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The utilization of thermal-chronological data to constrain mountain building processes exploits the links among rock uplift, exhumation, and cooling during orogenesis. Conceptually, periods of rapid uplift and associated denudation will lead to cooling of rocks as they approach Earth’s surface. The linkage between uplift and exhumation can be complex, but in practice exhumation is often assumed to directly track uplift. The reconstruction of temperature-time histories via thermochronologic systems provides a proxy method to relate the cooling of rock as it is exhumed toward the surface to orogenesis. For the rapid exhumation rates that can occur in active orogenic systems the thermal history will be complex as a result of heat advection, rates of propagation of thermal perturbations, and other processes that affect the cooling behavior. These effects become amplified as exhumation rates increase, and in regions experiencing exhumation rates greater than ∼0.2–0.3 mm/yr (0.2–0.3 km/Ma) simple assumptions of cooling through a constant geotherm will bias the subsequent interpretation. Here we explore, through a suite of generalized models, the impact of exhumation rate and duration on the resulting thermal history and apparent age results. We then apply lessons from these simple exhumation systems to data sets from the high-relief ranges along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau to determine exhumation histories constrained by those data. The resulting exhumation histories provide constraints on the onset of Cenozoic exhumation, the subsequent pace of exhumation, and on the tectonic history of one of the major fault systems in the central Longmen Shan. 

The South Tibetan detachment system (STDS) is one of the most important deformational features in the Himalayan orogen; yet its evolution in space and time remain incompletely understood. Here, we present the results of a new study of the primary, basal strand of the STDS in the Annapurna Himalaya of central Nepal: the Annapurna detachment. The original discovery outcrop of this structure in the Kali Gandaki valley reveals that multiple leucogranite bodies are variably deformed by ductile slip on the detachment. New laser‐ablation (U‐Th)/Pb dating of complex monazite suites from these bodies indicates that leucogranites in this outcrop intruded over a period extending from at least 22.76 ± 0.30–14.95 ± 0.78 Ma. Field relationships and microstructures within studied samples show that ductile slip on the Annapurna detachment was active—at least episodically—throughout this period and also continued into the more recent past. Based on cooling history models for the outcrop constrained by⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and (U‐Th)/He data, ductile slip likely continued until at least 12 Ma. These results are at odds with previous inferences that slip on the STDS in central Nepal had ceased by ca. 22 Ma and call into question the popular idea that there was an abrupt geodynamic transition from predominantly N‐S‐directed extension to predominantly E‐W‐directed extension in the central Himalaya in the early Miocene.

 

Oral presentation of radioisotopic age data for allanite crystals in granitic rocks of drill core samples from the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater. 

The typically high U and Th contents of xenotime ([Y,HREE]PO₄) make this accessory mineral a promising candidate for (U‐Th)/He thermochronometry if the⁴He diffusivity can be constrained well enough to estimate its closure temperature. We report new results for two⁴He step‐heating experiments on different‐sized fragments of a natural xenotime crystal from the Torghar district of Pakistan (FPX‐1). This material, which has a composition within the range of most natural xenotimes (72 mol % YPO₄), yields a laser ablation²³⁸U/²⁰⁶Pb date of 28.82 ± 0.13 Ma and a (U‐Th)/He date of 15.32 ± 0.61 Ma (2σ). Results for our more detailed diffusion experiment display excellent linearity on an Arrhenius diagram and indicate kinetic parameters ofE= 131.4 ± 1.1 kJ/mol and ln(D₀/a²) = 10.61 ± 0.20 ln(s⁻¹). These results suggest that the bulk closure temperature for⁴He in the degassed crystal fragment is ∼75 °C for the nominal cooling rate of 10 °C/Ma. At equivalent cooling rates and for crystals with equivalent diffusion dimensions, the closure temperature for helium in xenotime is ∼20 °C lower than the closure temperature for helium in apatite. Because xenotime typically has high U and Th contents, it may serve as a high‐precision method for dating young, low‐temperature cooling histories of rocks in which it crystallized. Helium diffusion in xenotime is likely to be moderately anisotropic and moderately dependent on crystal chemistry, so closure temperature interpretations should be made cautiously.

 

Abstract The 40Ar/39Ar dating method is among the most versatile of geochronometers, having the potential to date a broad variety of K-bearing materials spanning from the time of Earth’s formation into the historical realm. Measurements using modern noble-gas mass spectrometers are now producing 40Ar/39Ar dates with analytical uncertainties of ∼0.1%, thereby providing precise time constraints for a wide range of geologic and extraterrestrial processes. Analyses of increasingly smaller subsamples have revealed age dispersion in many materials, including some minerals used as neutron fluence monitors. Accordingly, interpretive strategies are evolving to address observed dispersion in dates from a single sample. Moreover, inferring a geologically meaningful “age” from a measured “date” or set of dates is dependent on the geological problem being addressed and the salient assumptions associated with each set of data. We highlight requirements for collateral information that will better constrain the interpretation of 40Ar/39Ar data sets, including those associated with single-crystal fusion analyses, incremental heating experiments, and in situ analyses of microsampled domains. To ensure the utility and viability of published results, we emphasize previous recommendations for reporting 40Ar/39Ar data and the related essential metadata, with the amendment that data conform to evolving standards of being findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) by both humans and computers. Our examples provide guidance for the presentation and interpretation of 40Ar/39Ar dates to maximize their interdisciplinary usage, reproducibility, and longevity.