Regional Exhumation and Tectonic History of the Shanxi Rift and Taihangshan, North China

The files contained in this dataset include the new and published data for the paper, "Regional Exhumation and Tectonic History of the Shanxi Rift and Taihangshan, North China" published in Tectonics. The dataset is organized as: (a) New_AHe_Data_Clinkscales-Tectonics (excel document with single grain AHe data, newly published with this study); (b) New_AFT_Data_Clinkscales-Tectonics (excel document with summary table of AFT data); (c) folder titled "AFT_Age-Length_text_files (text files with the AFT grain count and length data tabulated; future workers may use these data within an inverse modeling program, such as HeFTy, to investigate and test time-temperature paths); (d) Clinkscales-etal_2020_EPSL_Data (previously AFT, AHe, and ZHe published data from Clinkscales et al. (2020) EPSL, 'Exhumation history of the north-central Shanxi Rift, North China, revealed by low-temperature thermochronology') - the AFT and AHe data from these figures referred to with as N&C (New and Clinkscales et al. 2020) in paper figures; (e) PublishedData_AFT-AHe-ZFT-ZHe_Shanxi-Ordos-Taihangshan (compilation of low-temperature thermochronology data; partially modified after compilation by Qiu and Liu, 2018). Refer to the section in the published paper, References from Supporting Information, for reference details pertinent to this compiled dataset. For additional details on lab methodology, etc., please refer to the supporting information text associated with this paper

Regional Exhumation and Tectonic History of the Shanxi Rift and Taihangshan, North China

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. © 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.6 month embargo; first published: 21 January 2021This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Where did the Arizona-Plano Go? Protracted Thinning Via Upper- to Lower-Crustal Processes

Mesozoic-Cenozoic subduction of the Farallon slab beneath North America generated a regionally extensive orogenic plateau in the southwestern US during the latest Cretaceous, similar to the modern Central Andean Plateau. In Nevada and southern Arizona, estimates from whole-rock geochemistry suggest crustal thicknesses reached ∼60–55 km by the Late Cretaceous. Modern crustal thicknesses are ∼28 km, requiring significant Cenozoic crustal thinning. Here, we compare detailed low-temperature thermochronology from the Catalina metamorphic core complex (MCC) to whole rock Sr/Y crustal thickness estimates across southern Arizona. We identify three periods of cooling. A minor cooling phase occurred prior to ∼40 Ma with limited evidence of denudation and ∼10 km of crustal thinning. Major cooling occurred during detachment faulting and MCC formation at 26–19 Ma, corresponding to ∼8 km of denudation and ∼8 km of crustal thinning. Finally, we document a cooling phase at 17–11 Ma related to Basin and Range extension that corresponds with ∼5 km of denudation and ∼9 km of crustal thinning. During the MCC and Basin and Range extension events, the amount of denudation recorded by low-temperature thermochronology can be explained by corresponding decreases in the crustal thickness. However, the relatively limited exhumation prior to detachment faulting at ∼26 Ma recorded by thermochronology is insufficient to explain the magnitude of crustal thinning (∼10 km) observed in the whole rock crustal thickness record. Therefore, we suggest that crustal thinning of the Arizona-plano was facilitated via ductile mid- to lower-crustal flow, and limited upper-crustal extension at 50–30 Ma prior to detachment faulting and Basin and Range extension. © 2022. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.6 month embargo; first published: 22 March 2022This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]