Tectonic facies and the archipelago-accretion process of the West Kunlun, China

A tectonic facies investigation carried out in the West Kunlun, China allows us to have worked out a tectonic model of orogen. The tectonic facies, from the north to the south, are composed of the following: 1. Southern Tarim tectonic realm; 2. North Kudi magmatic arc; 3. Kudi melange; 4. Kudi micro-continent; 5. main shear zone; 6. Xianan Bridge calc alkaline complex; 7. Mazar-Kangxiwar melange-accretion complex; and 8. Tianshuihai foreland fold-thrust belt. The tectonic facies 1»5 recorded the history of the northward subduction of the Prototethys and southward accretion of Eurasia in the Late Proterozoic-Early Paleozoic time, while the tectonic facies 6»8 recorded the history of the northward subduction of the Paleotethys and southward accretion of Eurasia in the Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic time, that of the tectonic evolution of the passive margin of the Qiangtang block, and that of the docking, and the final amalgamation of the Qiangtang block to the Eurasian continent. The tectonic facies investigation has indicated that a complicated archipelago-accretion orogenesis took place in the West Kunlun orogen, which was the important character of southward growth of the Eurasian continent.