The Tian Shan mountain range maintains high topography across the Eurasian continent despite being distal to any modern plate boundary. Previous studies of the Tian Shan have revealed a history of mountain building in response to India-Asia collision which has overprinted much of its Mesozoic history. The Karatau and Talas ranges in the north-western Tian Shan represent a unique opportunity to investigate the erosional response to the Mesozoic tectonics of Central Asia. In this study, we present medium-to-low temperature thermochronology and thermal history modelling from a series of Neoproterozoic to Permian sedimentary and granitoid samples taken from the Karatau and Talas ranges. Our results identify three phases of late Paleozoic-Mesozoic deformation and exhumation: (1) a regional orogenic event in the Permian–Early Triassic (ca. 280–240 Ma) related to the final amalgamation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, (2) Late Triassic–Early Jurassic (ca. 230–190 Ma) reactivation in response to the collision of the Qiangtang block with the Eurasian margin, and a (3) phase of rapid basement cooling during the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (ca. 160–140 Ma), associated with the closure of the Meso-Tethys Ocean. These results suggest that the Karatau and Talas ranges preserves extensive Mesozoic erosional signatures, which developed in response to Eurasian amalgamation of Central Asia and progressive closure of the Tethys Ocean.

尽管远离任何现代板块边界，天山山脉仍保持着横跨欧亚大陆的高地势。先前对天山的研究揭示了为响应印度-亚洲碰撞而建造的山地历史，该历史覆盖了其大部分中生代历史。天山西北部的 Karatau 和 Talas 山脉代表了一个独特的机会来研究对中亚中生代构造的侵蚀反应。在这项研究中，我们展示了取自 Karatau 和 Talas 山脉的一系列新元古代到二​​叠纪沉积和花岗岩样品的中到低温热年代学和热历史模型。我们的结果确定了晚古生代-中生代变形和剥脱的三个阶段：（1）二叠纪-早三叠世的区域造山事件（约 280-240 Ma）与中亚造山带的最终合并有关，（2）晚三叠世-早侏罗世（约 230-190 Ma）响应羌塘地块与欧亚大陆边缘碰撞而重新激活，以及(3) 晚侏罗世-早白垩世（约 160-140 Ma）基底快速冷却阶段，与中特提斯洋关闭有关。这些结果表明，卡拉套和塔拉斯山脉保留了广泛的中生代侵蚀特征，这是为了响应中亚的欧亚融合和特提斯洋的逐渐关闭而发展起来的。和（3）晚侏罗世-早白垩世（约 160-140 Ma）期间基底快速冷却阶段，与中特提斯洋关闭有关。这些结果表明，卡拉套和塔拉斯山脉保留了广泛的中生代侵蚀特征，这是为了响应中亚的欧亚融合和特提斯洋的逐渐关闭而发展起来的。和（3）晚侏罗世-早白垩世（约 160-140 Ma）的快速基底冷却阶段，与中特提斯洋的闭合有关。这些结果表明，卡拉套和塔拉斯山脉保留了广泛的中生代侵蚀特征，这是为了响应中亚的欧亚融合和特提斯洋的逐渐关闭而发展起来的。