Geology topics

Shimin Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Shimin Wu.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2010

Kalpin transpression tectonics, northwestern Tarim Basin, western China

The paper examines the relative importance of strike-slip faulting and lateral crustal deformations in the geologic structure of a portion of the western People's Republic of China. Deformed thrust sheets in the Kalpin area of the western PRC suggest large-scale sinistral strike-slip movement on the Aheqi fault zone along the northwestern margin of the Tarim basin. The total amount of the Cenozoic sinistral strike-slip displacement is estimated to be 311 km; this is the same magnitude of slip estimated along the Altyn Tagh fault, marking the southeastern boundary of the Tarim basin. Together, the Aheqi and Altyn Tagh faults outline the Aheqi- western Kunlun-southwestern basin-Altyn transpression tectonic system.

Aheqi Fault Zone, Tarim Basin↗

USGS2010

Paleozoic plate-tectonic evolution of the Tarim and western Tianshan Regions, western China

The plate-tectonic evolution of the Tarim basin and nearby western Tianshan region during Paleozoic time is reconstructed in an effort to further constrain the tectonic evolution of Central Asia, providing insights into the formation and distribution of oil and gas resources. The Tarim plate developed from continental rifting that progressed during early Paleozoic time into a passive continental margin. The Yili terrane (central Tianshan) broke away from the present eastern part of Tarim and became a microcontinent located somewhere between the Junggar ocean and the southern Tianshan ocean. The southern Tianshan ocean, between the Tarim craton and the Yili terrane, was subducting beneath the Yili terrane from Silurian to Devonian time. During the Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous, the Tarim plate collided with the Yili terrane by sinistral accretional docking that resulted in a late Paleozoic deformational episode. Intracontinental shortening (A-type subduction) continued through the Permian with the creation of a magmatic belt.

Tarim Region, Tianshan Region↗

USGS2010

Rejuvenation of the Kuqa Foreland Basin, northern flank of the Tarim Basin, northwest China

The Kuqa depression along the northern flank of the Tarim basin is filled with a thick sequence of Neogene and Quaternary coarse elastic continental sediments. This structural depression is part of a large foreland basin that lies south of the Tianshan—an orogenic belt of intracontinental convergence resulting from the northward propagation of stress following the collision of India with the southern margin of Eurasia.

Kuqa Foreland Basin, Tarim Basin↗