Tectonic History of the South Tannuol Fault Zone (Tuva Region of the Northern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, Russia): Constraints from Multi-Method Geochronology

Abstract

In this study, we present zircon U/Pb, plagioclase and K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar and apatite fission track (AFT) data along the South Tannuol Fault Zone (STFZ). Integrating geochronology and multi-method thermochronology places constraints on the formation and subsequent reactivation of the STFZ. Cambrian (~510 Ma) zircon U/Pb ages obtained for felsic volcanic rocks date the final stage of STFZ basement formation. Ordovician (~460–450 Ma) zircon U/Pb ages were obtained for felsic rocks along the structure, dating their emplacement and marking post-formational local magmatic activity along the STFZ. 40Ar/39Ar stepwise heating plateau-ages (~410–400 Ma, ~365 and ~340 Ma) reveal Early Devonian and Late Devonian–Mississippian intrusion and/or post-magmatic cooling episodes of mafic rocks in the basement. Permian (~290 Ma) zircon U/Pb age of mafic rocks documents for the first time Permian magmatism in the study area creating prerequisites for revising the spread of Permian large igneous provinces of Central Asia. The AFT dating and Thermal history modeling based on the AFT data reveals two intracontinental tectonic reactivation episodes of the STFZ: (1) a period of Cretaceous–Eocene (~100–40 Ma) reactivation and (2) the late Neogene (from ~10 Ma onwards) impulse after a period of tectonic stability during the Eocene–Miocene (~40–10 Ma).