Thermal Evolution of the Tanlu Fault Zone on the Eastern Margin of the Dabie Mountains and Its Tectonic Implications

Abstract Five samples of muscovite from mylonites of the earlier Tanlu ductile shear zone on the eastern margin of the Dabie Mountains yield ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages ranging from 178 Ma to 196 Ma. Three of them have reliable plateau ages of 188.7±0.7 Ma, 189.7±0.6 Ma and 192.5±0.7 Ma respectively, which indicates a syn‐orogenic, sinistral strike‐slip thermal event. This displacement movement derived from the continent‐continent collision of the North and South China blocks took place in the Early Jurassic and after uplifting of high‐pressure to ultrahigh‐pressure slabs to the mid‐crust. It is suggested that during the collision the Tanlu fault zone was an intracontinental transform fault caused by differential subduction speeds. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of mylonite whole‐rock and muscovite from the later Tanlu ductile shear zone suggest another sinistral strike‐slip cooling event at 128 Ma. During this strike‐slip faulting, large‐scale intrusion and doming uplift occurred in the eastern part of the Dabie orogenic belt. Data of K‐feldspar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar MDD and apatite fission‐track analysis from metamorphic rocks indicate two high‐speed cooling events experienced by the Tanlu fault zone, which took place at 90 Ma and 45–58 Ma respectively. They correspond respectively to two phases of extensional activities in the Late Cretaceous and Eogene as well as development of the Qianshan fault‐controlled basin to the east of the Tanlu fault zone. The cooling times recorded by K‐feldspar and apatite show that the uplifting in the Dabie orogenic belt occured earlier than that on the eastern margin occupied by the Tanlu fault zone. The above phenomena suggest that the uplifting of the Dabie orogenic belt during the Late Cretaceous to Eogene was not controlled by the Tanlu normal faulting, but as a result of the lithospheric delamination.