Mountain Growth under the Combined Effects of Paleostress and Paleoclimate: Implications from Apatite (U-Th)/He Thermochronology of Taibai Mountain, Central China

Abstract

Abstract Tectonics and climate are the two competitive factors sculpturing landforms. Observations on the Earth surface are affected by signals from both tectonic and climatic agents. How to clarify these signals is a key issue. We categorize factors affecting mountain growth as horizontal (extension, compression, and transpression) and vertical (mantle upwelling and climate change) forces to evaluate the driving forces of accelerated exhumation in Taibai Mountain. Based on apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology, we document two stages of accelerated exhumation at ca. 52-46 Ma and ca. 24-19 Ma from the age-elevation relationship, confirmed by 1D half-space modeling and QTQt inverse modeling. In the framework of paleostress, the two accelerated exhumation events occurred during transpressional periods in the early Eocene and late Oligocene-early Miocene in East China. These two events were triggered by the localized contractional deformation at the intersection of the North Qinling and Fengxian-Taibai faults: The opposite-direction shearing of these two faults was responsible for the former event with an unroofing magnitude of ~1 km; the same-direction shearing of the two faults resulted in the latter event with an unroofing magnitude of ~0.6 km. The far-field effects of both India-Eurasia collision and Pacific subduction drove the accelerated exhumation at ca. 52-46 Ma. The lateral extrusion of the Tibetan Plateau acted as the main driving force for the accelerated exhumation at ca. 24-19 Ma, which may have been slightly influenced by the intensified Asian summer monsoon in the early Miocene.