Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 48, Issue 22, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2021GL095192
Keywords
magmatic gap; detrital zircon; Tethys; Western Kunlun; Pamir
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41722205, 41673033]
- Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) [2019QZKK0702]
- Australian Research Council [FL160100168]
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The evolution of the western Kunlun-Pamir region involved the opening and closing of several branches of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. The absence of a magmatic arc between ca. 300-250 Ma was due to oceanic crust underthrusting, rather than oceanic subduction. This study provides an important example of how an oceanic basin opened and closed without oceanic subduction.
The evolution of the western Kunlun-Pamir region involved the opening and closing of several branches of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, although the specific timing of these events is poorly constrained. Here, we present a synthesis of sedimentary, magmatic, and metamorphic records associated from the Mazar-Kangxiwa suture zone in the western Kunlun-Pamir that is generally regarded as the main Paleo-Tethys Ocean suture. These data show that the Paleo-Tethyan oceanic basin opened at ca. 340 Ma and closed by ca. 250 Ma, and there is no record of a magmatic arc between ca. 300-250 Ma. The absence of a magmatic arc was a result of oceanic crust underthrusting, rather than oceanic subduction, which is consistent with a narrow back-arc basin. Our study provides an important example of how an oceanic basin opened and closed without oceanic subduction, and highlights a potential mechanism to account for the absence of a magmatic arc.
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