part of the sediment supply measured by area comes from the footwall block. This sediment supply pattern is analogous to that of extensional half-graben.

Type
Rapid Communications
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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