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Post-orogenic extension in the southeastern Canadian Cordillera manifested in the form of metamorphic core complexes exhumed during the Paleocene–Eocene, but new thermochronology data suggest this interval may be longer. The Columbia River Fault is a brittle-ductile normal fault bounding the eastern margin of the Monashee Complex, southeastern British Columbia. Vertical motions along this fault are investigated here using apatite fission-track and (U-Th)/He thermochronology and samples from two elevation profiles. Apatite fission track ages range from 29.3 to 17.7 Ma, and apatite (U-Th)/He ages range from 26.6 to 7.0 Ma. Inverse thermal history modeling of these profiles suggests the footwall underwent rapid cooling between 18 and 16 Ma, whereas the hanging wall experienced more protracted cooling since 40 Ma, with two small cooling pulses at 20 and 10 Ma. These new data suggest the Columbia River Fault was reactivated in the early Miocene and continued to exhume the Monashee Complex an additional ∼2 km. Combining all thermochronology data from the region suggests three phases of accelerated cooling in the Monashee Complex; 1) Eocene (56–40 Ma); 2) Miocene (20–16 Ma); and 3) Pliocene to recent. Thermal history modeling of thermochronometric data reported from elevation profiles from across the wider region of the southern Canadian Cordillera find early Miocene cooling phases contemporaneous with that seen along the Columbia River Fault. This widespread exhumation coincides with early Miocene plate tectonic reorganization of the Pacific-North American margin which resulted in increased transtension in northwestern North America. We propose that the early Miocene reactivation of the Columbia River Fault is a splay fault associated with dextral strike slip faulting along the Rocky Mountain Trench, driven by an increase in transtensional stresses along the Pacific-North American plate boundary. Building on earlier models, pre-existing gravitational instabilities in the southeastern Canadian Cordillera aided in lateral extension of the upper crust along unstable inherited structures throughout the Shuswap Metamorphic Core Complex • Apatite thermochronology reveals Miocene reactivation of the Columbia River Fault. • Widespread early Miocene transtension occurred west of the Rocky Mountain Trench. • Changes in Pacific–North American plate motion caused inboard deformation • Late Miocene to recent erosion of the Columbia Mountains was <2 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the rising Tibetan Plateau affect its peripheral region? The current understanding of the mechanism of orogenic plateau development is incomplete and thus no consensus yet exists in this regard. However, our new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and (U–Th)/He dataset presented in this study may shed some light on this issue. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating, on two vertical transects from the massif between Nuomuhong and Golmud, indicates that the Eastern Kunlun Range was built-up and exhumated during the later Triassic initially, and a minimum overburden of ~ 11.7–14.0 km has been eroded since ~ 220 Ma. (U–Th)/He age–elevation relationships (AERs) indicate a rapid exhumation event at ~ 40 Ma following a long period of slow exhumation phase from late Mesozoic to early Eocene time. In this study, two scenarios – one assuming a single stage and the other assuming multiple stages of evolution history – are modeled. Modeling of a multiple stage scenario is reasonable and is able to reflect the “actual” situation, which reveals the entire denudation and relief history of the northern Tibet from late Mesozoic to the present time. After prolonged denudation before 50 Ma, a low topography (~ 0.17 times the relief of the present) developed by 50 Ma with an erosion rate of 0.013 -0.013 + 0.025 mm/yr. The highest relief (~ 1.82 times the relief of the present) of the Cenozoic time came into being at 40 Ma with an erosion rate of 0.052 ± 0.025 mm/yr, which was possibly a result of the collision between India and Eurasia. Subsequently, the relief steadily decreased to the present level due to continued denudation. This suggests that deformation propagation from the continued convergence boundary between India and Eurasia was insignificant after the construction of the highest relief. This observation is broadly consistent with published accounts on the stratigraphic, cooling, and faulting histories of the northern Tibet margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: According to new apatite fission track, zircon- and apatite (U–Th)/He data, we constrain the near-surface history of the southeastern Tauern Window and adjacent Austrolapine units. The multi-system thermochronological data demonstrate that age-elevation correlations may lead to false implications about exhumation and cooling in the upper crust. We suggest that isothermal warping in the Penninic units that are in the position of a footwall, is due to uplift, erosion and the buildup of topography. Additionally we propose that exhumation rates in the Penninic units did not increase during the Middle Miocene, thus during the time of lateral extrusion. In contrast, exhumation rates of the Austroalpine hangingwall did increase from the Paleogene to the Neogene and the isotherms in this unit were not warped. The new zircon (U–Th)/He ages as well as zircon fission track ages from the literature document a Middle Miocene exhumation pulse which correlates with a period of enhanced sediment accumulation during that time. However, enhanced sedimentation- and exhumation rates at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary, as observed in the Western- and Central Alps, cannot be observed in the Eastern Alps. This contradicts a climatic trigger for surface uplift, and makes a tectonic trigger and/or deep-seated mechanism more obvious to explain surface uplift in the Eastern Alps. In combination with already published geochronological ages, our new data demonstrate Oligocene to Late Miocene fault activity along the Möll valley fault that constitutes a major shear zone in the Eastern Alps. In this context we suggest a geometrical and temporal relationship of the Katschberg-, Polinik–Möll valley- and Mur–Mürz faults that define the extruding wedge in the eastern part of the Eastern Alps. Equal deformation- and fission track cooling ages along the Katschberg–Brenner- and Simplon normal faults demonstrate overall Middle Miocene extension in the whole alpine arc. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The low-temperature thermal evolution of the Azov Massif (eastern part of the Ukrainian Shield, Ukraine) is investigated by combined zircon fission track (ZFT), apatite fission track (AFT) and apatite (U–Th)/He (AHe) thermochronology. The data help to better understand the geodynamic evolution of the Azov Massif and the adjacent intra-cratonic rift basin (Dniepr–Donets Basin) as follows: ZFT data reveal that the Precambrian crystalline basement of the Azov Massif was heated to temperatures close to ∼240 °C during the Late Palaeozoic. The heating event is interpreted in terms of burial of the basement beneath a several kilometres thick pile of Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary deposits of the adjacent Dniepr–Donets Basin. During Permo-Triassic times, large parts of the basement were affected by a thermal event related to mantle upwelling, associated magmatic activity and increased heat flow in the adjacent rift. The major part of the basement cooled to near-surface conditions in the Early to Middle Triassic and since then was thermally stable as suggested by AFT and AHe data. Further, AFT data confirm Late Triassic magmatic activity in the Azov Massif, which, however, did not influence regional thermal pattern. The northern part of the basement and its sedimentary cover record a cooling event in the Jurassic, which was probably related to erosion. However, although Ar–Ar data of Jurassic magmatic activity in the Donbas Foldbelt are about 20 My younger than the AFT data, thermal relaxation after elevated heat flow associated with this magmatic event cannot be completely ruled out. Our results reveal apparent inconsistencies between AFT and AHe data: the AHe ages corrected for alpha ejection according to the standard procedure [Farley, K.A., Wolf, R.A., Silver, L.T., 1996. The effect of long alpha-stopping distances on (U–Th)/He ages. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 60(21), 4223–4229.; Farley, K.A., 2002. (U–Th)/He dating: Techniques, calibrations, and applications. Mineral. Soc. Am. Rev. Mineral. Geochem. 47, 819–844] are older than corresponding AFT ages. In order to test the relevance of alpha ejection correction, mechanical abrasion of several apatite grains was applied. We found that in case of relatively slow cooling, alpha ejection correction of raw (U–Th)/He ages leads to erroneously high ages. This shows that alpha ejection correction should be used with caution. We propose that this correction should only be applied to samples with a fast cooling history, whereas it should not be applied to slowly cooled samples and to samples whose thermal history is not constrained by other means. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]