Paleozoic multiple accretionary and collisional processes of the Beishan orogenic collage

The Beishan orogenic collage is located in the southernmost part of the Altaids, and connects the Southern Tien Shan suture to the west with the Solonker suture to the east. The orogen was previously regarded as early Paleozoic in age in contrast to the surrounding southern Altaid collages, which are Late Paleozoic or even Early Mesozoic. This paper reviews the tectonic units of the Beishan orogen, which along a north-south traverse consists of several arcs and ophiolitic mélanges. These tectonic units were thrust imbricated and overprinted by strike-slip faulting during Permian-Triassic times, and the youngest strata involved in the deformation are Permian. Stitching plutons are Late Permian in age. Peaks of magmatic-metamorphic-tectonic activity, and paleomagnetic and paleogeographic data indicate that the Beishan orogenic collage evolved by development of several, Early to Mid-Paleozoic arcs in different parts of the Paleoasian Ocean. The Late Paleozoic collage is characterized by three active continental margins or island arcs that are separated by two ophiolitic mélanges. The northernmost active margin is represented by the Queershan arc, which may have lasted until the Permian. The Shibanshan unit is the southernmost, subduction-related continental arc along the northern margin of the Dunhuang block. In the Late Carboniferous to Permian the eastern end (promontory) of the Tarim Craton probably collided with the Chinese eastern Tien Shan arc, forming a new active continental margin, which interacted with the Beishan Late Paleozoic archipelago, generating a complicated subduction-accretionary orogen; this is suggested to be one of the last phases in the development of the long-lived Altaid accretionary orogenesis. The new model for this orogen bridges the gap between the western and eastern ends of the southern Altaids. The modern Timor-Australia collision zone with its many surrounding arcs is an appropriate analog for the Altaids in the Late Paleozoic.