Late mesozoic and cenozoic thermotectonic evolution along a transect from the north China craton through the Qinling orogen into the Yangtze craton, central China

Abstract

Cretaceous and Cenozoic reactivation of the Triassic Qinling-Dabie orogen between the north China and Yangtze cratons resulted from the combined effects of Pacific subduction - back-arc extension in east China and collisions in west China. We report new apatite fission track and apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He data from east Qinling along a >400-km-long N-S transect from Huashan through the Qinling orogen to Huangling. The ages show a general pattern of younging northward. Three major cooling phases are defined by modeling the multiple thermochronologic data sets. The first phase occurred locally in the North and South Qinling during the late Triassic to early Jurassic, following heating associ..