Did the growth of Tibetan topography control the locus and evolution of Tien Shan mountain building?

Research Article| May 01, 2011 Did the growth of Tibetan topography control the locus and evolution of Tien Shan mountain building? Alan R.A. Aitken Alan R.A. Aitken * School of Geosciences, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia *Current address: Centre for Exploration Targeting, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia; E-mail: alan.aitken@uwa.edu.au. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Alan R.A. Aitken * School of Geosciences, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia *Current address: Centre for Exploration Targeting, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia; E-mail: alan.aitken@uwa.edu.au. Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 30 Aug 2010 Revision Received: 13 Dec 2010 Accepted: 19 Dec 2010 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2011 Geological Society of America Geology (2011) 39 (5): 459–462. https://doi.org/10.1130/G31712.1 Article history Received: 30 Aug 2010 Revision Received: 13 Dec 2010 Accepted: 19 Dec 2010 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation Alan R.A. Aitken; Did the growth of Tibetan topography control the locus and evolution of Tien Shan mountain building?. Geology 2011;; 39 (5): 459–462. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G31712.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The Tien Shan in Central Asia are the pre-eminent example of intraplate mountain building, and are typically considered an indirect result of the India-Eurasia collision, via the northward indentation of the relatively strong Precambrian lithosphere of the Tarim plate into the relatively weak Paleozoic lithosphere of the Tien Shan region. This hypothesis fails to fully explain the concentration of Tien Shan mountain building along a Tibet-parallel axis, located 500–700 km from Tibet, and also fails to explain the close synchronization of Tien Shan mountain-building events with mountain building in Tibet. I suggest that bending stresses from lithospheric flexure in Central Asia exerted a critical influence on the locus and evolution of the Tien Shan. Models of Paleogene to Middle Miocene flexure indicate that the growth of northeast Tibet may have superimposed a strong bending stress field on the regional stress field. The resultant stress field is characterized by strong topography-normal tensile stress in the Tarim Basin, and an ∼15% increase in compressive stress in the vicinity of the Tien Shan. This stress field severely reduces the likelihood of mountain building south of the Tien Shan, and increases the likelihood of mountain building within the Tien Shan. This result suggests that the generation of bending stresses from lithospheric flexure is a viable and important mechanism for the propagation of stress, and hence deformation, into continental interiors. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.