How old is the Baikal Rift Zone? Insight from apatite fission track thermochronology

Abstract

Apatite fission track analysis (AFTA) data are used to bring new light on the long‐term and recent history of the Baikal rift region (Siberia). We describe the evolution of the topography along a NW–SE profile from the Siberian platform to the Barguzin range across the Baikal–southern Patom range and the northern termination of Lake Baikal. Our results show that the Baikal‐Patom range started to form in the Early Carboniferous and was reactivated in Middle Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous times during the orogenic collapse of the Mongol‐Okhotsk belt. Samples located in the Siberian platform recorded a continuous sedimentation up to the early Carboniferous but remain unaffected by later tectonic episodes. The Barguzin basin probably started to form as early as Late Cretaceous, suggesting a continuum of deformation between the postorogenic collapse and the opening of the Baikal Rift System (BRS). The initial driving mechanism for the opening of the BRS is thus independent from the India‐Asia collision. AFTA show a late Miocene–early Pliocene increase in tectonic extension in the BRS that confirms previous thoughts and might reflect the first significant effect of the stress field generated by the India‐Asia collision.