Tectonic framework and paleogeographic evolution of the Tarim basin during the Paleozoic major evolutionary stages
塔里木盆地古生代重要演化阶段的古构造格局与古地理演化

Tarim basin underwent several major evolutionary stages during the Paleozoic, including the periods at the end of the Middle to early Late Ordovician, the end of the Late Ordovician and the end of the Middle Devonian or Early Carboniferous, and resulted in a series of important unconformities. The tectonic movement occurred in the Middle to the early Late Ordovician led to the development of the central paleo-uplift belt composed of the Bachu paleo-slope, the Tazhong uplift and the Hetianhe uplift, the relatively subsidence Northern depression belt and the Tangguzibasi depression formed due to compressive flexural subsidence. Constrained by the paleo-uplift, the Tazhong uplift belt of the Late Ordovician formed a peninsula-shaped carbonate platform which narrowed eastwards. The Majiaer depression, which generated in Sinian, and the Tangguzibasi depression received several thousand meters of deep water muddy and turbidite deposits during the Middle to Late Ordovician. At the end of the Ordovician, formed the Tarbei paleo-uplift belts along the northwestern basin margin and the Southeastern paleouplift belt along the southwest to southeastern basin margin. The resulted tectonic geomorphology controlled the Early Silurian depositional framework of the neritic terrigenous clastic basin extended northeast-eastwards. At the end of the Middle Devonian, the basin experienced an intense uplifting and suffered strong denudation, and formed an extensive angular unconformity surface along the Tabei and the Tadong paleo-uplifts. The tectonic geomorphology of the basin during this period changed from lower to higher in the east and higher to lower in the west, which made a significant influence on the paleogeographic pattern of the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous. The study show that the deformation occurred at the end of the Middle to early Late Ordovician might have resulted from the northward collision and extrusion of the North Kunlun orogenics. At the end of the Middle Devonian, the intensively uplifting of the Tabei uplifts and the folding and uplifting of the Manjiaer depression might be attributed to the collision of the southern Tianshan Ocean.