PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHY AND TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF XINJIANG
新疆古生物地理与大地构造演化

Palaeobiogeographicallically of Xinjiang may be divided into the Altay region, the Junggar-Tian Shan region, the Tarim region and the Kunlun Shan-Karakorum Shan region according to the distribution and characters of the fossils. The Altay region belongs to the Siberian plate, the Junggar-Tian Shan region is a part of the Kazakhstanian plate, the Tarim region is called the Tarim plate in tectonics, both the Kunlun Shan-Karakorum Shan region and the Qiangtang region located in the Northern Tibet may be named the Kunlun Shan-Karakorum Shan-Qiangtang plate as a geotectpnic unit. At the end of Late Silurian, the Tarim plate and the Kazakhstanian plate were welded into each other at the northern slope of. Harctau Mountain, while ophiolitic melange and paired metamorphic belts were formed. At the end of Early Devonian, the Kazakhstanian plate was subducted beneath the Siberian plate along the Ertix River, while ophiolitic suite and paired metamorphic belts were formed.The Kunlun Shan-Karakorum Shan-Qiangtang plate was a portion of the original Gondwanaland, located in the southern hemisphere, and drifted southward during the Late Palaeozoic. But it drifted northward in the Jurassic period, and subducted beneath the Tarim plate at the end of Early Cretaceous, accompained by the formation of ophiolitic belts.