Combining 121 new fission track and (U‐Th)/He ages with published thermochronologic data, we investigate the Late Cretaceous‐Cenozoic exhumation/cooling history of the eastern Tibetan Plateau, Qinling, Daba Shan, and Sichuan Basin of east central China. The Qinling orogen shows terminal southwestward foreland growth in the northern Daba Shan thrust belt at 100–90 Ma and in the southern Daba Shan fold belt at 85–70 Ma. The eastern margin of Tibetan Plateau experienced major exhumation phases at 70–40 Ma (exhumation rate 0.05–0.08 mm/yr), 25–15 Ma (≤1 mm/yr in the Pengguan Massif; ~0.2 mm/yr in the imbricated western Sichuan Basin), and since ~11–10 Ma along the Longmen Shan (~0.80 mm/yr) and the interior of the eastern Tibetan Plateau (Dadu River gorge, Min Shan; ~0.50 mm/yr). The Sichuan Basin records two basin‐wide denudation phases, likely a result of the reorganization of the upper Yangtze River drainage system. The first phase commenced at ~45 Ma and probably ended before the Miocene; >1 km of rocks were eroded from the central and eastern Sichuan Basin. The second phase commenced at ~12 Ma and denudated the central Sichuan Basin, Longmen Shan, and southern Daba Shan; more than 2 km of rocks were eroded after the lower Yangtze River had cut through the Three Gorges and captured the Sichuan Basin drainage. In contrast to the East Qinling, which was weakly effected by late Cenozoic exhumation, the West Qinling and Daba Shan have experienced rapid exhumation/cooling since ~15–13 Ma, a result of growth of the Tibetan Plateau beyond the Sichuan Basin.

This paper addresses the timing of fi nal foreland growth of China's largest orogens: the Mesozoic Qin Mountains (Qinling) and the Cenozoic Tibetan Plateau. In particular, we ask when the front of the Qinling orogen fold-thrust belt was emplaced, and when the northern Sichuan Basin was affected by the eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau. We employ zircon and apatite fi ssion-track and (U-Th)/He dating in the Proterozoic crystalline rocks of the Hannan-Micang massifs and the sedimentary rocks of the northern Sichuan Basin. The Hannan-Micang rocks remained in the zircon fi ssion-track partial annealing zone (240 ± 30 °C) throughout the Paleozoic-Middle Triassic (481-246 Ma). From the late Middle Jurassic (ca. 165 Ma) to the early Late Cretaceous (ca. 95 Ma), enhanced cooling and exhumation, with rates of 1.2-2.5 °C/m.y. and 0.04-0.10 mm/yr, respectively, record propagation of the Qinling orogen into its leading foreland; the timing of foreland growth is supported by sedimentologic evidence, i.e., regional variation in sediment thickness and depocenter migration. Negligible cooling and exhumation since the Late Cretaceous (ca. 95 Ma) likely mark the end of the foreland fold-thrust belt formation and the subsequent persistence of a low-relief landscape that occupied extensive parts of central China; cooling and exhumation rates of 0.38-0.70 °C/m.y. and <0.02 mm/yr characterize this tectonic stagnation period. Accelerated cooling (4-5 °C/m.y.) since the Late Miocene (13-8 Ma), derived from apatite fi ssion-track temperature-time path models, signifi es involvement of the Hannan-Micang massifs and the northern Sichuan Basin into the eastward-growing Tibetan Plateau. Their inclusion into the plateau growth initiated faulting and stripped off 1.4-2.0 km of rock from the Hannan-Micang massifs and northern Sichuan Basin.

Hydrocarbon evolution is extremely challenging to determine, both temporally and spatially, in complex tectonic settings. Here we investigate the western margin of the Xuefeng uplift (southern China), which records multiple and protracted tectonic and hydrocarbongeneration events. This timing of initial oil generation is recorded by low-maturity bitumen (type A), which yields an Re-Os bitumen date of ca. 430 Ma, consistent with basin models and a ca. 405 Ma bitumen Rb-Sr date. In contrast, apatite fission-track (AFT) data yield considerably younger dates that reflect the timing and tectonic evolution of the Yanshan orogeny from the northwest (ca. 150 Ma) to the southeast (ca. 70 Ma). The youngest AFT date coincides with the western margin of Xuefeng uplift, where high-maturity bitumen (type B) occurs that yields a ca. 70 Ma Re-Os date. The Re-Os and AFT dates imply that both the last stage of the Yanshan orogeny and, by inference, the cessation of dry gas generation, occurred ca. 70 Ma. The Re-Os data of this study imply that the Re-Os chronometer can aid in constraining the timing of oil generation and secondary and/or more mature hydrocarbon processes (e.g., thermal cracking and/or gas generation) in hydrocarbon systems worldwide.