Timing of exhumation of the Ereendavaa metamorphic core complex (north-eastern Mongolia) – U–Pb and 40Ar/39Ar constraints

Abstract

The occurrence of numerous NE–SW trending rift basins that locally bound metamorphic core complexes in Transbaikalia, northern Mongolia and north-eastern China indicates that the eastern domain of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt was affected by a large-scale NW–SE extensional tectonic event during late Jurassic to early Cretaceous times. Available geochronological information about the formation of metamorphic core complexes in the region define partly synchronous periods in Transbaikalia (134–121Ma) and North China (136–110Ma) suggesting dome exhumation during the early Cretaceous.In north-eastern Mongolia, the Ereendavaa Range, lined by the Onon Shear Zone, was recently interpreted as one of these metamorphic core complexes, of late Jurassic to early Cretaceous age, on the basis of U–Pb zircons data from two synkinematic pegmatite dykes. However, this wide time range remains to be discussed. The present work constrains the tectono-thermal evolution of the range by providing new MC-ICP-MS U–Pb zircons ages from pegmatite dykes and metamorphic igneous rocks, and mica and amphibole 40Ar/39Ar laser step-heating ages from metamorphic and magmatic rocks that crop out within the range. The results show that (1) the Ereendavaa range was the locus of a widespread magmatic activity prior to its exhumation from late Jurassic times, (2) cooling of the range began at least at 137.9±0.3Ma as revealed by a 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages obtained from an hornblende sampled within the range core, and (3) exhumation along the Onon Shear Zone occurred from 130.3±1.9Ma down to 124.8±0.3Ma, as shown by ages of most of micas and amphiboles from the Shear zone. These more accurate ages are consistent with metamorphic core complex ages from adjacent areas. Furthermore, they argue for an extensional dynamic paroxysm at the scale of eastern Asia during a narrow time range in the early Cretaceous between ca. 130Ma and ca. 120Ma.