Spatial and Temporal Exhumation of the Northeastern China: Insights From Low Temperature Thermochronology

Abstract

The northeastern (NE) China has undergone a long‐term tectonic history involving subduction–accretion of the Siberian Craton, North China Craton, and Western Pacific Plate, providing an ideal target for understanding the interactions between cratons and the Pacific oceanic lithosphere. However, the Mesozoic‐Cenozoic geological and topographic evolutions of the NE China remain unclear. Here, we present new apatite fission track data from Precambrian metamorphic rocks in the Lesser Hinggan Mountains. Apatite fission track dating yielded a group of central ages ranging from 130 ± 18 to 151 ± 11 Ma with mean track lengths varying between 13.67 ± 0.13 and 14.49 ± 0.08 μm. Thermal modeling results revealed a rapid cooling event at ca. 165–140 Ma, which was related to compressional deformations driven by shallow subduction of the Paleo‐Pacific Ocean Plate beneath the northeastern China. Furthermore, regional low temperature thermochronological datasets in NE China show additional three rapid exhumation stages, including the Early Jurassic (ca. 200–180 Ma), Early Cretaceous (ca. 120–100 Ma), and Late Cretaceous (ca. 80–60 Ma). They were associated with closure of the Mudanjiang Ocean, slab rollback of the Paleo‐Pacific Plate, and collision between the Okhotomorsk Block and southeastern Asia. As the Cenozoic, slow exhumation has emerged throughout the northeastern China.