MULTI-PROXY SEDIMENT PROVENANCE DATA FROM THE TARIM BASIN, XINJIANG, CHINA

The Tarim basin (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, PR China) has a complex geodynamic history and records that of adjacent orogens in its sediment fill. It is bordered by the Karakorum and Kunlun mountains in the South, and the Tien Shan in the North. The Taklamakan desert at the centre of the basin is one of the largest active sand deserts in the world, and although aeolean sand and dust transport plays an important role in sediment flux today, large-scale fossil landforms indicate both a higher fluvial sediment input into the basin and more prominent wind transport within in the past.

Here, we compare single grain zircon U-Pb age data, Heavy Mineral composition data and whole rock Sr and Nd isotopic data of recent sanddunes, fans and tributaries. Implications for sediment flux within the basin, and the role of the Tarim basin as a possible source area of sediments on the Chinese Loess plateau are discussed.

Furthermore, preliminary data from the Jungar basin north of the Tien Shan is presented in the same context.