The Late Paleocene–Eocene Extension and Differential Denudation in the Eastern Daqingshan Mountains Around the Northeastern Margin of the Ordos Block, Western North China Craton, Constrained by Apatite (U-Th)/He Thermochronology

Abstract The initial timing of extension during the Cenozoic around the northeastern margin of the Ordos Block, western North China Craton (NCC), is still poorly constrained. Apatite (U-Th)/He low-temperature thermochronology was thus applied on eight pre-Cenozoic granitic and gneissic samples transecting the eastern Daqingshan Mountains, northeastern margin of the Ordos Block, to investigate the denudation and cooling event related to the onset of extension therein. Four mean corrected AHe ages in the southern part are overlapped within the standard deviations of 50.0 ± 0.4 to 45.0 ± 8.0 Ma. However, three mean corrected AHe ages in the northern part are prominently older of 99.2 ± 11.0 to 86.6 ± 17.1 Ma, with the rest one of 56.1 ± 8.6 Ma. Altogether, they show a younger-older-younger-older pattern along the transect correlated with the normal faults. AHe thermal history modeling results further demonstrate extensive cooling during the Late Cretaceous but differential cooling during the Late Paleocene–Eocene. The Late Cretaceous extensive cooling in the eastern Daqingshan Mountains, as well as the contemporaneous deposition hiatus in both the eastern Daqingshan Mountains and the Hohhot Depression, together indicates overall denudation in the northeastern margin of the Ordos Block at that time. The Late Paleocene–Eocene differential cooling is probably induced by the tilting of the eastern Daqingshan Mountains as a result of the extension suggested by the distribution of AHe ages. It corresponds to the syn-tectonic subsidence in the Hohhot Depression, indicating a basin-mountain coupling. Regional comparative analysis manifests similar extension around the Ordos Block and more widely across the NCC during the Late Paleocene–Eocene. Temporally, kinematically, and dynamically coupled with this regional extension event, the subduction of the Izanagi-Pacific plate probably plays a major role. However, the contribution of the India-Asia collision could not be ignored.