This block is located between the Tianshan Orogenic Belt and the Kunlun Orogenic Belt. Its surface area reaches 560,000 km2; therefore, it is also called the ‘Tarim Platform’. Data have confirmed that the Tarim block has Precambrian crystalline basement with an age of 3.3 billion years. Platform-cover type deposition began in the Mesoproterozoic Era and lasted until the Late Palaeozoic. In the Cenozoic, the region became a large inland basin with land-vergent structures on both sides. These structures indicate that this basin has been subject to compression since the Cenozoic. The Tarim Basin is now one of the most important oil and gas regions in China. This basin is covered by the Taklamakan Desert, and unique desert landforms have formed many distinctive landscapes for geological tourism that are characteristics of China’s western regions.
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(2020). Tarim Block. In: Chen, A., Ng, Y., Zhang, E., Tian, M. (eds) Dictionary of Geotourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2428
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2428
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