Paleomagnetic result of the Cenozoic volcanic rocks from the Tuoyun Basin, southwest Tien Shan of China and its tectonic implications

In the present decades, lots of Mesozoic and Ceno-zoic paleomagnetic data have been obtained from westernChina and adjacent areas[1—19], however, these results are still not enough to reconstruct a postcollisional kinematic model for each block of the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asia. As a result, it is very difficult to paleomagnetically depict the postcollisional interaction within blocks of Ti- bet and Central Asia in detail. On the other hand, shal- lower inclinations have been repeat…

Paleomagnetic result of the Cenozoic volcanic rocks from the Tuoyun Basin, southwest Tien Shan of China and its tectonic implications

Paleomagnetic study on the Cenozoic volcanic rocks from the Tuoyun Basin of the southwest Tien Shan indicates that most samples could isolate a stable characteristic remanent magnetization with reversed polarity. The positive fold test suggests that the characteristic component is very likely to be a primary magnetization acquired in the formation of rocks. Comparison with the reference Eurasia poles at 60 Ma indicates little or insignificant N-S convergence between the south edge of southwest Tien Shan and Siberia since the onset of the India/Asia collision at the Eocene. Furthermore, the Cretaceous and Tertiary paleomagnetic results suggest that the Tuoyun Basin was subjected to a local clockwise rotation of 20°–35° with respect to Eurasia since the Paleocene time, which is probably subsequent to the Cenozoic northward compression of the Pamir arc.