Four generations of structures are recognized in the southern Chinese Altai.
S1 and S2 may result from crustal thickening and thinning.
F3 and F4 are linked with partitioning of transpressional deformation.
Sub-parallelism of F3 with the shear zone results from high degree of partitioning.
Less efficient strain partitioning leads to the obliquity of F4 with the shear zone.