Exhumation of the Diancang Shan metamorphic complex along the Ailao Shan-Red River belt, southwestern Yunnan, China: Evidence from 40Ar/ 39Ar thermochronology

Abstract

Exhumation of the high-grade metamorphic rocks from deep to shallow crustal levels in the Diancang Shan (DCS) massif is evident by the temporal transition from shearing and mylonitization at the amphibolite facies in the lower to middle crust, through retrograde ductile–brittle faulting at greenschist facies in the middle crust and brittle faulting near the surface. New 40Ar/ 39Ar ages of amphibole, muscovite, biotite and K-feldspar, mostly from mylonitic rocks, help constrain the thermal evolution of the massif during its exhumation. The thermochronologic studies have shown at least three stages of exhumation and cooling from late Oligocene to Pliocene, e.g., 28–13 Ma, 13–4 Ma and 4–0 Ma, respectively. The initiation of the unroofing history of the DCS massif resulted from ductile left-lateral shearing along the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone (ASRR) since the late Oligocene. Diachronous onset and subsequent parallel cooling and exhumation characterize the early thermal history of the massif. The first stage of exhumation might have stopped due to the cessation of the left-lateral shearing at ca. 21 Ma, although cooling continued until 13 Ma ago to relatively low-temperature conditions. The second and third stages of cooling started from 13 Ma and lasted until the recent active faulting. The diversity of cooling rates during the second stage from 13 to 4 Ma suggests differences in exhumation rates at various localities. Ductile to brittle shearing along the eastern flank retrograde normal shear zone is the best explanation for the exhumation during this stage. The inhomogeneous cooling and exhumation of the lower plate of the normal fault zone possibly resulted from the tilting of the lower plate or differential exhumation of slabs in the lower plate. During the third stage, cooling and exhumation of the DCS massif since 4 Ma ago is recognized when higher temperature cooling paths are extended and plotted at a lower temperature of about 16 °C, the present day average surface temperature. Therefore, the diachronous cooling and exhumation continuously spanned to the surface. The tectonic exhumation of the DCS massif constitutes a part of the tectono-thermal evolution and diachronous exhumation of the metamorphic complexes in the fan-shaped area bounded broadly in SE Asia by the Red River fault zone and Sagaing fault zone since 36 Ma. Extrusion-induced strike-slip shearing and rotation-associated normal faulting, played important roles in the diachronous cooling and exhumation of the DCS massif and other metamorphic complexes in SE Asia.