Fig. 5: Fault paleoactivation analysis results at 200, 80 and 20 Ma.
From: Deciphering mantle, tectonic and climatic drivers of exhumation
a Distribution of faults in proximity to quickly denuding crustal blocks as indicated by rapidly cooling thermochronology data, and thus potentially (re)activated at that time to accommodate differential exhumation. Rose diagrams illustrate the paleo-azimuths of those fault traces. b Mean fault azimuths of potentially (re)activated faults remain sub-parallel to the southern Eurasian arc since at least 220 Ma, indicating these brittle systems remained in a kinematically favourable orientation to enable them to intermittently accommodate significant subduction-induced strain that led to Central Asia’s secular exhumation cooling history (c). Fault traces were reconstructed to their paleogeographic position following the plate tectonic model of Zahirovic et al.24, and Tethyan arc kinematics were extracted following the approach of East et al.112 (see Methods). ATF Altyn Tagh Fault, TFF Talas Fergana Fault, BF Bolnai Fault, CTUSS Charysh-Terekta-Ulagan-Sayan Suture, STSS South Tian Shan Suture. An animation of the full 230 Ma fault paleoactivation analysis can be found in the Supplementary Material (Video S7).
