40Ar/39Ar thermochronological evidence for formation and Mesozoic evolution of the northern-central segment of the Altyn Tagh fault system in the northern Tibetan Plateau

Geochronology of the initiation and displacement of the Altyn Strike-Slip Fault, western China

“…Wang et al (2005) also reported the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages in the same range 159-165 Ma from the Mesozoic Shear Zone (Fig. 3).…”

“…Numbers with circle represent different lithologies: 1, Neogene and Quaternary sandstones and conglomerates; 2, gneisses and schists; 3, garnet-schists; 4, pegmatites; 5, granites; 6, amphibolites; 7, granitic gneisses; 8, mylonitized gneisses; 9, mylonitized greenschists. Samples named with ''NT'' prefix from Wang et al (2005) and with ''QA'' prefix from this study. Table 1 Samples from the Dangjin Pass transect used for 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age dating QA-29: Muscovite schist, the rock underwent multiple phase deformations.…”

“…The age data from zircon U-Pb, zircon Sobel et al, 2001) and the reported age data. Data sources: 1, 6 and 16, Liu et al (2001b); 2, Wang et al (2005);3, 8, 11, 20, 22 and 24, Jolivet et al (2001);4, 9, 15, 19, 21, 25, Sobel et al (2001); 5, 7, 12, 13, Chen et al (2003); 10, Li et al (2002);14, 17, Chen et al (2002b);18, Liu et al (1998);26, 27, Chen et al (2001);28, Zhang et al (2001a);29, Zhang et al (2000). SHRIMP, mica and hornblende 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and Sm-Nd methods show age groups of [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100], the age data from zircon and apatite fission-track studies show age groups of [8][9][10][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]<...>…”

“…Several models for the long-term strike-slip initiation have been proposed, e.g. commencing before the early Paleozoic (Cai et al, 1992;Zheng, 1996;Zhou and Pan, 1998;Sobel and Arnaud, 1999), the Mesozoic (Cui et al, 1997;Liu et al, 2001a;Wang et al, 2005) and the Cenozoic (Yue et al, 2001;Yin et al, 2002;Chen et al, 2004). The age of initiation of the ASSF and its displacement over the longterm is important for constraining and reconstructing the tectonic history of western China.…”

Cooling history and tectonic exhumation stages of the south-central Tibetan Plateau (China): Constrained by 40Ar/39Ar and apatite fission track thermochronology

“…K-feldspar cooling ages and muscovite-biotite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages from granitic intrusions in this belt, indicate that a rapid cooling event also occurred at this time. Regionally, in the Qiangtang and Lhasa blocks, in the Kunlun Orogenic Belt (Mock et al, 1999;Arnaud et al, 2003), in the Altyn Tagh fault system (Wang et al, 2005), as well as along the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone, Jurassic sediments were folded, and in the Cretaceous faulted sedimentary basins opened up. Meanwhile, southward-directed thrusting developed .…”