Abstract:

The Kuqa foreland developed in southern margin and rümqi foreland on the northern margin of the Tianshan orogen. There are four zones of fold-and-thrust belts on the southern margin and three on the northern margin. Comparative studies about the timing between the southern and northern foreland thrust belts indicate that the first structural belt in the southern margin of Tianshan began about 23.3 Ma ago and that the deformation propagated from north to south; whereas the first structural belt in the north...

Key words:

Tianshan, foreland thrust belts, intracontinental orogeny, hydrocarbon accumulation, oil and gas fields,