Basement structure of the Junggar Basin

doi:10.13745/j.esf.sf.2021.11.13

Abstract

Abstract: Five comprehensive geophysical profiles, I-I, II-II, III-III, IV-IV and Emin-Hami, have been completed across the Junggar Basin and surrounding areas. A preliminary understanding of the geodynamic problems in the greater Junggar Basin is achieved through comprehensive research. The basement of the Junggar Basin is composed of the Wulungu Terrane in the north and the Manas Terrane in the south. The boundary between the two is the Dishuiquan-Sangequan suture in the NWW direction. It is connected to the NE-trending Dalbutte suture in the west and the NW-trending Cranamary suture zone in the east. The basement of the Wulungu Terrane in the northern Junggar Basin has a double-layered structure, where the upper layer is a folded basement composed of Devonian and Lower Carboniferous rocks, generally thick (3-5 km) in the north and thin (1-2 km) in the south. The Manasi Terrane south of the suture line has a single layer basement, namely the crystallization basement of the middle to upper Proterozoic. The crust in the Junggar Basin, 44-52 km thick, is thin in the north and thick in the south, while the crust in the surrounding mountainous area is thicker compared to the basin area. The crust in the basin area is divided into upper, middle (generally thinner) and lower layers and contains several deep faults. Six major deep faults are in the north-south direction: Hongche, Delunshan, Shixi, Hutubi, Cainan and Fukang. These faults have large dips, extending upward to the lower part of the upper crust and cutting down through the basement interface of the crust. The horizontal structure and structural plane of the crust have no obvious vertical fault or seem to have the feature of “open fault”. These faults are good channels for the upper mantle material squeezing into the Earth's crust. In addition, there are two main transverse deep faults, one is the Dishuiquan-Sangequan deep fault with an NWW strike. It dips to the south and has the property of reverse fault, and it may break the Dishuiquan-Sangequan suture. The other is the near EW Changji-Manas deep fault dipping to the south. It is mainly developed in the middle and lower crust and resembles a reverse fault. These deep faults play a role in controlling the development of basin structure. The Moho interface in the western Junggar Basin extends to the deeper Moho interface in the Tianshan Mountains, while the Moho interface in the eastern part of the basin is not connected to but underneath the one in the Bogda Mountains, indicating crustal subduction. This observation helps to explain the tectonogeomorphologic phenomenon in the eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains, where the tectonic activity is relatively weakened but the Bogda Mountains are uplifted to the north. The surrounding Junggar Basin is characterized by a compression basin-mountain tectonic coupling pattern, especially the Bogda-Zhundong basin-mountain tectonic coupling in the eastern part of the southern margin. The Bogda Mountains, which now separate the Junggar Basin from the Tuha Basin, are a young and still rising mountain range. The uplift of the Bogda Mountain is a reflection of multiple nappe orogeny since the Indo-China Movement, and its present appearance is the result of neotectonic movement since the Neogene. In the Junggar Basin the cap rock developed in three stages: the Permian-Triassic foreland basin stage associated with the formations of the Tianshan and Songpan-Ganzi orogenic belts; the Jurassic-early Eocene intracontinental depression stage when the regional compression was weak; and the Neogene rejuvenated foreland-basin stage related to the uplift of Tianshan.

Key words: Junggar Basin, crustal and mantle structure, basement structure, basement property, geodynamic processes

CLC Number:

P548

Xiaojun WANG, Yong SONG, Baoli BIAN, Junmeng ZHAO, Heng ZHANG, Maodu YAN, Shunping PEI, Qiang XU, Shuaijun WANG, Hongbing LIU, Changhui JU. Basement structure of the Junggar Basin[J]. Earth Science Frontiers, 2021, 28(6): 235-255.

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