Tectonic Evolution of the Southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt
The Central Asian Orogenic Belt – a mountainous 5.3 million square kilometer region that includes this region of Uzbekistan – is a twisted amalgamation of re-purposed continental crust, sedimentary rocks, scraped-off seafloor sediments, and igneous rock. Just how it formed, however, is a matter of continued debate, with one team proposing continental collisions and another championing accretion of seafloor sediments during plate subductions. (Image credit: Flickr/vpzone)↧