Phanerozoic Denudation History of the Mount Isa Inlier, Northern Australia: Response of a Proterozoic Mobile Belt to Intraplate Tectonics

Abstract

The lack of preserved Phanerozoic units within the Proterozoic Mount Isa Inlier of northern Australia renders it difficult to determine its Phanerozoic tectonic history. However, thermo-chronological methods provide a means for assessing this problem. Apatite fission-track data from the central and southern parts of the Inlier reveal periods of post-early Carboniferous accelerated cooling. Apatite fission-track ages vary from 235 to 390 Ma and corresponding mean track lengths range from 11.76 to 13.55 microns. These results record a protracted cooling history below about 110 ± 10° C. The earlier period of cooling revealed by the data occurred during middle Carboniferous time. The event resulted in >2 km of exhumation across the Inlier and probably was in response to intra-continental deformation associated with the Alice Springs Orogeny and tectonics in the adjacent Tasman Orogen. A high proportion of partly annealed fission tracks in the samples suggests that rocks now exposed across the Inlier resided at the top of the apatite partial annealing zone (approximately 60° C to 70° C) following the mid-Carboniferous cooling. Modeling of the fission-track age and length parameters suggests that approximately 30° C to 50° C of cooling occurred over the past 100 Ma. Assuming a geothermal gradient of 25° C/km, this corresponds to 1.2-2.0 km of exhumation. The post-Middle Cretaceous cooling possibly is related to extensional tectonics at the southern and eastern margins of the Australian plate during the Mesozoic and Tertiary periods and to the more recent collision at the northern margin of the plate. The spatial variation of apatite fission-track data within the Inlier indicates that the three major structural belts-the Western fold belt, Kalkadoon-Leichhardt belt, and the Eastern fold belt-exhibit similar thermal histories on a regional scale. It also indicates that the main N-S fault zones bounding the belts have not been reactivated in a vertical sense along their entire length since ∼350 Ma. However, adjacent smaller-scale fault-bounded blocks within the belts demonstrate variable cooling histories, suggesting that reactivation of favorably oriented minor faults within the Inlier, including segments of the major faults, probably occurred during this time interval. Variations in apatite fission-track data along the 1994 Australian Geological Survey Organization/Australian Geodynamics Co-operation Research Center (AGSO/AGCRC) Mount Isa seismic traverse indicate that up to 1 km of vertical displacement has occurred between two major intrabelt fault zones since middle Carboniferous time.