Inversion of topographic evolution using low-T thermal history: A case study from coastal mountain system in Southeastern China

The topographic evolution of a mountain system provides key information for understanding surface processes. We present a new and relatively simple method to reconstruct two-dimensional paleotopography composed of two steps: (1) construction of thermal history using low-temperature thermochronological data and (2) conversion of the thermal history into topographic evolution. A new computer program “Low-T Topo” was developed to perform the suggested conversion of thermal history to paleotopography. This approach, when applied to the coastal mountain system (CMS) in Southeastern China, suggests an uneven topographic evolution along the Changting-Zhangzhou section since the Late Cretaceous. According to our modeling, the SE segment of the section was higher (maximum peak elevation = ~3.8 km) than the NW segment (~3.4 km) during ~80–50 Ma. The modeling also suggests that both the SE and NW segments experienced an initially higher exhumation rate of ~0.14 km/Myr at 80–70 Ma, which steadily decreased to about 0.03 km/Myr at 40 Ma. Since then, exhumation rates stayed relatively low (≤~0.05 km/Myr). The elevation reduction in the CMS since the Late Cretaceous played an important role introducing the warm and humid Pacific air to the inland.     

Lateral thinking: 2-D interpretation of thermochronology in convergent orogenic settings

Lateral motion of material relative to the regional thermal and kinematic frameworks is important in the interpretation of thermochronology in convergent orogens. Although cooling ages in denuded settings are commonly linked to exhumation, such data are not related to instantaneous behavior but rather to an integration of the exhumation rates experienced between the thermochronological ‘closure’ at depth and subsequent exposure at the surface. The short spatial wavelength variation of thermal structure and denudation rate typical of orogenic regions thus renders thermochronometers sensitive to lateral motion during exhumation. The significance of this lateral motion varies in proportion with closure temperature, which controls the depth at which isotopic closure occurs, and hence, the range of time and length scales over which such data integrate sample histories. Different chronometers thus vary in the fundamental aspects of the orogenic character to which they are sensitive. Isotopic systems with high closure temperature are more sensitive to exhumation paths and the variation in denudation and thermal structure across a region, while those of lower closure temperature constrain shorter-term behaviour and more local conditions.Discounting lateral motion through an orogenic region and interpreting cooling ages purely in terms of vertical exhumation can produce ambiguous results because variation in the cooling rate can result from either change in kinematics over time or the translation of samples through spatially varying conditions. Resolving this ambiguity requires explicit consideration of the physical and thermal framework experienced by samples during their exhumation. This can be best achieved through numerical simulations coupling kinematic deformation to thermal evolution. Such an approach allows the thermochronological implications of different kinematic scenarios to be tested, and thus provides an important means of assessing the contribution of lateral motion to orogenic evolution.     

Thermal history vs. fabric anisotropy in granitoids emplaced at different crustal levels: an example from Calabria, southern Italy

The Sila and Serre granitoids of Calabria were emplaced in the late Carboniferous at depths ranging from 6 to 23 km in a postcollisional extensional regime. Their fabric, which developed during and after final crystallization up to the solid state, strongly increases in intensity with emplacement depth. This relationship is attributed to the thermal history of the Calabrian basement. Cooling histories of granitoids, constrained by geological data and Rb–Sr cooling ages on micas, demonstrate that residence times of rocks at temperatures greater than those of the brittle–ductile transition vary greatly as a function of initial emplacement depth. This explains why shallow-level granitoids, that remained for about 10 Myr at temperatures above those of the brittle domain, retain their original magmatic fabric. By contrast, the strong fabrics of the deep-seated granitoids are explained by solid-state strain overprint that lasted more than 100 Myr at temperatures above those of the brittle domain.     

大陆动力学数值模拟:问题、进展与展望

大陆动力学是地球动力学的基本组成部分,是板块构造理论的重要拓展,是固体地球科学的核心命题之一。在系统的地质、地球物理和地球化学观测的基础上,数值模拟是探讨大陆动力学过程和机制的有效手段。本文主要基于大陆动力学数值模拟,围绕大陆形成和演化过程的四个关键科学问题进行总结和探讨。(1)大陆起源与早期地球动力学演化。现今观测到的最早的大陆地壳岩石来自冥古宙,说明地球早期就已经开始大陆地壳的形成;关于当时的构造体制,存在多种不同的模式及其过渡和转换(岩浆洋、热管、滞盖等),该问题的约束甚少,是一个地球动力学的前沿科学问题。(2)大陆岩石圈的稳定性与破坏。大陆岩石圈形成之后经历几十亿年尺度的长时间演化,有些克拉通可以保持大致的稳定性直至现今,而有的克拉通却在显生宙期间经历显著的改造和破坏,无论其稳定存在还是改造破坏,都是值得深入探讨的科学问题。(3)大陆深俯冲与极限折返。超高压岩石折返代表了地球表层物质由浅入深而又由深及浅的物质循环,系统的观测和模拟对该过程和机制已有比较清晰的理解;而近年来观测到的200～350 km的超深折返岩石又提出新的挑战,其模式和机制有待进一步探索。(4)大陆碰撞造山差异...     

Tectonic control on exhumation and seismicity in the Garhwal‐Kumaun Himalaya,NW‐India

Despite similar geological and tectonic setting along the Himalayan orogen, distinct thermochronological/exhumational and seismicity variability exists between the Kumaun and the Garhwal regions of the NW‐ Himalaya. The processes responsible for such variability are still debated. To understand this, published thermochronological ages from several traverses across the Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) and Lesser Himalayan Crystalline (LHC) have been correlated with the seismicity pattern in both Garhwal and Kumaun segments. The seismicity pattern coincides with the zone of rapid uplift and exhumation. The profiles of seismicity across the Kumaun and the Garhwal regions agree with the existence of the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) underlying the regions and reflect its geometry and architecture. Slip along the MHT is responsible for occurrence of seismicity on decade time‐scale and exhumation pattern on Myr time‐scale of the Himalaya.     

Cenozoic thermo-tectonic evolution of the Gangdese batholith constrained by low-temperature thermochronology

Gangdese batholith in the southern Lhasa block is a key location for exploring the Tibetan Plateau uplift and exhumation history. We present the new low-temperature thermochronological data from two north–south traverses in the central Gangdese batholith to reveal their cooling histories and corresponding controls. Zircon fission track ages show prominent clusters ranging from 23.7 to 51.6 Ma, apatite fission track ages from 9.4 to 36.9 Ma, apatite (U–Th)/He ages between 9.5 and 12.3 Ma, and one zircon (U–Th)/He age around 77.8 Ma. These new data and thermal modeling, in combination with the regional geological data, suggest that the distinct parts of Gangdese batholith underwent different cooling histories resulted from various dynamic mechanisms. The Late Eocene–Early Oligocene exhumation of northern Gangdese batholith, coeval with the magmatic gap, might be triggered by crust thickening followed by the breakoff of Neotethyan slab, while this stage of exhumation in southern Gangdese batholith cannot be clearly elucidated probably because the most of plutonic rocks with the information of this cooling event were eroded away. Since then, the northern Gangdese batholith experienced a slow and stable exhumation, while the southern Gangdese batholith underwent two more stages of exhumation. The Late Oligocene–Early Miocene rapid cooling might be a response to denudation caused by the Gangdese Thrust or related to the regional uplift and exhumation in extensional background. By the early Miocene, the rapid exhumation was associated with localized river incision or intensification of Asian monsoon, or north–south normal fault.     

Alpine metamorphism in the south-east Tauern Window, Austria: 2. Rates of heating, cooling and uplift

Abstract Existing geochronological data are reviewed and new Rb-Sr, K-Ar and ³⁹Ar–⁴⁰Ar ages are presented, including a suite of 33 mica ages from a 20 km north–south tunnel section. These data are discussed in relation to the thermal history from the overthrusting of the Autroalpine nappes c. 65 Myr ago to the present. The earliest phase of metamorphism, involving lawsonite crystallization, is associated with emplacement of these nappes. Subsequently, temperatures in the rocks beneath rose, at a mean rate of 3–6°C/Myr, until the climax of metamorphism.
At high structural levels, published data indicate an age > 35 Myr for the metamorphic climax. In contrast, a new ³⁹Ar–⁴⁰Ar step-heating age of 23.8 ± 0.8 Myr on amphibole, from near the base of Peripheral Schieferhülle, closely approximates the age of metamorphism and provides the first clear indication that the climax of metamorphism occurred later at deeper structure levels. Following the climax, near-isothermal uplift and erosion reduced pressure to c. 1 kbar before white mica closure at 19 Myr; this implies uplift at >3 mm/yr.
Along the tunnel section, white mica K-Ar ages vary systematically from 24 Myr to 16.5 Myr with position relative to a late 4 km amplitude dome whereas biotite Rb-Sr ages are uniform at 16.5 Myr across the whole profile; doming is thus dated at 16.5 Myr with transient uplift rates >5 mm/yr. At other times uplift rates were <1 mm/yr.     

Origin of paired high pressure–ultrahigh-temperature orogens: a ridge subduction and slab window model

Ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) and high pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks generated at different times in Earth history form paired suites within the same tectonic belts in several regions. We evaluate the thermal regimes and fluid circulation patters in different plate tectonic settings and propose a new model involving ridge subduction where the slab window places hot asthenosphere against the base of the overlying plate and provides an ideal setting for the supply of heat and CO₂-rich fluids at relatively shallow domains, which can explain the formation and preservation of UHT metamorphic rocks in the roots of the arc and forearc. The plate geometry below the slab window would inhibit the normal cooling induced by the slab, and a temporary deprivation of slab-derived sediments and hydrous fluids. Our analysis provides a unified model for paired UHT and HP metamorphic orogens and presents a key to the associated thermal and fluid regimes.     

Crust structure of the northeastern Barents Sea basin area

Processing of data from regional geophysical surveys completed in the northern Barents Sea has provided updates to gravity and magnetic databases, structural maps of seismic interfaces, and positions of anomaly sources, which made a basis for 3D density and magnetic models of the crust. The new geological and geophysical results placed constraints on the boundaries between basement blocks formed in different settings and on the contours of deposition zones of different ages in the northeastern Barents Sea. The estimated thicknesses of sedimentary sequences that formed within certain time spans record the deposition history of the region. There is a 20-50 km wide deep suture between two basins of Mesozoic and Paleozoic ages in the eastern part of the region, where pre-Late Triassic reflectors have no clear correlation. The suture slopes eastward at a low angle and corresponds to a paleothrust according to seismic and modeling data. In the basement model, the suture is approximated by a zone of low magnetization and density, which is common to active fault systems. The discovery of the suture has important geological and exploration implications.     

Metallographic cooling rates and origin of IVA iron meteorites

We have determined the metallographic cooling rates for 13 IVA irons using the most recent and most accurate metallographic cooling rate model. Group IVA irons have cooling rates that vary from 6600 °C/Myr at the low-Ni end of the group to 100 °C/Myr at the high-Ni end of the group. This large cooling rate range is totally incompatible with cooling in a mantled core which should have a uniform cooling rate. Thermal and fractional crystallization models have been used to describe the cooling and solidification of the IVA asteroid. The thermal model indicates that a metallic body of 150 ± 50 km in radius with less than 1 km of silicate on the outside of the body has a range of cooling rates that match the metallographic cooling rates in IVA irons in the temperature range 700-400 °C where the Widmanstätten pattern formed. The fractional crystallization model for Ni with initial S contents between 3 and 9 wt% is consistent with the measured variation of cooling rate with bulk Ni and the thermal model. New models for impacts in the early solar system and the evolution of the primordial asteroid belt allow us to propose that the IVA irons crystallized and cooled in a metallic body that was derived from a differentiated protoplanet during a grazing impact. Other large magmatic iron groups, IIAB, IIIAB, and IVB, also show significant cooling rate ranges and are very likely to share a similar history.     

High-T, low-P metamorphism in the Palaeoproterozoic Halls Creek Orogen, northern Australia: the middle crustal response to a mantle-related transient thermal pulse

High‐T, low‐P metamorphic rocks of the Palaeoproterozoic central Halls Creek Orogen in northern Australia are characterised by low radiogenic heat production, high upper crustal thermal gradients (locally exceeding 40 °C km^?1) sustained for over 30 Myr, and a large number of layered mafic‐ultramafic intrusions with mantle‐related geochemical signatures. In order to account for this combination of geological and thermal characteristics, we model the middle crustal response to a transient mantle‐related heat pulse resulting from a temporary reduction in the thickness of the mantle lithosphere. This mechanism has the potential to raise mid‐crustal temperatures by 150–400 °C within 10–20 Myr following initiation of the mantle temperature anomaly, via conductive dissipation through the crust. The magnitude and timing of maximum temperatures attained depend strongly on the proximity, duration and lateral extent of the thermal anomaly in the mantle lithosphere, and decrease sharply in response to anomalies that are seated deeper than 50–60 km, maintained for <5 Myr in duration and/or have half‐widths <100 km. Maximum temperatures are also intimately linked to the thermal properties of the model crust, primarily due to their influence on the steady‐state (background) thermal gradient. The amplitudes of temperature increases in the crust are principally a function of depth, and are broadly independent of crustal thermal parameters. Mid‐crustal felsic and mafic plutonism is a predictable consequence of perturbed thermal regimes in the mantle and the lowermost crust, and the advection of voluminous magmas has the potential to raise temperatures in the middle crust very quickly. Although pluton‐related thermal signatures significantly dissipate within <10 Myr (even for very large, high‐temperature intrusive bodies), the interaction of pluton‐ and mantle‐related thermal effects has the potential to maintain host rock temperatures in excess of 400–450 °C for up to 30 Myr in some parts of the mid‐crust. The numerical models presented here support the notion that transient mantle‐related heat sources have the capacity to contribute significantly to the thermal budget of metamorphism in high‐T, low‐P metamorphic belts, especially in those characterised by low surface heat flow, very high peak metamorphic geothermal gradients and abundant mafic intrusions.     

Thermal history and origin of the IVB iron meteorites and their parent body

We have determined metallographic cooling rates of 9 IVB irons by measuring Ni gradients 3 μm or less in length at kamacite-taenite boundaries with the analytical transmission electron microscope and by comparing these Ni gradients with those derived by modeling kamacite growth. Cooling rates at 600-400 °C vary from 475 K/Myr at the low-Ni end of group IVB to 5000 K/Myr at the high-Ni end. Sizes of high-Ni particles in the cloudy zone microstructure in taenite and the widths of the tetrataenite rims, which both increase with decreasing cooling rate, are inversely correlated with the bulk Ni concentrations of the IVB irons confirming the correlation between cooling rate and bulk Ni. Since samples of a core that cooled inside a thermally insulating silicate mantle should have uniform cooling rates, the IVB core must have cooled through 500 °C without a silicate mantle. The correlation between cooling rate and bulk Ni suggests that the core crystallized concentrically outwards. Our thermal and fractional crystallization models suggest that in this case the radius of the core was 65 ± 15 km when it cooled without a mantle. The mantle was probably removed when the IVB body was torn apart in a glancing impact with a larger body. Clean separation of the mantle from the solid core during this impact could have been aided by a thin layer of residual metallic melt at the core-mantle boundary. Thus the IVB irons may have crystallized in a well-mantled core that was 70 ± 15 km in radius while it was inside a body of radius 140 ± 30 km.     

Reconstructing deep‐time histories from integrated thermochronology: An example from southern Baffin Island,Canada

We present a multi‐chronometric approach for reconstructing deep‐time thermal histories using southern Baffin Island as a case study. This continuous thermal history begins with the Palaeoproterozoic Trans‐Hudson Orogeny and is derived from inverse and forward models that integrate thermochronometers spanning some 500°C: new apatite U–Pb ages and K‐feldspar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar multi‐diffusion domain data, published (U–Th)/He zircon ages and new multi‐kinetic fission‐track results. Integration of data from a wider temperature range reduces ambiguities in thermal‐history modelling and permits us to constrain the timing of geological processes including, extended post‐orogenic cooling, enhanced later Proterozoic cooling, and then episodic burial and exhumation in the Palaeozoic–Mesozoic.     

Topography,structural and exhumation history of the Admiralty Mountains region,northern Victoria Land,Antarctica

The Admiralty Mountains region forms the northern termination of the northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Few quantitative data are available to reconstruct the Cenozoic morpho-tectonic evolution of this sector of the Antarctic plate, where the Admiralty Mountains region forms the northern termination of the western shoulder of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic West Antarctica Rift System. In this study we combine new low-temperature thermochronological data (apatite fission-track and (U-Th-Sm)/He analyses) with structural and topography analysis. The regional pattern of the fission-track ages shows a general tendency to older ages (80–60 ​Ma) associated with shortened mean track-lengths in the interior, and younger fission-track ages clustering at 38–26 ​Ma with long mean track-lengths in the coastal region. Differently from other regions of Victoria Land, the younger ages are found as far as 50–70 ​km inland. Single grain apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He ages cluster at 50–30 ​Ma with younger ages in the coastal domain. Topography analysis reveals that the Admiralty Mountains has high local relief, with an area close to the coast, 180 ​km long and 70 ​km large, having the highest local relief of >2500 ​m. This coincides with the location of the youngest fission-track ages. The shape of the area with highest local relief matches the shape of a recently detected low velocity zone beneath the northern TAM, indicating that high topography of the Admiralty Mountains region is likely sustained by a mantle thermal anomaly. We used the obtained constraints on the amount of removed crustal section to reconstruct back-eroded profiles and calculate the erosional load in order to test flexural uplift models. We found that our back-eroded profiles are better reproduced by a constant elastic thickness of intermediate values (Te ​= ​20–30 ​km). This suggests that, beneath the Admiralty Mountains, the elastic properties of the lithosphere are different with respect to other TAM sectors, likely due to a stationary Cenozoic upper mantle thermal anomaly in the region.     

Structural reworking and heat transfer related to the late-Panafrican Angavo shear zone of Madagascar

The basement of central Madagascar displays two contrasted structural patterns. The first one (D1) is characterized by north-striking foliations that are gently dipping to the west and carry W- to WSW-plunging lineations, whereas the second one (D2) is characterized by steeper foliations that are striking to the NNE and lineations that are either subhorizontal or gently plunging to the SSW. The younger pattern is related to late-Panafrican tectonics along the major Angavo shear zone that is about 1000 km in length and 40 km in width with apparently little offset. Deformation in the Angavo zone induced interference folding on both sides. The D2 event is characterized by low pressures (ca 400 MPa) and high temperatures (up to 790 °C) responsible for prograde granulite facies conditions, that resulted from heat transfer due to magma and fluid advection in the Angavo shear zone. The D2 event is pinned at 550 ± 11 Ma by a new monazite age from a reoriented Andringitrean granite near Ankaramena. A new suite of amphibole and biotite Ar–Ar geochronological data enables to retrace the thermochronogical evolution inside and outside the Angavo shear zone. Combined with new structural results from the western interference zone, these ages yield a better understanding of the late-Panafrican history of central Madagascar. No diachronism is observed along the strike of the Angavo shear zone. Conversely, amphibole and especially biotite ages decrease from West to East, i.e. towards the shear zone. These new ages range from 511 to 469 Ma. A 1-D conductive model constrains the thermal effect in relation with the Angavo shear zone to be restricted to a lateral distance of ca 60 km (in map view) for a maximum heating duration of 20 Myr. This is in agreement with the Ar–Ar data and with the width of the observed interference zone. Following this episode of deformation and heat transfer, the estimated cooling rates of the Angavo shear zone range from to 15 to 6 °C/Myr, respectively before and after 515 Ma. A post-collision intracontinental setting is suggested for the Angavo shear zone, which is regarded as a remote effect of the Kuunga Orogeny between India and Antarctica.     

Timing and mechanisms of Central Himalayan exhumation: discriminating between tectonic and erosion processes

The ability to deduce exhumation mechanisms from thermochronological data is hampered by the fact that assumptions on the thermal state of the lithosphere have to be made. Additional argumentation is generally required to discriminate between erosion-controlled and tectonically induced exhumation. This problem can be overcome by studying the spatial distribution of zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He and fission track data. In this work the variation of four different low temperature isotopic systems generating age trends along a sampling line is used to infer mechanisms of Quaternary exhumation in the Central High Himalayan Metamorphic Belt. Observed zircon age trends with southwards increasing cooling ages (from 0.5 to 1.7 Ma) are attributed to tectonically induced exhumation. The uniform apatite cooling ages clustered c. 0.5 Ma are attributed to erosion.     

东昆仑及相邻地区中生代-新生代早期构造过程的热年代学记录

针对东昆仑及相邻地区研究较薄弱的中生代—新生代早期时段的构造过程提供了系列新的热年代学资料.不同热年代学方法综合揭示了东昆仑及相邻地区在中生代—新生代早期至少存在3次明显的热事件记录.第一次大约启动于200Ma的晚三叠世晚期,并可能一直延续到早中侏罗世之交,是一次具有广泛影响并奠定造山带区域构造格架的构造热事件.区域动力背景可能和南部羌塘地块与昆仑地块的碰撞、松潘—甘孜—巴颜喀拉浊积盆地闭合相关.第二次发生在大约130~150Ma的早白垩世,并可能延续到早白垩世末,主要表现为系列区域性NWW-SEE向的挤压性断裂活动,可对应于白垩纪时期拉萨地块沿班公湖—怒江缝合带与欧亚大陆的增生拼贴事件.第三次为大约56~45Ma的古新世,表现为一期伸展抬升.热年代学记录与零星保存的地质记录具有良好的匹配性,并对构造过程提供了更确切的时间限定.     

Late Proterozoic tectonic events in southern Finland, constrained by 40Ar/39Ar incremental heating and single spot fusion experiments on K-feldspars

The post-Svecofennian tectonic development of southern Finland is controlled by intrusion of rapakivi granites (and associated rocks), reactivation of Svecofennian wrench zones, formation of sedimentary basins and successive intrusion of olivine dolerite dykes and sills. Relative age determinations have revealed that fault reactivation acted before, simultaneously and after intrusion of the rapakivi granites. Results of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronometry of the Porkkala–Mäntsälä fault (30 km west of Helsinki) reveal ages predominantly in the range 950–1300 Myr. These ages are all significantly younger than the intrusion age of the rapakivi granites. It is suggested that these ages represent tectonic events related to the intrusion of olivine dolerite dykes and sills in SW Finland and the Sveconorwegian Orogeny active further west. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of a sample taken from the Obbnäs granite (U–Pb zircon ages of 1645 ± 5 Myr) show ages predom-inantly in the range of 1400–1550 Myr. These ages are suggested to represent either cooling ages of the granite or ages associated with the formation of the sedimentary grabens.     

Thermal evolution of the Hengshan extensional dome in central South China and its tectonic implications: New insights into low-angle detachment formation

The Hengshan massif is an exhumed, mid-crustal, plutonic–metamorphic dome formed during Cretaceous crustal extension in the Jiangnan orogenic belt, central South China. Multiple thermochronometers (mica ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar, apatite fission track and zircon (U–Th)/He) are applied to its footwall along a slip-parallel transect to quantify its thermal history and cooling rate, and the slip magnitude, rate, initial geometry and kinematic evolution of the low-angle Hengshan detachment fault. Our thermochronological data, in conjunction with previous ages, indicate that (1) footwall rocks cooled from ~ 700 °C to ~ 60 °C in less than 60 Myr (136–80 Ma) at variable rates ranging from ~ 50 °C/Myr to ~ 13 °C/Myr, (2) the Hengshan detachment fault accommodated ~ 8–12 km of total slip at variable slip rates from 0.14 to 1 mm/yr during tectonic exhumation, (3) the footwall has been tilted ~ 26°–50° to the east since slip began, indicating that the low-angle Hengshan detachment fault initiated at a steep dip and was passively rotated to a more gentle orientation during subsequent normal slip. This study provides compelling evidence supporting that the low-angle detachment fault in the extensional dome can be generated by the reactivation and passive rotation of an initially steep reverse fault during normal slip. In addition, our thermochronological data constrain the time of extension in the Hengshan dome between 136 and 80 Ma, which implies that the back-arc extension within South China associated with the rollback of the Paleo-Pacific slab might have lasted until at least 80 Ma.