Characteristics and Significance of Gravels from Miocene Taxihe Formation in Northern Wenquan County of West Tianshan, Xinjiang

The Bole basin is distributed in the north part of west Tianshan orogenic belt, which is an ideal place for the study of basin-mountain coupling. In northern Wenquan County, the Taxihe Formation can be divided into the upper mudstone layer and the lower conglomerate layer by studying the formation composition and gravel statistics analysis. The stratigraphic characteristics, gravel composition, gravel of the Taxihe Formation have been analyzed to discuss the genesis, tectonic setting, material source of conglomerate layer and its significance for uranium mineralization. The conglomerate layer is mainly composed of gray-white granitic breccia, and parts are gray tuff-breccia and brownish red granite-tuff-conglomerate. The results show that the lower conglomerate layer was formed in alluvial fan, with debris flow as the main cause and local as alluvial channel origin. Combining with the regional geological characteristics, the conglomerate layer is the sedimentary response of the Neocene cooling event of west Tianshan, and its source region is the Alataoshan on the north side of Bole basin. The rapid uplift event represented by the sedimentation of the conglomerate layer is of great significance to the uranium deposits by tilting the former stratum and providing uranium source for the uranium deposits.