Late Cretaceous tectonic switch from a Western Pacific‐ to an Andean‐Type continental margin evolution in East Asia, and a foreland basin development in <scp>NE</scp> China

Zhang, Fengqi; Dilek, Yıldırım; Chen, Hanlin; Yang, Shufeng; Meng, Qing‐Ren

doi:10.1111/ter.12286

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The compression uplift in the Songliao region at ~88–86 Ma, represented by both the T11 unconformity and AFT results, reflects the intimate linkage between the Pacific and Asian plates in the Late Cretaceous. In the recent literatures, this critical period, when kinematic reorganization event took place, was consequently defined as a tectonic switch from a Western Pacific‐type to an Andean‐type continental margin in geological history of East Asia (Zhang et al, , ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post‐rift Tectonic History of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Cooling Events and Post‐rift Unconformities Driven by Orogenic Pulses From Plate Boundaries

et al. 2018

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The classic lithosphere‐stretching model predicts that the post‐rift evolution of extensional basin should be exclusively controlled by decaying thermal subsidence. However, the stratigraphy of the Songliao Basin in northeastern China shows that the post‐rift evolution was punctuated by multiple episodes of uplift and exhumation events, commonly attributed to the response to regional tectonic events, including the far‐field compression from plate margins. Three prominent tectonostratigraphic post‐rift unconformities are recognized in the Late Cretaceous strata of the basin: T11, T03, and T02. The subsequent Cenozoic history is less constrained due to the incomplete record of younger deposits. In this paper, we utilize detrital apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology to unravel the enigmatic timing and origin of post‐rift unconformities. Relating the AFT results to the unconformities and other geological data, we conclude that in the post‐rift stage, the basin experienced a multiepisodic tectonic evolution with four distinct cooling and exhumation events. The thermal history and age pattern document the timing of the unconformities in the Cretaceous succession: the T11 unconformity at ~88–86 Ma, the T03 unconformity at ~79–75 Ma, and the T02 unconformity at ~65–50 Ma. A previously unrecognized Oligocene unconformity is also defined by a ~32–24 Ma cooling event. Tectonically, all the cooling episodes were regional, controlled by plate boundary stresses. We propose that Pacific dynamics influenced the wider part of eastern Asia during the Late Cretaceous until Cenozoic, whereas the far‐field effects of the Neo‐Tethys subduction and collision processes became another tectonic driver in the later Cenozoic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post‐rift Tectonic History of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Cooling Events and Post‐rift Unconformities Driven by Orogenic Pulses From Plate Boundaries

et al. 2018

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“…The Hailar-Erlian Basins (Fig. 1b) in the Early Cretaceous experienced NNW-SSE extension on the south side of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Ocean suture zone (Liu et al, 2009;Yang et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2017). During the same period, the Songliao Basin continued to develop in an extensional environment (Liu et al, 1993).…”

Section: Episodic Exhumation Eventsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The current topography of the Greater Khingan Mountains has been generated mainly by tectonic stresses transmitted from the subduction of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Ocean in the north and the Pacific Ocean in the east since the Early Mesozoic (Eizenhöfer et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2017). The development of the mountain range is considered to have been closely associated with the formation of the Hailar, Erlian, and Songliao basins to the west and east of the Greater Khingan Mountains (Yang et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic apatite fission-track (AFT) cooling history of the Greater Khingan Mountains and its implications for regional tectonics

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Apatite fission-track (AFT) tests of clastic samples from the Greater Khingan Mountains (GKM) in China show a center age of 260-62 Ma. Thermal modeling of observed fission-track-length distributions shows three stages of rapid cooling that may have been caused by extensions between 130 and 94 Ma, 30 and 15.3 Ma, and 45 and 0 Ma, and a heating event that may have been caused in part by changes in the subduction direction of the Pacific plate between 64 and 45 Ma. The cumulative exhumation since the Early Cretaceous, is approximately 3 km. The steady-state terrain model in the three-dimensional numerical simulation is highly consistent with the time and rate of the two-dimensional thermal history simulation for the Early Cretaceous exhumation event. The cooling age clusters of ˜160 to 100 Ma are similar in the GKM and Hailar-Erlian Basins.This correlation provides a basin-mountain link for the two tectonic domains. Such a basin-mountain coupling lasted through 100-42 Ma, as supported again by the shared cooling ages of samples from the GKM and detritus from the range-bounded basins on the two sides of the mountain range. We interpreted the 130-94 Ma cooling event recorded in the GKM as a result of crustal thickening in response to the closure of the Mongolia-Okhotsk Ocean. An increase in the subduction velocity of the Pacific plate since ca. 45 Ma may have created a post-arc extensional tectonic setting that has prevailed to the present in the GKM. Hosted fileessoar.10511322.1.docx available at https://authorea.com/users/535183/articles/598679-latemesozoic-cenozoic-apatite-fission-track-aft-cooling-history-of-the-greater-khinganmountains-and-its-implications-for-regional-tectonics Hosted file supplemental material.docx available at https://authorea.com/users/535183/articles/598679late-mesozoic-cenozoic-apatite-fission-track-aft-cooling-history-of-the-greater-khinganmountains-and-its-implications-for-regional-tectonics

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“…During the early Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian), the Kula Plate began impinging on Eurasia and subducting after the Izanagi Plate entirely subducted under the Eurasia Plate, whereas the Pacific Plate subducted in a transformation from NNW to WNW (Maruyama et al, 1997;Northrup et al, 1995;Zhang et al, 2017a). These geodynamic movements shifted the Eurasian Plate's eastern margin into an Andean-type continental margin (Sato et al, 2002).…”

Section: Compression System During the Upper Cretaceous Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geological Characteristics of the Mesozoic Unconformities in Eastern Heilongjiang, NE China: Implications for the Mesozoic Continental Margin Evolution of Northeast Asia

Zhao

Lv²,

Jiang³

et al. 2022

Front. Earth Sci.

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Most of the significant petroleum- and coal-bearing sedimentary basins in Northeast Asia originated via rifting and thermal subsidence during the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, followed by basin inversion in the Late Cretaceous. However, the tectonic background governing these basin prototype shifts has not been fully explored. The unconformities are excellent archives of plate boundary interactions and geodynamic switches in subduction zones. The Eastern Heilongjiang Province (EHLJ), Northeast China (NE China), comprises a series of Mesozoic-Cenozoic residual basins with well-preserved successions and provides significant insights into the tectonic characteristics and background of Northeast Asia. Mesozoic unconformities and large-scale contractional structures in the basins mark a series of important tectonic transitions in Northeast Asia. Based on the synthesis information of regional Mesozoic unconformities identified in the seismic reflection profiles and field outcrops of EHLJ, the tectonic characteristics and geodynamic background of the Mesozoic continental margin basins in Northeast Asia are analysed. The Middle-Upper Jurassic/basement unconformity (U1) can only be found in some areas of the Sanjiang and Hulin basins. It was a response to the continental collision of Siberia and the northern China–Mongolia tract along the Mongolia–Okhotsk suture during the Jurassic. The Paleo-Pacific Plate rapidly subducted in the NNW direction towards the eastern margin of Eurasia in the early Lower Cretaceous resulting in a mass of strike-slip faults and the widespread absence of deposits (Valanginian) (U2) in the EHLJ. Because of the subduction slab rollback of the Paleo-Pacific Plate during the late Lower Cretaceous, the local asthenospheric material upwelled, and fault and volcanic activities intensified in Northeast Asia. The Lower Cretaceous Dongshan Formation (Fm)/Muleng Fm unconformity (U3-1) reflects a specific scale of bimodal magmatism in the Songliao Basin and the EHLJ. The Pacific Plate subducted in a transformation from NNW to WNW during the early Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian). The Houshigou Fm (Qixinhe Fm)/Lower Cretaceous angular unconformity (U3) reflects that on the basins experienced denudation after being extensively uplifted from the subduction events. With the subduction of the Kula Plate, a compression stress field during the later Upper Cretaceous Period controlled NE China. The basins underwent a widely compressive deformation, accompanied by large-scale thrusts, denudation and deplanation, resulting in Paleogene/Cretaceous unconformity (U4) was formed.

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Late Cretaceous tectonic switch from a Western Pacific‐ to an Andean‐Type continental margin evolution in East Asia, and a foreland basin development in NE China

Cited by 17 publications

References 33 publications

Post‐rift Tectonic History of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Cooling Events and Post‐rift Unconformities Driven by Orogenic Pulses From Plate Boundaries

Post‐rift Tectonic History of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Cooling Events and Post‐rift Unconformities Driven by Orogenic Pulses From Plate Boundaries

Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic apatite fission-track (AFT) cooling history of the Greater Khingan Mountains and its implications for regional tectonics

Geological Characteristics of the Mesozoic Unconformities in Eastern Heilongjiang, NE China: Implications for the Mesozoic Continental Margin Evolution of Northeast Asia

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