Detailed geological and morphological mapping of transition zones from the
Chuya depression to the surrounding mountains in the north (Kurai Ridge) an
d west (Chagan-Uzun massif) allowed us to infere that bath changed their ev
olution dynamics through time. As a sedimentary basin bounded by uplifts, t
he Chuya depression initiated in the Middle Miocene - Early Pleistocene and
was then, apparently, a graben formed together with the neighboring Chagan
-Uzun horst. The present-day structure of the basin was produced by Intence
compression. In the latest Early Pliocene a ramp formed, and in Late Plioc
ene and Quaternary time its northern boundary was rejuvenated by thrusting
and oblique-slip faulting. The Cenozoic relief formation In southeastern Go
rny Altai provides a good illustration of gradual propagation of deformatio
ns related to the India-Eurasia collision, which since the Late Pliocene ha
ve been making a boundary between the Altai orogen and the Tuva-Mongolia mi
croplate, chiefly following Late Paleozoic regional faults. The main regula
rities of the structure and evolution of the collisional boundary became ev
ident owing to a special study, the results of which can be used in descrip
tion of similar boundaries of neotectonic structures in Inner Asia.