Sedimentary and Tectonic History of the Terranes in the Corridor of the Golmud Ejin Qi Geotransect and Its Adjacent Areas

In this paper, fourteen terranes are divided in the corridor of the Golmud Ejin Qi Geotransect and its adjacent areas, which were separated by some oceanic basins of different size in different periods and belonged to four plates: South China, North China Qaidam, Tarim and Kazakhstan Junggar plates. Since the Mesoproterozoic, these plates underwent a series of complex tectonic events, from rifting and collision to amalgamation. The main events in the Paleozoic were the closing of three oceanic basins in different periods: the closing of the Qilian small oceanic basin at the end of the Ordovician, which led to the Qaidam Qilian block to amalgamate onto the North China plate; the closing of the Xiaohuangshan oceanic basin that led to the collision of the Tarim plate with the Kazakhstan Junggar plate; and the closing of the Altun and Paleo Asian oceanic ba sins in the Late Paleozoic that led to the formation of the Paleo Eurasian continent. In the Mesozoic Cenozoic, the major events were the activities of the Tethyan ocean to the south and the collision amalgamation of the Qiangtang, Gangdise terranes and the Indian plate. These events produced a series of foreland and intermontane basins and intracontinental tectonics, as well as the overall uplifting of the Qinghai Tibet plateau.