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Early Cenozoic exhumation in the Qilian Shan, northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau: Insights from detrital apatite fission track thermochronology
Author(s) -
He Pengju,
Song Chunhui,
Wang Yadong,
Meng Qingquan,
Wang Daichun,
Feng Ying,
Chen Lihao,
Feng Wei
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/ter.12478
Subject(s) - fission track dating , geology , thermochronology , cenozoic , plateau (mathematics) , paleontology , terrane , tectonics , apatite , structural basin , seismology , geochemistry , mathematical analysis , mathematics
The Qilian Shan is a reactivated fold‐thrust belt at the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The initiated timing of the Qilian Shan's tectonic response to Indian‐Asian plate convergence has significant implications for our understanding of the growth of the TP, yet remains a controversial topic. We conducted apatite fission track analyses of the Cenozoic synorogenic sediments in the Subei Basin on the northwestern flank of the Qilian Shan to investigate the time of initial Qilian Shan deformation during the Cenozoic. An integration of new and existing detrital apatite fission track ages indicates that terranes in the Qilian Shan experienced a prominent tectonic exhumation event at ~60–50 Ma. This result suggests that tectonism initiated on the northeastern margin of the TP nearly simultaneously with the India‐Asia collision.