This study presents a comprehensive low‐temperature thermochronometric data set from the Shanxi Rift, Taihangshan, and eastern Ordos block in North China, including new apatite fission track and apatite (U‐Th‐Sm)/He data and published apatite and zircon fission track and (U‐Th‐Sm)/He data. We use these data and new thermal history inversion models to reveal that the Shanxi Rift and Taihangshan experienced an increase in cooling rates between ca. 110–70 Ma and ca. 50–30 Ma. A preceding ca. 160–135 Ma cooling event is generally restricted to the western rift margin in the Lüliangshan and Hengshan. In contrast, the ca. 50–30 Ma cooling event was widespread and occurred coevally with the opening of the Bohai Basin and slip across the NNE‐striking Eastern Taihangshan fault. In the southern rift zone, however, exhumation beginning ca. 50 Ma was likely associated with fault block uplift across the ESE–striking Qinling and Huashan faults, which accompanied the extensional opening of the Weihe Graben. Coeval fault slip along the NNE–striking Eastern Taihangshan faults and ESE–striking Qinling and Huashan faults was associated with NW‐SE extension in North China related to oblique subduction of the Pacific plate under Eastern Asia and slow convergence rates. The Shanxi Rift is commonly attributed to Late Miocene and younger extension, but our new thermochronologic data do not precisely record the onset of rifting. However, our inversion models do suggest ≤∼50°C of Neogene–Quaternary cooling, consistent with ≤∼2 km of footwall uplift across most range‐bounding faults.
- Award ID(s):
- 1918357
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10297106
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- New Mexico geology
- ISSN:
- 0196-948X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
more » « less
Abstract -
more » « less
Abstract Rio Grande Rise (RGR) and Walvis Ridge (WR) are South Atlantic large igneous provinces (LIPs), formed on the South American and African plates, respectively, mainly by volcanism from a hot spot erupting at the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge (MAR) during the Late Cretaceous. Both display morphologic complexities that imply their tectonic evolution is incompletely understood. We studied bathymetry, gravity, and vertical gravity gradient maps derived from satellite altimetry to trace faults providing indications of seafloor spreading directions and changes. We also examined magnetic anomalies for time constraint and reflection seismic data for structural information. Abyssal hill fabric and magnetic anomaly data indicate that the area between RGR and WR was anomalous between anomalies C34 (83.6 Ma) and C30 (66.4 Ma) owing to reorganization of a right‐lateral transform on the MAR. This event began ∼92 Ma as the transform shifted south to form multiple, short‐offset right‐lateral transforms, with the reorganization extending through anomaly C34 and ending before anomaly C30. Anomalous spacing of magnetic anomalies and discordant fault fabric indicate that a microplate formed with a core of Cretaceous Quiet Zone seafloor. As the MAR jumped eastward, this microplate was captured by the South American plate and now resides mostly in a basin between the main RGR plateau and a related ridge to the east (East Rio Grande Rise). The microplate is ringed by igneous massifs, implying a link with volcanism. The results presented here indicate that these two LIPs had a complex Late Cretaceous history that belies simple hot spot models.
-
more » « less
Abstract Strongly lineated terrain outside of Iceland's active plate boundary zones is created by faults and dikes aligned with the rift zones where they formed, similar to the spreading fabric defined by abyssal hills generated at mid‐ocean ridge spreading centers. As expected, rift‐parallel normal faults and fissures dominate in the active rift zones, but in older crust to the east and west, faults with strike‐slip and oblique‐slip displacements dominate. Some areas have widespread, small‐scale, strike‐slip, and oblique‐slip faults, while others have more widely spaced, larger, strike‐slip fault zones. In most cases, the strike‐slip and oblique‐slip faults strike subparallel to nearby older dikes and normal faults assumed to indicate the orientation of the rift zones where they formed. Strike‐slip displacements overprinting normal faults and along dike margins suggest reactivation of spreading‐related zones of weakness. More complicated fault geometries and kinematics occur near the oblique rifts and the major transform fault zones. The sense of movement on the strike‐slip and oblique‐slip faults is broadly systematic with respect to the active Northern and Eastern Rift Zones supporting the interpretation that they are the result of crustal block rotations on either side of rift zones that propagate to the north and south away from the center of the Iceland hot spot. Similar fault kinematics may occur along mid‐ocean ridges and other magmatic rifts where rift propagation occurs on a range of scales.
-
We interpret the kinematics of the Tangra Yumco (TYC) rift by evaluating spatiotemporal trends in fault displacement, extension onset, and exhumation rates. We present new geologic mapping, U-Pb geochronology, zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) thermochronology, and HeFTy thermal modeling results that are critical to testing dynamic models of extension in Tibet. The TYC rift is bounded by two NNE striking (~N10°E-N35°E) high angle (~45-70°) active normal faults that alternate dominance along strike. Footwall granodiorites show foliation, slip lineation, and fault plane striation measurements indicative of northeast directed oblique sinistral-normal slip. In North and South TYC, hanging wall deposits are cut by a series of active high-angle normal faults which likely sole into a master fault at depth, while in central TYC, hanging wall deposits display synthetic graben structures potentially indicative of low-angle faulting. Analysis of ~50 samples collected across key structural relationships in and around TYC yield 14 mean U-Pb dates between ~59-49 Ma and ~190 single-grain ZHe dates between ~60-4 Ma with spatial trends in ZHe data correlating strongly with latitude. Samples from Gangdese latitudes show a concentration of ~28-15 Ma ages, while those north of ~29.8° latitude yield both younger (~9-4 Ma) and older (~59-45 Ma) ages. We interpret (1) Gangdese Range samples reflect exhumation during contraction and uplift along the GCT peaking at ~21-20 Ma, (2) ~9-4 Ma ages reveal extension timing along fault segments experiencing significant rift-related exhumation, and (3) ~59-45 Ma ages represent un-reset or partially-reset samples from fault segments that have experienced lesser magnitudes of rift exhumation. HeFTy thermal models indicate a two-stage cooling history with initial slow cooling followed by accelerated cooling rates in Late Miocene-Pliocene time (~13-4 Ma) consistent with prior results from TYC and other Tibetan rifts. Our data are consistent with a segment linkage fault evolution model for the TYC rift, with underthrusting of Indian lithosphere likely related to the northward acceleration of rifting. Future work will utilize advanced HeFTy modeling including U-Pb and apatite fission track data to further constrain the exhumation history of TYC and test dynamic models of extension for southern Tibet.more » « less
-
Abstract Exhumed fault rocks provide a textural and chemical record of how fault zone composition and architecture control coseismic temperature rise and earthquake mechanics. We integrated field, microstructural, and hematite (U-Th)/He (He) thermochronometry analyses of exhumed minor (square-centimeter-scale surface area) hematite fault mirrors that crosscut the ca. 1400 Ma Sandia granite in two localities along the eastern flank of the central Rio Grande rift, New Mexico. We used these data to characterize fault slip textures; evaluate relationships among fault zone composition, thickness, and inferred magnitude of friction-generated heat; and document the timing of fault slip. Hematite fault mirrors are collocated with and crosscut specular hematite veins and hematite-cemented cataclasite. Observed fault mirror microstructures reflect fault reactivation and strain localization within the comparatively weaker hematite relative to the granite. The fault mirror volume of some slip surfaces exhibits polygonal, sintered hematite nanoparticles likely created during coseismic temperature rise. Individual fault mirror hematite He dates range from ca. 97 to 5 Ma, and ~80% of dates from fault mirror volume aliquots with high-temperature crystal morphologies are ca. 25–10 Ma. These aliquots have grain-size–dependent closure temperatures of ~75–108 °C. A new mean apatite He date of 13.6 ± 2.6 Ma from the Sandia granite is consistent with prior low-temperature thermochronometry data and reflects rapid, Miocene rift flank exhumation. Comparisons of thermal history models and hematite He data patterns, together with field and microstructural observations, indicate that seismicity along the fault mirrors at ~2–4 km depth was coeval with rift flank exhumation. The prevalence and distribution of high-temperature hematite grain morphologies on different slip surfaces correspond with thinner deforming zones and higher proportions of quartz and feldspar derived from the granite that impacted the bulk strength of the deforming zone. Thus, these exhumed fault mirrors illustrate how evolving fault material properties reflect but also govern coseismic temperature rise and associated dynamic weakening mechanisms on minor faults at the upper end of the seismogenic zone.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- The DOI is not currently available.
