Yannan Wang

Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic Exhumation of the Northern Hexi Corridor: Constrained by Apatite Fission Track Ages of the Longshoushan

The apatite fission track (AFT) ages and thermal modeling of the Longshoushan and deformation along the northern Hexi Corridor on the northern side of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau show that the Longshoushan along the northern corridor had experienced important multi-stage exhumations during the Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The AFT ages of 7 samples range from 31.9 Ma to 111.8 Ma. Thermal modeling of the AFT ages of the samples shows that the Longshoushan experienced significant exhumation during the Late Cretaceous to the Early Cenozoic (∼130–25 Ma). The Late Cretaceous exhumation of the Longshoushan may have resulted from the continuous compression between the Lhasa and Qiangtang blocks and the flat slab subduction of the Neo-Tethys oceanic plate, which affected wide regions across the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. During the Early Cenozoic, the Longshoushan still experienced exhumation, but this process was caused by the Indian-Eurasian collision. Since this time, the Longshoushan was in a stable stage for approximately 20 Ma and experienced erosion. Since ∼5 Ma, obvious tectonic deformation occurred along the entire northern Hexi Corridor, which has also been reported from the peripheral regions of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, especially in the Qilianshan and northeastern margin of the plateau. The AFT ages and the Late Cenozoic deformation of the northern Hexi Corridor all indicate that the present northern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is situated along the northern Hexi Corridor.

Late Palaeozoic tectonic setting of the southern Alxa Block, NW China: constrained by age and composition of diabase

ABSTRACT The ages of diabase outcropping on the southern Alxa Block and in related tectonic setting are not well constrained, but are important for exploring the tectonic evolution of the southern Alxa Block. The ages of the zircons from the diabase intruding the Middle–Late Cambrian Xiangshan Group were measured using sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe II (SHRIMPII) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and the weighted mean ages of 276.8 ± 7.9 Ma and 276.2 ± 9.7 Ma were obtained, respectively. The major elements in the diabase indicate that it may belong to the tholeiitic series. With specific features of the rare earth elements (REEs) and trace elements, potentially affected by the continental crust based on the observed strong positive Pb anomaly, the diabase was produced in an intra-plate extension environment. Similar diabase/basalts were also found along the southern margin of the Alxa Block. Combined with sedimentary, palaeo-current, mafic, and felsic rocks in the southern Alxa Block, a back-arc extension environment potentially occurred in the southern Alxa Block during the Early–Middle Permian that resulted from the convergence between the North China Block (NCB) and the Yangtze Block.

Tectonic evolution of the western Ordos Basin during the Palaeozoic-Mesozoic time as constrained by detrital zircon ages

ABSTRACT The Ordos Basin has experienced a complicated tectonic evolution since the Palaeozoic. Its multi-stage evolution was closely related to the tectonic events that occurred along plate boundaries. The detrital zircon ages and crystallization age (CA)-deposition age (DA)/cumulative proportion curves obtained from Palaeozoic-Mesozoic strata from different tectonic units in and around the western Ordos Basin demonstrate that during the early Palaeozoic, the so-called Helan Aulacogen did not develop along the western Ordos Basin, the Alxa Block was an independent unit from the North China Craton, and the southern Ordos Basin was a foreland basin of the North Qinling Orogenic Belt. During the early Palaeozoic, the western Ordos Basin and its vicinity belonged to three different tectonic units (i.e. the North China Craton, the Alxa Block, and the North Qilian Orogenic Belt). At the end of the early Palaeozoic, the Alxa Block amalgamated with the Ordos Basin. From the Silurian to the Middle Devonian, the southern Alxa Block was a foreland basin of the North Qilian Orogenic Belt and underwent regional extension during the Late Devonian. During the late Palaeozoic, the western Ordos Basin and its vicinities were located in a back-arc extensional setting of the western Qinling Orogenic Belt. The southern part of the western Ordos Basin may have been a retro-arc foreland basin of the western Qinling Orogenic Belt during the Late Triassic, and the northern part of the western Ordos Basin experienced large-scale left-lateral strike-slip at the same time. The CA-DA/cumulative proportion curves can adequately explain the evolution of the western Ordos Basin during the Palaeozoic; however, the settings indicated by the CA-DA/cumulative proportion curves in intraplate evolutions are different from those proposed in other studies, which may be due to the number and distribution of samples and rapid lateral changes in sedimentary facies.

Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic Multi-Stage Denudation at the Western Ordos Block: Constraints by the Apatite Fission Track Dating on the Langshan

The apatite fission track dating of samples from the Dabashan (i.e., the Langshan in the northeastern Alxa Block) by the laser ablation method and their thermal history modeling of AFT ages are conducted in this study. The obtained results and lines of geological evidence in the study region indicate that the Langshan has experienced complicated tectonic-thermal events during the the Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic. Firstly, it experienced a tectonic-thermal event in the Late Cretaceous (~90–70 Ma). The event had little relation with the oblique subduction of the Izanagi Plate along the eastern Eurasian Plate, but was related to the Neo-Tethys subduction and compression between the Lhasa Block and Qiangtang Block. Secondly, it underwent the dextral slip faulting in the Eocene (~50–45 Ma). The strike slip fault may develop in the same tectonic setting as sinistral slip faults in southern Mongolia and thrusts in West Qinling to the southwest Ordos Block in the same period, which is the remote far-field response to the India-Eurasia collision. Thirdly, the tectonic thermal event existed in the late Cenozoic (since ~10 Ma), thermal modeling shows that several samples began their denudation from upper region of partial annealing zone (PAZ), and the denudation may have a great relationship with the growth of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to the northeast. In addition, the AFT ages of Langshan indicate that the main body of the Langshan may be an upper part of fossil PAZ of the Late Cretaceous (~70 Ma). The fossil PAZ were destroyed and deformed by tectonic events repeatedly in the Cenozoic along with the denudation.