Skip to main content
Log in

Growth of the Huoerguosi anticline (north Tianshan Mountains) by limb rotation since the late Miocene

Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

The Huoerguosi anticline, located in the north Tianshan Mountains piedmont fold-and-thrust belt, is a trending east-west fault-related fold. In the cross section along the Jingou River, its south limb is composed of the pre-growth strata of the Anjihaihe (E2–3 a), the Shawan ((E3-N1)s), the Taxihe (N1 t) and the lower part of the Dushanzi (N2 d) Formations, trending east-west and dipping to south 55°, and the growth strata of the upper part of the Dushanzi (N2 d) and Xiyu ((N2-Q1)x) Formations, dips of which decrease from 55° at the base of the growth strata to 47° at the bottom of the Xiyu ((N2-Q1)x) Formation to ∼0° at the top of the Xiyu ((N2-Q1)x) Formation. The strata at the north limb of the anticline are vertical or over-turned, and are cut by the breakthrough thrusts to result in the drag fold. In the depth, the anticline is symmetric, and its core comprises the Cretaceous and the Jurassic coal-bearing beds. In the seismic profile, the seismic reflectors of pre-growth strata at the south limb of the anticline dip to south constantly, and ones of the growth strata fan southward, whose dips decrease upward. The geometry of the south limb growth strata outcropped along the Jingou River valley and the deep structure of the anticline shown in the seismic profile indicate that the Huoerguosi anticline is a detachment fold anticline growing by limb rotation. Based on the growth model and magnetostratigraphic age, during the growing process of the Huoerguosi anticline, the average shortening rate absorbed by the south limb is ∼0.46 mm/a, and the average uplifting rate of the anticline is ∼0.86 mm/a which exceeds the average deposition rate, which is in accordance with the fact that the top of the anticline is intensely eroded. Considering symmetric geometry of the Huoerguosi anticline and ignoring the breakthrough thrusts, the shortening of the whole anticline should be more than ∼0.92 mm/a, doubling the shortening rate determined from the growth at the south limb.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tapponnier P, Molnar P. Active faulting and Cenozoic tectonics of the Tien Shan, Mongolia and Baykal regions. J Geophys Res, 1979, 84: 3425–3459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Windley B F, Allen M B, Zhang C, et al. Paleozoic accretion and Cenozoic redeformation of the Chinese Tien Shan range, central Asia. Geology, 1990, 18: 128–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Chen C, Lu H, Jia D, et al. Closing history of the southern Tianshan oceanic basin, western China: an oblique collisional orogeny. Tectonophysics, 1999, 302: 23–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Lu H, David G H, Jia D, et al. Rejuvenation of the Kuqa foreland basin, north flank of the Tarim basin, northwest China. Int Geol Rev, 1994, 36: 1151–1158

    Google Scholar 

  5. Sobel E R, Dumitru T A. Thrusting and exhumation around the margins of the western Tarim Basin during the India-Asia collision. J Geophys Res, B, Solid Earth and Planets, 1997, 102(3): 5043–5063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Liu H F. Classification of foreland basins and fold thrust style. Earth Sci Front (in Chinese), 1995, 2(3–4): 59–68

    Google Scholar 

  7. Zhao J, Liu G, Lu Z, et al. Lithospheric structure and dynamic processes of the Tianshan orogenic belt and the Junggar basin. Tectonophysics, 2003, 376: 199–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Suppe J, Chou G T, Hook S C. Rates of folding and faulting determined from growth strata. In: McClay K R. ed. Thrust Tectonics. New York: Chapman and Hall, 1992. 105–121

    Google Scholar 

  9. Molnar P, Brown E T, Burchfiel B C, et al. Quaternary climate change and the formation of river terraces across growing anticlines on the north flank of the Tien-Shan, China. J Geol, 1994, 102: 583–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sun J, Zhu R, Bowler J. Timing of the Tianshan Mountains uplift constrained by magnetostratigraphic analysis of molasse deposits. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 2004, 219: 239–253

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Charreau J, Chen Y, Gilder S, et al. Magnetostratigraphy and rock magnetism of the Neogene Kuitun He section (northwest China): implications for Late Cenozoic uplift of the Tianshan Mountains. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 2005, 230: 177–192

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Deng Q D, Feng X Y, Zhang P Z, et al. Reverse fault and fold zone in Urumqi rang-front depression and its genetic mechanism. Earth Sci Front (in Chinese), 1999, 6(4): 191–201

    Google Scholar 

  13. Deng Q D, Feng X Y, Zhang P Z, et al. Active Tectonics of Chinese Tianshan Mountains (in Chinese). Beijing: Seismological Press, 2000. 399

    Google Scholar 

  14. Lu H F, Wang S L, Jia C Z. The mechanics of the southern Junggar Cenozoic thrust. Earth Sci Front, 2007, 14(4): 168–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Yang X P, Deng Q D, Zhang P Z, et al. Active reverse fault-fold zones and estimation of potential earthquake source in northern Tianshan. Seismol Geol (in Chinese), 1998, 20(3): 193–200

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang P Z, Deng Q D, Xu X W, et al. Blind thrust, folding earthquake, and the 1906 Manas earthquake, Xinjiang. Seismol Geol (in Chinese), 1994, 16(3): 193–204

    Google Scholar 

  17. Feng X Y, Chen J, Li J, et al. Preliminary research of paleo-earthquake along the Huoerguosi fault zone. In: Deng Q D, ed. Research on Active Faults (2) (in Chinese). Beijing: Seismological Press, 1992. 95–104

    Google Scholar 

  18. Feng X Y, Chen J, Li J, et al. The fault-propagation folding of the Huoerguosi active structure. Inland Earthquake (in Chinese), 1993, 7(4): 335–343

    Google Scholar 

  19. Li J, Feng X Y, Chen J, et al. Activity of the Huoerguosi active fold and thrust fault zone. In: Deng Q D, ed. Research on Active Faults (2) (in Chinese). Beijing: Seismological Press, 1992. 105–116

    Google Scholar 

  20. Xu X W, Deng Q D, Zhang P Z, et al. Deformation of river terrace across the Manas-Huoerguosi reverse fault and fold zone ant its neotectonics implication in Xinjiang. In: Deng Q D, ed. Research on Active Faults (2) (in Chinese). Beijing: Seismological Press, 1992. 18–32

    Google Scholar 

  21. Avouac J P, Tapponnier P, Bai M, et al. Active thrusting and folding along the northern Tien-Shan and late Cenozoic rotation of the Tarim relative to Dzungaria and Kazakhstan. J Geophys Res-Solid Earth, 1993, 98: 6755–6804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Hardy S, Poblet J. Geometric and numerical model of progressive limb rotation in detachment folds. Geology, 1994, 22: 371–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Poblet J, McClay K. Geometry and kinematics of single layer detachment folds. Am Assoc Petrol Geol Bull, 1996, 80(7): 1085–1109

    Google Scholar 

  24. Suppe J, Sabat F, Munoz J A, et al. Bed-by-bed fold growth by kind-band migration: Sant Lorence de Morunys, eastern Pyreness. J Struct Geol, 1997, 19(3–4): 443–461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Xiao H, Suppe J. Origin of rollover. Am Assoc Petrol Geol Bull, 1992, 76: 509–525

    Google Scholar 

  26. Medwedeff D W, Suppe J. Multibend fault-bend folding. J Struct Geol, 1997, 19(3–4): 279–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Suppe J, Medwedeff D A. Geometry and kinematics of fault-propagation folding. Eclogae Geol Helv, 1990, 83(3): 409–454

    Google Scholar 

  28. Davis D, Suppe J, Dahlen F A. Mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges. J Geophys Res, 1983, 88 (B2): 1153–1172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Burchfiel B C, Brown E T, Deng Q D, et al. Crustal shortening on the margins of the Tien Shan, Xinjiang, China. Int Geol Rev, 1999, 41: 665–700

    Google Scholar 

  30. Zhang P, Molnar P, Downs W. Increased sedimentation rates and grain sizes 2–4 Myr ago due to the influence of climate change on erosion rates. Nature, 2001, 410: 891–897

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Abdrakhmatov K Y, Aldazhanov S A, Hager B H, et al. Relatively recent construction of the Tien Shan inferred from GPS measurements of present-day crustal deformation rates. Nature, 1996, 384: 450–453

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Reigber C, Michel G W, Galas R, et al. New space geodetic constraints on the distribution of deformation in central Asia. Earth Planet Sci Lett, 2001, 191: 157–165

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Niu Z J, You X Y, Yang S M. Analysis of contemporary crustal deformation characteristics with GPS data of Tianshan Mountain. J Geod Geodyn (in Chinese), 2007, 27(2): 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  34. Dolan J F, Christofferson S A, Shaw J H. Recognition of paleoearthquakes on the Puente Hills blind thrust fault, California. Science, 2003, 300: 115–118

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Daëron M, Avouac J-P, Charreau J. Modeling the shortening history of a fault tip fold using structural and geomorphic records of deformation. J Geophys Res, 2007, 112: B03S13, doi: 10.1029/2006JB004460

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to ShengLi Wang.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grunt No. 40702031)

About this article

Cite this article

Wang, S., Chen, Y. & Lu, H. Growth of the Huoerguosi anticline (north Tianshan Mountains) by limb rotation since the late Miocene. Chin. Sci. Bull. 53, 3028–3036 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0230-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0230-8

Keywords

Navigation