Mesozoic–Cenozoic exhumation of the giant Jinchuan Ni-Cu sulfide deposit, China: Evidence from single-grain apatite (U-Th)/He ages

• Published in: Journal of Asian earth sciences Vol. 271; p. 106231
• Main Authors: Cai, Qingsong, Yan, Xueyu, Fan, Yuxin, Gao, Minmin, Yang, Guangliang, Bi, Ke, Wang, Ying, Zhu, Chuanying, Zhang, Mingjie, Li, Xiaohu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.07.2024
• Subjects: apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology; Exhumation; India-Asia collision; Jinchuan; Lhasa-Qiangtang collision; Ni-Cu sulfide deposit; Jinchuan; Exhumation; Ni-Cu sulfide deposit; Lhasa-Qiangtang collision; apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology; India-Asia collision
• ISSN: 1367-9120; 1878-5786
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2024.106231

[Display omitted] •Apatite (U-Th)/He ages and inverse modeling results support the idea that rapid exhumation in the Jinchuan deposit occurred during 115–95 and 65–55 Ma.•Rapid exhumation during ∼ 115–95 Ma is in response to the Lhasa-Qiangtang collision.•Rapid exhumation during ∼ 65–55 Ma is in response to the India-Asia collision. The Jinchuan Ni-Cu sulfide deposit in the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is one of the largest magmatic sulfide deposits on the earth. However, the post-mineralization exhumation history of this deposit is poorly understood. We report new apatite (U-Th)/He data for bedrocks from the Jinchuan deposit and this new dataset reveals two periods of rapid exhumation at intervals of ∼ 115–95 and ∼ 65–55 Ma. Considering the tecton-thermal events in the adjacent terranes, the earlier stage of rapid exhumation during ∼ 115–95 Ma likely resulted from the Lhasa-Qiangtang collision, whereas the late stage of rapid exhumation during ∼ 65–55 Ma should be a geomorphological response to the initial collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates during the Cenozoic. The rapid exhumation during ∼ 65–55 Ma raises the idea that the northeastern Tibetan Plateau uplifted to a certain extent at the early stage of the India-Asia collision during the early Cenozoic.