A Brief Analysis of the Tectonic Movements on theTarim Plate and Its Surrounding Areas

Besed on the study of the tectonic evolutional history of the Tarim plate and its surrounding ar-eas, it is concluded that a series of tectonic movements in these areas from Middle Proterozoic werecaused by the collision and amalgamation of the Tarim plate with the different neighbouring crustalmassses. As an example , the collision between the South Tarim and North Tarim nucleus at the endof Early Proterozoic (1700-1800Ma) caused the″Central Tarim Movement″ and led to the for-mation of the ancient Tarim platform. Moreover ,the collision and amalgamation of the West Kunlunand West Tianshan terrains with the Tarim before Sinian time (700-800Ma) produced the Paleo-zoic Tarim platform and the unconformity between the Sinian and its underlying straca , an eventthat is called the″Tarim Movement″. In Paleozoic , the influences from the activities of the Tian-shan oceanic basin on the north side were predominant for the Tarim plate, in which the importantone was the closing of the South Tianshan oceanic basin at the end of Silurian that led to the colli-sion of the Ili massif with the Tarim and the formation of the suture zone represented by the Henten-gri Pk.-Balguntay-Kumux fault. And during Carboniferous Permian, the closing of the NorthTianshan oceanic basin pushed the Tarim plare to collide with the Kazakhston-Junggar plare , form-ing the Eurasian continent. All these collisions and many rifting and extention activities within theTarim plate were the causes of the tectonic movements of the Tarim plate in Paleozoic. In Meso Cenozoic , the Tarim plate was a part of the Eurasian continent, which had been amalgamared bythe North China-Qaidam,Kazakhstan-Junggar, Siberia and Tarim plates in Late Paleozoic. To thesouth of the continent, there were the active areas of the Tethys ocean , including the oceanic basinsof Paleo-, Meso-and Neo-Tethys . The activities of the Tethys oceanic basins and the collision andamalgamation of the Qiangtang, Gangdise massives and the Indian Plate exected strong influenceson the Tarim plate and its surrounding areas,causing a series of tectonic movements. As the resultof the collision of the Tarim plate with the Qiangtang massif , the tectonic movement , known as theIndosinian’ Movement, happened in late Triassic , preducing the unconformity between the Jurassicand its underlying strata in the foreland basins in front of the Tianshan and Kunlun Mounmins. Thecollision of the Gangdise massif with the Eurasian continent during Middie Jurassic produced a seriesof Late Jurassic to Cretaceous foreland basins and the unconformity between the Uppor Jurassic Cretaceous red coarse molasse sediments and the Lower Middle Jurassic coal bering sediments.At last, the collision of the Indian plare with the Eurasian during Middle Late Creraceous and thecontinuous pushing northword aftor the collision ,were the origin of the Himalaya Movement in thisarea. The expressions of this movement include the formation and migration of the Cenozoic fore-land and intermontane basins in the Kunlun and Tianshan Mountains, the emergence of a lot ofunconformities among the Tertiary and Quaternary sequences in this area, and strong folding,faulting and even overturned folding and thrusting. Just these activities led to the nowaday land-scapes of the Tarim basin and its surrounding mountains.