U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar geochronological constraints on the exhumation history of the North Qinling terrane, China

The amphibolite facies grade North Qinling metamorphic unit forms the centre of the Qinling orogenic belt. Results of LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon, 40Ar/39Ar amphibole and biotite dating reveal its Palaeozoic tectonic history. U-Pb zircon dating of migmatitic orthogneiss and granite dykes constrains the age of two possible stages of migmatization at 517 +/- 14 Ma and 445 +/- 4.6 Ma. A subsequent granite intrusion occurred at 417 +/- 1.6 Ma. The 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of amphibole ranging from 397 +/- 33 Ma to 432 +/- 3.4 Ma constrain the cooling of the Qinling complex below al. 540 degrees C and biotite 40Ar/39Ar ages at about 330-368 Ma below ca. 300 degrees C. The ages are used to construct a cooling history with slow/non-exhumation during 517-445 Ma, a time-integrated cooling at a rate < 2.5 degrees C/Ma during the period of 445-410 Ma, an acceleration of cooling at a rate of 8 degrees C/Ma from 397 Ma to 368 Ma, and subsequently slow/non-cooling from 368 to 330 Ma. The data show a significant delay in exhumation after peak metamorphic conditions and a long period of tectonic quiescence after the suturing of the North China and South China blocks along the Shangdan suture. These relationships exclude classical exhumation models of formation and exhumation of metamorphic cores in orogens, which all imply rapid cooling after peak conditions of metamorphism. 2010 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.