Fetkin-hydro,a new thermo-hydrological algorithm for low-temperature thermochronological modeling

Despite two decades of major advances in the field of thermochronological modeling, state-of-the-art numerical implementations still rely mostly on burial and exhumation processes to explain radiometric measurements.Even though such an approach has proved valuable, failing to account for other first-order geological variables has led to misinterpretations and therefore, calls for a refinement.In this study a new version of the Fetkin(finite element temperature kinematics, Ecopetrol) program is presented.Its new algorithm couples time-dependent hydrological and thermal calculations, thus rendering thermochronological ages that, instead of being solely dependent on the kinematical evolution of a system, conditioning by the fluid flow is also present.In contrast with previous thermochronological models, this work considers the influence of effective stress on rock properties(porosity and permeability) and therefore, in thermal conductivity.Sensitivity analyses addressing relevant geological questions show not only the versatility of the code but also, new perspectives on forward low-temperature thermochronological modeling.Groundwater circulation through pure-sandstone settings produce colder thermal architectures than those obtained in impermeable domains.Differences in cooling ages from models with and without fluid circulation are up to 5 Myr.A 4-fold variation in thrusting rates(0.5 km/Myr to 2 km/Myr) produces a 15-Myr difference in cooling ages in models with fluid flow, which contrasts to much lower differences, only 2 Myr, in domains without(or minimal) fluid circulation.2D thermal solutions in fold-bend-fold thrust belts composed of sandstones remain static despite substantial relief development by kinematic folding.A case-study from Western Argentina, in the Andean Precordillera, confirms the plausibility of the numerical algorithm here posed and raises new questions on the first-order thermal controls in settings under deformation.     

苏鲁造山带东段新生代两阶段剥露事件的磷灰石(U-Th)/He热年代学证据

苏鲁造山带位于华北和华南板块之间,是中国东部最显著的陆内造山带之一,约束其新生代剥露过程对于理解中国东部盆山格局分布及其动力学机制具有重要意义.低温热年代学方法由于封闭温度较低,能更准确地约束上地壳地质体的剥露过程.利用磷灰石(U-Th)/He方法,对苏鲁造山带东部的多福山和锯齿山开展研究.磷灰石(U-Th)/He年龄...     

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.     

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.     

晓天—磨子潭断裂的运动学涡度、应变速率及其大地构造意义

晓天—磨子潭断裂作为北大别带与北淮阳带的地表分界线,是大别造山带内重要的折返边界之一。本次工作在详细的野外观察、糜棱岩化过程中温-压条件的计算、糜棱岩中石英C轴组构分析等一系列工作的基础上,计算晓天—磨子潭断裂内同造山糜棱岩化过程的运动学涡度和应变速率。变形温-压条件指示糜棱岩形成于30~40km的深部,明显大于早白垩世以来的剥蚀深度,指示断裂带糜棱岩化过程发生于同造山折返过程中。涡度分析表明,断裂带的涡度值大于0.9,指示其变形以简单剪切变形为主,并说明大别造山带同造山晚期折返的驱动力表现为浮力。显微构造与石英C轴组构分析均指示了一致的上盘向NW的运动方式。断裂带同造山糜棱岩化过程的应变速率为10-10s-1左右,表明造山带峰期变质之后的折返过程是非常快速的。     

Garnet-biotite diffusion mechanisms in complex high-grade orogenic belts: Understanding and constraining petrological cooling rates in granulites from Ribeira Fold Belt (SE Brazil)

Cooling rates based on the retrograde diffusion of Fe²⁺ and Mg between garnet and biotite inclusions commonly show two contrasting scenarios: a) narrow closure temperature range with apparent absence of retrograde diffusion; or b) high result dispersion due to compositional variations in garnet and biotite. Cooling rates from migmatites, felsic and mafic granulites from Ribeira Fold Belt (SE Brazil) also show these two scenarios. Although the former can be explained by very fast cooling, the latter is often the result of open-system behaviour caused by deformation. Retrogressive cooling during the exhumation of granulite-facies rocks is often processed by thrusting and shearing which may cause plastic deformation, fractures and cracks in the garnet megablasts, allowing chemical diffusion outside the garnet megablast – biotite inclusion system.However, a careful use of garnets and biotites with large Fe/Mg variation and software that reduces result dispersion provides a good correlation between closure temperatures and the size of biotite inclusions which are mostly due to diffusion and compositional readjustment to thermal evolution during retrogression.Results show that felsic and mafic granulites have low cooling rates (1–2 °C/Ma) at higher temperatures and high cooling rates (∼100 °C/Ma) at lower temperatures, suggesting a two-step cooling/exhumation process, whereas migmatites show a small decrease in cooling rates during cooling (from 2.0 to 0.5 °C/Ma). These results agree with previously obtained thermochronological data, which indicates that this method is a valid tool to obtain meaningful petrological cooling rates in complex high-grade orogenic belts, such as the Ribeira Fold Belt.     

燕山及邻区晚白垩世以来山脉隆升历史的低温热年代学证据

本文根据以裂变径迹测年为主的低温热年代学方法，认为燕山及邻区在晚白垩世进入区域性伸展构造环境以来经历了造山带伸展裂解引发的6次强烈差异升降运动，分别发生在120～105Ma、95～85Ma、60～50Ma、38Ma左右、25～20Ma和10～5Ma，造成燕山及邻区约7～8km的剥蚀量。而在相邻两次强烈差异升降运动期之间的相对构造稳定期，则形成了燕山—太行山地5期夷平面以及周缘盆地多期沉积间断。燕山与邻区盆地之间晚中新世以来的快速差异升降运动导致燕山及邻区现今盆—山构造—地貌格局。     

龙门山冲断隆升及其走向差异的裂变径迹证据

大量的低温年代学研究用来讨论龙门山晚新生代的隆升,但很少涉及其走向差异和中生代隆升。本文分别沿龙门山北、中、南段3条剖面进行了锆石和磷灰石裂变径迹测试,结合已有的热年代学数据,以期揭示整个中-新生代期间龙门山隆升历史及其时空变化。中生代以来,龙门山主要有印支期(约200 Ma)、早白垩世末(约100 Ma)、早新生代(65～30 Ma)以及晚中新世(15～9 Ma)等或快或慢的冷却事件,总体上经历了中生代至早新生代的缓慢冷却和晚新生代快速冷却2个阶段,快速剥露开始于15～9 Ma,剥蚀速率由早期的0.1 mm/a增加到0.15～0.3 mm/a左右,局部可达0.9 mm/a左右。走向上,龙门山北段相对偏小的锆石裂变径迹年龄和相对偏大的磷灰石裂变径迹年龄反映其在中生代较中、南段隆升更快,而裂变径迹年龄总体上从北段向中、南段减小,表明中、南段在新生代发生了更快的隆升。倾向上,多种热年代学数据显示新生代期间在北川断裂和彭灌断裂两侧存在明显的差异剥露,这种差异在中、南段表现比北段更为突出。龙门山晚新生代快速隆升和剥露是青藏高原区域隆升背景上叠加的冲断活动所致,而非下地壳流动驱动。     

Exhumation history and timing of supergene copper mineralisation in an arid climate: New thermochronological data from the Centinela District,Atacama, Chile

Supergene copper mineralisation (SCM) processes occur during the unroofing of porphyry copper deposits. However, the geomorphological stage during which the main mineralisation occurs is still under debate. Here, we present 24 new thermochronological data from Cenozoic intrusives and compare them with the evolution of supergene mineralisation from the Centinela Mining District in the Atacama Desert. Our results indicate a two‐step cooling path: a rapid Late Eocene exhumation followed by a slow denudation. Previously published supergene mineralisation ages cluster after the main Upper Oligocene exhumation period. Ours is the first study that establishes the relationship between exhumation and supergene processes on the scale of a single mining district. It confirms that SCM took place during pediplanation, likely a required condition for efficient SCM under arid climatic conditions, in contrast to wet tropical environments where SCM occurs during rapid relief growth but has limited preservation potential.     

Time-dependent effects of heat advection and topography on cooling histories during erosion

Both erosion and surface topography cause a time-dependent variation in isotherm geometry that can result in significant errors in estimating natural exhumation rates from geochronologic data. Analytical solutions and two-dimensional numerical modelling are used to investigate the magnitude of these inaccuracies for conditions appropriate to many rapidly exhumed mountain chains of rugged relief. It is readily demonstrated that uplift of the topographic surface has a negligible effect on the cooling history of an exhumed rock sample and cannot be quantified by current geochronologic methods. The topography itself perturbs the isotherms to a depth that depends on both the vertical and horizontal scale of the surface relief. Estimations employing different isotopic systems in the same sample with higher closure temperatures (> 200°C) are not generally influenced by topography. However, direct conversion of cooling rates to exhumation rates assuming a simple constant linear geotherm markedly underestimates peak rates, due to variation of the geothermal gradient in time and space and to the time lag between exhumation and cooling. Estimations based on the altitude variation in apatite fission-track ages are less prone to such inaccuracies in geothermal gradient but are affected by near-surface time-dependent variation in isotherm depth due to advection and topography. In tectonically active mountain belts, high exhumation rates are coupled with rugged topography, and exhumation rates may be markedly overestimated, by factors of 2 or more. Even at lower exhumation rates on the order of 1 mm/a, the shape of the cooling curve is modified by advection and topography. A convex-concave shape to the cooling curve does not necessarily imply a change of exhumation rate; it may also be attained by a more complicated geothermal gradient induced by topographic relief. Very fast cooling below 100°C, often interpreted as reflecting faster exhumation, can be more simply explained by the lateral cooling effect of topographic relief, with samples exhumed in valleys displaying a different near-surface cooling history to those on ridge crests.     

低温热年代对黄陵隆起中新生代古地形的约束

低温热年代技术已经广泛应用于造山带的剥露作用和古地形演化的研究。本文对黄陵隆起进行了裂变径迹和(U-Th)/He热年代学研究,分析计算其隆升剥露速率和厚度,恢复黄陵隆起中新生代古地形。依据岩石样品冷却历史计算出的剥露速率以及剥露厚度结果,综合黄陵隆起现今地形起伏,均衡回弹作用以及古海平面变化情况,获得了黄陵隆起早侏罗世、早白垩世、晚白垩世、晚始新世以及现今5个时期的古地形变化情况。结果表明黄陵隆起地形表现为持续降低的趋势,并存在两期剧烈的隆升剥露阶段。分析认为,白垩纪(140~80 Ma±),黄陵隆起的快速隆升剥露作用与秦岭大别造山带大规模的挤压作用密切相关,晚始新世以来(40~0 Ma)黄陵隆起的快速抬升剥露作用则是对喜山期构造运动的响应。     

Consolidation and Break-up of the South American Platform in Southeastern Brazil: Tectonothermal and Denudation Histories

The different tectonic stages that occurred at the end of the Proterozoic and during the Phanerozoic have an important bearing on the tectonothermal history of the South American Platform and its consolidation. Geochronological data (U/Pb monazite, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar whole rock) and apatite fission-track analysis, from Precambrian rocks of the southeastern Brazilian coastline, permit the modeling of a long-term thermal history of the crust and constrain variable denudation rates.Using these data, a temperature-time diagram reflects a period of accelerated exhumation during the end of the Brasiliano Orogeny, followed by long stability and reactivation of the platform during the Rifting Phase of the South Atlantic Ocean.U/Pb zircon and monazite (blocking temperature of ca. 650° C) data from a series of igneous bodies suggest that a tangential and transpressional tectonic regime occurred between 625 and 610 Ma. During the following escape tectonics, between 610 and 590 Ma the exhumation process indicates cooling rates of ca. 12°C/Ma. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar biotite ages between 540 and 510 Ma (ca. 300°C) and a corrected fission-track age on apatites (100°C) of 480 Ma indicate an exhumation event related to block tectonics with huge vertical displacement along shear zones.A long stabilization phase, with low exhumation, and cooling rate around 0.25°C/Ma was recorded from the Cambro/Ordovician to the Mesozoic. At 65 Ma an acceleration of the exhumation through denudation and reworking of the South American surface with cooling rate of 1.5°C/Ma is observed.The uplift of the Mantiqueira and Serra do Mar mountain ranges along the southeast Brazilian coastline works as a climatic barrier provoking lateral erosional processes causing long-term scarp retreat, combined with intense, but progressive denudation towards the continent. A denudation of 2.5 to 4 km was calculated for such processes. This lateral retreat of escarpments and flexural response can provide important insights regarding marginal isostatic uplift and the evolution of offshore sedimentary basins of southeast Brazil.     

西准噶尔晚古生代花岗岩类侵入体(40)~Ar/(39)~Ar热年代学

西准噶尔成矿带夹持在天山断裂与额尔齐斯断裂之间,是中亚成矿域西部的核心区域之一,广泛发育晚古生代深成岩浆活动、走滑断裂构造和斑岩铜矿、造山型金矿成矿作用。本文在西准噶尔成矿带包古图岩体、康德岩体、加曼岩体、库鲁木苏岩体、别鲁阿嘎希岩体、哈图岩体、阿克巴斯套岩体、庙尔沟岩体、克拉玛依岩体及红山岩体采集12个样品,通过黑云母和钾长石(40)~Ar/(39)~Ar阶段升温测年,给出了该地区(40)~Ar/(39)~Ar冷却年龄。其中,黑云母(40)~Ar/(39)~Ar年龄处在326~302 Ma范围内,钾长石(40)~Ar/(39)~Ar年龄为297~264 Ma,反映了西准噶尔地区晚石炭世-中二叠世的区域中温冷却历史。结合前人报道的锆石U-Pb、角闪石(40)~Ar/(39)~Ar、辉钼矿Re-Os、磷灰石裂变径迹等年龄数据,构建了西准噶尔成矿带晚古生代岩浆侵入,成矿作用与构造抬升,以及晚中生代剥露过程的整个热历史;并与区域左行走滑断裂活动的时间进行了对比,讨论了(40)~Ar/(39)~Ar冷却年龄的构造意义。     

Apatite fission track geochronology of the Southern Hunan province across the Shi-Hang Belt: insights into the Cenozoic dynamic topography of South China

The Shi-Hang Belt is a Mesozoic tectonic zone and has always been regarded as the boundary between the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks. It occupies a key tectonic location and attracts considerable attention due to its dynamic formation mechanism. However, its Cenozoic dynamic process is poorly constrained. The Cenozoic activation of the Shi-Hang Belt, as well as its cooling and exhumation, aids in dating the onset time of the formation of the mountain ranges and reveals the deformation process of the South China Block. To uncover the history of its Cenozoic cooling and denudation, apatite fission-track (AFT) thermochronology was applied to batholiths and strata spread across the Shi-Hang Belt in the Hunan Province. Twenty-three samples are dated with ages ranging from 23.6 ± 1.5 to 45.8 ± 3.0 Ma. Except for two older ages (42.1 ± 2.6 and 45.8 ± 3.0 Ma), the other ages range from 23 to 36 Ma with less variation on both sides of the Chenzhou–Linwu fault. The thermochronological modelling of 15 measured samples demonstrates that rocks rapidly passed through the AFT partial annealing zone to the near surface at different onset times from 36 to 23 Ma. The regional AFT cooling pattern is unrelated to the internal structures of the Shi-Hang Belt characterized by a Mesozoic fold-thrust feature. We attribute the Cenozoic exhumation of the Shi-Hang Belt to the dynamic topography of the South China Block, which is related to mantle downwellings and upwellings due to several episodes of quick subduction of the Pacific Plate underneath Eurasia during the Late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic and the Oligocene–early Miocene. The far-field effect of the India–Tibet collision may have contributed to the exhumation of the Shi-Hang Belt.     

胶西北玲珑、焦家金矿田锆石(U-Th)/He年龄及其对成矿后剥露程度的指示

玲珑和焦家矿田是胶西北地区最负盛名的两个金矿田.目前有关这两个矿田成矿研究的成果已十分丰富,但是,成矿后隆升剥蚀程度的研究尚属空白.为此,利用最近兴起的低温热年代学技术,对两个矿田成矿后剥露程度进行了尝试研究.结果表明,玲珑矿田锆石(U-Th)/He年龄主要为80~100 Ma,焦家矿田锆石(U-Th)/He年龄主要为90~105 Ma.这些年龄与前人运用其他方法获得的成岩成矿年龄不同,其不是本区岩浆－热液成矿事件的年龄,而是成矿后花岗岩隆升剥蚀的热年龄.基于锆石(U-Th)/He年龄制约,估算本区成矿后隆升剥蚀速率大致与全球造山型金矿剥露速率相当(大约60 m/Ma).玲珑矿田总体比焦家矿田成矿后多剥露了600~900 m,焦家矿田深部找矿潜力应比玲珑矿田大.      

Ar/Ar thermochronology of the Kampa Dome, southern Tibet: Implications for tectonic evolution of the North Himalayan gneiss domes

Structural and thermochronological studies of the Kampa Dome provide constraints on timing and mechanisms of gneiss dome formation in southern Tibet. The core of Kampa Dome contains the Kampa Granite, a Cambrian orthogneiss that was deformed under high temperature (sub-solidus) conditions during Himalayan orogenesis. The Kampa Granite is intruded by syn-tectonic leucogranite dikes and sills of probable Oligocene to Miocene age. Overlying Paleozoic to Mesozoic metasedimentary rocks decrease in peak metamorphic grade from kyanite + staurolite grade at the base of the sequence to unmetamorphosed at the top. The Kampa Shear Zone traverses the Kampa Granite — metasediment contact and contains evidence for high-temperature to low-temperature ductile deformation and brittle faulting. The shear zone is interpreted to represent an exhumed portion of the South Tibetan Detachment System. Biotite and muscovite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronology from the metasedimentary sequence yields disturbed spectra with 14.22 ± 0.18 to 15.54 ± 0.39 Ma cooling ages and concordant spectra with 14.64 ± 0.15 to 14.68 ± 0.07 Ma cooling ages. Petrographic investigations suggest disturbed samples are associated with excess argon, intracrystalline deformation, mineral and fluid inclusions and/or chloritization that led to variations in argon systematics. We conclude that the entire metasedimentary sequence cooled rapidly through mica closure temperatures at  14.6 Ma. The Kampa Granite yields the youngest biotite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of  13.7 Ma immediately below the granite–metasediment contact. We suggest that this age variation reflects either varying mica closure temperatures, re-heating of the Kampa Granite biotites above closure temperatures between 14.6 Ma and 13.7 Ma, or juxtaposition of rocks with different thermal histories. Our data do not corroborate the “inverse” mica cooling gradient observed in adjacent North Himalayan gneiss domes. Instead, we infer that mica cooling occurred in response to exhumation and conduction related to top-to-north normal faulting in the overlying sequence, top-to-south thrusting at depth, and coeval surface denudation.     

Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic Exhumation History of the Lüliang Mountains, North China Craton: Constraint from Fission-track Thermochronology

The Lüliang Mountains, located in the North China Craton, is a relatively stable block, but it has experienced uplift and denudation since the late Mesozoic. We hence aim to explore its time and rate of the exhumation by the fission-track method. The results show that, no matter what type rocks are, the pooled ages of zircon and apatite fission-track range from 60.0 to 93.7 Ma and 28.6 to 43.3 Ma, respectively; all of the apatite fission-track length distributions are unimodal and yield a mean length of ~13?μm; and the thermal history modeling results based on apatite fission-track data indicate that the time-temperature paths exhibit similar patterns and the cooling has been accelerated for each sample since the Pliocene (c.5 Ma). Therefore, we can conclude that a successive cooling, probably involving two slow (during c.75-35 Ma and 35-5 Ma) and one rapid (during c.5 Ma-0 Ma) cooling, has occurred through the exhumation of the Lüliang Mountains since the late Cretaceous. The maximum exhumation is more than 5 km under a steady-state geothermal gradient of 35°C/km. Combined with the tectonic setting, this exhumation may be the resultant effect from the surrounding plate interactions, and it has been accelerated since c.5 Ma predominantly due to the India-Eurasia collision.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987115000973

Tarim Precambrian bedrocks are well exposed in the Kuluketage and Aksu areas,where twenty four samples were taken to reveal the denudation history of the northern Tarim Craton.Apatite fission track dating and thermal history modeling suggest that the northern Tarim experienced multi-stage cooling events which were assumed to be associated with the distant effects of the Cimmerian orogeny and India-Eurasia collision in the past.But the first episode of exhumation in the northern Tarim,occurring in the mid-Permian to Triassic,is here suggested to be induced by docking of the Tarim Craton and final amalgamation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt.The cooling event at ca.170 Ma may be triggered by the Qiangtang-Eurasia collision.Widespread Cretaceous exhumation could be linked with docking of the Lhasa terrane in the late Jurassic.Cenozoic reheating and recooling likely occurred because of the northpropagating stress,however,this has not affected the northern Tarim much because the Tarim is characterized by rigid block-like motion.     

Shaping the Australian crust over the last 300 million years: Insights from fission track thermotectonic imaging and denudation studies of key terranes

Apatite fission track thermochronology is a well‐established tool for reconstructing the low‐temperature thermal and tectonic evolution of continental crust. The variation of fission track ages and distribution of fission track lengths are primarily controlled by cooling, which may be initiated by earth movements and consequent denudation at the Earth's surface and/or by changes in the thermal regime. Using numerical forward‐modelling procedures these parameters can be matched with time‐temperature paths that enable thermal and tectonic processes to be mapped out in considerable detail. This study describes extensive Australian regional fission track datasets that have been modelled sequentially and inverted into time‐temperature solutions for visualisation as a series of time‐slice images depicting the cooling history of present‐day surface rocks during their passage through the upper crust. The data have also been combined with other datasets, including digital elevation and heat flow, to image the denudation history and the evolution of palaeotopography. These images provide an important new perspective on crustal processes and landscape evolution and show how important tectonic and denudation events over the last 300 million years can be visualised in time and space. The application of spatially integrated denudation‐rate chronology is also demonstrated for some key Australian terranes including the Lachlan and southern New England Orogens of southeastern Australia, Tasmania, the Gawler Craton, the Mt Isa Inlier, southwestern Australian crystalline terranes (including the Yilgarn Craton) and the Kimberley Block. This approach provides a readily accessible framework for quantifying the otherwise undetectable, timing and magnitude of long‐term crustal denudation in these terranes, for a part of the geological record previously largely unconstrained. Discrete episodes of enhanced denudation occurred principally in response to changes in drainage, base‐level changes and/or uplift/denudation related to far‐field effects resulting from intraplate stress or tectonism at plate margins. The tectonism was mainly associated with the history of continental breakup of the Gondwana Supercontinent from Late Palaeozoic time, although effects related to compression are also recorded in eastern Australia. The results also suggest that the magnitude of denudation of cratonic blocks has been significantly underestimated in previous studies, and that burial and exhumation are significant factors in the preservation of apparent ‘ancient’ features in the Australian landscape.     

Vertical extrusion and middle crustal spreading of omphacite granulite: a model of syn-convergent exhumation (Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic)

The exhumation of eclogite facies granulites (Omp–Plg–Grt–Qtz–Rt) in the Rychleby Mts, eastern Czech Republic, was a localised process initiated by buckling of crustal layers in a thickened orogenic root. Folding and post‐buckle flattening was followed by the main stage of exhumation that is characterized by vertical ductile extrusion. This process is documented by structural data, and the vertical ascent of rocks from a depth of c. 70 to c. 35 km is documented by metamorphic petrology. SHRIMP ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U and ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb evaporation zircon ages of 342 ± 5 and 341.4 ± 0.7 Ma date peak metamorphic conditions. The next stage of exhumation was associated with sideways flat thrusting associated with lateral viscous spreading of granulites and surrounding rocks over indenting adjacent continental crust at a depth of c. 35–30 km. This stage was associated with syntectonic intrusion of a granodiorite sill at 345–339 Ma, emplaced at a crustal depth of c. 25 km. The time required for cooling of the sill as well as for heating of the country rocks brackets this event to a maximum of 250 000 years. Therefore, similar ages of crystallization for the granodiorite magma and the peak of eclogite facies metamorphism of the granulite suggest a very short period of exhumation, limited by the analytical errors of the dating methods. Our calculations suggest that the initial exhumation rate during vertical extrusion was 3–15 mm yr^?1, followed by an exhumation rate of 24–40 mm yr^?1 during further uplift along a magma‐lubricated shear zone. The extrusion stage of exhumation was associated with a high cooling rate, which decreased during the stage of lateral spreading.