For the reconstruction of the Mesozoic proto-type basin and tectono-paleogeography in the Tarim Basin, we collected the residual stratigraphic thickness data, outcrops data, wells data, and 81 seismic sections of the Tarim Basin in each period of the Mesozoic mainly from the Tarim Oilfield. The timing of the north-south collision between two terranes can be determined by the overlap of their paleolatitudes or the change of their convergence rate. For the location reconstruction, this paper mainly collected Mesozoic paleomagnetic data from various terranes around the Tarim Basin (Mcfadden et al., 1988; Li et al., 1988; Zhang et al., 1989; Li, 1990; Fang et al., 1991; Chen et al., 1992; Li et al., 1995; Fang et al., 1997; Meng et al., 1998; Fang et al., 2001; Shen et al., 2005; Gilder et al., 2003; Wang, 2004; Gilder et al., 2008; Song et al., 2012; Song et al., 2015; Ma et al., 2020; Hu et al., 2022; Wei et al., 2022).

There are three principles we need to obey when reconstructing the proto-type basin maps. Firstly, reconstruct its location, which means figuring out the paleogeographic position. Secondly, reconstruct the isopach maps of proto-type basins and the distribution of sedimentary lithofacies. Finally, reconstruct the original range of the proto-type basin by calculating the extension or shortening amount. Detailed procedures are explained below.

1 The paleolatitude of the blocks can be obtained from paleomagnetic data compared with paleopoles, but the paleolongitude is uncertain (Hou et al., 2008). The igneous rocks representing subduction and collision and oceanic magnetic anomaly bands can determine the relationship between the terranes and whether the oceans closed or spreading. We can build a global plate distribution map based on these paleolatitudes and the relationship between the plates. In this paper we emphasize that two reliability criteria must be satisfied for inclusion in the assessment namely: 24 or more samples yielding a 95% confidence limit (A₉₅) of <16° and Q ≥ 4 (An internationally-recognized reliability index for paleomagnetic data, Van der Voo, 1990).

To determine the characteristics of the Kuqa Basin and the southwestern Tarim Basin, we reconstructed their distribution and deformation. Initially, we gathered information on the residual thickness and distribution of each basin in the Tarim Block. Next, we reconstructed the denuded stratigraphy of the basin perimeter using the trend surface of formation thickness method (Wu et al., 2019). To complete the reconstruction of the proto-type basin extent, we supplemented the denuded strata with sedimentary facies according to sedimentary facies distribution (Chen, 1995; Jia, 2009; Liu et al., 2012; Yu et al., 2016). Finally, to eliminate the impact of deformation on basin distribution, we calculated shortening or extension (Table 1) based on the balanced cross-sections (81 seismic sections) and previously published data (Chen et al., 2009; Laborde et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2020). As a result, Mesozoic proto-type basin maps were drawn based on the above reconstructions of the proto-type basin of the Tarim Basin.

The Tarim Basin is a large composite and superimposed sedimentary basin developed on the crystal basement of pre-Cryogenian continental crust, whilst a large Meso–Cenozoic composite inland basin is developed on a Paleozoic platform (Zhou et al., 2001; Jia et al., 2004; He et al., 2005). The Mesozoic sediments in the Tarim Basin are mainly continental clastic rocks, primarily distributed in the Kuqa Depression, North Depression, Southwest Depression and Southeast Depression. Only the Southwest Depression developed shallow marine carbonate deposits in the late Cretaceous Tarim Basin. The main paleomagnetic data are acquired from sedimentary strata in the margins of the Kuqa and southwestern Tarim Depression due to the lack of magmatic activity in the Tarim Basin during the Mesozoic and the large area of the basin covered by the Taklamakan Desert (Li et al., 1988; McFadden et al., 1988; Zhang et al., 1989; Li, 1990; Fang et al., 1991; Chen et al., 1992; Li et al., 1995; Fang et al., 1997; Meng et al., 1998; Fang et al., 2001; Gilder et al., 2003; Wang, 2004; Shen et al., 2005; Gilder et al., 2008). The only exception has been reported from a Middle Jurassic alkali gabbro and basalt in the Tuoyun Basin of southwestern Tarim (Li et al., 1995; Meng et al., 1998; Wang, 2004; Gilder et al., 2008). The characteristic remanent magnetization here has dual polarity and consistent tilt-corrected inclinations between the gabbro and sandstone specimens of the Triassic and Jurassic seem to rule out significant inclination shallowing in the sediments. The relative rotation of the individual mean C3–T1 and J3–E1 poles has been Gilder reported between Tarim and Eurasia, which is 9.4° + 6.4° clockwise (Gilder et al., 2003). The paleomagnetic poles from Early Cretaceous redbeds in the Kuqa and southwestern Tarim show a ∼10°–15° inclination shallowing compared with coeval observations from volcanic rocks from the Tuoyun Basin in southwestern Tarim. No sizeable extensional structure is found in the north margin of Tarim Basin, and there is block limitation in the south margin of Tarim Basin. Therefore, it is the inclination shallowing of the redbeds, not the result of the massive southward movement of the Tarim Block. The pole remained at intermediate to present high latitudes throughout the Permian to the Mesozoic interval with Permian to Jurassic paleopoles identifying little or no apparent polar wander (APW) (Huang et al., 2018). Paleomagnetic data and apparent pole-shift curves show that the Tarim Block was between ∼35° and 45° N during the whole Mesozoic with quasi-stationary position and direction (Gilder et al., 2008).

Numerous lines of evidence from paleomagnetic, petrological, geochronological, and paleontological studies indicate that the North Qiangtang terrane (NQT), South Qiangtang terrane (SQT), Lhasa terrane (LT), India plate, and Indochina block underwent convergence, and the Tethys Ocean gradually closed during the Permian period. Zhao et al. (2018) synthesized the most recent data and geologic evidence that place critical constraints on the closure history of the oceanic domains (Liu et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2017; Eizenhöfer and Zhao, 2018; Han and Zhao, 2018; Liu et al., 2018), proposed the shear closure of the paleo-Asian Ocean from west to east at 310–245 Ma, leading to the collision of Tarim Block with the Kazakhstan-Yili Central Tianshan Block at 310–285 Ma, Alex block (plus Central Qilian and Qaidam) with the Mongolia Terrane and Siberia plate at 280–265 Ma, and North China block with the Mongolia Terrane and Siberia plate at 260–245 Ma (Zhao et al., 2018). Comparison of the equal-area plot diagrams for paleopoles from the East Asia blocks/terranes in the Permian to Early Triassic interval shows most blocks/terranes in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) and surrounding blocks are concentrated within a narrow palaeolatitudinal band around ∼35°N (Figure 2) implying that closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean (PAO) and amalgamation of the CAOB were completed prior to the Early Triassic and that the majority of the CAOB was a quasi-rigid assemblage from the end of the Permian (Huang et al., 2018). The fragmentary tetrapod bones collected from the Lower Triassic Ehuobulak Group of Kuqa Depression indicate that the Tarim Block collaged with Eurasia at least in the Early Triassic. Terrestrial tetrapod fossils from the East Asian blocks (North China, South China, Tarim, Alex-Hexi-Qilian, Indochina) suggest that these blocks were already connected in the Early Triassic, allowing non-marine tetrapods to migrate between the blocks (Liu et al., 2020). These suggest that massifs (Kazakhstan-Yili Central Tianshan, Junggar, Alex, Qaidam, South China, North China, Mongolia Terrane and other East Asian blocks) in the northern and eastern Tarim collaged as part of the Eurasian continent and that the ancient Asian Ocean was closed in Central Asia before the early Triassic.

The formation and rapid northward movement of the Cimmerian continent in the south of the Tarim Block in the early Permian to Late Triassic involved the opening and closing of Tethyan oceans and the rifting, drifting and collision of multiple continental blocks. Two significant paleomagnetic poles from sandstones of the SQT and the NQT show paleolatitudes of 27°N and 27.8°N, respectively, and indicate that the NQT was already collaged with the Tarim Block at ∼220 Ma (Song et al., 2012). Song et al. (2015) reported the first volcanic-based paleomagnetic results from Triassic rocks of the Qiangtang block that appeared to average secular variation well enough to yield a reliable paleolatitude estimate. Combined with the published paleomagnetic data of the Qiangtang block, the latitude of the NQT in the Late Triassic was calculated to be 31.7 ± 3.0°N (Song et al., 2015). The first Paleozoic paleomagnetic data from the basalt of SQT indicate that it was located at a latitude of 22.3 ± 5.8°S during the middle Permian and drifted rapidly northward with the Cimmerian blocks in early Permian to Late Triassic time. According to a simple interpolation between the paleolatitude determined from the paleomagnetic of the NQT and its surrounding blocks/terranes the early Permian to Late Triassic, the NQT collaged with Laurasia and SQT in the late Triassic (Figure 3; Wei et al., 2022).

Based on comparing these paleomagnetic evidence, this paper proposed that the NQT drifted ∼50° northward rapidly during the Permian and Triassic and was collocated with Laurasia but not yet with SQT (4° difference) at ∼220 Ma. The pillow basalt (∼223 Ma) erupted underwater, the gabbro (∼220 Ma) composed of normal mid-ocean ridge (N-MORB) fraction, the Nadi Kangri basalt (∼220 Ma) formed in a continental rift setting and the peraluminous S-type granite (∼222 Ma) associated with the subduction collision indicate that the Paleo-Tethys Ocean was still subducting and colliding with SQT which not yet collaged with Laurasia (Li et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2007; Fu et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2014; Li et al., 2015). The muscovite peraluminous granite (∼214 Ma) formed through magmatic underplating delamination represents SQT and NQT have been collaged at 214 Ma (Li et al., 2015). As a result of the above paleomagnetic, geochronologic, and petrological evidence, this paper proposes that the SQT and NQT terranes successively collided in Laurasia rather than merging into the NQT first and then SQT colliding in Laurasia.

Li et al. (2016) compiled existing data published mainly in Chinese literature and provided a new, high-quality, well-dated paleomagnetic pole from the ca. 180 Ma Sangri Group volcanic rocks of the LT that yields a paleolatitude of 3.7°S ± 3.4° (Li et al., 2016). This new pole confirms a trend in the data that suggest that Lhasa drifted away from Gondwana in the Late Triassic instead of Permian as widely perceived (Xu et al., 2011; Song et al., 2015; Li et al., 2016; Li et al., 2022). This drift history is constrained by geological and paleomagnetic evidence. The Lhasa terrane was located adjacent to northern Gondwana in late Triassic time, with rifting starting around 235 Ma (Zheng et al., 2018), and northward drift occurring mostly after ∼215 Ma (Li et al., 2016). The Amdo-Dongkacuo microcontinent between NQT and LT began to collide with SQT at 166–163 Ma according to the unconformity of the Dongqiao Formation with the ophiolite (Ma et al., 2020) and alluvial fan deposits sourced from the Amdo basement (Li et al., 2019), resulting in the closure of the Dongqiao-Amdo oceanic seaway. Paleomagnetic data from the western segment of the LT indicate a paleolatitude of 20.6 ± 5.0°N at ∼132–106 Ma suggesting that the LT had already collided with Eurasia by this time (Chen et al., 2012). The large number of igneous rocks showing subduction, collision, and crustal thickening is concentrated in two ages, ∼110–130 Ma and ∼150–170 Ma, also indicating two collisions associated with Amdo-Dongkacuo (AD) microcontinent and LT (Figure 4; Hu et al., 2022).

This paper concludes that the position of the Tarim Basin remained unchanged during the Mesozoic except for a slight rotation and that the NQT, SQT, AD, LT collided successively on the southern margin of the Tarim, based on the above paleomagnetic, petrological, geochronological, stratigraphic, and paleontological data. Therefore, the global plates distribution map centered on Tarim in the Mesozoic (∼220 Ma, ∼160 Ma, ∼120 Ma; Figure 5) was drawn on the basis of these insights, and the other plate locations were mainly referred to the data in Huang et al. (2018); Zhao et al. (2018).

The Triassic stratigraphy in the Tarim Basin is mainly located in the Kuqa Basin, Tabei and Tazhong areas, and is dominated by alluvial fan-braided river delta-flood plain-lake facies (Figure 6; Jia et al., 2013; Wei et al., 2021). The Triassic stratigraphy (0–300 m thickness) is widely distributed in an east-west strip throughout the Kuqa Basin. The depocenter of the basin formed by the combined area of Tabei and Tazhong is in the Awati depression. Based on thickness trends, the stratigraphic thickness of the Triassic denudation may locally reach 500 m, with the original boundary line typically 2–4 km and up to 10 km from the current stratigraphic boundary line of the remnant. The width of the denuded Triassic area is 30–40 km in the northern Kuqa Basin, and the denuded thickness is 0–2,400 m (Yu et al., 2016). The balanced cross-sections can be seen that the main Triassic deformation occurred in the southwestern Tarim Basin (∼3 km) and the southeastern Tarim (∼7 km).

In the southwestern Tarim Basin, few Triassic strata are remained, only the Duwa site (Figure 9A) developed the Lower Triassic Wuzunsayi Formation of 200–300 m thick river-lake facies sandstone and dark mudstone in the Triassic. The Wuzunsayi Formation is conformably overlying the Upper Permian Duwa Formation with synchronous deformation and unconformably overlain by the Jurassic-Cretaceous strata conformity, which was parallel unconformity (Yang, 1994). The Late Triassic thrust structures were also revealed by seismic interpretation (Li et al., 2017). On the seismic sections, the Late Triassic thrusts cut through the Paleozoic and stop at the bottom of the Jurassic–Cretaceous (Figure 7), and the deformations in the Jurassic–Cretaceous are similar to the overlying the Cenozoic both not involved in the Late Triassic thrusting. These may be critical evidence for developing a small basin at the Duwa of the southwestern Tarim Basin in the Early Triassic but were destroyed by thrust faults in the Late Triassic.

In the Kuqa Basin, both the remnant stratigraphy and the reconstructed primary stratigraphy show that the depocenter moved toward the orogenic zone and that the thickness thinned gradually from the depocenter to the orogenic zone. However, the depocenter of the foreland basin commonly moves toward the foreland and gradually thins from the orogenic belt to the basin. The Triassic strata are overlain on top of the South Tianshan orogenic wedge and show a progressive change in sedimentary facies and sequence structure with the overlying Jurassic strata. As a result, the Kuqa Basin is more like a downwarped basin superimposed on the transition zone between the South Tianshan orogenic belt and the Tarim Craton. The balanced cross-sections of B-B′ (Figure 8) and Qi et al. (2022) also show that the Triassic basin did not develop large-scale thrust faults, and even normal faults may exist. Thus, the Kuqa Basin is a downwarped basin developed on top of the Late Paleozoic thrust-fold wedge or even a faulted basin in the Triassic.

The reconstruction of the Triassic proto-type basin in the Tarim Basin indicates that the Kuqa Basin and the Tazhong Basin are downwarped basins controlled by crustal isostasy (Figure 9A). There was also a local downwarped basin in the southern Tarim Basin in the Early Triassic, which was destroyed by thrust faults in the Late Triassic.

There are three main controversial types of Jurassic faulted basins in the southwestern Tarim: the pull-apart basin associated with the Fergana-Kashgar-Yecheng strike-slip fault (Sobel, 1999), the large half-graben faulted basin between Tarim Block and West Kunlun orogenic belt (Zhang et al., 2000), and small horst-graben structure after the collision orogeny (Li et al., 2017). To address this issue, we reconstructed the Jurassic and Cretaceous proto-type basins of the Tarim Block in the same way as above and obtained Figures 9B, C.

Jurassic formations in the Tarim Block are mainly found in the Kuqa Basin, the southwestern Tarim Basin, the southeastern Tarim Basin and the eastern Tarim Basin. The continental clastic rocks of alluvial fan-braided river delta-flood plain-lake facies are developed under the control of normal faults in the Kuqa Basin, the southwestern Tarim Basin, and the southeastern Tarim Basin. The maximum thickness of Jurassic strata in each basin is ∼1,000–2000 m, and it gradually thins from the fault to the basin (Wei et al., 2022). The depocenter of the basin gradually moved toward the orogeny. Deformation in the Late Jurassic led to uplift and denudation, resulting in the formation of a regional unconformity with a general denudation thickness of 0–250 m in the interior of the basin and a maximum denudation thickness of 500 m. However, the denudation thickness is up to 2000 m, and the denudation distance is up to 40 km in the northern margin of the Kuqa basin (Yu et al., 2016). Jurassic basins are predominantly unshortened and developed faulted basins in regional extensional settings.

The Late Jurassic is a transitional phase from the stable stage of fault subsidence to the initial stage of depression. The underlying faulted basin combines with the overlying downwarped basin to form a basin with a binary structure from observation of the seismic section in Jurassic (Figure 10). An approximately 60 km-wide Triassic fold-and-thrust belt along the southwestern margin of Tarim Basin is unconformably overlain by a Jurassic–Cretaceous sedimentary sequence along a regional angular unconformity in the southwestern Tarim Basin. The Lower–Middle Jurassic strata consists mainly of an upward-fining sequence ranging from terrestrial conglomerates to turbidite deposits, representing the products of an initial rift stage. Contrast to the pioneering phase, the sequence of Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous were characterized by several cycles of coarse clastic deposits with large-scale cross laminations that suggest a fluvial to braided delta setting (Wu et al., 2021). These basins were not unified as one but existed in the graben-horst structure. These Jurassic basins are distributed along the Karakorum premontane faults and cannot be extended to the Ferghana Fault as no contemporaneous Jurassic clastic deposits exist between the Karakorum and the Western Tianshan. Therefore, based on reconstructions of proto-type basins, the southwest Tarim Basin was a faulted basin with small horst-graben structure after the collision of orogeny during the Jurassic.

The Early Cretaceous strata are mainly distributed in the southwestern Tarim Basin and the Central Basin consisting of Kuqa, Tazhong, Tadong, Tanan, and southeastern Tarim, and deposit red coarse clastic terrestrial deposits of alluvial fan-braided river delta-flood plain-fluvial faces. Compared to the Late Jurassic strata, the Cretaceous strata are thinner in thickness and slower in deposition rate but are similar in depositional and structural characteristics without being controlled by faults (Li et al., 2017; Wu et al., 2021). The crustal shortening did not alter significantly in most areas, except for the southeastern Tarim, where a shortening of 2–3 km occurred, resulting in a substantial uplift that reduced the area of the southeast Tarim Basin by approximately half in the Early Cretaceous. The Central Tarim Basin is an intracratonic depression basin according to these sedimentary features. During the Late Cretaceous, the Tarim Basin was denuded due to general uplift, resulting in practically no sedimentary record for the entire basin, except for the southwest Tarim Basin. The late Early Cretaceous in the northeastern part of the eastern Tethys witnessed a large-scale transgression event that resulted in the formation of the trumpet-shaped bay in the western Tarim Basin (Xi et al., 2020). Finally, the basin is dominated by repeated deposition of multiple mudstone-carbonate assemblages in the Late Cretaceous (Bosboom et al., 2014), indicating that the sedimentary environment is mainly controlled by multiple transgression-regressive cycles rather than intense tectonic activities (Zhang et al., 2018). The inconspicuous shortening of the crust and the inactive thrust faults indicate that southwest Tarim Basin was a downwarped basin throughout the Cretaceous.

The Jurassic and Cretaceous proto-type basin reconstructions (Figures 9B, C) show that the Jurassic was a fault-basin period and began a transition to a downwarped basin in the Late Jurassic. The early Cretaceous basins were deposited and sequenced in a similar manner to those of the Late Jurassic. However, unlike the Late Cretaceous Tarim Basin, which experienced uplift and ceased deposition (Jia et al., 2003; Jin et al., 2008), except for the southwest region where there was the development of marine sedimentation due to multiple transgression-regression cycles.

The Paleo-Tethys Ocean had begun to northward subduction since the Carboniferous in the southern Tarim and eventually closed in the Late Triassic in response to the accretion of the Tianshuihai-Bayankara terrane, NQT and SQT with the Tarim Block (Jolivet et al., 2001; Xiao et al., 2002; Xiao et al., 2003; Liu et al., 2015; Song et al., 2015; Ma et al., 2020; Wei et al., 2022). The intense compressional collision caused an uplift in the southern Tarim Basin, transforming the Permian foreland into an uplift (He et al., 2015). This collision also formed the thrust fault structure from the West Kunlun orogenic belt and the Altyn orogenic belt toward the basin in the southern margin of the Tarim Basin, as well as the back thrust structure from the basin to the orogenic belt in the Maigaiti slope (Li et al., 2017). Uplift and thrust of the basin caused the Early–Middle Triassic strata in Bachu, Tanggu and Tadong areas to be denuded to the Central basin and formed a sizeable regional unconformity. Alluvial fan-braided river delta-flood plain-lake facies were mainly developed in the central basin, and the depocenter was located in the Tabei area and moved northward continuously during the Triassic period (Liu et al., 2012). At this time, Kuqa Basin, as a downwarped basin superimposed on the transitional zone between the northern margin uplift of the Tarim Craton and the Late Paleozoic southern Tianshan orogenic wedge, was not evidently affected by the collision (Figure 11A).

The Tethys region was in an expanding setting as the New Tethys Ocean spread during the Early to Middle Jurassic. The Triassic uplift transformed into depressions in the southern Tarim Basin under the extensional background, and a series of narrow and deep faulted basins with coal-bearing strata composed of sand-mudstone intercalated with coal seams at the margin of the Tarim Basin (Figure 11B). The Amdo-Dongkacuo microcontinent collided with the southern margin of Tarim during the Late Jurassic period, which caused the Tarim Basin to be influenced by compressional stresses (Ma et al., 2020). The normal fault ceased to be active and the graben basin began to transform into a downwarped basin. Red coarse-grained clastic rocks were deposited throughout the basin during the Late Jurassic, and alluvial fans suddenly appeared in the southeastern Tarim.

The collision of the Amdo-Dongkacuo microcontinent with the Tarim Block in the Late Jurassic represents the beginning of the collision of the paleo Lasa terranes with Eurasia. The northward subduction of the Meso-Tethys during the Early Cretaceous and the continued collision of microcontinents created continuous compressional stress on the Tarim Basin. The southeastern Tarim began to uplift and no longer received deposition, and the Kuqa Basin and the Central Basin have combined into a whole with red coarse clastic deposits (Figure 11C). The collision of the Lhasa Block with the Tarim Block formed an enormous compressional stress during the Late Early Cretaceous that caused the entire Tarim Basin to uplift and no longer accept sedimentation. The widespread transgression of the Tethys Ocean resulted in seawater influx from the western openings of the Tarim Basin into the southwestern Tarim Basin. It began to receive a deposition of multiple mudstone-carbonate assemblages (∼110 Ma).