Distribution and Erosion of the Paleozoic Tectonic Unconformities In

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19

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Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

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Distribution and erosion of the Paleozoic tectonic unconformities in the Tarim Basin, Northwest China: Signiﬁcance for the evolution of paleo-uplifts and tectonic geography during deformation ⇑ Changsong Lin a, , Haijun Yang b, Jingyan Liu c, Zhifeng Rui c, Zhenzhong Cai b, Yongfeng Zhu b a School of Ocean Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China b Petroleum Exploration & Production Institute, PetroChina Company Limited, Beijing 100083, China c School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China article info abstract

Article history: The distribution and erosional features of the Paleozoic major tectonic unconformities in the Tarim Basin, Received 4 March 2011 and their genetic relation to the development of paleo-uplifts as well as the evolution of geodynamic set- Received in revised form 20 September tings, are documented in this paper based on the integral analysis of seismic, drilling, and outcrop data. 2011 During the Paleozoic, the Tarim Basin underwent three major tectonic deformation stages, which resulted Accepted 11 October 2011 in three angular unconformities and in signiﬁcant changes in basin geomorphology and paleogeography. Available online 23 November 2011 The tectonic deformation at the end of the Middle Ordovician was characterized by development of the southern central paleo-uplift, the northern depression, and the southeastern Tangguzibasi depression in Keywords: the basin. The thickest denudation belts of the unconformity (T ) are distributed mainly along the Unconformities g5-2 Paleo-uplifts thrust structural highs. A stronger deformation event took place at the end of the Late Ordovician and Tectonic setting formed a huge uplift along the southwestern and southeastern basin margins and the western part of Tectonogeography the Tabei uplift along the northern basin margin, producing an extensive angular unconformity (Tg5) with Paleozoic Tarim Basin maximum erosion thickness of 1500–2000 m. This tectonic event resulted in an abrupt change in overall geography of the basin, from a deepwater marine environment at the late stages of the Late Ordovician to a littoral and neritic basin in the Early Silurian. The deformation that occurred at the end of the Middle Devonian was the strongest in the Paleozoic. It generated the most widespread angular unconformity

(Tg3) within the basin and led to extensive erosion, with maximum denudation thickness of 3000– 5000 m in the northern and northeastern parts of the basin. The topography of the basin during the late Devonian was characterized by a high in the northeast and a low in the southwest, forming an embayment basin opening to the southwest during the Early Devonian to Carboniferous. The transgression in general from southwest to northeast deposited extensive coastal sandstones onlapping the erosion-lev-

eled unconformity (Tg3). Comparative analysis of uplifting in the basin with the regional tectonic setting shows that deformation that took place during the three periods was related to the evolution of the paleo-oceanic plates and the orogenesis around the basin. The closure of the North Kunlun Ocean and subsequent collision is suggested to be the main cause for the development of the central paleo-uplift at the end of the Middle Ordovician and the strong uplift and erosion of the southwestern and southeastern basin margin at the end of the Late Ordovician. The large-scale uplift and denudation of the northern part of the basin, including the Tabei–Kongquehe uplift belt, as well as the folding and hinging of the Manjiaer depression, was coeval with, and more related to, the subduction and collision of the South Tianshan orogenic belt and the Altyn trench-arc-basin system at the end of the Middle Devonian. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction development of a series of large-scale paleo-uplifts and tectonic unconformities. The deformation stages indicated by extensive The Tarim Basin, located in western China, is a large superim- angular unconformities resulted in signiﬁcant changes in tectonic posed basin that underwent multiple phases of tectonic deforma- geomorphology and geography of the basin. An investigation of tion from the Sinian to Cenozoic (Li et al., 1996; Jia, 1997). The the development of the unconformities and paleo-uplifts is impor- basin architecture is complicated, and is characterized by the tant in unraveling the geodynamic setting of the basin’s evolution. Petroleum exploration in the basin has shown that most of the ⇑ Corresponding author. hydrocarbon accumulation was closely related to development of E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Lin). the paleo-uplifts and distribution of the unconformities. Thus,

1367-9120/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2011.10.004 2 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 research on the evolution of paleo-uplifts and the tectonogeogra- et al., 2009), but in this paper we aim to investigate the evolution phy of the Tarim Basin has greatly intensified over the past two of the Paleozoic tectonogeography of the basin during critical decades (Xu et al., 2005; Li et al., 1996; Jia, 2002; Jin and Wang, deformation stages. 2004; Lin et al., 2004; Pang et al., 2006; Kang, 2007; Liu et al., The study in this paper has shown that the contact feature and 2008; Lin et al., 2008, 2009). erosion distribution of a tectonic unconformity can provide very The development of unconformities, particularly their erosion useful information for reconstruction of paleo-uplifts and tectono- and origin within the basin’s dynamic setting, has been one of geography, and that the formation of paleo-uplifts and angular the imperative and long-term controversies in basin analysis. The unconformities within the basin was closely related to the coeval formation of stratigraphic unconformities can be attributed to tec- subduction of the surrounding paleo-ocean and the collision of tonics, eustasy, or climatic change (Huuse and Clausen, 2001; orogenic belts. We address these issues by integrating the analysis Dickinson et al., 2002; Jaimes and de De Freitas, 2006; Otonicar, of seismic profiles, well logs and outcrop data, with a focus on the 2007; Baranoski et al., 2009). However, angular unconformities comprehensive interpretation and correlation of long seismic pro- with underlying deformed strata are usually generated by tectonic files across the basin. This study may serve as a foundation for fur- events or uplifting (e.g., Coakley et al., 1991; Paola and Domenico, ther research on the dynamic evolution of the basin and the 1995; Mindszenty et al., 1995; Yu and Chou, 2001; Rafini et al., prediction of reservoir distribution within it. 2002; Li et al., 2004; Ghiglione and Ramos, 2005). In the Tarim Ba- sin, many previous works have identified a number of major angular unconformities with tectonic origin within the Paleozoic (e.g., 2. Geologic setting and tectonostratigraphy He, 1995; Zhang et al., 1996,; Jia, 1997; Chen et al., 2007; Lin et al., 2008; Liu et al., 2008 2007). Erosional amounts of some ma- The Tarim Basin lies between the Chinese Tianshan Mountains jor unconformities in parts of the basin were estimated through to the north and the western Kunlun Mountains to the south, strata correlation or quantitative modeling (Zhang et al., 2000,; and is confined by the Altyn Fault Belt to the southeast. The basin Zhou et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2010, 2007). In particular, there have is diamond shaped in plane view, and covers an area of about been many investigations concerning the significance of the 560,000 km2, with an east–west length of more than 1000 km unconformities in petroleum accumulation in the uplift belts in and a south–north length of over 800 km. The Tarim basin can be the basin (e.g., He, 2002; Deng et al., 2008; Xiao et al., 2009). How- tectonically divided into several units, including the Kuqa depres- ever, most of these studies focused on parts of the basin based on sion, the Tabei uplift belt, the North depression belt (the Manjiaer local data and less attention has been paid to the variation and dis- and the Awati depressions), the Central uplift belt, the Southeast- tribution of the unconformities and their erosion in basin scale. ern uplift belt, and the Taxinan marginal depression (Fig. 1, modi- Generally the formation of the angular unconformities is regarded fied from Jia (1997)). as the product of tectonism, but their genetic relation to the devel- The basement of the Tarim Basin consists of Pre-Sinian conti- opment of uplifts and the evolution of geodynamic setting of the nental crust (Jia, 2002). The continent was formed in a subduction basin, particularly the evolution of the surrounding paleo-oceanic setting during the Early Neoproterozoic (Nakajima et al., 1990; plates or orogenesis have been less studied. There are also many Wang et al., 1990; Xiao et al., 1992; Che et al., 1994; Chen et al., investigations concerning the reconstruction of the paleogeogra- 2000), which is suggested to be the result of the collision between phy of the Tarim Basin (Feng et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2006; Zhao the North and South Tarim Blocks (Wu et al., 2010). The breakup of

Fig. 1. Schematic tectonic map of the Tarim Basin, showing the distribution of tectonic units within the basin (modified after Lin et al. (2009)). C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 3 the continent might have taken place in the Nanhua period during rienced a compressive inversion during the Late Paleozoic. The the separation from the Rodinia supercontinent (Gao et al., 2009; Tadong uplift that flanks the present northeastern margin of the Wu et al., 2010). Rifting-related mafic igneous rocks are widely dis- basin formed mainly during the Late Paleozoic, and Jurassic se- tributed in both the northern and southern margins of the Tarim quences rest directly on the Early Paleozoic along the uplift belt. block (Xu et al., 2005, 2009; Zhang et al., 2009, 2010; Wang Located between the Kuqa depression and the North depression et al., 2010). From the Sinian to the Paleozoic, the Tarim Basin belt, the Tabei uplift belt (about 400 km long and 80 km wide) was surrounded by a paleo-archipelago environment and evolved developed initially in the Early Paleozoic (Jia, 1997), and it has a from intra-plate continental rift or aulacogen to passive continen- complex evolutionary history that evolved from the Paleozoic to tal margin and intra-cratonic depression, and then to a peripheral the Cenozoic time. Most of the faults active during the Paleozoic foreland or retroarc foreland environment (Li et al., 1996; Wei in the uplift belt were thrust faults found along the northern mar- et al., 2002; Lin et al., 2008). The evolution of the tectonic back- gin in a NWW dominant direction. The Central uplift belt is ori- ground had significant influence on the paleo-structural frame- ented west-to-east and is about 1000 km long and 80–150 km work and paleogeographic pattern of the basin. wide. It consists of the Tazhong and Bachu uplifts, which under- The initial development of the Tarim Basin witnessed the for- went obviously different tectonic histories. The Tazhong uplift is mation of the Manjiaer depression (a rift or an aulacogen) in the a Paleozoic paleo-uplift, which comprises a series of NWW-trend- early Sinian in the northeastern part of the basin. The deep trough ing faults spreading westward and converging to the east. The was controlled by a group of faults and filled with several thousand major faults of the uplift generally developed within the lower meters of deep marine deposits in the Early Paleozoic, and it expe- and middle part of the Paleozoic system, and display mainly as

Fig. 2. Generalized Paleozoic tectonostratigraphy of the Tarim Basin, showing the unconformity-bounded sequences and the evolution of deposition and basin dynamic setting. Note that there are three major angular unconformities (Tg5-2, Tg5 and Tg3) formed during basin deforming stages. 4 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 base-involved high-dip thrust faults. The Bachu uplift belt com- unconformably overlain by the Ordovician. The Lower to Middle prises a series of NW or WNW-trending faults and plunges north- Ordovician is composed mainly of carbonate deposits, and the eastward to the southern central basin. The uplift belt developed Upper Ordovician is dominated by siliciclastic abyssal deposits initially in the Paleozoic and took its final shape in the Neogene. throughout the basin. The Ordovician carbonate system is predom- The Southeastern uplift belt was a long-term marginal uplift belt, inantly composed of thick limestones and dolomites of an open encompassing a series of thrust uplifts and extending more than platform with reef and shoal deposits. There is an unconformity 1000 km along the southeastern basin margin. The uplift belt gen- between the Middle and the Upper Ordovician, which developed erally lacks strata from the Early Paleozoic to Triassic, and in the mainly in the central uplift belt, where the Lower Ordovician is uplift high, the Tertiary even overlies the Proterozoic. overlain by the Upper Ordovician. Fig. 2 shows the general Paleozoic tectonostratigraphic se- The contact between the Silurian and the Ordovician systems is quence in the Tarim Basin, excluding the northeastern Manjiaer displayed as a widespread angular unconformity. The Lower Silu- depression where the Paleozoic sequence is composed of several rian mainly comprises dark mudstones and grayish sandstone of thousand meters of siliciclastic sediments. The Lower Sinian rests littoral and neritic deposits and is overlain by purplish sandstones unconformably on the Pre-Sinian crystallized basement, and is and sandy mudstones of littoral and fluvial deposits of the Middle composed of morainic conglomerate and purplish-gray terrigenous to Upper Silurian. The Lower and Middle Devonian are mainly clastic deposits. The Upper Sinian consists mostly of dolomite and composed of red sandstones and variegated sandy mudstones mudstone intercalated with many sets of diabase. The discontinu- formed in fluvial and littoral environments. The contact relation- ity between the Sinian and the Cambrian can be observed locally in ship between the Silurian and the Devonian appears as a parallel the basin. The overlying Cambrian consists of thick dolomite discontinuity or minor angular unconformity. The Upper Devonian formed in a cratonic carbonate platform surrounded by passive is composed of distinctive, clean quartz sandstones of coastal continental margin slopes. At the base of the Cambrian there are deposits. It is separated from the underlying strata by a widespread widely distributed dark phosphatic mudstones indicative of a angular unconformity indicative of a strong uplift event. The Car- large-scale transgression that took place during the Early boniferous includes mainly littoral and neritic clastic deposits Cambrian. formed in an epicontinental marine basin. The Permian System The Middle to Upper Cambrian contains thick gypsum and salt mainly developed from fluvial, shoreline, and lacustrine clastic layers and thick-bedded dolomites, which are characteristic of an deposits, intercalated with acidic and basic volcanic rocks. After evaporative carbonate platform environment, and which are the Permian, marine conditions generally ended in the Tarim Basin.

Fig. 3. (A) N–S seismic interpreted profile across the central Tarim Basin; (B) the reconstructed tectonostratigraphic framework showing the distribution of the paleo-uplifts and the major unconformities of the Paleozoic; and (C) the schematic map indicating the location of the 2D seismic profiles (red lines) and the boreholes (black circles) used in this study. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 5

Fig. 4. (A) 3D Seismic profile across the Tazhong uplift showing the major unconformities (Tg5 and Tg5-2) (location of the profile shown in Fig. 3, P); (B) the evaluation of the erosional thicknesses of the unconformity (Tg5-2) on the seismic profile and (C) the calibrated borehole logging profile. Note the onlap unconformity (Tg5-3) at the base of the Yingshan Formation and how it thins toward the high uplift (PLB: Penglaiba Fm.; YS: Yingshan Fm.; LLTG: Lianglitage Fm.; STM: Sangtamu Fm). 6 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19

3. Methods and database recognition and erosion mapping of the major unconformities. This study shows that the major unconformities in the basin change sig- This study uses an integrated database that includes distributed nificantly in different structural belts, and the variation from high seismic profiles, more than 100 well logs, and outcrop sections. angular to minor angular, or parallel and conformable contacts, Comprehensive analysis of 19 2D seismic profiles across the entire might reflect geomorphic change from the uplift high to marginal basin, together with local 3D seismic data from the Tazhong and slope and central depression (Lin et al., 2008). The initial erosional the Tabei oilfields (refer to Fig. 3C), provides a firm basis for the point separating the unconformity and the conformity belts can be recognized on seismic profiles by truncation of the underlying stra-

Fig. 5. (A) Distribution of denudation thickness of the unconformity (Tg5-2) and (B) the estimation of the erosional thickness of unconformity (Tg5-2) on a seismic profile (location indicated by P). Note that the distribution of the relatively thick erosional belts is related to thrust uplift. On the seismic profile (B) the early rift structure (graben) that developed during the Sinian to Early Cambrian can be observed. C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 7 ta, or the onlap contact in the overlying sedimentary beds of the traced throughout most of the basin, and comprise the boundaries unconformities. We can delineate the distribution of the unconfo- of super-sequences or tectonic sequences. Their spatial and tempo- rmities in plane through the recognition and tracing of the initial ral distribution reflects fundamental stratigraphic characteristics truncated points. of the basin. On the basis of analysis of seismic, logging, and out- There have been many methods to quantitatively estimate the crop data, this study shows that there are three major widespread erosion value of an unconformity based on borehole data such as angular to minor angular unconformities (Tg5-2, Tg5, and Tg3) that vitrinite, paleopore, or sonic well logs (e.g., Magara, 1976; Henry, formed during the Paleozoic. They were formed in three stages:

1996; Liu et al., 2000). However, it is usually difficult to use only during the Middle to early Late Ordovician (Tg5-2), at the end of these data to map the distribution of an unconformity or its ero- the Late Ordovician (Tg5), and at the end of the Middle Devonian sion amount in plane as a result of limitations on available bore- (Tg3)(Fig. 3). The relatively high-angle surface, deformed or hinged hole data and of deep burial of the unconformity. In this study, underlying strata, and associated thrust faults or fold structures all the erosion thicknesses of the unconformities are estimated based suggest that their origin was mainly related to tectonic events or on the geometry of the eroded strata underlying the unconformity compressive uplifting (Jia, 1997; Zhang et al., 2000; Sun et al., surfaces, shown on seismic profiles calibrated with borehole data. 2007; Lin et al., 2008). To restore the original geomorphology of a sedimentary basin, it is We found that the multiple uplift events resulted in the amal- common practice to flatten a horizontal depositional layer using gamation of multiple unconformities in the long-term uplifted belts. seismic data for the time when the stratigraphic sections were de- Flanking the high uplifted belts, a triangular unconformity belt formed. Mapping of the distribution of uplift unconformities and developed along the paleo-marginal slopes, which formed favorable the tectonic paleogeography of the basin in the major deforming reservoir stratigraphic traps. Petroleum exploration in the basin so stages, compared with the regional tectonic setting, constitutes a far has shown that the Paleozoic oil/gas reservoirs found in the basin proxy for evaluating the dynamic evolution and tectonic con- were mostly related to this type of stratigraphic trap, particularly straints on geomorphology or paleogeography of the basin. those related to the three unconformities mentioned above (Wu et al., 1996; He, 2002; Liu et al., 2009; Lin et al., 2009). 4. Distribution of the major tectonic unconformities and development of the paleo-uplifts 4.1. Unconformity Tg5-2 and the formation of the central paleo-uplift

The Tarim Basin developed a series of signiﬁcant unconformity Unconformity Tg5-2 is located between the overlying Lianglitage surfaces during the Paleozoic (Fig. 2). These unconformities can be Formation of the Upper Ordovician and the underlying Yingshan

Fig. 6. (A) Estimation of erosional thickness of the unconformity Tg5 from a seismic proﬁle (Fig. 4) and (B) calibrated borehole logging proﬁle. Note that the relatively thick erosional belts are related to the thrust uplift. 8 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19

Formation of the Middle to Lower Ordovician. It is a clear angular fan Formation of the Middle Ordovician and the Tumuxiuke unconformity on many seismic proﬁles in the central basin area Formation of the lower Upper Ordovician are missing over the (Fig. 4). Strong truncation along this surface can be observed, par- extensive central paleo-uplift belt. At outcrops in the Keping area ticularly in the relatively rising central part of the Tazhong paleo- in the western basin margin, the unconformity can be observed uplift. Drilling data have veriﬁed that under the unconformity sur- and the strata underlying the unconformity surface has nine miss- face, strata of the upper part of the Yingshan Formation, the Yijian- ing conodont zones (Xiong et al., 2006; Deng et al., 2008).

Fig. 7. Denudation thickness distribution of unconformity Tg5 (A) and Tg3 (B). Note that distribution of the relic (conformable) depressional zones delineated by tracing the initial erosional points of the unconformities on seismic proﬁles calibrated with borehole data. C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 9

Paleo-karst along the top of the Yingshan Formation is com- cal onlap unconformity at the base of the Yingshan Formation. Fur- monly visible and is displayed on seismic profiles with distinctive thermore, it can be seen that the depositional thickness of the reflection features, such as the local horizon down-pulling and ver- Yingshan Formation thins from the slope margin to the uplift high tical ‘‘beaded’’ reflection caused by karst collapse (Fig. 4A). Bore- (Fig. 4). This unconformity has also been recognized in outcrops hole data have revealed multiple complicated karst zones, along the western basin margin (Deng et al., 2008). Subsequent including the surface karstification zone, and vertical and horizon- uplifting during formation of unconformity Tg5-2 represents the tal vadose zones (Chen et al., 2007). Current petroleum exploration major development period of the central paleo-uplift. During in the basin has shown that this horizon contains important karst the Late Ordovician, the central paleo-uplift was submerged and hydrocarbon reservoirs. the carbonate platform regenerated, but it was constrained By tracing the distribution of the initial truncation points of the by the morphology of the paleo-uplift. This period of tectonic uplift unconformity on the detailed interpretation of seismic profiles, we extended until deposition of the Sangtamu Formation of the Late can see that the distribution of the erosional paleo-uplift belt cov- Ordovician, which is depicted in seismic profiles by onlapping ers an area of about 200,000 km2 in the central southern basin deposits of the Sangtamu Formation in the thrust uplift of the Taz- (Fig. 5). This giant paleo-uplift belt, in fact, encompassed the Bachu hong area. paleo-slope and the Tazhong and Hetianhe uplifts. From the erosion thickness map of the unconformity (T ) we can see that g5-2 4.2. Unconformity Tg5 and tectonic geomorphology the relatively thick, stripped eroded belts are situated at the tops of the thrust fault belts in a WNW or NE direction. The central horst Unconformity Tg5 formed at the end of the Late Ordovician and and the Tazhong No. 10 fault belts WNW of the Tazhong uplift con- is a major angular unconformity in the basin, separating the over- strained the eroded zones with an estimated eroded thickness be- lying Early Silurian littoral and shallow marine clastic deposits tween 300 and 500 m, and up to 500–700 m in the WNW from the underlying Late Ordovician abyssal mudstone or turbi- Tumuxiuke-Badong fault belt (Fig. 5). The southeast Hetianhe pa- dite. The unconformity can be recognized by its angular truncation leo-uplift formed an east–west trending denudation belt with an contact in many seismic profiles along the paleo-uplift belts (Figs. 3 erosion thickness of about 300 m, controlled by the Tangnan and 4), and it has been documented by many previous workers thrust-fault belts. This suggests that the central paleo-uplift was (Zhang et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2009). mainly generated by thrust faulting. The distribution of the unconformity and its denudation thick- The development of the central paleo-uplift might have initi- ness in the basin shows that there are two angular unconformity ated during deposition of the Yingshan Formation in the late Early belts with relatively high erosional thicknesses distributed along Ordovician. This is evidenced in the Tazhong paleo-uplift by the lo- the northwestern and southeastern basin marginal areas. In

Fig. 8. (A) Interpreted seismic profile across the southwestern part of Tabei uplift showing angular contacts of unconformities Tg3, Tg5, and Tg5-2. (B) A seismic profile from the southeastern part of Tabei uplift showing the intensive erosion of unconformity Tg3 with a maximum denudation thickness larger than 2500 m (location of the profile is indicated in Fig. 7A). (DHT Fm: Donghetang Formation; TTAETG Fm.: Tataaiertage Formation; KPTG Fm.: Kepingtage Formation). 10 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19

between these unconformity belts, there is a depression belt trend- unconformity (Tg5), and it has two depocenters: the Manjiaer ing ENE, characteristic of a parallel discontinuous or conformable depression to the east and the Awati depression to the west. Be- contact (Fig. 6). Running from the southwestern to southeastern tween them is a low-relief bulge belt trending NNE, extending basin margin, the giant Southeastern marginal paleo-uplift belt from the North Lunnan nose to the Shuntuoguole low bulge of including the Tazhong paleo-uplift and the former Tangguzibasi the Tazhong paleo-uplift. This tectono-geomorphic feature formed depression is typified by the development of a high-angle uncon- at the end of the Ordovician and had a significant influence on formity that was intensely uplifted and eroded. The maximum deposition of the early Silurian basin. denudation thickness along the thrust uplift high of the NE Tangnan fault belt is 1500–2000 m, based on estimations from 4.3. Unconformity Tg3 and the basin tectonic framework the eroded lacuna in seismic profiles calibrated with borehole data (Fig. 6). The Tazhong paleo-uplift, which plunged from west to east Unconformity Tg3 formed at the end of the Middle Devonian and during the Middle Ordovician, was hinged up as a whole and in- is one of the largest tectonic unconformities in the Tarim Basin. Its clined westward in reverse at the end of the Late Ordovician. Along architecture and tectonic origin have been well documented the northwestern margin of the basin, the middle to western part (Zhang et al., 2000; Sun et al., 2007; Liu et al., 2008). The high of the Tabei uplift belt was also uplifted and eroded (Figs. 7 and angular contact of the unconformity can be observed in a wide 8). The denudation thickness of the unconformity has been mea- area, mainly distributed along the Tabei to Kongquehe paleouplift sured at 500–1000 m at the Yingmaili uplift high in the western belt along the northeastern basin margin and the Tanan-Hetianhe part of the paleo-uplift. The eastern part of the Tabei uplift, how- to Tadong paleouplift belt along the southeastern to northeastern ever, seems not to have been uplifted or eroded during this period, portion of the basin (Figs. 3, 7 and 8). The southeastern slope of because the unconformity disappears there. the Tabei uplift belt has a general denudation thickness of around The northern depression belt between the two paleo-uplift belts 1000–2000 m, and the massively uplifted and eroded area located was a residual basin limited by the initial truncation point of the along the Kongquehe slope and in the Tadong uplift belt to the

Fig. 9. (A) Tectonic geography of the early Late Ordovician in the Tarim Basin (modified from Lin et al. (2008)) and (B) the flattened seismic profile for reconstruction of the basin geometry in the Middle to Late Ordovician. Note that the carbonate platform formed around the Tabei, Tazhong, and southeastern Tangnan paleo-uplifts, and that the development of the platform margins was constrained by thrust fault belts. 1. Tazhong northern marginal fault belt; 2. Tumuxiuke fault belt; 3. Tazhong No. 5 fault belt; 4. Tangbei fault belt; 5. Tangnan fault belt; 6. Yangtake fault belt; and 7. Kunan fault belt. C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 11 eastern basin margin has more than 5000 m of removed strata. In 5. Evolution of paleogeography during basin deformation the northern part of the Tabei uplift erosion of the unconformity extends into the Cambrian System. A widespread karstification The tectonic framework and paleogeography of the Tarim Basin zone along the unconformity at the top of the Ordovician carbonate varied significantly during the Paleozoic, but the fundamental system, or the Cambrian in the Tabei uplift, formed an important changes commonly occurred at critical deforming stages marked karst-type reservoir for the giant Tahe-Lunnan oilfields found in by major widespread unconformities. These changes are reflected the basin. In the Southeastern paleouplift belt that extends from in three ways: (1) the generation or redistribution of uplifts and the southern Tanan-Hetianhe to the Tadong area northeastward, depressions within the basin; (2) the redistribution of land and unconformity Tg3 is also characterized by a high-angle contact seas, as well as sedimentary source provinces; and (3) the pattern and a relatively large amount of denudation, ranging from 500 to of paleogeography. In this study, the paleogeography of the Tarim 2000 m. Basin was mapped just before or after major deforming stages dur- By comparing the distribution of unconformity Tg5 and uncon- ing the Paleozoic to reveal the effects of tectonic geomorphology formity Tg3 (Figs. 6 and 7), it can be seen that development of on the development of paleogeography. This, in turn, puts con- the paleouplifts during this deforming stage was inherited at straints on the reconstruction of the tectonic framework of the ba- the end of the Ordovician. However, during the deformation sin during the major deforming stages. stage at the end of the Middle Devonian, the Tabei area as a whole and the northeastern margin of the basin were thrust up and the entire Manjiaer depression was strongly uplifted 5.1. Changes in paleogeography during the Middle to early Late and eroded. The strong erosional area appeared to develop from Ordovician the southeastern to the northeastern basin margin. It can be seen from the denudation thickness map that the erosion Tectonic deformation of the Middle to the early Late Ordovician amount of the unconformity decreased toward the west, because in the Tarim Basin immensely changed the paleotectonic frame- the unconformity transitions from high angular to parallel work and paleogeographic setting. Regional compressive deforma- unconformity, and eventually conformity in the southwestern tion during the Middle Ordovician resulted in formation of the part of the basin, forming a relic basin opening southwestward. central paleo-uplift, the northern depression belt, and the south- The deformation at the end of the Middle Devonian led to inten- eastern Tangguzibasi depression (Fig. 9). The geography of the sive uplift of the eastern basin area and re-formed the tectonic Early Ordovician was inherited from the Late Cambrian, character- geomorphology of the basin, with topography higher in the ized by widespread development of an open carbonate platform northeast and lower in the southwest. This is the reverse of over most of the basin area except for the Manjiaer deep water the geomorphology of the basin during the Early Paleozoic. depression in the northeastern part of the basin, which received deep marine siliciclastic deposits. Around the western margin of

Fig. 10. (A) Tectonic paleogeography of the early Silurian (modified from Liu et al. (2010)) and (B) the flattened seismic profile for reconstruction of the basin geometry of the Early Silurian (facies interpretation is based on seismic reflection features and borehole data). 12 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 the deep water basin, an arc-shaped carbonate platform margin a rimmed carbonate platform margin along the Tazhong No.1 fault projected toward the west, which grew vertically from the Early belt dominated by coral and calcareous algal facies associations to early Middle Ordovician. It was simply constrained by the differ- (Gu et al., 2005). An oil/gas field has been discovered, with a reser- ential subsidence of the slope margin. The south-central basin, voir approximating 100 million tons, along the fault-bounded car- including the Tazhong area, contains local syndepositional faults bonate platform margin. The southern marginal fault belt of the and small-scale grabens or half-grabens that are Sinian to Late paleo-uplift, encompassing the Badong fault belt and the Tazhong Cambrian in age, indicative of a weakly extensional or passive con- No. 2 fault belt, similarly controlled development of the southeast- tinental margin environment (Fig. 5; Lin et al., 2008). This area was ern platform margin. At the same time, the northwestern margin of uplifted to form the central paleo-uplift belt, and it restricted the the isolated Tangnan carbonate platform along the Southeastern distribution of unconformity Tg5-2 and the development of the margin uplift was confined by the northwest-thrusting Tangnan overlying carbonate platform of the Late Ordovician. The east–west fault belt. The carbonate platform margin in the northern part of trending northern depression belt including the Majiaer depres- the basin retreated correspondingly to the north and formed sion in the east and the Awati depression in the west, was domi- around the Tabei uplift due to the development of the northern nated by pelagic abyssal mudstones and turbidite deposits. The deep-water depression. Tangguzibasi depression filled with deep marine deposits at this time. In general, the distribution of basin tectonic geography chan- 5.2. Evolution of the tectonogeography from the end of the Late ged from the prior N–S trend to a W–E trend. Ordovician to the Early Silurian The Middle to Late Ordovician carbonate platform in the basin formed around the Tabei, central Tazhong, and southeastern Tan- The carbonate system of the Late Ordovician drowned in the gnan paleouplifts (Figs. 3 and 9). Detailed examination indicates entire basin at the top of the Lianglitage Formation, and it is that carbonate platform margins were strictly controlled by the overlain by deep-water mudstones and coarse-grained gravity relatively steep slopes produced by thrust faults or flexural struc- deposits of the Sangtamu Formation. This indicates that a ture zones. It can be seen from the paleogeographic map large-scale transgression occurred during the late Late Ordovi- (Fig. 9A) that the Tazhong paleo-uplift confined the subsequent cian and that the basin was dominated by a deepwater or abys- development of the peninsular carbonate platform during the mid- sal environment. The Manjiaer depression extends southward dle Late Ordovician (Lianglitage Formation). The northern margin and connects with the Tangguzibasi depression, forming an of the carbonate platform grew along, and was controlled by, the intensive subsidence abyssal belt in the southeastern basin that No. 1 marginal fault belts of the Tazhong uplift. To the west, the is filled with several thousand meters of turbidite sediments platform margin seemed to develop along the Tumuxiuke fault belt feeding mainly from the east and northeast (Zhao et al., 2009). and extended to the Bachu outcrop area. Drilling data has revealed The regional convergent tectonic setting and large-scale com-

Fig. 11. Tectonic paleogeography of the Dohetang Formation during the Late Devonian, and the well-cross profile (A) showing the transgression from west to east. C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 13 pressive structures visible along the southeastern basin margin 5.3. Tectonic paleogeography of the Late Devonian to the Early suggest that the rapid subsidence was likely attributed to com- Carboniferous pressive flexural downwarping (Fig. 3). Following this event, the basin was uplifted in the very Late Ordovician deforming Tectonic events at the end of the Middle Devonian caused uplift stage, which led to an abrupt change in depositional setting from and extensive erosion in most of the Tarim Basin. The distribution deep marine basin to fluvial or littoral clastic deposits of the and erosion features of unconformity Tg3 indicates that the Early Silurian system in the central basin. Manjiaer depression in the southeastern part of the basin was ex- Seismic and borehole data maps show that the depositional pat- posed and eroded, while the southwestern part of the basin re- tern of the Early Silurian basin reflected the general tectonic geo- mained stable and subsided. The tectonic geomorphology was morphology found at the end of the Ordovician. The Lower generally high in the east and low in the west, which is the oppo- Silurian is dominated by littoral and neritic terrigenous clastic fa- site of the Early Paleozoic. This significantly constrained the paleo- cies (Liu et al., 2010); Zhang et al., 2008) The paleogeography is ori- geography of the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous. During ented from southeast to northwest, consistent with that of the deposition of the Upper Devonian Donghetang Formation, just paleo-uplift belts. From northwest to southeast, facies associations post-uplifting, a transgression took place from west to east, form- show a transition from fluvial delta and clastic shoreline deposits ing an intracratonic littoral depression, which deepened northeast along the southern slope of the Tabei uplift, to neritic and shallow to southwest (Fig. 11). The depositional environment graded from marine fine-grained clastics in the northern depression belt, and fi- clastic shoreline and fluvial delta, through lagoon or embayment, nally to clastic shoreline and delta deposits at the northern margin to estuarine and shallow marine environment (Zhu et al., 2002). of the Southeastern paleo-uplift (Fig. 10). Reconstruction of basin Extremely thick siliciclastic turbidite and deepwater mudstone geomorphology reveals that the southern slope of the Tabei uplift deposits of the Tianshan Carboniferous paleo-ocean were found was relatively steeper than that of the Southeastern paleo-uplift. in the outcrops from the western basin margin to the Tianshan Thus, the relative depocenter of the northern depression trended mountain belt (Lin et al., 2009). The Donghetang Formation is pre- northward. Large scale clinoforms of deltaic and shoreline clastic dominately composed of clean quartz sandstones deposited in deposits developed along the northern slope and prograded south- wave-dominated shoreline and delta environments. These sand- ward, and are clearly displayed on many seismic profiles (Fig. 10B). stones, comprising a high-quality reservoir in the basin, overlie

The gentle southeastern slope extended across the area of the unconformity Tg3 along the slope of the paleo-uplifts and form Tangguzibasi depression to the southeastern basin margin with important stratigraphic traps, such as the Hade oil ﬁeld found on widespread stratigraphic onlap on unconformity Tg5. The eastern the southern slope of the Tabei uplift (Jia, 1997). part of the northern depression received large-scale ﬂuvial-delta deposits, which exhibited progradation from east to west or north- 6. Discussion of the basin geodynamic setting west (Liu et al., 2010). This is simply related to the collision and uplift of the Altyn block bounding the eastern basin margin, which The Tarim Basin is surrounded by the western North Kunlun formed an important sediment provenance region. orogenic belt to the south and the South Tianshan orogenic belt

Fig. 12. Schematic map showing the tectonic setting of the Tarim Basin. 1. Kudi suture zone; 2. Kangxiwa suture zone; 3. South Tianshan suture zone; 4. North Tianshan suture zone; and 5. Altyn suture zone (integrated and modiﬁed from Jia (1997), Wang (2004) and Charvet et al. (2011)). 14 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 to the north (Figs. 1 and 12). By comparing the formation of the North Kunlun is against the southern border of the Tarim Basin. Paleozoic major unconformities with the evolution of the regional During the late Proterozoic to the Early Paleozoic, there was a pa- tectonic setting, we can assume that the major compressive defor- leo-ocean, the North Kunlun Ocean between the North and South mation that occurred within the basin during the Paleozoic is a ﬁrst Kunlun blocks (Luo et al., 2005; Mattern and Schneider, 2000; response to the subduction and closure of the paleo-oceans sur- Wang, 2004). The ophiolite suite proposed as the suture zone of rounding the basin. The comparison may, in return put a constraint the ocean is found in the Kudi volcanic belt, which extends for on the understanding of the tectonic events that occurred in the several hundreds of kilometers along the western Kunlun Moun- orogenic belts surrounding the basin. tains (Wang, 2004; Zhang et al., 2007; Xiao et al., 2005). To the south of the Kudi, a granite belt, composed of extensive Paleozoic 6.1. Subduction and collision of the Kunlun orogenic belt and the uplift intermediate-acid intrusive and volcanic rocks, formed in an is- of the south central basin land-arc setting (Yuan et al., 2005; Zhang et al., 2007; Xiao et al., 2005). Recent studies suggested that during the early Paleo- The western Kunlun orogenic belt generally comprises four zoic the northward subduction produced the North Kunlun tectonic units from north to south (Pan, 1990; Pan and Bian, Ocean, a back-arc basin and the Andean-type arc plutonic belt 1996; Deng, 1996; Matte et al., 1996; Searle, 1996; Mattern and to the south of the basin (Wang, 2004; Xiao et al., 2005). Many Schneider, 2000): the North and South Kunlun, the Kara-Kunlun investigations of the isotopic ages and geochemical characteristics and the Karakorum-Qiangtang terranes or blocks (Fig. 12). The of these rocks indicated that an active continental margin may

Fig. 13. Distribution of the NWW-trending fault belts of the Tazhong uplift and the arc-shaped, NNE-trending Tangbei thrust fault belt. Note the amalgamation of the two fault systems with a typical arrangement. C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 15 have developed on the southern boundary of the Tarim block result of the northward subduction of the North Kunlun Ocean dur- from the late Cambrian or Ordovician to the Triassic (e.g., Hao ing the Paleozoic. et al., 2003; Xiao et al., 2003,2005; Ye et al., 2008). But there is Further compressive uplift occurred at the end of the Ordovi- still a debate on the subduction polarities in the western Kulun cian, generating the widely distributed high-angle unconformity orogenic belt. Some studies assumed that southward intra- Tg5 and the large, intensively eroded paleo-uplift belts at the south- oceanic subduction of the Proto-Tethys Ocean produced the Kudi western to southeastern basin margins. This is simply the result of intra-oceanic back-arc basin and the Ordovician granitic plutons compression from the final closure of the North Kunlun paleo- in the South Kunlun (Mattern et al., 1996; Mattern and Schneider, ocean and collision of the North and South Kunlun Blocks at the 2000;Liao et al., 2010). It is also argued that the south-dipping in- end of the Late Ordovician. The distribution of erosional belts in tra-oceanic subduction of the Proto-Tethys Ocean might have the unconformity Tg5 within the basin is characterized by superim- changed to northward during formation of the Ordovician An- position of the WNW and NE directions, and this indicates that the dean-type arc plutons (Xiao et al., 2002,2005). As to the time of basin mainly suffered compression in a NNW–SSE or NNE–SSW the North Kunlun Ocean, Pan (1994) proposed that the continued direction. The fault arrangement of the Tangbei fault belt is en ech- north-dipping subduction resulted in closure of the basin and elon in a NE direction in front of the Southeastern uplift, reflecting subsequent collision between the North and South Kunlun blocks sinistral compressive shear; the thrust faults in the Tazhong uplift from the late Ordovician to Devonian, evidenced by the lack of belt to the north of the Tumuxiuke fault belt form an en echelon Silurian strata along with the Devonian deposition of red molasse pattern in a WNW direction, resulting from dextral compressive sediments on the South Kunlun. Wang (2004) and others shear. Thrust faults of the Tangbei belt in the southeastern basin (Mattern and Schneider, 2000; Ye et al., 2008) have suggested margin extend northeastward to the Guchengxu thrust fault belt that the collision and associated tectonic deformation most likely east of the Tazhong uplift. They form an arc-shaped thrust uplift took place during the Late Ordovician to Early Silurian, as re- denudation belt, which amalgamated with the WNW-trending corded by isotope dating around 460–428 Ma in the granodiorite fault belts of the Tazhong uplift to create a distinctive fault assem- pluton (e.g., Zhou et al., 2000; Mattern and Schneider, 2000; Ji blage pattern (Fig. 13). This pattern indicates that the Tazhong and et al., 2007; Ye et al., 2008; Liao et al., 2010). the Southeastern paleo-uplifts during the Middle to Late Ordovi- It is apparent that, by comparison with the aforementioned, the cian were likely caused by NNW–SSE compression and thrusting. compressive deformation and uplift in the south central basin dur- The Tazhong uplift belt lies in the frontal zone of the tectonic extru- ing the Ordovician is coeval with the closure of the North Kunlun sion. Most of these faults are inversion structures that activated Ocean and the collision of the South and North Kunlun blocks. during the Sinian to Middle Cambrian as normal faults and were The unconformities and deformation in the basin record two major thrust or compressively sheared during the Middle to Late Ordovi- tectonic events during the Early Paleozoic. The south-central Tarim cian. Thus, the northward to northeastward collision and extrusion Basin was first compressed and uplifted during the Middle Ordovi- of the North Kunlun block from the end of the Middle Ordovician to cian, which is marked by development of unconformity Tg5-2 and the Late Ordovician should be the main cause of development of formation of the central paleo-uplift in the south-central basin the central paleo-uplift and unconformities at the end of the Mid- area. Volcanic ash and pyroclastic debris are widely distributed dle Ordovician and the end of the Late Ordovician (Fig. 14A). in the Middle Ordovician in the basin. Borehole data and seismic profile examination show that there was widespread diabase 6.2. Subduction and collision of the South Tianshan orogenic belt and intrusion in the Middle and Late Ordovician (Chen et al., 1997). the uplift in the northern part of the basin Considering that a flexural depression (i.e., the Tangguzibasi depression) formed along the southeastern basin margin, the Mid- The Chinese Tianshan orogen is usually divided into the North dle Ordovician Tazhong paleo-uplift can be regarded as a kind of Tianshan, Central Tianshan, South Tianshan, and the Yili Block in fore-bulge uplift that resulted from compression of the North Kun- the western part (Fig. 12; Charvet et al., 2007, 2011; Wang et al., lun block (Zhang et al., 2002; Lin et al., 2008; Li et al., 2009). The 2008). The evolution of the Tianshan orogen is complex and has long southern part of the Tarim Basin should be an active margin as a been debated. The Central Tianshan Ocean was opened in response

Fig. 14. (A) Schematic map showing the tectonic setting of the Tarim Basin during the formation of unconformity Tg5 at the end of the Late Ordovician to the Early Silurian and (B) the formation of unconformity Tg3 at the end of the Middle Devonian. STO: the South Tianshan Ocean; NTO: the North Tianshan Ocean; SKO: the South Kunlun Ocean; TOB: the Tianshan Orogenic Belt; YCTB: the Yili-central Tianshan Block; STOB: the Tianshan Orogenic Belt; KLB: the Kunlun Orogenic Belt; NKB: the North Kunlun Block; SKB: the Sorth Kunlun Block; TBU: Tabei Uplift; TZU: Tazhong Uplift; SEU: the Southeastern Uplift. 16 C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 to the break-up of Rodinia, and separated the Kazakhstan-Yili plate of the Tarim Block. But whether this implies that the uplift of the and the Central Tianshan-Tarim plate from the latest Neo-Protero- northern basin margin was accompanied by that of the Central zoic to Early Ordovician (Lomize et al., 1997; Bazhenov et al., 2003; Tianshan arc formed during the Late Ordovician to Early Silurian Yang et al., 2005; Gao et al., 2006, 2009), the mid-oceanic ridge bas- (Wang and Chen, 1997), or that the South Tianshan Ocean may alts have a SHRIMP U–Pb zircon age of 516 Ma (Qian et al., 2009). The have subducted southward from the end of the Ordovician, re- Terskey suture in the southern part of the Kazakhstan-Yili Block may mains for further study. represent the earliest closure of the oceanic domain resulting from During the Middle to Late Devonian the Tarim Basin underwent the collision of the Kazakhstan-Yili and the Central Tianshan Block a strong compressive and uplift stage, resulting in the widespread at the end of the Middle Ordovician (Lomize et al., 1997; Bazhenov angular unconformity Tg3. The distribution of erosional amounts et al., 2003; Qian et al., 2009; Long et al., 2007). The southward sub- and high angular contact relations of the unconformity Tg3 reflect duction of the Central Tianshan Ocean resulted in the Central Tian- that the Tarim Basin was compressed from northwest to southeast. shan arc on the northern border of the Tarim Plate, and in the The deformation stage with the strongest uplift and largest ero- South Tianshan Ocean to the south of the Central Tianshan, a back- sional amount in the northern and northeastern basin area is coe- arc basin, from the Ordovician to Silurian (Long et al., 2006; Wang val with the final convergence of the South Tianshan Ocean and et al., 2007; Gao et al., 2009; Charvet et al., 2011). However, some the subsequent collision of the South Tianshan with the Tarim studies suggested that the South Tianshan Ocean might occur earlier Block is attributed as the major cause of the uplift and deformation from the Cambrian and be complicated with a series of island arcs within the basin, although the southern and southeastern basin (Wang and Chen, 1997; Yang et al., 2005; Zhu et al., 2009). At the margin was still exposed to compression from the North Kunlun south margin of the Eastern Tianshan, 1000 m of the Upper Sinian orogenic belt. There is an aforementioned debate on the polarity to Ordovician deep marine turbidite deposits are observed in the of subduction of the South Tianshan Oceanic lithosphere (e.g., Kuluketage outcrop, and several hundred meters of igneous rocks Allen et al., 1992; Chen et al., 1999; Gao and Klemd, 2003; Zhu from a continental rift in the Sinian-Early Cambrian are found in et al., 2009; Gao et al., 2006, 2009; Charvet et al., 2011), but it the area (Jia, 1997; Wang and Chen, 1997; Zhang et al., 2010). The su- seems clear that the huge uplift and extensive erosion in the ture zone indicative of the ocean runs along the southern margin of northern part of the basin, including the entire Tabei uplift belt, the Yili-Central Tianshan arc from the Chinese Western Tianshan to the Kongquehe slope and the Manjiaer depression to the northeast the Eastern Tianshan extending some 1500 km (Fig. 12). It is gener- during the Middle to Late Devonian, implies likely a tectonic set- ally considered that the South Tianshan orogenic belt formed during ting of an active continental margin induced by the southward the late Paleozoic (Carroll et al., 1990; Sengor, 1993; Ma et al., 2007), subduction of the South Tianshan Ocean (Wang et al., 2008; Char- but the closure time and the polarity of subduction of the South Tian- vet et al., 2011)(Fig. 14B). shan Ocean remains controversial. Many studies show that the In addition, the Altyn Tagh along the northeastern margin of South Tianshan Ocean was eventually closed, as a result of the colli- the basin, together with the Early Paleozoic Qilianshan orogenic sion of the Tarim and the Yili-Central Tianshan blocks during the Late belt to the east, might belong to an Early Paleozoic trench-arc- Devonian to Early Carboniferous (e.g., Xia et al., 2004; Zhu et al., basin system (Xu et al., 2006). It contains a volcanic island-arc 2008; Allen et al., 1992; Gao et al., 1998, 2006, 2009; Gao and Klemd, and ophiolite belt with intermediate-acid intrusive and ultra- 2003; Han et al., 2004; Charvet et al., 2007, 2011; Solomovich, 2007; high-pressure metamorphic rocks. The isotope age of the rhyolite Wang et al., 2007; Jong et al., 2009; Li et al., 2008; Yang and Mei, is around 480 Ma (Feng, 1997) and the metamorphic age for the 2009), but it is also argued that the final collision occurred in the Tri- ophiolitic mélange is around 461–445 Ma (Liu et al., 2003). The assic (e.g., Zhang et al., 2007a,b; Li et al., 2002; Xiao et al., 2008). As to collision/postcollision-related granite distributed along the the polarity of subduction, many studies suggested that the South northern Altyn Tagh is 474–431 Ma in age (Wu et al., 2005). Tianshan ocean (back-arc basin) was closed by southward subduc- The uplift along the northeast margin of the basin with the hing- tion during the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous (Jiang et al., ing up of the entire Manjiaer depression during the Ordovician 2001;Wang et al., 2008; Charvet et al., 2011), whereas some studies to Devonian should be related to the collision along the Altyn proposed that the ocean subducted northward beneath the southern Tagh. margin of the Kazakhstan-Yili plate (Windley et al., 1990; Allen et al., In general, the Paleozoic angular unconformities in the basin 1992; Gao et al., 1998, 2009; Gao and Klemd, 2003; Zhu et al., 2009). tended to develop from southwest to northeast, and this reflects The northern part of the Tarim Basin, without any major that the basin suffered compression that strengthened from south- unconformities being found in the Cambrian to Ordovician, may west to northeast with time. This is consistent with the closure of have escaped compression and uplift until the end of the Late Or- the North Kunlun paleo-ocean during the late Early Paleozoic in dovician. The existence of unconformity Tg5 with thrust faults in the southern basin margin and the convergence of the South Tian- the Tabei uplift belt and the northern margin of the Manjiaer shan paleo-ocean during the Late Paleozoic in the northern basin depression indicates that the northern part of the Tarim Basin margin. suffered a compressive and uplift event at the end of the Ordovi- cian, although it is generally regarded as a passive continental margin during the Early Paleozoic (Zhu et al., 2009; Wang and 7. Conclusion Chen, 1997). We suggest that the compressive uplift and the formation of the unconformity were tectonically related to the con- (1) During the Paleozoic, the Tarim Basin experienced three vergent geodynamic setting of the northern Tarim active margin major tectonic deformations that occurred at the end of due to the southward subduction of the Tianshan Ocean. This the Middle Ordovician, the end of the Late Ordovician and event is evidenced by the occurence of a series of the Early Paleo- the end of the Middle to early Late Devonian. These tectonic zoic granitic intrusions (e.g., those along the southern Central events resulted in several important angular unconformities Tianshan and the Hulashan in the South Tianshan with U–Pb and led to significant change in tectonic geomorphology and SHRIMP ages from 490 to 435 Ma, Han et al., 2004; and along geography of the basin. Mapping the distribution of the the southern margin of the Yili Block with U–Pb SHRIMP age of unconformities and their denudation thicknesses based on 436 ± 8–366 ± 8 Ma, Zhu et al., 2006). Zhu et al. (2006, 2009) pro- integrated well and seismic data reveals the formation and posed that there was an important orogenic event at this time, evolution of the relevant paleo-uplifts and their responses with the Heiyingshan–Hulashan accreting to the northern margin to the tectonic settings surrounding the basin. C. Lin et al. / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 46 (2012) 1–19 17

(2) The deformation that occurred at the end of the Middle Foundation of China (Grant No. 41130422) and the National Ba- Ordovician resulted in formation of the large-scale central sic Research Program of China (Nos. 2011CB201100-03 and paleo-uplift belt in the south-central basin, the northern 2006CB202302), and the Frontier Research Project of Marine Fa- depression belt, and the southeastern Tangguzibasi depres- cies of the oil industry in China. We would like to thank Dr. sion. This remarkably transformed the distribution pattern Christina Blue for her correction of the English version of this of the previous geomorphology and geography. The central paper. We are grateful to Prof. Charvet and another anonymous paleo-uplift zone lacks deposits from the Middle to the early reviewer for improving the manuscript with their comments. Late Ordovician and suffered erosion and intensive karstification. 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