GEODYNAMICS OF THE KAZAKHSTAN OROCLINE, CENTRAL ASIA

Abstract

Curved mountain belts, commonly referred as to oroclines that result from bending of quasi-linear orogenic belts, have fascinated generations of geologists. Such structures are widely recognized in modern and ancient orogens, and are fundamentally important for understanding geodynamics of convergent plate boundaries. However, how and why orogenic belts become bent has been in debate. Here we investigate the Kazakhstan Orocline in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt with an aim at understanding the geodynamics of oroclinal bending in accretionary orogens.