Modelling of low-temperature exhumation rate in Dabie Mountain based on (U-Th)/He and fission-track thermochronological data.

While the high-temperature exhumation process in the Dabie Mountain has been well documented, the low-temperature exhumation of this area since Cretaceous, especially since Late Cretaceous, is relatively less studied. Low-temperature thermochronology provides one of the important approaches to solve this problem. Based on the data of fission track and (U-Th)/He analysis of apaptites and zircons from the granitoid and metamorphic rocks in the Dabie Mountain, this paper applies Mancktelow’s and Braun’s methods to estimating the exhumation rates and to drawing the regional differential exhumation pattern since Cretaceous, especially since Late Cretaceous by taking into consideration factors such as heat transport, heat advection, topography and heat production, which could influence geothermal field in the shallow crust. Since Cretaceous, the exhumation rate (0.08–0.10 km/Ma) in the region around Tiantangzhai and in the south of Tanlu fault zone is larger than the rate (0.04–0.07 km/Ma) in other areas of the Dabie Mountain. The regional differential exhumation pattern might be related to the push-up effect caused by differential strike-slip movement along NNE-trending faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]